US STOCKS-Wall Street indexes gain as investors hold out hope for US-Iran resolution

By Sinéad Carew and Niket Nishant

April 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were gaining ground on Monday as investors appeared hopeful that a resolution to the Middle East war could be found while they looked past the failed weekend talks between the U.S. and Iran and monitored the start of the earnings reporting season.

After a muted start to the day The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 picked up some steam on Monday afternoon after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran wants to make a deal but that he will not come to any agreement that allows Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.

This was after Trump announced that the U.S. military began a blockade of ships leaving Iran's ports, while Tehran threatened to retaliate against ports of its Gulf neighbours after weekend talks on ending the war broke down.

"And so there seems to be some desensitization around these back and forth talks with negotiations on, negotiations off, especially in the midst of this ceasefire, which seems to be holding for the moment," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

"Investors are fearful to be caught off sides, that if we have a resolution come together quickly, that the market could rally significantly and they'd be left on the sidelines."

It also likely helped that crude oil futures pared earlier gains to trade below the $100 level. Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said oil futures markets are pricing an expectation the surge in oil prices will be short-lived, and that as long as this is the case the impact on the U.S. economy may be limited.

At 02:22 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 75.56 points, or 0.16%, to 47,992.98, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 32.33 points, or 0.48%, to 6,849.22 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 153.96 points, or 0.68%, to 23,057.39.

Among the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, technology .SPLRCT was the biggest gainer while utilities .SPLRCU and consumer staples .SPLRCU lagged most.

GOLDMAN RESULTS UNDERWHELM

However investors appeared less than impressed by Goldman Sachs GS.N kick-off of the first quarter earnings season. Its shares fell more than 2%, making it the biggest laggard on the blue-chip Dow, with concerns over weakness in fixed income, currencies and commodities trading revenue outweighing its profit beat.

"We don't see the market really paying too much attention to the earnings beat. And it's all because of prospects of higher inflation, weaker economic activity and a Fed that may be forced to stay on hold for a long, long time," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

Goldman CEO David Solomon said market volatility stemming from the conflict had tempered IPO execution, but the environment remains robust and activity will rebound once conditions stabilize.

In other individual stocks, shares of Allogene Therapeutics ALLO.O were up 15.4%, earlier hitting their highest in over two years and boosting the Nasdaq after interim data from a mid-stage study showed that its blood cancer therapy reduced the risk of relapse in patients.

Albemarle ALB.N, ​the world's largest lithium producer, gained more than 7% after Oppenheimer raised its price target on the company to $222 from $216.

TRAVEL STOCKS FALL

Travel-related stocks dropped, with carriers such as United Airlines UAL.N Delta Air Lines DAL.N and American Airlines AAL.O down 1% or more, respectively, on concerns about higher oil prices swelling fuel costs.

Industrial supplies distributor Fastenal's FAST.O shares fell more than 7% after earnings. Sandisk SNDK.O added more than 8% as the memory chipmaker was on track to join the Nasdaq-100 index .NDX on April 20.

Separately, data showed that U.S. existing home sales fell to a nine-month low in March amid tight inventory and growing concerns over the labor market.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.9-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 150 new highs and 52 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 3,159 stocks rose and 1,500 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.11-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows.