The US markets ended higher on Monday after President Donald Trump said the United States has talked with Iran about a possible end to their war. Trump said that he is postponing attacks on Iranian power plants for five days to allow talks to continue. Tradersoverlooked a report released by the Commerce Department showed that US construction spending declined 0.3% month-over-month in January 2026, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.19 trillion, following a revised 0.8% increase in December 2025 and missing market expectations of a 0.1% rise. Private construction fell 0.6% to $1.66 trillion, with residential construction down 0.8% and non-residential construction slipping 0.4%. In contrast, public construction spending rose 0.6% to $529.2 billion, led by a 3.3% surge in highway construction, while public educational construction dipped 0.2%.

On the sectorial front, Gold stocks showed a substantial strength as reflected by the 3.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Gold stocks rallied despite a steep drop in the price of the precious metal. Besides, Steel, housing, oil service, and computer hardware stocks also showed significant moves to the upside amid broad based buying interest on Wall Street.  

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 631 points or 1.38 percent to 46,208.47, Nasdaq increased 299.14 points or 1.38 percent to 21,946.76 and S&P 500 added 74.52 points or 1.15 percent to 6,581.