Sawt Falasteen - Wall Street stocks rise on hopes for US-Iran ceasefire

US President Donald Trump doubled down on his threat to wreck Iran's civilian infrastructure, brushing off questions about violations of international law and defending a profanity-laced social media post on Easter Sunday in which he vowed Iran would be "living in Hell" if it didn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had earlier called a ceasefire plan developed by international mediators a "significant proposal," but went on to say it was not good enough.

Wall Street indices finished in positive territory after a choppy session. The broad-based S&P 500 ended up 0.4 percent.

"Maybe today's rise is because of hopes that one way or another the war will come to an end in a short period of time," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

Monday's session was the first since Friday's monthly jobs report, which showed unexpectedly strong employment gains in March. US markets had been closed for Good Friday.

The gains in equities came despite a modest rise in oil prices, with the Strait of Hormuz still mostly devoid of tankers.

"We're hanging on every development with regard to the Iran situation and whatever's going on with these negotiations, if there are really any, and just trying to sort it out," said John Kilduff of Again Capital.

"If we get a ceasefire and we get a reopening of the Strait, you can see oil down $10, $15 pretty quickly," he added.

MUFG's Lloyd Chan said in a note on Trump that "it remains to be seen whether this escalatory rhetoric ultimately proves to be another 'TACO' moment" -- a jokey acronym for "Trump always chickens out."

But "the persistence of threats to critical Iranian infrastructure keeps escalation risks elevated," he said.

European equity markets were closed, along with stock markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Tokyo closed 0.6 percent higher and Seoul ended the day with gains of 1.4 percent. Among other Asian markets open on Monday, Singapore was up 0.4 percent but Jakarta was down 0.5 percent.

Among economic releases, growth in US services activity cooled in March, survey data showed, as companies monitored the higher energy prices stemming from the war in the Middle East -- and braced for supply chain disruptions.

- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 46,669.88 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 6,611.83 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 21,996.34 (close)

London - CLOSED for holiday

Paris - CLOSED for holiday

Frankfurt - CLOSED for holiday

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 53,413.68 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: CLOSED for holiday

Shanghai - Composite: CLOSED for holiday

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1543 from $1.1519 on Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3236 from $1.3202

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.68 from 159.67

Euro/pound: UP at 87.27 pence from 87.21 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $112.41 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $109.77 per barrel

L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST