Wall Street rallies as Mideast tensions ease; Dow eyes record close

WALL STREET RALLIES AS MIDEAST TENSIONS EASE; DOW EYES RECORD CLOSE

Wall Street's main indexes are higher early on Monday as easing tensions in the Middle East are lifting sentiment following days of hostilities between the U.S. and Israel on one side and Iran on the other.

A U.S. official said on Sunday that the two sides will de-escalate, bolstering hopes that an interim peace deal signed earlier this month could hold.

Five out of 11 of S&P 500 CBOE:SPX sectors are green with communication services SP:S5TELS and consumer discretionary SP:S5COND, both up more than 2%, the leading gainers.

With this, the Magnificent Seven ETF CBOE:MAGS is rallying around 2.5%. Software & services (.SPLRCIS) is also an outperformer.

Materials SP:S5MATR, off more than 1%, is the weakest group.

On Friday, the S&P 500 ended below its 50-day moving average for the first time since April 7. That said, with Monday's early strength, the SPX, which is now around 7,385, is attempting to quickly reclaim this closely followed intermediate-term moving average, which now resides around 7,370.

Meanwhile, the Dow DJ:DJI is on track for a record closing high.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood around 10 a.m. ET.