Iran wants de-escalation, WSJ has learned. Stocks in the US started the week with rapid growth

US stocks began trading on Monday with active growth: all three major indices were up more than 1%. Investors expect the Iran-Israel conflict that erupted last week to remain limited. Tehran is indeed showing signs that it is willing to halt hostilities and resume talks on its nuclear programs, WSJ has learned.

- The main U.S. index, the S&P 500, was up nearly 1.2 percent.

- The blue-chip index Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 1.15%.

- Technology's Nasdaq Composite was adding 1.5 percent.

- The Russell 2000 index of small-capitalization companies was also up about 1.2%.

- The value of Brent crude oil contracts for delivery in August were down 3.4% at the moment, according to data from the Intercontinental Exchange. U.S. WTI crude decreased about the same.

U.S. stocks rose thanks to investor hopes that the Israel-Iran conflict will remain contained, wrote CNBC. Lower oil prices also helped the market.

Iranian authorities are sending signals to the U.S. and Israel through proxies that Tehran wants an end to hostilities and a resumption of talks on its nuclear programs, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources in the Middle East and Europe. Iran wants Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to deliver a message to U.S. President Donald Trump about pressuring Israel for a cease-fire, and is offering to resume talks on a nuclear deal,

Iranian officials said Tehran is ready to return to the negotiating table if the U.S. does not join Israel's attacks, and conveyed the message to Israel that it is in the interests of both sides to keep the level of aggression limited, the WSJ wrote. At the same time, there are no signals that Iran is willing to make new concessions in the nuclear talks, the paper's interlocutors noted. Moreover: if there are no prospects of resuming talks with the US, Iran threatens to accelerate its nuclear program and expand the scope of the war, the newspaper said.

«The market is comforted by the hope that the conflict will remain in a limited war mode. We believe this is possible, but maintain expectations that clashes will continue for several weeks in the baseline scenario and continue to see an elevated risk of escalation that spans the energy sector and involves the US,» stated vice chairman of Evercore ISI Krishna Gua, he was quoted as saying by CNBC.

A pause in hostilities would give Iran a chance to regroup its forces and also give room for increasing international pressure on Israel, the WSJ noted. If the US refrains from using force against Iran, that would also be a victory for Tehran, the publication added. However, with Israeli jets flying quietly over the Iranian capital, there may be little reason for Israeli authorities to stop the attacks until they do more damage to Iranian nuclear facilities and further weaken  the Iranian government's power, The Wall Street Journal wrote.

«The focus will remain on geopolitical headlines, but as long as the conflict remains limited to Israel and Iran, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on markets,» noted analyst The Sevens Report Tom Assey in a Bloomberg statement.

On the night of June 13, Israel strike Iran's nuclear infrastructure and key military facilities. The Israeli strikes killed Hussein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite unit of Iran's armed forces. Iran also responded with rocket attacks on Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, as well as drone attacks.