Mumbai, April 7 -- U.S. stocks drifted higher in hesitant trading on Monday, ahead of a deadline that President Donald Trump has set to bomb Iranian power plants. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its first winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165 points or 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.8% to settle at $112.41 after erasing an earlier modest dip. Brent crude, the international standard, added 0.8% to $109.77 per barrel and remains well above its roughly $70 price from before the war. Oil prices rose after seesawing amid uncertainty over the war with Iran, which threatens global oil and natural gas flows. Iran rejected the latest ceasefire ...