01:43 PM EDT, 06/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose after midday Monday, moving between gains and losses, while government bond yields slumped amid speculation Iran has begun targeting the United States' assets.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4% to 19,529.2, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% to 5,989.5, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.3% higher at 42,318.8. Energy was the sole decliner intraday, while consumer discretionary was among the top gainers.

Tesla (TSLA), a consumer discretionary constituent, started offering rides in Robotaxis on Sunday in Texas, with Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives saying the trips exceeded his expectations from the carmaker. The firm and its chief executive, Elon Musk, unveiled over the weekend the Robotaxi launch on the social media platform X. Shares of Tesla jumped 9.9% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran launched missiles at US bases in Qatar, citing officials, as videos filmed by residents in Qatar showed flashes and explosions. That came about an hour after the country said it had closed its airspace ahead of an anticipated Iranian strike. The news report cited a US and an Israeli official as saying that Iran had fired missiles toward Qatar.

Iran launched 10 missiles toward Qatar, Axios reported Monday, citing an Israeli official.

Most US Treasury yields dropped, with the 10-year slumping 7.3 basis points to 4.3% and the two-year rate sliding 8.1 basis points to 3.83%.

Gold futures rose 0.5% to $3,402.91 per ounce, clawing back all its declines earlier in the session.

Many short- and long-term risks are still associated with the US-Iran-Israel conflict, even though Monday morning was relatively calm, Thierry Wizman, global foreign exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie Group, said in a note Monday.

The risks "touch on Russia's involvement, how China may exploit the conflict, whether Iran gets destabilized, and whether the US sees further political polarization because of the regional conflict," Wizman said. "Until these risks are resolved more definitively, they have the potential to move markets, mainly in an adverse way."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures sank 4% to $70.93 a barrel.

If conditions are appropriate, the Federal Open Market Committee could consider reducing interest rates as soon as its next meeting in July, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said Monday at a research conference sponsored by the International Journal of Central Banking and the Czech National Bank.

"As inflation has declined or come in below expectations over the past few months, we should recognize that inflation appears to be on a sustained path toward 2% and that there will likely be only minimal impacts on overall core PCE inflation from changes to trade policy," Bowman said.

Fed "Governor [Christopher] Waller recently sounded open to a July cut, dismissive of inflation effects from tariffs, and (perhaps) prematurely declared there is no tariff effect showing up in inflation data," Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Scotiabank, said in a note late Friday.

While Waller "is a respected official, it merits noting that his dovish stance is compatible with President Trump's views and that the President must choose a successor to Powell before the Chair's term is up next May," Holt said.

In economic news, the flash reading of manufacturing conditions from S&P Global was unchanged in June from the 52 print in May, compared with an expected decrease to 51 in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The index indicates expansion, out of step with the New York Fed and the Philadelphia Fed readings released earlier.