(Recasts with preliminary closing details, adds comment)

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Oil retreats after previous week's surge

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U.S. Steel up as Trump approves $14.9 bln Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) bid

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Fed expected to keep interest rates unchanged this week

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed higher

on Monday, as oil prices retreated after the Israel-Iran attacks

left crude production and exports unaffected, easing investor

concerns about the potential for higher energy prices to stoke

inflation.

Crude prices settled down more than 1% on hopes a

truce was on the horizon between Israel and Iran after days of

missile strikes, as Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump

to force a ceasefire in the four-day-old aerial war, while

Israel's prime minister said his country was on the "path to

victory."

Oil prices had surged more than 7% on Friday after Israel

began bombing Iran.

Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Trump to

use his influence with Israel to agree to an immediate

ceasefire, in return for Iran's flexibility in nuclear

negotiations, sources told Reuters.

"The wild card is really what's going to happen to oil

prices ... any little geopolitical move can have pretty big

impacts on that sector and in this economy also," said George

Young, portfolio manager with Villere & Co in New Orleans.

"The cases that the consumer pulls in their horns and their

nerves about inflation and don't spend, well, that's going to

have a direct impact on earnings, it doesn't matter which sector

of the economy you've invested in."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained

56.29 points, or 0.94%, to end at 6,033.26 points, while the

Nasdaq Composite gained 294.73 points, or 1.52%, to

19,701.56. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 317.79

points, or 0.76%, to 42,519.14.

Investors are also awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve's

monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when policymakers are

widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

Money markets are largely not expecting the Fed to cut rates

until September, pricing in a 61.1% chance for a cut of at least

25 basis points, according to LSEG data.

"Interest rates are still higher and so that one is a bit

tough to fathom because perhaps markets are still anticipating

some inflation," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of

Cresset Capital in Chicago.

"If nothing else, just the heightened uncertainty, combined

with the tariffs is probably keeping the Fed sidelined."

Economic data expected this week includes monthly retail

sales, import prices and weekly jobless claims.

Tech and communication services led S&P

sector gains while utilities and energy were

the worst performers.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index jumped, led

by a surge in Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) after Piper Sandler

raised its price target on the chipmaker.

UPS and FedEx ( FDX ) edged up after the Trump

Organization launched a self-branded mobile network, dubbed

Trump Mobile, and named the companies as shipping partners.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics ( SRPT ) plummeted after the

company disclosed a second case of a patient dying due to acute

liver failure after receiving its gene therapy for a rare form

of muscular dystrophy.

U.S. Steel rose after Trump approved Nippon Steel's ( NISTF )

$14.9 billion bid for the company.