NEW YORK: Stock markets rose Tuesday (Jul 21) as technology shares rebounded further, while oil prices climbed as Iran targeted US radar and air defence installations in the Gulf.

"Traders have been treated to an odd sight today as oil prices rise in tandem with equities and precious metals," said Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at online trading and investing platform IG.

International benchmark Brent crude struck its highest level since mid-June, at US$91.99 per barrel, before paring gains.

Wall Street stocks spent the entire day in positive territory, with the S\&P 500 finishing up 0.9 per cent.

The stock market "doesn't seem as if it wants to go down at all," said CFRA Research's Sam Stovall, who pointed to positive results from General Motors and others. 

"I just think that Wall Street is expecting the earnings surprises to continue to the upside."

Iran stepped up its attacks in the Middle East on Tuesday, two weeks after its war with the United States resumed, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards saying they had attacked and stopped two "non-compliant oil tankers" attempting to transit the Hormuz Strait.

Tehran has attempted to blockade the strait - through which a fifth of the world's oil supplies transited before the war - as leverage since the US-Israeli attack that kickstarted the war on Feb 28.