Financial Markets                      05/05 09:35

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is rising toward records Tuesday 
after an easing of oil prices let Wall Street turn its focus back to the big 
profits that companies keep producing.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and was on track to top its all-time high set at the 
end of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248 points, or 0.5%, 
as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was heading toward its 
own record after climbing 0.7%.

   Stocks got a boost after oil prices gave back some of their big jumps from 
Monday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 
3.3% to $110.70 after briefly topping $115 on Monday, though it's still well 
above its roughly $70 price from before the war with Iran.

   A ceasefire in the war appears to be holding, even after the United Arab 
Emirates said Monday that Iran fired missiles and drones at it. The U.S. 
military is trying to force open a path in the Strait of Hormuz, which would 
allow oil tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf and hopefully bring 
down the price of crude.

   Iran's powerful parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher 
Qalibaf, accused the United States of undermining regional security with the 
effort to end Iran's stranglehold on the strait and warned that Tehran will 
respond.

   Even with the war ongoing, the U.S. stock market has remained remarkably 
resilient on its record-setting run. That's in large part due to the strong 
profits that U.S. companies have reported for the start of 2026 despite the 
rise in oil prices since the end of February.

   "This has been a 'why ask why' market,'" according to Scott Wren, senior 
global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "You just have to 
go with it."

   Even though many risks are still weighing on the market, "investors are 
looking at earnings" and how much companies are spending on AI data centers and 
other investments, he said.

   DuPont's stock rallied 8.7% Tuesday after the chemical giant led another 
cavalcade of companies reporting better-than-expected profits for the latest 
quarter.

   DuPont said its water technologies business felt some impact because of the 
war with Iran due to logistics disruptions in the Middle East. But it 
nevertheless raised its forecasts for financial results over the full year due 
in part to its strong start to 2026.

   Other winners included American Electric Power Co., which rose 1.8%, and 
Cummins, which added 1.7%, after they likewise made more money during the first 
three months of the year than analysts expected.

   Pinterest soared 14% after the online bulletin board topped Wall Street's 
first-quarter sales and profit targets as its number of active monthly users 
jumped 11% to 631 million.

   AB InBev likewise topped analysts' profit forecasts, and it credited growth 
for its Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra brands outside of their home 
markets. "Cheers to beer," CEO Michel Doukeris said, as the company's stock 
that trades in the United States jumped 9.2%.

   They helped offset a drop for Palantir Technologies, which fell 4.3% even 
though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected. Its stock has struggled this year with worries about increased 
competition, like many software companies have. Its stock is also coming off a 
huge run where it more than doubled in each of the last three years.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. The CAC 40 rose 0.6% 
in Paris, but the FTSE 100 fell 1.7% in London. Many Asian markets were closed 
for holidays, as Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.8%.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% after the central bank raised its 
benchmark interest rate to 4.35%, saying conflict in the Middle East had 
sharply increased fuel and commodity prices that were already adding to 
inflation.

   In the U.S. bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave back 
some of Monday's gains and reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed.

   One report said growth for U.S. services businesses unexpectedly decelerated 
last month, with some companies saying the war is slowing spending. A separate 
report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the 
end of March than economists expected, an encouraging signal for the job market.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.42% from 4.45% late Monday.

   That's still well above its 3.97% level from just before the war began. That 
rise has made mortgages and other kinds of loans for U.S. households and 
businesses more expensive.

   ___

   AP Writers Chan Ho-him, Matt Ott and Rod McGuirk contributed.

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