Wall Street Rallies to Records         05/05 15:20

   The U.S. stock market rose to records Tuesday after oil prices eased and 
companies kept reporting bigger profits for the start of the year than analysts 
expected.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market rose to records Tuesday after oil 
prices eased and companies kept reporting bigger profits for the start of the 
year than analysts expected.

   The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to top its prior all-time high set at the end of 
last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 356 points, or 0.7%, and the 
Nasdaq composite set its own record after rallying 1%.

   Stocks got a boost after oil prices gave back much of their big jumps from 
Monday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 
4% to $109.87 after briefly cresting $115 on Monday, though it's still well 
above its roughly $70 price from before the war with Iran.

   U.S. military leaders said Tuesday that a ceasefire with Iran remains in 
effect, even though Iran was blamed for attacks against the United Arab 
Emirates, a U.S. ally, the day before. The U.S. military is meanwhile 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.

   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 first three months 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 8.4% 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 from the war 
due to logistics disruptions in the Middle East. But it nevertheless raised its 
forecasts for financial results over the full year.

   Other winners included American Electric Power Co., which rose 1.8%, and 
Cummins, which added 2.8%, after they likewise made more money during the first 
three months of the year than analysts expected.

   Pinterest jumped 6.9% 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, among other factors. "Cheers to beer," CEO Michel Doukeris said, as 
the company's stock that trades in the United States climbed 8.7%.

   They helped offset a drop for Palantir Technologies, which fell 6.9% even 
though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected. Its stock has struggled this year on 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.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 58.47 points to 7,259.22. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average added 356.35 to 49,298.25, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 
238.32 to 25,326.13.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. The CAC 40 rose 1.1% 
in Paris, but the FTSE 100 fell 1.4% in London. Many Asian markets were closed 
for holidays, while 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 following oil's drop in price 
and reports on the U.S. economy that 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. The 
rise has made mortgages and other kinds of loans for U.S. households and 
businesses more expensive.