Oil prices climb, but US stocks hold near their records
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are clawing back some of their sharp drops from earlier in the week on Thursday, but U.S. stocks are remaining near their records as companies like Dollar Tree, Snowflake and Hormel Foods keep piling up profits.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 219 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower after both indexes also set records the day before.
Stocks appear to be less beholden to swings in the oil market, where prices climbed Thursday following the latest threat to the ceasefire in the United States’ war with Iran. U.S. Central Command said Kuwait had intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, following earlier “defensive” strikes by the U.S. military on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 2% to $96.13. That helped send stocks of companies with big fuel bills lower, a day after they had bounced on hopes that the United States and Iran could reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get oil flowing again from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 1%, and Delta Air Lines sank 1.1%.
Even with all the worries about expensive oil and high inflation caused by the war with Iran, the U.S. stock market has run to records largely because companies keep making even bigger piles of profits. They’ve been reporting stronger results for the first three months of 2026 than analysts expected, and stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.
Dollar Tree’s stock soared 15% after it became the latest to report fatter profit than analysts expected. CEO Mike Creedon said improved store conditions helped the retailer make more profit off each $1 in sales during the latest quarter, even as tariffs added to its costs. The company also gave a forecast for profit over the full year that topped analysts’ expectations.
Kohl’s rallied 21.3% after the retailer reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts had feared, while Hormel Foods climbed 8.1% after a strong performance for its Jennie-O ground turkey and exports of its Spam luncheon meat helped it report a better profit than analysts expected.
Snowflake rose 33.3% after saying artificial intelligence continues to be a strong driver of its business, and profit and revenue for the latest quarter exceeded expectations.
Salesforce, meanwhile, fell 2% even though it also reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock has been under pressure in part because of worries that AI-powered rivals could ultimately steal away its business, even as Salesforce touts its own AI offerings.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed after a report said the measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve likes to use accelerated last month but was roughly within economists’ expectations.
It also showed how U.S. households are less able to save money, with the personal savings rate down to a four-year low of 2.6%, “pointing up the financial pressure on lower- and middle-income families,” according to Gary Schlossberg, global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.48%, where it was late Wednesday, but only after it gave up an earlier gain.
High yields in bond markets worldwide recently have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. High yields have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level since last summer, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.
In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3% for one of the world’s larger losses.
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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
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