US Stocks Pull Back Amid Mixed Earnings and Oil Surge
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% and halted a weekslong rally that had erased all its losses because of the war and then carried it to all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179 points (0.4%) while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9% from its own record.
Tesla helped drag the market lower after sinking 3.6% even though it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on a big jump in Tesla?s forecast for spending this year, as it builds factories to make robots and other products.
ServiceNow dropped even more, 17.7%, even though its results for the latest quarter matched analysts? expectations. The company has been under pressure, along with much of the broad software industry, because of worries that rivals powered by artificial-intelligence technology could undercut its business.
Oil prices surged amid escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where a U.S.-Iran ceasefire holds but tankers can't pass Iran's coast to deliver crude. The U.S. military seized an Iranian oil-smuggling tanker Thursday, following Iran's Revolutionary Guards' capture of two vessels.
President Trump ordered U.S. forces to shoot and kill Iranian boats laying mines in the strait. Brent crude for June delivery jumped 3.1% to $105.07, peaking at $107, while the S&P 500 dipped 1.3% before recovering half its loss.
American Airlines Group rose 2.4% after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Southwest Airlines lost 4.1% after reporting weaker quarterly results than analysts expected. IBM sank 8.3% despite reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. Paramount Skydance fell 4.5% after Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved selling the business to Paramount. Warner Bros. Discovery sank 1.6%. Texas Instruments helped limit Wall Street?s losses after breezing past analysts? expectations for profit in the latest quarter.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong?s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and Japan?s Nikkei 225 sank 0.7% for two of the bigger losses. South Korea?s Kospi climbed 0.9% after the government reported better-than-expected economic growth for the start of the year, boosted by strong exports, particularly of computer chips used in the AI boom.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury erased an early dip and rose to 4.32% from 4.30% late Wednesday as oil prices accelerated.
