By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging near their records Wednesday as oil prices fall and ease the pressure on households and businesses worldwide.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 172 points, or 0.3%, as of noon Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.
Stocks of companies with big fuel bills helped lead the way on hopes that lower oil prices will remove a big drag on their profits. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings climbed 4.4%, and United Airlines rallied 6.6%. Delta Air Lines rose 4.1% and is on track to set an all-time high.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 3.4% to $96.19 after the ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to hold despite the U.S. military launching what it called “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell even more, 4.2%, to $89.96 on hopes that the United States and Iran can reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf for deliveries again.
Stocks have been able to run to records despite the painful inflation and uncertainty caused by high oil prices largely because companies have reported surprisingly strong profits for the start of 2026, and the forecast is for them to continue.
Bath & Body Works rallied 10.4%, and Abercrombie & Fitch climbed 12.1% after both reported bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. That’s even as U.S. consumers continue to say they’re feeling discouraged about the economy and inflation.
Lululemon Athletica rose 4% after reaching a deal with its founder, Chip Wilson, where it will add a former chief marketing officer of ESPN and a former co-CEO of On to its board of directors.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Dick’s Sporting Goods, which dropped 4.1% despite delivering a profit for the latest quarter that edged past expectations. Analysts pointed to how much profit it wrung out of each $1 in revenue, which some called a bit weak.
Oil-and-gas stocks also sank, hurt by the dropping prices for crude. Exxon Mobil fell 1.2%, and Chevron slipped 0.9%. Halliburton dropped 4.8% to bring its gain for the year so far back toward 40%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after falling oil prices took pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.48% from 4.50% late Tuesday and from 4.67% roughly a week ago.
It’s a respite following recent gains for yields in bond markets worldwide, which 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 artificial-intelligence data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi was one of the world’s best performers and jumped 2.3% after SK Hynix, which is a big beneficiary of the artificial-intelligence boom, soared 9.3%.
A day before, Micron Technology surged to become the latest Big Tech company to be worth more than $1 trillion on AI excitement. Its stock has more than tripled already in 2026, and analysts at UBS said Tuesday it could soar even more because of how fundamentally AI has improved demand for computer memory.
AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
