Oil prices rise, US stocks give back bit of their record-breaking rally

Oil prices climbed Monday following the latest rise of tensions between the United States and Iran but the moves were more modest than they were earlier in the war US stocks meanwhile gave back a bit of their recordbreaking rallyThe SampP 500 slipped 0237 from its alltime high for just its second drop in 14 days after the United States seized an Iranianflagged cargo vessel that it said had tried to evade its blockade of Iranian ports The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 4 points or less than 0137 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0337The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil the international standard climbed 5637 to settle at USD 9548 on worries that Iran could keep petroleum pent up in the Persian Gulf if it continues to block tankers from exiting the Strait of HormuzIts a turnaround from the prior trading day on Wall Street when stocks soared and oil prices tumbled after Iran said Friday it was reopening the strait to commercial traffic That enthusiasm vanished quickly after Iran closed the strait again on Saturday following the US decision to press ahead with its blockade of Iranian portsThe next big deadline is looming on Tuesday night at 8 pm Eastern time which is early Wednesday Tehran time when a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran is scheduled to expireStill oil prices remain well below the high points reached so far in the war Brent crudes price briefly got above 119 per barrel when fears were at their highest And the SampP 500 is still above where it was before the warMondays relatively muted moves suggest investors still see a possibility of a USIranian agreement that could get oil flowing again from the Middle East to customers worldwide It would be in both countries economic interests to end the warCompanies with big fuel bills fell to some of Wall Streets largest losses following the rise in crudes cost as they have through much of the warNorwegian Cruise Line Holdings dropped 3537 and Royal Caribbean Group lost 1137United Airlines sank 2837 and American Airlines fell 4237 after American said its not interested in a merger with United Airline stocks had flown higher last week following a report saying United wanted to combine with its rivalOn the winning side of Wall Street was TopBuild a distributor of insulation and building products which jumped 19437 QXO is buying it in a deal valued at roughly 17 billionQXO said the deal would make it the continents secondlargest publicly traded building products distributor and its stock fell 3137All told the SampP 500 fell 1692 points to 710914 The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 487 to 4944256 and the Nasdaq composite slipped 6409 to 2440439One big reason the US stock market has been so strong recently is the big profits that US companies have been reporting for the first three months of 2026 as well as expectations for continued growthWhile reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected several of the biggest US banks said last week that they see the US economy remaining resilient particularly because of solid spending by US consumersDespite geopolitical risks the earnings recovery remains intact according to Morgan Stanley strategists led by Michael Wilson Its remained so solid that analysts have even raised their profit expectations since the war began for the spring of 2026Along with JPMorgan Chase Bank of America and other big banks about 1037 of companies in the SampP 500 have already reported their results for the start of 2026 Nearly nine out of 10 have delivered a bigger profit than analysts expected according to FactSetIf the rest of the companies in the index match analysts expectations overall earnings per share for SampP 500 companies will end up 1337 higher than a year earlier according to FactSetThats big because stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term Other companies scheduled to report their results this week include UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday Tesla on Wednesday and Procter amp Gamble on FridayIn stock markets abroad indexes fell in Europe following a better finish in Asia Germanys DAX lost 1237 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng added 0837 for two of the worlds bigger movesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever