Wall Street rebounds, oil prices fall, ASX set to rise
Stan Choe
The US stock market is soaring towards records after easing oil prices allowed Wall Street to turn its attention back to the massive profits companies continue to produce.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent and was on track to hit an all-time high at the end of last week. The Dow Jones was up 300 points, or 0.6 percent, and the Nasdaq composite was on track for a record of its own after gaining 1.1 percent. The Australian share market is poised for a rally, with futures pointing to a gain of 51 points, or 0.6 per cent, at the open. The ASX fell 0.2 per cent on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank announced its third successive rate hike. The Australian dollar was trading at 71.86¢ at 5.11am AEST.
Stocks rose after oil prices gave back some of Monday’s big gains. The barrel price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 3.7 percent to $110.19 after briefly hitting $115 on Monday; however, this price is still well above the pre-war price of approximately US$70 with Iran.
A ceasefire with Iran remains in effect, U.S. military leaders said Tuesday, even though Iran was blamed for attacks on the United Arab Emirates the day before. Meanwhile, the U.S. military is trying to force open a path through the Strait of Hormuz that it hopes will allow oil tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf and lower crude oil prices.
Even as the war continued, the US stock market remained remarkably resilient during its record-breaking run. This is largely due to the strong profits that US companies have reported at the beginning of 2026 despite the rise in oil prices since the end of February.
“This was 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.”
Although many risks still weigh 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 shares gained 7.6 percent as the chemical giant led the group of companies reporting better-than-expected profits in the latest quarter.
DuPont said its water technologies business felt some impact from the war due to logistical disruptions in the Middle East. But it still raised its forecasts for financial results for the full year.
Other winners included American Electric Power Co., up 3.1 percent. and Cummins, up 2.2 percent after making more money than analysts expected in the first three months of the year.
Pinterest rose 9.2 percent and monthly active users rose 11 percent to 631 million after the online bulletin board beat Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets.
AB InBev likewise exceeded analysts’ profit forecasts and stated that its Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra brands were growing outside their home markets. While the company’s shares traded in the USA rose by 9.2 percent, CEO Michel Doukeris said, “Hail to beer.”
These helped offset Palantir Technologies’ 6.6 percent decline in the latest quarter, even though it reported stronger results than analysts expected. Shares have struggled this year on rising competition concerns, as have many software companies. Stocks are also on a big rise, more than doubling in each of the last three years.
In foreign stock markets, indices in Europe were mixed. The CAC 40 rose 1.1 percent in Paris, while the FTSE 100 fell 1.4 percent in London. While many Asian markets were closed for holidays, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.8 percent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.2 per cent after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.35 per cent, saying conflicts in the Middle East had sharply increased fuel and commodity prices, which are already contributing to inflation.
In the US bond market, Treasury yields fell after oil prices gave back some of Monday’s gains and reports on the US economy were mixed.
Growth of U.S. services businesses slowed unexpectedly last month, one said, as some companies said the war had slowed spending. A separate report said U.S. employers posted slightly more jobs at the end of March than economists expected; This is an encouraging signal for the job market.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.42 percent from 4.45 percent at the end of Monday. This rate is still well above the 3.97 percent level just before the war began. This increase has made mortgages and other types of loans more expensive for U.S. households and businesses.
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