By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The U.S. stock market is rising toward\u00a0records<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday after an easing of oil prices let Wall Street turn its focus back to the\u00a0big profits that companies keep producing<\/a>.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and was on track to top its all-time high set at the end of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was heading toward its own record after climbing 0.7%.<\/p>\n Stocks got a boost after oil prices gave back some of their\u00a0big jumps from Monday<\/a>. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.3% to $110.70 after briefly topping $115 on Monday, though it\u2019s still well above its roughly $70 price from before the\u00a0war with Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n A ceasefire<\/a>\u00a0in the war appears to be holding, even after the United Arab Emirates said Monday that Iran fired missiles and drones at it. The U.S. military is trying to force open a path in the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, which would allow oil tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf and hopefully bring down the price of crude.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s powerful parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, accused the United States of undermining regional security with the effort to end Iran\u2019s stranglehold on the strait and warned that Tehran will respond.<\/p>\n Even with the war ongoing, the U.S. stock market has remained remarkably resilient on its record-setting run. That\u2019s in large part due to the strong profits that U.S. companies have reported for the start of 2026 despite the rise in oil prices since the end of February.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a \u2018why ask why\u2019 market,\u2019\u201d according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. \u201cYou just have to go with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though many risks are still weighing on the market, \u201cinvestors are looking at earnings\u201d and how much companies are spending on AI data centers and other investments, he said.<\/p>\n DuPont\u2019s stock rallied 8.7% Tuesday after the chemical giant led another cavalcade of companies reporting better-than-expected profits for the latest quarter.<\/p>\n DuPont said its water technologies business felt some impact because of the war with Iran due to logistics disruptions in the Middle East. But it nevertheless raised its forecasts for financial results over the full year due in part to its strong start to 2026.<\/p>\n Other winners included American Electric Power Co., which rose 1.8%, and Cummins, which added 1.7%, after they likewise made more money during the first three months of the year than analysts expected.<\/p>\n Pinterest soared 14% after the online bulletin board topped Wall Street\u2019s first-quarter sales and profit targets as its number of active monthly users jumped 11% to 631 million.<\/p>\n AB InBev likewise topped analysts\u2019 profit forecasts, and it credited growth for its Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra brands outside of their home markets. \u201cCheers to beer,\u201d CEO Michel Doukeris said, as the company\u2019s stock that trades in the United States jumped 9.2%.<\/p>\n They helped offset a drop for Palantir Technologies, which fell 4.3% even though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock has struggled this year with worries about increased competition, like many software companies have. Its stock is also coming off a huge run where it more than doubled in each of the last three years.<\/p>\n In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. The CAC 40 rose 0.6% in Paris, but the FTSE 100 fell 1.7% in London. Many Asian markets were closed for holidays, as Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng fell 0.8%.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.35%, saying conflict in the Middle East had sharply increased fuel and commodity prices that were already adding to inflation.<\/p>\n In the U.S. bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave back some of Monday\u2019s gains and reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed.<\/p>\n One report said growth for U.S. services businesses unexpectedly decelerated last month, with some companies saying the war is slowing spending. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of March than economists expected, an encouraging signal for the job market.<\/p>\n The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.42% from 4.45% late Monday.<\/p>\n