Financial Markets                      04/20 15:31

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- 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. U.S. stocks, meanwhile, gave back a bit of 
their record-breaking rally.

   The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% from its all-time high for just its second drop in 
14 days after the United States seized an Iranian-flagged 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 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, 
climbed 5.6% to settle at $95.48 on worries that Iran could keep petroleum pent 
up in the Persian Gulf if it continues to block tankers from exiting the Strait 
of Hormuz.

   It's 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 Saturday following the U.S. decision to press ahead 
with its blockade of Iranian ports.

   The next big deadline is looming on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern time, 
which is early Wednesday Tehran time, when a ceasefire agreement between the 
United States and Iran is scheduled to expire.

   Still, oil prices remain well below the high points reached so far in the 
war. Brent crude's price briefly got above $119 per barrel when fears were at 
their highest. And the S&P 500 is still above where it was before the war.

   Monday's relatively muted moves suggest investors still see a possibility of 
a U.S.-Iranian 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 war.

   Companies with big fuel bills fell to some of Wall Street's larger losses 
following the rise in crude's cost, as they have through much of the war.

   Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings dropped 3.5%, and Royal Caribbean Group lost 
1.1%.

   United Airlines sank 2.8%, and American Airlines fell 4.2% after American 
said it's not interested in a merger with United. Airline stocks had flown 
higher last week following a report saying United wanted to combine with its 
rival.

   On the winning side of Wall Street was TopBuild, a distributor of insulation 
and building products, which jumped 19.4%. QXO is buying it in a deal valued at 
roughly $17 billion.

   QXO said the deal would make it the continent's second-largest publicly 
traded building products distributor, and its stock fell 3.1%.

   All told, the S&P 500 fell 16.92 points to 7,109.14. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average dipped 4.87 to 49,442.56, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 
64.09 to 24,404.39.

   One big reason the U.S. stock market has been so strong recently is the big 
profits that U.S. companies have been reporting for the first three months of 
2026, as well as expectations for continued growth.

   While reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected, several of the biggest U.S. banks said last week that they see the 
U.S. economy remaining resilient, particularly because of solid spending by 
U.S. consumers.

   "Despite geopolitical risks, the earnings recovery remains intact," 
according to Morgan Stanley strategists led by Michael Wilson. It's remained so 
solid that analysts have even raised their profit expectations since the war 
began for the spring of 2026.

   Along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and other big banks, about 10% of 
companies in the S&P 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 FactSet.

   If the rest of the companies in the index match analysts' expectations, 
overall earnings per share for S&P 500 companies will end up 13% higher than a 
year earlier, according to FactSet.

   That's 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 & Gamble 
on Friday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following a better finish in 
Asia. Germany's DAX lost 1.2%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.8% for two of 
the world's bigger moves.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this 
report.

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