Airline Stocks Drop After Merger Ruled Out

Oil prices climbed on Monday following the latest rise in US-Iran tensions, but the moves were more modest than they were earlier in the war. US stocks, meanwhile, gave back a bit of their record-breaking rally.

• The S&P 500 fell 16.92 points, or 0.2%, from its all-time high to 7,109.14.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.87 points, or less than 0.1%, to 49,442.56.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 64.09 points, or 0.3%, to 24,404.39.

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. The relatively muted moves suggest investors still see a possibility of a US-Iranian agreement that could get oil flowing again from the Middle East to customers worldwide, the AP reports.

It's a turnaround from the last 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 US decision to press ahead with its blockade of Iranian ports. 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.

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 Carnival lost 0.7%. 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. Its stock fell 3.1%.