The US stock market held near its record high on Tuesday after oil prices eased again.
- The S&P 500 fell 0.06 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7,764.64 and is sitting just 0.4% below its all-time high set last month.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 185.14 points, or 0.4%, to 51,863.69.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 122.18 points, or 0.5%, to 27,244.28.
Stocks had been higher in the morning, when the price for a barrel of Brent crude briefly fell below $98. But oil prices later trimmed their losses, and Brent settled at $99.25 per barrel, the
AP reports. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market, as did stock indexes worldwide.
On Wall Street, AutoZone rose 3.3% after the retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its revenue fell short. CEO Phil Daniele said the auto parts seller faced "a difficult selling environment" in the first two months of the quarter, but it improved afterward and "we feel we are well positioned for sales growth" in its upcoming fiscal year. At Thor Industries, which sells recreational vehicles, the mood was more muted. CEO Bob Martin said expensive fuel, high interest rates, and still-high inflation are stretching its customers' budgets, and business "never reached the inflection point many in the industry expected" in its latest fiscal year. Its stock rose 5.5%, though, after it delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Such strong profit reports are one of the main reasons the US stock market has reached the brink of its all-time high despite expensive oil and jitters about whether stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry shot too high. Many companies are close to closing the books on their third quarter of the year, which ends with September. And analysts are forecasting companies in the S&P 500 will report overall growth of nearly 29% for the quarter from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they're right, it would be the third straight quarter of growth better than 25% for the index. And stock prices tend to follow the track of corporate profits over the long term.
On Holding's stock climbed 7.6% after the Swiss sneaker and sportswear company unveiled its financial goals for upcoming years. It also approved a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock through 2029. Such purchases send cash directly to investors and boost the company's per-share performance. On the losing end of Wall Street were several stocks of companies in the oil and gas industry, which were hurt by the drop in crude prices. ConocoPhillips fell 1.8%. Banks also dropped, continuing their weak run since last week, when the Federal Reserve raised the overnight interest rate that it controls for the first time in three years. JPMorgan Chase fell 3.4% and was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
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