Wall Street Nears Record, Oil Falls    09/22 09:35

   Wall Street is ticking closer to its record high on Tuesday after the price 
of Brent oil fell back below $100 per barrel.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is ticking 
https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-rates-oil-energy-trump-xi-1f1a267bf455
6c01513f506914eb6359 to its 
https://apnews.com/article/stock-markets-ai-semiconductors-fed-energy-3a23f22469
cd0e0062f711096906525c on Tuesday after the price of Brent oil fell back below 
$100 per barrel.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and pulled within 0.2% of its all-time high set last 
month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 124 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 
a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.4% to its own record.

   Stocks got a boost after the price for a barrel of Brent crude fell 1.9% to 
$98.46. It's come down from nearly $110 last week, though it's still much more 
expensive than the roughly $72 it was fetching before 
https://apnews.com/hub/iran began. It's been swinging with uncertainty about 
when the war will allow https://apnews.com/hub/strait-of-hormuz again from the 
Middle East to customers worldwide.

   The past week's fall for oil prices has pulled Treasury yields down in 
https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESoQEB6zswFX2GB5jfaILB_N4ly5hPaUxgc9_1CSEvs2kn
atk8W3S7wePx7bdja4CO5gcu1NquDQ1rAtdxJSMtwRmXeVAEctNWYSuYinYHanuHyGpdAdiVDrjdYgCX
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fY8C7sk7o_MPBg, which has eased some of the pressure on the stock market. The 
yield on the 10-year Treasury topped 5% last week for the first time since 
2023, and high yields slow the economy by making it more expensive for 
https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-d57cc5
a38163cfef3a7b2639dd3d8d7c.

   The 10-year yield edged down to 4.95% from 4.96% late Monday, though it also 
remains far above where it was before the war with Iran began, 3.97%.

   On Wall Street, stocks of companies with big fuel bills were strong because 
lower oil prices could mean less pressure on costs for not only themselves but 
also for 
https://apnews.com/article/consumer-confidence-inflation-economy-gas-prices-8fdc
fa56f35b9eac2399fe1d167f8fbd. Cruise operator Carnival climbed 4%, and American 
Airlines added 2.2%.

   AutoZone rose 2.7% 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 
https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-warsh-trump-inflation-bab1bcb07e973bf
b2dd0c3e5fbbb73b1 and 
https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESoAEB6zswFdyGMNzM7Ubt2hrHaR96mTFM1dKppMdjJnQ4
SDZatIYWKhsOomOQMFV2dRpO73vI39t7CaIDx5wtuVTFSd_d9VfUf4-vEkK8U9v0veq3yLaUr1cPhvX5
MEIQvOdLok9QOAdIEissZLlmnby6YOvC9D7M6eJxHXUoPIQ-MQ2_wJqiL6Hu7TsmjmIVEs4hlEKFwD1D
IT939SBMIvMP 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 0.9%, 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 U.S. stock market 
has reached the brink of its all-time high despite high oil prices, stubborn 
inflation 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 that trades in the United States jumped 10.3% 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.

   Lagging behind in the market were several AI stocks, particularly chip 
companies. Advanced Micro Devices slipped 0.4%, for example, but that was only 
after it jumped nearly 10% the day before.

   AI stocks were under pressure through the summer on concerns that prices 
shot too high in the frenzy around the technology. More recently, leaders of 
the industry have been calling for a slowdown in the industry's development for 
the safety of humanity.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes ticked higher across much of Europe and 
Asia.

   Stocks rose 0.2% in Hong Kong and 0.1% in Shanghai after Alibaba unveiled 
new https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence chip technologies, including 
what it said was China's most powerful AI chip. That comes just days ahead of 
https://apnews.com/article/trump-xi-summit-tensions-ai-competition-e560910c897fe
db0448eda4cdbfdbaea at which competition to lead on AI technology is expected 
to be a major theme.