NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market is rising Tuesday following reports showing strong profits for Equifax, Hasbro and other companies during the summer, while oil prices eased back after nearing their highest levels since the war with Iran began.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.6 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 667 points, or 1.3 per cent, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, while more swings for the artificial-intelligence industry had the Nasdaq composite up a more modest 0.5 per cent.
Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term, and several companies delivered results for the latest quarter that were higher than analysts expected. Big expectations for growth generally are what have allowed the U.S. stock market to hit records recently despite worries about high inflation, higher interest rates and other challenges weighing on Wall Street.
Equifax rallied 10.7 per cent for one of the market’s biggest gains after reporting a bigger profit for the summer than analysts expected, despite high mortgage rates slowing some parts of its business.
Hasbro climbed 5.9 per cent after the toy company said its “Magic: The Gathering” game made more than US$600 million during a quarter for the first time, even as shoppers broadly feel discouraged by high inflation. Hasbro’s overall profit blew past analysts’ expectations, and it raised its forecasts for revenue growth and an important measure of profitability this year.
Halliburton added 0.8 per cent after reporting profit and revenue that were bigger than analysts expected. CEO Jeff Miller said that the work to restore production and rebuild inventories following “one of the largest energy disruptions in history” will drive demand for its oilfield services.
In the oil market, the price for a barrel of Brent crude erased an early gain to fall 2.5 per cent to US$106.78. Earlier in the morning, it got near US$112 and approached its highest price since the war with Iran began in late February.
The drop in oil prices helped all kinds of stocks and will relieve some of the pressure on inflation if it lasts. Brent’s price has been yo-yoing between US$97 and US$112 per barrel this month on uncertainty about when the energy industry will return to normal.
For now, airlines and other companies with big fuel bills enjoyed the benefit of Tuesday’s drop. American Airlines jumped 7.1 per cent, and United Airlines flew 5.3 per cent higher.
Another winner was Braze, a customer engagement platform. Its stock soared 50.8 per cent to US$45.30 after Salesforce said it would buy the company for US$47.50 in cash for each share. Salesforce fell 0.8 per cent.
Keeping the market in check was General Motors, which sank 4.9 per cent despite reporting a bigger profit than analysts expected. It also announced a program to send up to US$20 billion to investors by buying back its stock.
The pressure is on companies to deliver bigger profits not only now, but also in the future. GM gave a forecasted range for profit over the full year of 2026 whose midpoint fell short of analysts’ expectations.
AI stocks, meanwhile, continued to swirl. They’ve been at the center of the market’s recent uneasiness, as euphoria around the technology’s boom gives way to worries that high interest rates in the bond market will slow the borrowing that’s allowed companies to buy so many AI chips. Last week was the U.S. stock market’s worst since June.
CoreWeave has been particularly shaky. It initially fell more than 6 per cent at the start of Tuesday’s trading, only to swing to a gain of 4.1 per cent.
Such reversals are nothing new for the company, which has borrowed money to buy AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud. A day earlier, it careened between a gain of 7 per cent in the morning and a loss of 3.5 per cent in the afternoon following last week’s tumble of roughly 25 per cent.
Tuesday’s struggles for AI stocks began in Asia, where a South Korean AI company, Elice, confronted a rough welcome to the stock market. Its stock dropped 32 per cent in its first day of trading in Seoul. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 3.7 per cent overall.
In other stock markets abroad, indexes in Europe pared early losses. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.1 per cent, and the FTSE 100 in London fell 0.2 per cent.
A day earlier, indexes fell sharply across Europe following violent protests that could ultimately force governments on the continent to increase their spending to ease voters’ anger. That in turn could put more pressure on their bond markets, which are already strained because of worries about heavy debt loads and strained budgets.
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Stan Choe, The Associated Press
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.
