Apple Leads Wall Street to More Records05/01 15:22

   The U.S. stock market set more records Friday after Apple, Estee Lauder and 
others joined the list of companies delivering fatter profits for the start of 
the year than analysts expected. 

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market set more records Friday after Apple, 
Estee Lauder and others joined the list of companies delivering fatter profits 
for the start of the year than analysts expected. Easing oil prices also helped 
steady the stock markets around the world that were still open on the May Day 
holiday.

   The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to its latest all-time high and closed out a fifth 
straight winning week. That's its longest such streak since 2024. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average dipped 152 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite added 
0.9% to its own record.

   Apple led the way after the iPhone seller reported stronger profit and 
revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Because it's one of Wall 
Street's biggest stocks in terms of overall size, Apple's rally of 3.3% was by 
far the strongest force lifting the S&P 500.

   Stock prices generally follow the path of corporate profits over the long 
term, and U.S. companies have been blowing past expectations for earnings in 
the first three months of 2026. That's even with the war with Iran and high oil 
prices souring confidence for many U.S. households.

   A little more than a quarter of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported 
already, and 84% of them have topped analysts' estimates, according to FactSet. 
The index is on track to deliver roughly 15% growth in profit from a year 
earlier.

   Estee Lauder's stock climbed 3.4% after reporting better earnings than 
expected, thanks in part to strength in China, and it raised some of its 
upcoming financial forecasts. Sandisk jumped 8.3% after the maker of storage 
for computers blew past analysts' expectations for profit thanks in part to 
voracious demand from data centers.

   Colgate-Palmolive added 2.2% after likewise delivering bigger results than 
expected, though CEO Noel Wallace said it expects "volatile macroeconomic 
conditions and slower category growth to continue in 2026."

   The main uncertainty for the global economy is where oil prices are heading 
because of the Iran war. Oil prices spurted higher early this week on worries 
that the war will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for a long time. That would 
in turn keep oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering 
crude to customers worldwide.

   But such moves have been quick to reverse throughout the war, as hopes rise 
and fall for a reopening of the strait. On Friday, the price for a barrel of 
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2% to settle at $108.17. Brent 
was selling for a little more than $70 per barrel before the war began.

   That rise since the end of February helped the two biggest U.S. oil 
companies report stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. 
But stock prices nevertheless fell for both Exxon Mobil, 1%, and Chevron, 1.4%, 
as oil prices regressed Friday and each reported drops in net income from a 
year earlier.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 21.11 points to 7,230.12. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average dipped 152.87 to 49,499.27, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 
222.13 to 25,114.44.

   The fall in oil prices helped Treasury yields ease in the bond market. So 
did a report in the morning that said growth for U.S. manufacturing was a touch 
softer last month than economists expected.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.38% from 4.40% late Thursday. 
Such dips can make mortgages and other loans for U.S. households and businesses 
cheaper, and they also tend to give upward pushes to prices for stocks and all 
kinds of other investments.

   Many stock markets worldwide were closed for May Day. Among the indexes 
still trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.4%, and London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%.