U.S. stocks rallied to the edge of their all-time high after easing oil prices helped calm Wall Street’s worries that inflation could get even worse. The S&P 500 jumped 1.5% Monday and is just 0.1% below its record set earlier this summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to an all-time high, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.1%. Brent crude's price fell 4.7% after President Donald Trump said he would hold off on ordering new strikes against Iran. That helped Treasury yields to fall in the bond market. Stocks of airlines and other companies with big fuel bills rallied.
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U.S. stocks rose to the finish of a wild July as Amazon leaped, Apple sank and rising oil prices worsened worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% Friday after veering between gains and losses through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1%. Amazon soared after delivering a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected, suggesting its big AI investments may be paying off. Apple dropped after giving a lackluster forecast for upcoming revenue growth. Treasury yields climbed as worries built in the bond market about inflation potentially remaining high.
A monster day for Microsoft following signals that its big spending on AI is translating into profits led a powerful rebound on Wall Street, while AI stocks regained some of their sharp recent losses. The S&P 500 rallied 1.7% Thursday and more than recovered its drop from the prior day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.8%. Microsoft delivered a bigger profit than analysts expected, which helped offset Meta Platforms's drop after it raised its forecast for AI investments. Longer-term Treasury yields held relatively steady a day after soaring on worries about inflation. Oil prices eased.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose for the fourth consecutive week to its highest level in a year, another setback for prospective homebuyers hoping for a break from elevated home loan borrowing costs. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.66% from 6.58% last week. One year ago, the average rate was 6.72%. Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week.
AP Wire
The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday despite persistently high inflation and a spike in energy prices caused by the Iran war. The Fed’s rate-setting committee reached the 9-3 decision after two days of deliberations, marking the fifth straight meeting at which the benchmark rate was kept at around 3.6%. Three Fed officials dissented in favor of a rate increase, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh described the policy discussion to reporters as a “good family fight.” Inflation has been stuck above the central bank’s 2% target for more than five years and Wall Street still expects a rate hike in September.
Oil prices got back to jumping, while sinking technology stocks dragged Wall Street lower amid uncertainty about what the Federal Reserve will do to get high inflation under control. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% Wednesday after briefly erasing all of an earlier drop of 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 2.2%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.7%. The price of Brent oil leaped back above $88 per barrel to add further pressure on inflation. The Fed pledged again to get inflation back down to 2%, but it offered few clues on how it would do so after holding interest rates steady.
Stocks drifted to a mixed close on Wall Street and oil prices fell after the U.S. and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting negotiations to end their war. The S&P 500 ended barely changed Monday, up less than 0.1%. The index is coming off two straight weekly losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%, weighed down by a 5% drop in AI chip giant Nvidia. After shooting as high as $102 a barrel last week, Brent crude fell 6.3% to settle at $85.87 per barrel. Treasury yields fell in the bond market.
Stocks drifted on Wall Street and oil prices fell for the first time in a week, even as heavy fighting in the Middle East again threatened to slow the global flow of oil. The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%. All three indexes finished the week lower. After shooting to $102 a barrel a day earlier, Brent crude fell almost 4% to settle at $96.78 a barrel. Treasury yields moved lower in the bond market. European markets rose and Asian markets closed lower.
According to an Associated Press analysis, more than 4.2 million people across the country defaulted on student loans between April 2025 and March 2026. The total number of borrowers in default has reached a record 9.5 million. The surge includes many who went off track in 2024, when loan payments started coming due again after a pandemic-era freeze. Hundreds of thousands more are months behind on payments, and another surge in defaults could be on the way. Borrowers enter default after missing payments for nine months. The consequences can upend people’s lives. It hurts credit ratings and can lead to the debt being sent to collections.
Drops for computer chipmakers and other AI winners dragged down stock markets worldwide. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% Thursday, even though more stocks rose within the index than fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.5%. Wall Street mostly rose after more U.S companies reported better earnings for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But drops for Nvidia and other chip companies overshadowed them. The losses were sharper in South Korea, where AI winners whipped lower. Yields rose in the bond market, and oil prices erased an early gain to dip modestly.