AP Wire
  • Updated

Stock markets rallied worldwide, and oil prices eased after the United States and Iran reached a tentative deal to get the global flow of crude going again. The S&P 500 rose 1.7% Monday on hopes that this time, the announcement of an Iran-U.S. agreement will mean a long-term fix to a conflict that has worsened inflation around the world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% to a record, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 3.1%. Brent crude’s price fell 4.8%, helping stocks of companies with big fuel bills to jump. AI stocks also rallied following their sharp swings over the last couple weeks.

Stock markets rallied worldwide, and oil prices eased after the United States and Iran reached a tentative deal to get the global flow of crude going again. The S&P 500 rose 1.7% Monday on hopes that this time, the announcement of an Iran-U.S. agreement will mean a long-term fix to a conflict that has worsened inflation around the world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 3.1%. Brent crude’s price fell 4.8%, helping stocks of companies with big fuel bills to lead the market. AI stocks also rallied following their sharp swings over the last couple weeks.

Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years, new data showed this week, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.  The Labor Department says consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight monthly increase. Meanwhile, U.S. producer prices, inflation measured before it gets to consumers, climbed last month at the fastest pace since November 2022, fueled by a surge in energy prices after the start of the Iran war. That didn't slow down U.S. markets, which notched another winning week.

Think you can ignore all the hubbub around SpaceX, Elon Musk and IPOs? Your 401(k) won’t. Musk’s rocket company launched 19.2% higher in the first day of trading for its stock Friday, making it worth a total of $2.1 trillion. Whether or not you believe it deserves to be worth more than Exxon Mobil, Bank of America and Coca-Cola combined, the collective market does. And by virtue of having that big a value, SpaceX will soon join some high-profile stock indexes. That matters for investors and their 401(k) accounts because they’re depending more than ever on funds that simply mimic these indexes.

  • Updated

Shares of SpaceX soared 19% in their Wall Street debut, making the rocket maker’s founder and CEO Elon Musk the first-ever trillionaire. The shares opened at $150 and finished Friday slightly below $161. That price gave the company a market value of around $2.1 trillion. Forbes estimates that Musk, who is also a major shareholder in Tesla, is now worth $1.1 trillion. Musk says SpaceX is going public because it needs money to fund its ambitions of putting satellites and data centers in space and eventually establishing a colony of people on Mars. The $75 billion in proceeds from the IPO tops the previous high of $26 billion for Saudi Aramco's IPO in 2019.

  • Updated

U.S. stocks rose after oil prices fell again, and SpaceX soared in its highly anticipated debut on Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday. The Dow added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.3%. Stocks got a lift from a 3.4% drop for Brent crude oil's price, as hopes remain for a potential U.S.-Iran deal to get oil flowing globally again. SpaceX leaped 19.2% in its first day of trading, suggesting investors still have plenty of demand for AI-related stocks. Other AI stocks were mixed following their sharp swings over the last week.

U.S. stocks rose after oil prices fell again, and SpaceX soared in its highly anticipated debut on Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday. The Dow added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.3%. Stocks got a lift from a 3.4% drop for Brent crude oil’s price, as hopes remain for a potential U.S.-Iran deal to get oil flowing globally again. SpaceX soared 19.2% in its first day of trading, suggesting investors still have plenty of demand for AI-related stocks. Other AI stocks were mixed following their sharp swings over the last week.

  • Updated

U.S. stocks rallied to their best day in two months, and oil prices fell after President Donald Trump called off his threat to bomb Iran in the evening. That raised hopes Thursday for a potential deal to get the global flow of oil going again. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8%, coming off a back-to-back drop that had yanked it back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.5%. Strong gains for chip stocks helped offset a slide for Oracle. Treasury yields eased sharply in the bond market.

U.S. stocks rallied to their best day in two months, and oil prices fell after President Donald Trump called off his threat to bomb Iran in the evening. That raised hopes Thursday for a potential deal to get the global flow of oil going again. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8%, coming off a back-to-back drop that had yanked it back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.5%. Strong gains for chip stocks helped offset a slide for Oracle. Treasury yields eased sharply in the bond market.

  • Updated

First lady Melania Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have announced the launch of Fostering the Future Accounts, designed to help foster children. The accounts are a spinoff of the Trump Accounts investment funds meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parent opens one. Under the new initiative, child welfare agencies will have the ability to act as a guardian for children in foster care for the purposes of opening an account. The first lady says this move provides foster children with a chance at asset ownership and long-term wealth. Twenty-three Republican governors have pledged support. There are about 330,000 children in the U.S. foster care system.