US stocks fall from their records as oil prices yo-yo
[May 08, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell from their records Thursday after oil
prices yo-yoed as Wall Street waits to see whether its hopes for a deal
to end the Iran war are warranted or just wishful.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil settled at $100.06, down 1.2%,
and continued its decline from more than $115 early this week. But it
swung sharply before getting there, as Iran said it was reviewing the
latest U.S. proposals on ending their war.
The hope is that an end to the war will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and
allow oil tankers trapped in the Persian Gulf to deliver crude again to
customers. Oil and gasoline are still much more expensive than they were
before the war began because of the strait’s closure.
Brent’s price briefly fell near $96 per barrel Thursday after a
spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said, “We expect an
agreement sooner rather than later.” Pakistan has been mediating talks
between the United States and Iran. But Brent later erased much of that
drop and briefly topped $102, which in turn sent stocks lower on Wall
Street.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average dropped 313 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq
composite slipped 0.1% from its own record.
Wall Street saw even sharper swings earlier in the war, when hopes
rallied for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, only to get quickly
dashed. That could happen again. And Iran has created a government
agency to vet and tax vessels seeking passage through the strait, a
shipping data company reported Thursday, a move that could add to costs
for fuel.
Despite all the uncertainties about the war, a powerful parade of U.S.
companies reporting even bigger profits for the start of the year than
analysts expected has helped support the U.S. stock market. Stock prices
tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.
Datadog leaped 31.3% to help lead the U.S. market after the monitoring
and security platform for cloud applications topped analysts’
expectations for profit in the latest quarter.
Albemarle rose 3% after the lithium products and specialty chemicals
company likewise delivered better-than-expected results. Taser maker
Axon Enterprise rallied 10.6% after raising its forecast for revenue
this year in part because of big growth for its counter-drone products.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Whirlpool, which tumbled 11.9%
after reporting much weaker results than analysts expected. It’s
instituting the largest price increases in a decade for its major
appliances in North America, while accelerating cuts to its costs, as it
contends with weaker confidence among U.S. consumers.
Shake Shack dropped 28.3% after its results for the latest quarter fell
well below analysts’ expectations.
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Robert Finnerty, Jr., foreground right, works with colleagues on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP
Photo/Richard Drew)
 McDonald’s stock held steadier and
slipped 0.1% after its revenue for the latest quarter edged past
analysts’ expectations. CEO Chris Kempczinski said high gasoline
prices and consumer anxiety over the Iran war could dent its sales
this spring.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 28.01 points to 7,337.11. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dropped 313.62 to 49,596.97, and the Nasdaq
composite slipped 32.75 to 25,806.20.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose after oil prices pared
their drops. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.38% from
4.36% late Wednesday.
Higher yields can raise rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans
going to U.S. households and businesses, which in turn can slow the
economy. Higher yields also tend to push downward on prices for
stocks and other kinds of investments.
The 10-year Treasury yield was at just 3.97% before the war.
Several reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed. One said more
U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the
increase was not as bad as economists expected. Another report
suggested that productivity for U.S. workers improved by only half
of what economists expected for the latest quarter.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following a stronger
finish in Asia. Stocks dropped 1.5% in London and 1.2% in Paris.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 roared 5.6% higher as trading in Tokyo resumed
following a holiday and caught up with big gains for Asian markets
from earlier in the week. It has soared nearly 71% in the last 12
months on strength for tech stocks benefiting from the boom in
artificial intelligence.
“I think it’s a kind of bubble because buying activity concentrated
on leading AI, artificial intelligence stock and
semiconductor-related stocks. It’s a situation where only
semiconductor stocks are being bought,” said Takashi Hiroki, chief
strategist at MONEX.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to
this report.
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