US stocks fall on a shaky Wall Street as Brent oil briefly barrels above
$107
[April 24, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks pulled back from their record heights on a
shaky Wall Street Thursday following mixed profit reports from Tesla and
other big companies. Oil prices, meanwhile, jumped on worries about what
will happen next in the war with Iran.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% and halted a weekslong rally that had erased all
its losses because of the war and then carried it to all-time highs. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179 points, or 0.4%, while the
Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9% from its own record.
Tesla helped drag the market lower after sinking 3.6% even though it
reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Investors focused instead on a big jump in Tesla’s forecast for spending
this year, as it builds factories to make robots and other products.
“You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital
expenditures,” Elon Musk told investors late Wednesday, “but I think
well justified for a substantially increased future revenue stream.”
ServiceNow dropped even more, 17.7%, even though its results for the
latest quarter matched analysts’ expectations. The company has been
under pressure, along with much of the broad software industry, because
of worries that rivals powered by artificial-intelligence technology
could undercut its business.
In the oil market, prices leaped as uncertainty built about what will
happen with the Strait of Hormuz. A ceasefire is still in place between
the United States and Iran, but oil tankers in the Persian Gulf aren’t
able to get through the narrow waterway off Iran’s coast and deliver
crude to customers.
The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the
smuggling of Iranian oil, a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary
Guards took control of two vessels in the strait. President Donald Trump
also said Thursday he ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill”
Iranian boats that deploy mines to gum up traffic in the strait.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June rose 3.1%
to settle at $105.07 and at one point topped $107. That peak coincided
with a sudden drawdown for stocks, and the S&P 500 fell as much as 1.3%
before it almost as instantly erased half the loss.
The price for a barrel of Brent to be delivered in July, which is the
more popular contract for traders, settled at $99.35 after getting as
high as $101.
More expensive oil has hurt airlines in particular because of the
industry’s big fuel bills, and stocks diverged in the industry following
the latest profit reports.
American Airlines Group rose 2.4% after reporting better profit and
revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. American said
demand was strong for flights, and it saw the nine best weeks for
revenue intake in its 100-year history.
Southwest Airlines lost 4.1% after reporting weaker quarterly results
than analysts expected. It said it would not give an updated forecast
for profit this year because of “the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.”
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Traders Jim Bodner, left, and Chris Lagana work on the floor of the
New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard
Drew)
 Also on the losing end of Wall
Street was IBM, which sank 8.3% despite reporting better profit and
revenue for the latest quarter than expected. Investors focused on
potentially discouraging numbers underneath the surface, including
decelerating growth in trends for its software business.
Paramount Skydance fell 4.5% after Warner Bros. Discovery
shareholders approved selling the business to Paramount. Warner
Bros. Discovery sank 1.6%.
Texas Instruments helped limit Wall Street’s losses after breezing
past analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. CEO
Haviv Ilan said the semiconductor company is benefiting from growth
led by industrial and data center customers, and its 19.4% leap was
the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 29.50 points to 7,108.40. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dipped 179.71 to 49,310.32, and the Nasdaq
composite sank 219.06 to 24,438.50.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and
Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank
0.7% for two of the bigger losses.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% after the government reported
better-than-expected economic growth for the start of the year,
boosted by strong exports, particularly of computer chips used in
the AI boom. Semiconductor supplier SK Hynix said its revenue for
the latest quarter jumped more than analysts expected largely
because of AI-related demand.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury erased an
early dip and rose to 4.32% from 4.30% late Wednesday as oil prices
accelerated.
A report in the morning said slightly more U.S. workers applied for
unemployment benefits last week, but the number is still at a
historically healthy level. A separate, preliminary report on U.S.
business output from S&P Global also suggested growth is improving a
bit from its near-stagnation seen in March.
___
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this
report.
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