Financial Markets                      05/22 09:33

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is rising toward the finish of an 
eighth straight winning week on Friday, which would be its longest such streak 
since 2023.

   The S&P 500 added 0.6% and pulled closer to its all-time high set in the 
middle of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 307 points, or 
0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

   Ross Stores climbed 7.7% after the off-price retailer reported profit and 
revenue for the latest quarter that easily cleared analysts' expectations. CEO 
Jim Conroy said it saw strong customer traffic through the three months, and 
the company may have benefited from households spending their tax refunds.

   Estee Lauder jumped 11.5% after saying it was no longer considering a 
possible merger with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and beauty products company.

   Workday rose 6.5%, and Zoom Communications jumped 15.5% after both delivered 
better profit reports for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

   They're the latest companies to join the long list topping analysts' 
expectations for growth in profit for the start of 2026. Such strong reports 
have helped U.S. stocks rally to records, even as pressure grows from high 
inflation created by the war with Iran.

   Oil prices were calmer Friday following yo-yo moves earlier in the week. 
They've been swinging hour-to-hour because of uncertainty about when the United 
States and Iran may find a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which would 
allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf again and deliver crude to customers 
worldwide.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 
0.5% to $103.05. Benchmark U.S. crude, meanwhile, rose 0.4% to $96.68 per 
barrel after erasing an earlier modest dip.

   Worries about inflation staying high because of the war have pushed bond 
yields higher worldwide, threatening to slow economies worldwide and undercut 
prices for stocks, bitcoin and all kinds of other investments. They've already 
forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level 
since last summer, and they could curtail companies' borrowing to build the AI 
data centers that have supported the U.S. economy's growth recently.

   Yields eased a bit Friday, releasing some of the pressure on the stock 
market.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.54% from 4.57% late Thursday, 
though it remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% to another record after a report showed 
inflation hitting a four-year low in April, at 1.4%, despite higher prices for 
oil and gas due to the war.

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   AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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