US stocks drift near their records as oil prices rise

stock market is drifting near its all-time high on Monday, while oil prices rise on uncertainty about when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen and get the global flow of crude going again.The S&P 500 rose 0.1% after flipping between small gains and losses, coming off its record set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 61 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.Momentum is slowing for stocks following a rally powered by reports showing profits soared during the spring for big U.S.

Earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 are on track to be 50% higher from a year earlier, according to FactSet. That would be the best growth since five years ago, when the economy was roaring out of the chasm created by COVID.Berkshire Hathaway is one of the latest companies to deliver a stronger profit for the last quarter than analysts expected, and the company built by legendary investor Warren Buffett said over the weekend that it’s also invested some of its massive pile of cash into stocks under its new CEO, Greg Abel.Berkshire Hathaway has been famous for buying stocks at what it considers low prices, and criticism has been high that U.S. stocks generally look too expensive.

But when they report strong profits, it helps them look less pricey.Berkshire Hathaway’s stock rose 2.4%, and its immense size made it one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 index.MarineMax jumped 45.9% after the retailer, marina operator and superyacht services provider said it agreed to sell itself for about $1.5 billion in cash to a portfolio company of Blackstone.Varex Imaging leaped 48.3% after Teledyne Technologies said it would buy the maker of X-ray imaging components for $18.90 per share in cash.Weighing down on Wall Street was Intel, which fell 4.2% after saying it may sell $15 billion of its stock. Such a move would dilute the ownership stakes of existing investors, and Intel said it would likely use the cash for investments to take advantage of the huge spending underway on artificial-intelligence technology.In the oil market, the price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 2.8% to $85.86. It had swung between $72 and $102 last month as hopes rose and fell that the United States and Iran could reach an agreement that would allow oil tankers to freely exit the Middle East again to de…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 85 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.Momentum is slowing for stocks following a rally bolstered by reports showing profits soared during the spring for big U.S.