Financial Markets                      04/24 09:30

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report is 
leading technology stocks higher Friday, while oil prices keep swinging in the 
wait for what's next with the Iran war.

   The S&P 500 added 0.2% and inched near its all-time high set on Wednesday, 
even though most stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
was down 177 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq 
composite was 0.7% higher.

   Intel led the way and is potentially heading for its best day since 1987. It 
jumped 24.3% after reporting much stronger results for the first three months 
of the year than analysts expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the next wave of 
artificial-intelligence technology is increasing the need for Intel's chips and 
products, and the company's forecast for profit in the spring topped analysts' 
estimates.

   Such strong profit reports have helped Wall Street rally to records, and the 
S&P 500 has leaped more than 12% in a little under a month. Hopes have also 
built in financial markets that the United States and Iran can find a way to 
avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy because of their war.

   A ceasefire is tenuously in place between the two, but tensions between them 
are still keeping oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz to 
deliver crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. Oil prices climbed 
this week on worries about the strait, but a potentially encouraging signal 
came Friday after Iran's state-run IRNA news agency confirmed Iranian Foreign 
Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Pakistan for talks.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June yo-yoed 
between roughly $103 and $107 in the morning and most recently was up less than 
0.1% at $105.09. The price for Brent delivered in July, which is the more 
popular contract for traders, fell 0.2% to $99.12.

   On Wall Street, Procter & Gamble rose 3.7% after reporting stronger profit 
for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said it 
saw broad-based growth across regions and products, which include Bounty paper 
towels and Tide detergent.

   That helped offset a drop of 19.6% for Charter Communications, whose profit 
for the latest quarter came in weaker than analysts expected. It lost 120,000 
internet customers during the three months, more than some analysts expected.

   Hartford Insurance Group fell 2.3% after reporting profit growth for the 
latest quarter that fell short of analysts' expectations.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after a report said sentiment 
among U.S. consumers remains sour. A survey by the University of Michigan found 
weaker sentiment in April across political party, income, age, and education, 
though it improved a bit after the ceasefire in the war with Iran was announced 
earlier in the month.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.30% from 4.34% late Thursday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in much of Europe following a more 
mixed finish in Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1%, and France's CAC 40 fell 0.8% 
for two of the world's bigger moves.

   ___

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

   ---------

   itemid:75bd462d6795062bed788709d647dc68