Russia Sanctions Lift Energy Stocks

US stocks rose to the cusp of their records Thursday.

• The S&P 500 rose 39.04 points, or 0.6%, to 6,738.44, just shy of its all-time high set earlier this month.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 144.20 points, or 0.3%, to 46,734.61, slightly below its own record.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 201.40 points, or 0.9%, to 22,941.80.

Companies in the oil and gas business led the way, including gains of 1.1% for Exxon Mobil, 3.2% for ConocoPhillips, and 3.4% for Diamondback Energy, the AP reports. They rose with prices for crude, which leaped roughly 5.5% after Trump announced sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.

Also helping to drive the stock market higher were strong profit reports from several big US companies, as the reporting season for their profits during the summer ramps up. The majority are topping Wall Street's forecasts for profit, as is usually the case. Dow jumped 13%, and Las Vegas Sands rallied 12.4% after both delivered stronger earnings than analysts expected. Tesla shook off an early loss to climb 2.2% in its first trading after reporting a weaker profit but also stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

On the losing end of Wall Street, Molina Healthcare tumbled 17.9% after its profit for the latest quarter fell well short of analysts' expectations. CEO Joseph Zubretsky cited a challenging environment for medical costs, and insurers across the industry have been warning about rising medical costs throughout the year. IBM fell 0.9% despite reporting better profit and revenue than analysts expected. Wall Street focused instead on weaker-than-expected results for its Red Hat business, which provides open-source software products.

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In the gold market, prices strengthened to halt a sharp recent slide. The price for an ounce climbed 2% to $4,145.60 per ounce. It had dropped sharply the last two days after setting its latest all-time high, as momentum suddenly gave out following what's been a stunning year. The price of gold has jumped about 57% so far in 2025.