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How major US stock indexes fared Tuesday 5/12/2026

A sudden halt for technology stocks put the brakes on Wall Street’s record-setting run.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% Tuesday from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.7% from its own record. Stocks that had roared higher in the artificial-intelligence boom were some of the market’s heaviest weights.

The pullback began in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi index tumbled 2.3% on worries that the government may redistribute windfall AI profits to its citizens. Oil prices meanwhile rose more than 3% as the war with Iran threatens to drag on.

On Tuesday:

The S&P 500 fell 11.88 points, or 0.2%, to 7,400.96.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.09 points, or 0.1%, to 49,760.56

The Nasdaq composite fell 185.92 points, or 0.7%, to 26,088.20.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 27.81 points, or 1% to 2,842.83.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 2.03 points, or less than 0.1%.

The Dow is up 151.40 points, or 0.3%.

The Nasdaq is down 158.87 points, or 0.6%.

The Russell 2000 is down 18.38 points, or 0.6%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 555.46 points, or 8.1%.

The Dow is up 1,697.27 points, or 3.5%.

The Nasdaq is up 2,846.21 points, or 12.2%.

The Russell 2000 is up 360.92 points, or 14.5%.

Iran war energy shock drives interest in ethanol and other biofuels across hard-hit Asia

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Taxi driver Ravi Ranjan, who lives with his wife and child in New Delhi, said shipping disruptions caused by the Iran war have forced him to pay higher prices for cooking fuel at a time when India's prime minister is also urging residents to reduce driving and travel. It's all hitting Ranjan's bottom line, he said, as he's paying three times as much for liquid petroleum gas after facing delays on delivery of the cooking fuel. “I used to get a cylinder of LPG for 1,000 rupees ($11), now I pay 3,000 rupees ($31) in the black market,” he said. On the other side of the country, in the coastal city of Chennai, Sushmita Sankar, an advertising executive, said her gasoline and cooking fuel expenses are skyrocketing because of the war. Sankar said gasoline blended with ethanol — the default mix available at fuel stations now — is also worsening her car's mileage.
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