BERLIN (AP) — Police in Germany entered a bank in a small German town Friday and rescued two people from a locked room, hours after officers were called to respond to a hostage situation.
Regional police said they were alerted to the situation at the Volksbank branch in Sinzig, a town of about 17,000 people in the Rhine valley near Koblenz, at about 9 a.m. local time. They said they believed there were “several perpetrators and hostages” in the bank and the driver of an armored van was a hostage.
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Police officers stand at the scene of a hostage-taking at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Sascha Ditscher/dpa via AP)
Police officers stand at the scene of a hostage-taking at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Police officers stand at the scene of an incident where, according to reports, a hostage situation has occurred at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)
A police officers stands at the scene of an incident where, according to reports, a hostage situation has occurred at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)
Shortly before 3 p.m., police said special forces entered the bank and freed two people unhurt from a locked room. Police said they found no hostage-takers.
They said that the perpetrator or perpetrators appeared to have left immediately after locking the two people into the vault, but it wasn't clear how that happened. Police did not indicate whether the perpetrators made away with any cash or valuables.
Police officers stand at the scene of a hostage-taking at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Sascha Ditscher/dpa via AP)
Police officers stand at the scene of a hostage-taking at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Police officers stand at the scene of an incident where, according to reports, a hostage situation has occurred at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)
A police officers stands at the scene of an incident where, according to reports, a hostage situation has occurred at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising toward records Friday following the latest sign that the nation’s job market is doing better than economists expected.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% toward an all-time high after a report said U.S. employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 118 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher and heading for its own record.
While hiring slowed from March’s level, it was nevertheless nearly double what economists expected. And it kept the S&P 500 on track for a sixth straight winning week, which would be its longest such streak since 2024. The U.S. stock market has blasted higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.
It’s still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful. The United Arab Emirates said Friday that it responded to another Iranian missile barrage, hours after the United States said it traded fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest blows to a shaky month-old ceasefire.
But economists said the latest jobs data was encouraging, particularly given that it followed a stronger-than-expected report for March. Those two months saw the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil spike from roughly $70 in late February to as high as $119 at times as the fighting and closure of the Strait of Hormuz kept crude oil pent up in the Persian Gulf.
On Friday, Brent edged down 0.1% to $99.97 amid the uncertainty about the ceasefire with Iran.
Another big factor helping to support the U.S. stock market despite the war’s uncertainties is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the start of 2026.
Monster Beverage jumped 12.7% after the energy drink maker joined the parade of companies topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue for the latest quarter. It benefited from strong growth outside the United States, and total net sales there made up about 45% of its total, the highest percentage ever for it.
Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 23.1%, after its results squeaked past expectations. It announced a $1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company is benefiting from the surge in artificial-intelligence technology.
Such voracious demand for AI helped CoreWeave report revenue for the latest quarter that was more than double a year earlier, but its net loss was worse than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts’ expectations. The stock of the company, which offers AI computing power to customers over the cloud, fell 9.2%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.9%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.9% for two of the bigger losses.
South Korea’s Kospi was an exception, and it inched up 0.1% to another all-time high.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.35% from 4.41% late Thursday and from 4.45% early this week.
Lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which in turn can give the economy a boost. Lower yields also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.
The 10-year Treasury yield, though, remains well above its 3.97% level from just before the war.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Options trader Justin Kanda works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A dealer walks past near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
The screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won are displayed at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks past near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
