Record-High Earnings Send US Stocks Soaring Amid Eased Oil Prices
The U.S. stock market is experiencing a rally towards a new record high on Tuesday as companies continue to report strong profits and oil prices ease.
Despite concerns about inflation, the war in Iran, and a potential bubble in artificial-intelligence technology, the S&P 500 index briefly rose by 2% before pulling back to around 1.9%, putting it on track to surpass its all-time high set just a couple of months ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,017 points, or 1.9%, to reach a new record high the day after, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.6% as of 1:52 p.m. Eastern time.
Palantir Technologies led the way with a 30.2% increase after its CEO Alex Karp reported a '93% leap in overall revenue' for the quarter, calling it an 'otherworldly' performance.
Caterpillar also saw a significant jump of 6.4%, as the heavy-equipment maker reported stronger profits and revenue than expected, with CEO Joe Creed stating that it's seeing strong order rates and a growing backlog across its main businesses.
The latest companies to deliver better-than-expected results include McDonald's, Amazon, Microsoft, and others, which are contributing to the overall growth in corporate profits.