Semiconductor Stocks Fuel Market Rally as Caterpillar and Palantir Shine

The US stock market saw significant gains on Tuesday, led by the Nasdaq Composite with a 1.9% increase around 11 a.m. ET, followed closely by the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.5% or roughly 800 points.

The S&P 500 added 1.3%, and semiconductor stocks staged a broad recovery from July's sell-off, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF gaining 6.3%. This uptick in prices was largely driven by double-digit gains from companies such as Broadcom and Marvell Technology.

Caterpillar led the Dow's contributors, jumping 6% on strong Q2 earnings results that crushed analyst estimates across the board, with sales soaring 29% year over year. Palantir Technologies also saw a significant increase of 27.1%, driven by the company's AI platform adoption by U.S. commercial customers at an accelerated pace.