Merchants work on the ground of the New York Inventory Change on April 30, 2026.
NYSE
Shares rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 reaching a recent all-time excessive, as traders reacted to upbeat earnings from Caterpillar and Alphabet and moved previous fears of a possible escalation between the U.S. and Iran.
The broad market index rose 1.02% to shut at 7,209.01, its first shut above the 7,200 threshold. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.89% to 24,892.31, hitting new intraday and shutting information as properly. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Common added 790.33 factors, or 1.62%, to settle at 49,652.14.
Caterpillar shares popped almost 10% on Thursday after the corporate better-than-expected quarterly figures, boosting the Dow. The commercial identify, which is seen as a bellwether for the worldwide economic system, additionally upped its annual income outlook.
The report affords a glimmer of hope for the U.S. economic system, which noticed disappointing growth in the first quarter. On Thursday, the Commerce Division reported that gross home product rose at a 2% annualized tempo within the interval. Whereas that was a rise from 0.5% within the fourth quarter of 2025, it was under the two.2% estimate.
Alongside Caterpillar, shares of Alphabet gained 10%, providing a lift to the broader market. That transfer got here after the corporate’s first-quarter revenue beat expectations. It additionally elevated its 2026 capital expenditure steering vary to as a lot as $190 billion.
Conversely, Meta and Microsoft misplaced 8.6% and three.9%, respectively. Meta shares had been weighed down by the corporate’s latest capex, whereas consumer progress upset. The corporate additionally raised its capex spending for the 12 months. That was an identical level of concern for Microsoft, as shares had been beneath strain after the corporate mentioned spending will reach $190 billion resulting from excessive reminiscence prices.
“What was most necessary on the [“Magnificent Seven”] earnings is that we did not be taught something,” Tom Graff, Aspect’s chief funding officer, mentioned to CNBC. He famous that whereas it is a constructive from a GDP perspective that hyperscalers are “spending all this cash on bodily infrastructure,” different considerations stay, together with worries across the firms’ valuations.
“One thing that we’ll maintain wrestling with till we all know someway is: Does this AI spend sooner or later flip into software-like margins, or does it not likely and we have to rethink these multiples,” Graff mentioned.
Even with the most recent strain in sure tech names, the sector has lifted the broader market to a powerful month. The S&P 500 gained 10.4% in April for its greatest month since November 2020. The Nasdaq rose 15.3%, its greatest month since April 2020. The Dow ended April with a 7.1% advance — its strongest month-to-month efficiency since November 2024.
S&P 500, month-to-date
