S&P 500, Dow Jones Hit Records as Palantir Surges 29%, Caterpillar Gains 6% on Strong Earnings

Strong second-quarter earnings from Caterpillar and Palantir Technologies this week pushed major U.S. stock indexes to fresh records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 907 points, or 1.71%, closing at 54,091.42, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.79% to 7,736.52 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.59% to reach 26,584.99.

Palantir shares surged 29.5% after the software company raised its full-year revenue forecast, marking the strongest one-day gain since February 2024. Caterpillar jumped 5.6% on raised full-year revenue guidance, benefiting from continued demand for power-generation equipment driven by AI data center expansion. Of 304 S&P 500 companies that reported Q2 results, 85.2% exceeded analyst expectations, significantly higher than the historical average of 67.5%, according to Reuters.