Wall Street indexes rise on earnings and lower oil
Wall Street's three major indexes are rallying on Tuesday with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting record highs after some bullish earnings reports appeared to reassure investors along with a drop in oil futures on the latest hopes for a U.S.-Iran agreement.
Main U.S. indexes are all up more than 1%.
Tech leads sector gains as utilities lag and oil falls
Among the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, four are advancing with technology leading the gainers, up more than 3%. Chips are a big technology driver with the Philadelphia semiconductor index rallying more than 5%.
The S&P 500 software & services index, which includes Palantir, is up 3%.
Utilities is the biggest S&P 500 sector laggard with a 1% drop. Energy has pared earlier losses, but is down 0.9% even as oil prices are down more than 4%.
Oil futures' drop to a three-week low came after comments by Qatar and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict, which would improve oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy conduit.
Here is your late morning snapshot from 11:07 a.m. ET (1507 GMT).
Earnings drive gains in Caterpillar, Palantir and Gartner
In earnings, shares of Caterpillar Inc are up 4.8% after the company raised its annual revenue forecast and beat second-quarter profit estimates as it benefited from a buildout of AI data centers that has spurred demand for its power-generation and construction equipment. It is the biggest percentage gainer in the Dow.
Shares in Palantir Technologies are soaring 25% after the company raised its annual revenue forecast late on Monday, signaling strong government and commercial demand for its data analytics software, putting it among the top gainers in the S&P 500 technology index.
Another big gainer in that index is research and advisory firm Gartner , which is jumping 15% after it beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit, helped by growth in its conferences business.
Economic data show softer factory orders and job openings
In the latest data, U.S. factory orders for June fell 0.3% compared with a 1.1% decline in May, according to the Commerce Department. The consensus expectation was for an increase of 0.2%.
Also, the U.S. Labor Department showed a drop in job openings to 7.359 million in June from 7.537 million in May with a sharp decline in the healthcare and social assistance sector. However, hiring rose and layoffs were low.
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