US stocks continued their upward trajectory in Wednesday morning trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index both reaching new intraday all-time highs. The rally, building on the previous session's strong gains, was fueled by a wave of impressive corporate earnings reports and growing optimism over the situation in Iran.
As of 8:05 PM Beijing time, the Dow was up 634.48 points, or 1.17%, to 54,720.36. The Nasdaq Composite added 90.93 points, or 0.34%, to 26,675.92, while the S&P 500 gained 48.38 points, or 0.63%, to 7,784.90. Traders are digesting the latest batch of strong quarterly results, while also pricing in the expectation that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened in the near term. All three major indexes are on track for their best five-day performance since April 2025.
This follows a significant rally on Tuesday, when the S&P 500 closed above the 7,700-point mark for the first time, and the Dow soared over 900 points to another record close. Over the past week, the S&P 500 has surged more than 6%, while the Dow and Nasdaq have risen over 5% and 9%, respectively.
A key driver of Wednesday's new highs was Walt Disney Co, a Dow component, whose shares jumped more than 2% after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results. Another major contributor was Eli Lilly and Co, with the pharmaceutical giant's shares climbing 7% after its second-quarter revenue and earnings both surpassed analyst estimates. According to FactSet, these two reports have added to what was already a very strong earnings season, with over 84% of S&P 500 companies having reported results that exceeded expectations.
Meanwhile, oil prices held steady on Wednesday. This came after a drop on Tuesday, when US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the US and Iran might be close to reaching an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was trading largely flat at around $75 per barrel. The international benchmark, Brent crude for October delivery, edged up 1% to approximately $80 per barrel.
Investors largely shrugged off a 4% decline in shares of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), whose adjusted earnings per share only slightly exceeded Wall Street expectations. SpaceX shares, however, tumbled 12% after the rocket company released its first quarterly report since going public in June. Elon Musk's space company said its capital expenditures surged six-fold to $18.4 billion in the second quarter. This figure was higher than analyst forecasts, with the majority of the spending being directed towards artificial intelligence.
Traders also appeared to look past a weak July ADP employment report. The data showed that private sector payrolls increased by just 44,000 jobs during the month, a significant slowdown from the 95,000 added in June and well below the Dow Jones estimate of 75,000.
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