Wall Street Rises, Caterpillar and Alphabet Earnings Ease Iran Concerns
US stocks rallied on Thursday (May 30), with the S&P 500 briefly setting a new intraday record, as investors responded positively to the performance of Caterpillar and Alphabet and seemingly moved past concerns about an escalating US-Iran conflict. The S&P 500 rose 1.02%, the Nasdaq rose 0.89% to a new record, while the Dow added 790 points, or 1.62%.
Caterpillar surged 10% after posting quarterly results that beat expectations and raised its annual revenue forecast. The strengthening of industrial companies, often seen as barometers of the economic cycle, provided significant support for the Dow and signaled that demand in certain sectors remained quite solid.
Data-wise, US economic growth in the first quarter was recorded at 2% (annualized), improving from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 but still below the estimated 2.2%. The combination of tepid data and solid earnings reports kept the market focused on the resilience of corporate profits amid geopolitical uncertainty.
Alphabet also rallied 10% after first-quarter revenue beat estimates and the company raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance range to as high as US$190 billion. However, concerns about capital expenditure burdens weighed on some major tech stocks: MetaTrader 5 fell 7% after a capex update and disappointing user growth, while Microsoft fell 4% after stating that spending could reach US$190 billion due to high memory costs. (Arl)*
Source: Newsmaker.id
