S&P 500 hits record high as AI profits surge and oil drops

The S&P 500 closed at a record 7,736.52 on August 4, 2026, driven by robust corporate earnings and a drop in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 907 points, or 1.7%, to a record 54,085.88, and the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.6% to 26,584.99.

Palantir Technologies soared 29.5% after CEO Alex Karp reported a 93% jump in quarterly revenue and raised its full-year forecast. Caterpillar climbed 5.6% after exceeding $20 billion in quarterly sales for the first time; CEO Joe Creed pointed to strong order rates and AI-related demand for data-center turbines.

Overall, S&P 500 companies were on track for nearly 50% earnings-per-share growth in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to FactSet, the largest since 2021. Phil Segner, a co-portfolio manager at the Leuthold Group, said that with stock prices roughly flat over two months, the profit surge makes valuations less stretched.

Brent crude slid 5.3% to $79.36 a barrel as hopes rose that the war with Iran would allow tanker traffic to normalize from the Persian Gulf. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.62% on August 4 from 4.70% on August 3 and 4.75% on July 31, 2026, though it remained above the 3.97% level before the conflict.

Chip stocks provided a lift, with Nvidia up 2.6%, Broadcom up 6.6% and Micron Technology up 7.6%. Those gains more than offset a 9.7% slide in Chipotle Mexican Group, which fell after removing jalapeños from some restaurants because of a salmonella outbreak. Chipotle said Minnesota health officials had no ongoing concerns.