Caterpillar Lifts Dow 790 Points as Tech Earnings Split Markets
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- Caterpillar shares surged nearly 10% on Thursday, propelling the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 790 points (1.6%) and giving the blue-chip index its strongest monthly gain since November 2024.
- Big Tech earnings diverged sharply after Thursday's close: Alphabet jumped 10%, while Meta fell 8.7% after raising its 2026 capex forecast to $125–$145 billion and Microsoft slipped 3.9%; Apple was slated to report later in the day.
- April's monthly gains were historic: the Nasdaq rose more than 15%, the S&P 500 gained over 10%, and the Dow added more than 7%—the largest monthly percentage advances since April 2020, November 2020, and November 2024, respectively.
- Inflation pressures from the Iran war showed in March PCE data, which rose 3.5% year-over-year (up from 2.8% in February and the highest since May 2023), with core PCE climbing 3.2% annually.
- Oil prices reversed after hitting four-year highs on an Axios report that Trump would be briefed on new Iran military options; WTI settled 2% lower at $104.80 a barrel and Brent fell 3.4% to $114.01.
- First-quarter GDP came in at 2.0%, below economists' 2.2% expectation but well above the 0.5% reading from Q4 2025.
- Qualcomm shares soared 15% to pace the S&P 500 and Nasdaq a day after reporting strong results and announcing custom silicon for a leading hyperscaler.
Why it matters: April's final session delivered record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq alongside the year's strongest monthly gains, even as Iran-war oil disruption pushed PCE inflation to 3.5%—its highest since May 2023. Markets rewarded Alphabet and Qualcomm but punished Meta for hiking 2026 capex by $10 billion, showing earnings beats aren't enough when AI spending ramps.
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