Dow, S&P 500 close at records on AI results, Mideast deal hopes

STORY: Wall Street's main indexes surged on Tuesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 both gaining roughly one-and-three quarters percent to notch record-high closes, and the Nasdaq climbing more than two-and-a-half percent.Investors eagerly awaited SpaceX's first earnings results since its IPO, delivered after the close. Elon Musk's rocket and AI company reported a more than 90% rise in revenue for the quarter, buoyed by strong growth in its Starlink satellite-internet and AI businesses. The company posted a net loss of more than $540 million and capital expenditures of over $18 billion. Its shares, which closed up, gave back most of those gains in extended trading.The stock, which has fallen 8% since SpaceX's record-breaking IPO in June, could face further pressure this week when the lock-up period expires, notes Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Asset Management Group."I think the market's probably a little worried that we're going to see more shares being offered, although we've been below the IPO price, so we'll have to see. But we think this remains a really important year for IPO markets as we have OpenAI and Anthropic coming as well. This will really start to unlock this private equity market and get some fresh capital to work. And then I think it's a question of how do markets adapt to this, right? How do markets adapt to all these new providers, which are model companies, and incorporate those into the overall ethos? So this is going to remain a really interesting year when it comes to some fresh blood into the U.S. equity market.":: AMDAlso after the close, AMD said its second-quarter revenue rose 50% year-over-year, beating analysts' expectations. But the stock, which closed 7% higher, erased those gains in extended trading.In other earnings news, Palantir Technologies grabbed headlines after its CEO delivered what he called "otherworldly" results, with the software company raising its annual revenue forecast. Shares skyrocketed more than 29% to record their biggest daily percentage gain since February of 2024.:: CaterpillarAnd shares of Caterpillar, seen as a bellwether for the global industrial economy, jumped about five-and-a-half percent after the company raised its annual revenue growth forecast, as the buildout of AI data centers has fueled demand for its power-generation and construction equipment.Meanwhile, crude prices settled down about 5% after a Qatari official said efforts to secure a diplomatic resolution to the Iran conflict were continuing, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come within the next two days.