US stock market today: Dow Jones and S&P500 hit record highs as crude oil plunges 5%; NASDAQ 100 jumps 500 pts

US markets make a strong comeback from previous week’s volatility to hit fresh record highs on Tuesday. The Dow Jones soared 600 points to hit fresh peak of 53,988 and the S&P 500 also soared jumped nearly 50 points of 0.6% to hit fresh record high of 7,647 apiece. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 also soared nearly 600 points on Tuesday, but trades nearly 5% away from the record high levels.

The rally was driven by cooled off tensions in the Middle East between the US and Iran. Qatar signaled a progress towards short-term deal between both the nations, easing crude oil prices. The Brent crude oil prices fell nearly 5% on Tuesday to trade below $80 per barrel mark, alliviating inflation fears. Consequently, the US treasury yields also cooled off from peaks further easing the investor sentiment.The market sentiment turned bullish after US Treasury Secretary Bessent said the deal with Iran could be announced shortly.

At the stock specific level, the gains in the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 were led by industrials, finance and mega-cap stocks. Shares of Caterpillar (+6.3%), Cisco (+3.7%), Goldman Sachs (+2.7%), JP Morgan Chase (+2.06%), Microsoft (+1.6%), NVIDIA (+1.5%) were the top gainers in Dow Jones.

Meanwhile, Chinese shares gained as AI and semiconductor stocks rebounded following a sharp selloff. South Korea’s KOSPI rose tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight.Separately, South Korea's softer-than-expected inflation eased immediate price concerns, though firmer core inflation reinforced expectations for a cautious Bank of Korea policy stance.

Earnings in focus

Alongside these, shares of Caterpillar Inc, Merck & Company,Mcdonald Corporation, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer Inc will remain in focus owing to their earnings release on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Wednesday’s earnings schedule include the names of companies like HSBC Holdings, SanDisk, Uber Technologies, and Eli Lilly and Company