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Stocks continued to climb Tuesday on strong earnings reports and optimism over a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
By
Karee Venema
Edited by
David Dittman
Published
4 August 2026
In
News
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It was another record-setting session for stocks Tuesday as Wall Street cheered the latest round of earnings reports. A big bounce for chip stocks and hope on the geopolitical front also fueled the day's upside.
At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.7% at 54,085 and the broader S&P 500 was 1.8% higher at 7,736 — new record closes — while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had gained 2.6% to 26,584.
"Optimism about an imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, combined with upbeat corporate earnings, has stocks soaring to fresh records," explains José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.
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Sign upTorres cites comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told CNBC that the U.S. and Iran could reach a deal to open the strait as soon as today.
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This sent front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures down 5.7% to $75.77 per barrel, while yields on 2-year (-6.2 basis points to 4.194%), 10-year (-7.3 basis points to 4.612%) and 30-year (-5.9 basis points to 5.17%) Treasuries also declined.
Bessent's remarks drove "crude prices and interest rates south as market participants adjust their oil supply outlooks upward while reducing inflation expectations and Fed rate-hike probabilities, reflecting a greater likelihood of softening cost pressures from restored traffic through the passage," says Torres.
Palantir stock soars after "otherworldly" earnings
Earnings were also a hot topic on Tuesday, with several stocks soaring in the wake of their results.
Palantir Technologies (PLTR), for one, climbed 29.5% — easily making it the day's best S&P 500 stock — after the data analytics platform said second-quarter revenue surged 93% year over year to $1.94 billion, while earnings more than doubled to 41 cents per share.
Track all markets on TradingView"This quarter was otherworldly," said Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp. "Demand for AI sovereignty has now been unleashed."
The company also gave higher-than-expected third-quarter guidance and raised its full-year forecast.
"We view the strengthening Palantir results as a reflection of a successful AI strategy that focuses on providing the right infrastructure to maximize its customers' results," says BofA Securities analyst Mariana Perez Mora. "PLTR's sovereign AI approach levers on decades of experience working on national security and highly regulated missions to create the right control layer."
The analyst has a Buy rating and $255 price target on PLTR, almost 60% above where the AI stock is trading.
The earnings calendar stays busy, too, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) set to report after tonight's close. The chipmaker joined its peers in a broad rally today, climbing 7.0%.
Track all markets on TradingViewBezos unloads $4.1 billion in Amazon shares
One blue chip stock that sat out the day's surge was Amazon (AMZN), which fell 2.3% on news that founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos is selling 15 million shares worth roughly $4.1 billion.
Track all markets on TradingViewA Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing disclosed the sale, originally scheduled on November 14, 2025, under a Rule 10b5-1 plan that prevents insider trading.
Bezos' timing is impeccable, though. Amazon shares jumped more than 15% last Friday on strong earnings and hit a record high on Monday. They're also up 20% for the year to date.
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Karee VenemaSocial Links NavigationSenior Investing Editor, Kiplinger.comWith over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.