Wall Street stocks touch records on upbeat earnings, dip in oil

US and global stocks jumped on Tuesday (May 5) taking heart from a series of robust earnings, while oil prices eased despite still-simmering hostilities between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record high closes on Tuesday, lifted by Intel and other AI-related stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 0.73 per cent, with the S&P 500 adding 0.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite about 1 per cent higher.

In Europe, the STOXX 600 rose about 0.7 per cent. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.54 per cent.

The US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the Strait of Hormuz with duelling maritime blockades, not long after US President Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the vital energy-trade chokepoint. Washington said a shaky ceasefire was still intact.

In oil markets, Brent futures fell $4.57, or 4 per cent, to settle at $109.87 a barrel, having jumped in the previous session on heightened worries about supply disruption.

Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said that "complacent" investors continue to look beyond the US-Iran war and higher oil prices, and are more focused on robust US corporate earnings and capital expenditures.

"The risk-on attitude persists even in the face of what clearly are an array of potential problem issues," Wren wrote in an email.

Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed 83 per cent of S&P 500 companies that have already reported have beaten EPS estimates and 78.2 per cent of them have beaten revenue estimates. LSEG data shows earnings growth for the S&P 500 is now projected to top 18 per cent in the first quarter, up from estimates of around 12.8 per cent just a month ago.

"With no signs of slowing down, AI-driven spending will likely continue to do the heavy lifting for S&P 500 earnings growth, led by the technology sector," said Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial.

Yen intervention watch

Traders also had their eyes on the yen after the Japanese currency briefly jumped in the previous session, stoking speculation of another round of intervention from Tokyo.

The yen was last slightly weaker on the day, leaving the dollar up around 0.4 per cent at 157.82, after Monday's short-lived surge that saw the Japanese currency touch an intraday high of 155.69.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was flat on the day.

US Treasury yields fell on Tuesday, with benchmark US 10-year notes down 2.2 basis points to 4.424 per cent.

Elsewhere, spot gold rose about 0.75 per cent to US$4,554 (S$5,797) an ounce, above Monday's trough at US$4,500, the lowest since March 31.

Bitcoin continued its rebound, trading at US$81,652, up from around US$62,800 in early February.

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