By Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan
Aug 5 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow traded at all-time highs on Wednesday, as hopes of a Middle East peace breakthrough offset the slide in shares of SpaceX
and AMD after the upbeat forecasts issued by the companies failed to impress investors.
Elon Musk-led SpaceX's revenue nearly doubled and operating losses narrowed in its first earnings report since going public, fueled by its booming Starlink satellite communications and AI businesses.
But the rocket company's shares slid 12.5% in early trading after executives flagged the spending spree underpinning its lofty ambitions was far from over. Shares could face additional pressure from the expiry of the stock's post-IPO lock-up period starting on Thursday. Musk's other company, Tesla, slipped 1.6%.
"This is the culmination of the story of this entire earnings season. SpaceX beat analysts' expectations on revenue, but spending on AI is getting out of hand, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon," said Nic Puckrin, cross-asset analyst and founder of Coin Bureau.
Advanced Micro Devices forecast quarterly revenue above estimates, reflecting strong AI demand. However, shares slipped 6.5%, suggesting investors were looking for a stronger outlook to justify the stock's 142% jump this year.
Rival Nvidia's shares, which have lagged AMD this year, rose 3.4%, also underpinned by SpaceX's plans to use the company's hardware exclusively to build its data centers.
Most megacap stocks gained, with Microsoft and Alphabet up about 1% each.
Seven of the 11 S&P sectors were trading higher, with healthcare leading gains with a 1.9% rise. Utilities lagged with a near 1% fall.
Wednesday's moves built on Wall Street's rally spanning the past few sessions that took the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow to record highs as confidence in AI-related stocks flourished.
At 9:34 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 450.80 points, or 0.83%, to 54,536.68, the S&P 500 gained 46.98 points, or 0.61%, to 7,783.50.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 109.43 points, or 0.41%, to 26,694.42, hitting its highest in over a month.
Investors also weighed a slew of earnings from other sectors. Drugmaker Eli Lilly was up 7.3% after raising its full-year revenue forecast, while Disney rose 2.9% after beating third-quarter profit expectations.
Arista Networks jumped 7.3%, as the networking equipment maker forecast third-quarter revenue above estimates. Uber lost 5.5% after forecasting current-quarter adjusted earnings below estimates.
On the data front, U.S. private payrolls growth slowed in July, as per the ADP national employment report. The bigger focus will be on the official non-farm payrolls figures on Friday.
Data has broadly reflected robust economic performance, but with Middle East tensions keeping energy costs elevated and the Federal Reserve offering no forecasts on monetary policy, uncertainty persists.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari in an interview with CNBC said he believed now is the time to start slowly moving interest rates higher. At least two more top Fed officials are expected to speak later in the day.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 25 new lows.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Maju Samuel)
