Dow closes at record high on Monday as S&P 500 nears its own peak

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% on Monday, 3 August 2026, to close at a record high of 53,178.41. The S&P 500 gained 1.5%, leaving it just short of its closing record of 7,620.90 set on 2 June, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.1% but remained 4.3% below its own all time peak.

The rally was driven by falling oil prices after the United States called off a planned military strike on Iran, and by sharp gains in large technology stocks. Meta rose 6%, while Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet climbed between 4.4% and 4.9%, and Nvidia added 2.9%. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 5.1% lower the same day at $80.34 a barrel.

Melissa Brown, managing director of Investment Decision Research at SimCorp, told Al Jazeera she was extremely surprised by the magnitude of the rally, noting it came against a backdrop of relatively negative sentiment and without a clear fundamental reason to support it.