Dow Industrials Hit Record, Boosted by Strong Earnings

Strong earnings reports briefly helped power the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 47000 for the first time, the latest milestone in stocks’ three-year bull run. The blue-chip average pared gains to close below the mark, but still finished at a record.

With sky-high earnings expectations baked into stock prices, Wall Street has been watching this third-quarter reporting period closely. So far, Corporate America has delivered.

Heavyweights Coca-Cola , 3M and General Motors all reported results that exceeded analyst expectations before the opening bell on Tuesday. 3M shares rose 7.7% to a four-year high, leading the Dow.

GM soared 15% to the highest level since its 2010 post-bailout initial public offering after Chief Executive Mary Barra raised guidance and told analysts the automaker can’t make enough full-size SUVs to keep up with demand.

GM said it is making faster-than-expected progress reducing a multibillion-dollar tariff bill—a key topic for investors who are still laser-focused on trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

A solid start to third-quarter earnings has helped buoy investor sentiment, taking stocks back toward record highs after concerns over trade and credit quality bubbled up earlier this month.

As of last Friday, 86% of companies overshot earnings estimates, according to FactSet. Nearly one-fifth of S&P 500 companies are scheduled to give financial updates over the course of this week.

The S&P 500 was little changed Tuesday, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2%. The Dow rose 0.5% to a record closing level of 46924.74. Treasury yields slipped, with the benchmark 10-year yield closing at 3.962%, its lowest reading since October 2024.

“This is a market being driven by strong fundamentals,” said Scott Helfstein , head of investment strategy at asset manager Global X. “Earnings growth is largely driving equity values.”

Elsewhere Tuesday, it was a historically ugly day for precious metals after an epic run-up switched abruptly into reverse. Gold tumbled 5.7%, its worst single-day decline since 2013. Silver fell 7.2%.

Some analysts tied the selloff in safe-haven assets like gold to optimism that the U.S. will reach a new trade deal with China, after the U.S. and Australia signed a rare-earths trade agreement on Monday. The drop followed a remarkable run of gains : Gold remains up 55% on the year and only fell to its lowest level since Oct. 10.

In company news, Warner Bros. Discovery said it is exploring a potential sale of some or all of its media holdings, which include a movie studio, HBO Max and CNN. Its shares rose 11% on the news, which could reshape the entertainment industry.

It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.

On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.

The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.

Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.

“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.

“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”

Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Photo: NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft being rolled out at night. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images

What are the goals for Artemis II?

The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.

The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.

Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.

SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .

How is the mission expected to unfold?

Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.

The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.

After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.

Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.

Water photo: NASA’s Orion capsule after its splash-down in the Pacific Ocean in 2022 for the Artemis I mission. Mario Tama/Press Pool

Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?

Yes.

For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.

Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?

The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.

Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.

Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.

Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.

What will the astronauts do during the flight?

The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.

Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.

On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.

There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.

Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.

The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.

What happens after Artemis II?

Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.

NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.

Dow Industrials Hit Record, Boosted by Strong Earnings

Coca-Cola, 3M lead blue-chip index higher after reporting results.

The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.