Walter Murphy now sees 8,402 on the S&P 500 as being “on the table”

As the AI bull market reasserts itself, the U.S. consumer has started to wobble

Key Takeaways

• AI’s Insatiable Demand Fattens Order Books, Lifts Stocks: The momentum continues to build. U.S. equity futures are pointing to a positive open after yesterday’s power surge that took the S&P 500 and Dow to fresh highs. I did say that Caterpillar was going to set the table, and indeed it did. The earnings report in one word or less: blowout. And raising its full-year sales guidance. The backlog totaled $72 billion, up +92% year-over-year, with orders extending into 2030. There is your answer about insatiable AI demand — right there in the order books for power and energy sales aimed directly at the data-center boom.