US stocks rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recording their biggest monthly gains since 2020, as strong corporate earnings helped investors overlook a war-related oil supply shock. The S&P 500 advanced 1% to close April at 7,209, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.9% to 27,430, both hitting intraday highs. The Dow Jones surged 790 points, finishing the month up over 7%, its strongest performance since November 2024, led by Caterpillar’s 9.8% jump after reporting higher Q1 profits. Tech shares were mixed: Meta and Microsoft fell 7% and 4%, respectively, on concerns over AI-related spending, while Alphabet soared 10% after its cloud unit posted a record quarter. Intel recorded its best month ever on optimism over its new 18A chips and rising CPU demand from agentic AI. Eli Lilly surged nearly 10% after raising its annual profit forecast. On the data front, US Q1 GDP grew 2%, while weekly jobless claims hit a 1969 low and the PCE inflation surged due to rising energy prices.