New York, February 6, 2026, 14:32 (EST) — Regular session
Caterpillar Inc shares were up 6.3% at $720.83 in afternoon trading on Friday, after touching $723.44 earlier in the session.
The move put Caterpillar among the biggest lifts to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is price-weighted — higher-priced stocks swing the index more than lower-priced ones. MarketWatch calculations showed a $1 move in any Dow component translates to about 6.16 points.
U.S. stocks bounced back after a bruising tech selloff earlier in the week, with chipmakers leading the rebound even as Amazon slid after flagging bigger capital spending, often called capex — money companies put into projects and equipment. “We’re going to continue to see these ebbs and flows,” Ben Falcone, managing director at Kayne Anderson Rudnick, said. Reuters
Other agriculture and industrial names moved with less force. Deere & Co was up 3.1%, while truck maker Paccar slipped 0.3%.
Caterpillar’s jump came a day after the stock fell 1.95% to $678.31 in Thursday’s broader market drop, and after it notched a 52-week high around $723.16 on Wednesday.
Some of Friday’s bid tracked the macro tape. A University of Michigan survey showed U.S. consumer sentiment rising to 57.3 in early February, its highest since last August, and Nationwide’s Oren Klachkin said, “We may have seen the trough in consumer sentiment.” Reuters
Fed officials also kept rate expectations in play. Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said he was “cautiously optimistic” about 2026 and argued the current policy stance is “well positioned” as the central bank holds its benchmark rate in a 3.50% to 3.75% range. Reuters
Company-specific headlines were thinner. A Form 4 filing — an SEC disclosure of insider transactions — showed Group President Bob De Lange exercised 20,000 stock options and sold shares at prices around $704 to $706 on Feb. 4.
But the rally still runs into a familiar risk: trade costs and margins. Caterpillar warned last week that tariff-related costs could total about $2.6 billion in 2026, and Jefferies analyst Stephen Volkmann said tariff headwinds “limited the margin expansion” and could persist through next year. Reuters
Next up is data that can reset the growth-and-rates debate. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly called the outlook “precarious” and pointed to a monthly jobs report now due Feb. 11 after a government shutdown delayed its release; the next Fed policy meeting is scheduled for March 17-18. Reuters
