S&P 500 rises as investors focus on Mideast peace hopes as oil prices dip

S&P 500 rises as investors focus on Mideast peace hopes as oil prices dip

By Sinéad Carew and Utkarsh Hathi

Thu May 21, 2026 

There’s just a whole lot of volatility going on with all three indexes firmly rooted in the red until 1 pm when everything zoomed back up again. Though Walmart disappointed with its Q1 and especially its announcement that higher prices were coming for the rest of the year, the market largely shrugged it off since Q1 is almost over and has overnight shifted its focus back to the war. That is somewhat curious given the fact that the U.S. and Iran are on opposite poles with the key issues but hope remains. As far as investors are concerned, the ceasefire, as fragile as it is, is holding and they’ll take good news where ever they can find it.  

Wall St climbs 1% with chip stocks rallying before Nvidia results

Wall St climbs 1% with chip stocks rallying before Nvidia results

By Sinéad Carew and Utkarsh Hathi

Wed May 20, 2026  

All eyes were in hot anticipation of Nvidia today and, even though the report was not coming in until after the bell, two other AI giants, Astera Labs and ARM Holdings, bolted up big time and that was more than enough to convince investors that Nvidia would soon be posting a similar result. Thus, all the indexes surged huge, both industrials and tech closing with big 3-digit gains. The war news, rate hikes and inflation have all gone on the backburner again and it’s once again all-out all-AI.  

Wall St ends lower as inflation worries push up yields

Wall St ends lower as inflation worries push up yields

By Sinéad Carew and Ragini Mathur

Tue May 19, 2026  

It was still another day of a selloff as T-bills go up, the rest of the market goes down as T-bills represent safety and stocks risk. And safety is what people went looking for today as there is little hope for a foreseeable end to the war and every reason to believe oil (now at $110/barrel) and consequently everything else will keep going up. Inflation fears are now at the forefront.  

Nasdaq leads equity losses with oil, borrowing costs in focus

Nasdaq leads equity losses with oil, borrowing costs in focus

By Sinéad Carew and Ragini Mathur

Mon May 18, 2026  

The continuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices surging again today and concerns that inflation will only continue to worsen caused a flight from back into industrials. But it was certainly not a smooth ride as, though tech was a steady downward curve, industrials were up and down all day going back and forth between highs just over 150 to a low of down about 170 right around 3 pm before zooming up again and closing at a plus 160. 

Global shares stumble while bond yields climb on inflation worries

Global shares stumble while bond yields climb on inflation worries

By Sinéad Carew and Sophie Kiderlin

Fri May 15, 2026

 

As today’s expert so accurately pointed out, “The market is finally paying attention to what the bond market and economic data is telling it. Inflation remains sticky and is potentially going to move higher in the months ahead.” And thus with this wake-up call and the scary inflation data that has come out this week, investors are moving away from the AI euphoria and all three indexes took a major dive right at the outset and stayed there all day, both the Dow and Nasdaq suffering enormous 3-digit losses and the S&P coming within a few points of the same.  

Wall Street ends higher on tech rally; investors eye Beijing talks

Wall Street ends higher on tech rally; investors eye Beijing talks

By Stephen Culp and Ragini Mathur

Thu May 14, 2026  

Between solid economic reports coming in and optimism over the high-stakes summit in China, all three indexes went straight up to big 3-digit gains and stayed there. The S&P and Nasdaq set yet another record high and the Dow closed at less than ½ of 1% shy of its all-time record from February 10^th. The good news is that retail sales came in as expected. The bad news is that practically all of it was the result of gasoline prices.  

S&P 500, Nasdaq boosted by chips to record closing highs

S&P 500, Nasdaq boosted by chips to record closing highs

By Stephen Culp and Ragini Mathur

Wed May 13, 2026

There was a huge sell off in the morning on the Dow, with the index losing over 300 points by 11 a.m. and then bouncing back to only modest losses by close. But all those funds transferred to the tech sector with both the Nasdaq and S&P soaring all day, both indexes achieving new records, almost exclusively due to AI. Today’s AI comeback was enough for investors to turn a blind eye to the PPI data which was way higher than expected, showing the biggest increase in prices in four years.