Stocks are on a victory lap again

Greed is back in charge

Wall Street woke up Thursday feeling pretty good about itself. The CNN Fear & Greed Index climbed deeper into the Greed zone at 62.2, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both punched out new all-time highs like they had somewhere better to be than gravity.

The geopolitical plot twist

The big mood booster was renewed peace-deal optimism tied to the Iran conflict, after President Trump said Israeli and Lebanese leaders had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire. Markets love nothing more than the phrase “less bad than feared,” and this one gave investors an excuse to keep buying the dip — or, at this point, the never-ending climb.

The data buffet was mixed

It wasn’t all champagne and confetti, though. Weekly jobless claims dipped to 207,000, which is the kind of labor-market resilience that makes recession watchers squint. The Philly Fed manufacturing index jumped to 26.7, its best reading since January 2025, while industrial production slid 0.5% in March — a reminder that the economy still enjoys throwing curveballs.

Earnings season is doing its thing

The headline also had a few stock-specific side quests. PepsiCo posted upbeat first-quarter earnings, Netflix followed with better-than-expected Q1 2026 results after the bell, and investors are now staring down reports from Fifth Third, State Street, and Truist. Big picture: the market’s in a risk-on mood, but the next headline — from geopolitics, data, or earnings — could decide whether this rally keeps moonwalking or finally takes a breath.