A record day with a side of Fed side-eye
U.S. stocks kept climbing Thursday after reports that Washington and Tehran agreed to a 60-day ceasefire extension and a phased restart of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Translation: fewer geopolitical potholes, more reason for investors to lean into risk.
The S&P 500 climbed to a fresh record, the Nasdaq 100 also punched through to a new high, and the Russell 2000 outpaced the big guys for once. If you’ve been waiting for the market to stop acting like a caffeinated golden retriever, today was one of those rare moments where everything looked weirdly cooperative.
Inflation: not terrible, but definitely not a victory lap
The macro backdrop was more mixed than the index action. April PCE inflation came in hotter on the headline number at 3.8% year over year, but core PCE was more behaved at 3.3% and basically matched estimates. Meanwhile, real personal spending barely budged and GDP was revised down to 1.6%, which is a fancy way of saying consumers aren’t exactly sprinting through the economy anymore.
And the Fed? Still not helping your rate-cut fantasies. St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said hikes are still on the table if inflation won’t quit, echoing the usual chorus of hawkish reminders from other officials. So yes, markets are celebrating. No, the Fed has not suddenly become your bestie.
AI, retail, and the usual chaos
Beneath the index-level glow-up, the market’s favorites kept hogging the spotlight:
- Snowflake ripped higher after a monster print and a bigger AWS partnership commitment, dragging AI software names into the party.
- Best Buy, Dollar Tree, Agilent, and Axon all posted big gains on better-than-expected results or raised guidance.
- On the flip side, Synopsys, Salesforce, and a few other names got punished for guidance that didn’t wow the crowd.
Big picture: stocks are still finding reasons to climb, but the market is doing it with one eye on AI enthusiasm and the other on inflation math. That’s not exactly serene. It is, however, very 2026.