U.S. stocks rose on Friday morning as the market waited for an update on U.S.-Iran peace talks, with the S&P 500 up 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite climbing 0.2%.
Dennis Kissler, a market strategist, said oil’s move helped underpin the rally: "Near term, oil futures seem to be pricing in some sort of an agreement as WTI prices pull back below $100/bbl," and he added: "Still, traders are becoming more desensitized to the ongoing negotiation headlines."
The gains pushed the S&P to its eighth straight weekly win — its longest weekly winning streak since 2023 — and capped a week in which the three major indexes posted solid weekly returns: the S&P gained 0.8% for the week, the Dow rose 2.1% and the Nasdaq added 0.4%. The Dow had reached an all-time high a day earlier, on Thursday.
Market breadth was mixed beneath the headline numbers. Nvidia shares fell almost 2% on Friday after the chipmaker’s earnings report earlier in the week. At the same time Dell surged more than 16% to an all-time high, and retail and software names drove notable moves: Ross Stores jumped 8.1% after profit and revenue easily cleared analysts’ expectations, Estee Lauder climbed 11.9% after saying it was no longer considering a possible merger with Puig, Workday rose 5.2% and Zoom Communications jumped 9.2% following profit beats. Booz Allen Hamilton reported an earnings beat but missed on revenue versus estimates.
The week’s market action has been shaped by a flurry of geopolitical and economic signals. Reports of movement on U.S.-Iran talks picked up on Wednesday, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iranian media signaled progress in negotiations toward a peace deal. That easing of risk lifted oil-related anxiety after weeks in which energy markets helped keep inflation expectations elevated.
Still, the bigger macro story that opened the week did not disappear. Markets started the week on a down note amid fears that persistent inflation could stoke worries about further Federal Reserve rate hikes. The University of Michigan said consumer sentiment fell to a record low in May as inflation expectations rose, a reminder that households remain sensitive to higher prices even as equity markets push higher.
That split — rising stocks alongside weak consumer mood — is the clearest tension in Friday’s tape. Optimism tied to diplomatic progress has helped bring WTI back under $100 a barrel, easing a key input into inflation expectations. But negotiators have not closed their biggest differences: clear sticking points remain over Iran’s uranium stockpile and control of the Strait of Hormuz, and those unresolved issues leave markets vulnerable to renewed spikes in oil.
Investors are also sorting through corporate reports that are producing uneven reactions: several beaten-or-missed quarters moved individual stocks sharply, even as the headline indexes advanced. The result is a market that is willing to look past some near-term economic pain when geopolitical headlines calm, yet quick to reprice risk when uncertainty returns.
The single most consequential unanswered question for markets now is whether tentative progress in the U.S.-Iran talks can be translated into a durable decline in energy risk — enough to take sustained pressure off inflation expectations and make the S&P’s eight-week winning streak more than a temporary reprieve.
