Wall Street opened with mixed signals on Thursday as the S&P 500 added 0.4% to its all-time high set the day before after drifting between small gains and losses earlier in the morning, according to The Economic Times. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.5% higher after both indexes also set records the day before. June S&P 500 E-Mini futures edging 0.1% lower and June Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures also declining as optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and hopes for a U.S.-Iran peace deal boosted sentiment. As of press time, Dow futures were up 0.43%, showing sustained positive momentum from the previous session's strong performance.
Strong corporate earnings led by Snowflake and Dollar Tree helped offset macro concerns and push the U.S. stock market to new records, as reported by The Economic Times. Dollar Tree's stock soared 18.1% after it became the latest to report fatter profit than analysts expected, with CEO Mike Creedon noting improved store conditions helped the retailer make more profit off each $1 in sales during the latest quarter despite tariffs adding to costs. Kohl's rallied 16.3% after reporting better results than analysts had feared, while Best Buy climbed 15.9% following its own better-than-expected profit report. Hormel Foods climbed 9.8% after a strong performance for its Jennie-O ground turkey and exports of its Spam luncheon meat helped it report a better profit than analysts expected. Snowflake rose 34.1% after saying artificial intelligence continues to be a strong driver of its business, and profit and revenue for the latest quarter exceeded expectations.
US military forces downed four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat near the Strait of Hormuz and hit an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone, according to US officials. Oil prices rebounded after having dropped sharply a day before, with Brent crude climbing 2% to $96.13 a barrel following reports that US Central Command said Kuwait intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, following earlier US "defensive" strikes on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran. A barrel of benchmark US crude gained USD 2.12 to USD 90.80, recovering from Wednesday's 5.5% decline to settle at USD 88.68. Asian markets weaken on uncertainty over US-Iran deal, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shedding 1.3% to 25,006.16 showing one of the world's larger losses.
The positive futures movement was primarily driven by a significant tech rally, with Micron Technology Inc. leading the charge after UBS raised its price target to a Street-high $1,625, representing a more than 19% jump in the stock. As reported by Live Mint, Micron shares surged another 7% in trade, extending an epic rally that saw the stock surge 19% on Tuesday and cross the $1 trillion market capitalisation mark for the first time. Chip and AI infrastructure stocks rallied broadly, with Marvell Technology climbing over 5% and Tesla rising nearly 2% in pre-market trading after European sales data showed the EV maker sold 10,654 cars in April, marking a 46.5% year-over-year increase. However, Zscaler plummeted due to weak guidance, while Pinduoduo fell on lower-than-expected revenue and profit, showing mixed performance across the tech sector.
The S&P 500 closed at a record 7,580.06 on Friday, 11.0% above its 200-day moving average, with the Russell 2000 closing at a record 2,919.34, 14.2% above its 200-day moving average. S&P 500 forward earnings is at a record high with analysts' consensus showing S&P 500 operating EPS at $339.24 for 2026 and $394.52 for 2027. Technology is leading the earnings momentum with S&P 500 Information Technology operating EPS forecast to grow 47.2% in 2026 and 32.7% in 2027, after growing 24.7% in 2025. A full 85.8% of S&P 500 companies have positive forward year-over-year earnings growth, while 88.8% have positive forward revenue growth, both near previous cycle highs. Q1-2026 earnings growth is currently tracking at 19.3% year-over-year, up from a low of 12.5% in April, with Q4-2026 now tracking at a remarkable 24.5% year-over-year growth.
