S&P 500 extends six‑week win streak

U.S. stocks just finished one of those weeks where almost every excuse to wobble got brushed aside. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs on Friday, May 8, and the S&P locked in a sixth straight weekly gain. That matters because this rally has had plenty to worry about — sticky geopolitics, tariff uncertainty, and a market that already looked expensive. But the latest mix of earnings and economic data gave investors a reason to keep buying. ### What actually pushed stocks higher? Two things did most of the work. First, earnings kept coming in better than expected, especially from giant tech and internet names. Second, the April jobs report landed in the market’s sweet spot — strong enough to calm recession fears, but not so hot that it screamed higher rates for longer. CNBC’s Friday market recap framed it exactly that way: solid earnings, a “strong-but-not-too-strong” labor print, and renewed appetite for risk. (cnbc.com) ### How strong were the earnings? Stronger than the usual beat-and-raise season. FactSet’s May 1 update showed 63% of S&P 500 companies had reported, and 84% of them beat earnings estimates. That is above both the 5-year and 10-year averages. Even more striking, aggregate earnings were running 20.7% above estimates, and the blended first-quarter earnings growth rate had jumped to 27.1% from 13.1% at the end of March. (cnbc.com) Basically, analysts were too low, and companies — led by Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta — cleared the bar by a lot. ### Why did the jobs report help instead of hurt? Because investors are still obsessed with the same tradeoff — growth versus inflation. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 115,000, well above the 55,000 economists expected, while the unemployment rate held at 4.3%. That mix said the economy is still standing up, but not overheating. For markets, that is close to ideal. It lowers the odds of an abrupt slowdown without obviously forcing the Fed into a more aggressive stance. (insight.factset.com) ### Where does the AI angle fit in? It is still one of the market’s favorite stories. Better-than-expected results from major tech companies did a lot to reinforce the idea that AI spending is not fading yet. The market has been willing to pay up for companies tied to cloud demand, chips, and digital advertising because investors think AI is still feeding revenue growth rather than just hype. You can see that in how much the biggest tech names shaped the earnings picture for the whole index. (cnbc.com) ### Is this rally broad, or just a few giants? It started as a megacap story, but it is getting at least somewhat broader. Nine of the 11 S&P sectors were showing year-over-year earnings growth in FactSet’s latest read, and seven sectors were posting double-digit growth. That is healthier than a rally carried by only a handful of names. Still, the biggest companies remain the loudest signal generators, so breadth is improving without fully taking over the story. (insight.factset.com) ### So what is the catch? Trade is the obvious one. China’s April exports rose 14.1% from a year earlier, far better than March’s 2.5% growth, just ahead of a planned Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing next week. Exports to the U.S. also swung sharply higher after falling in March. That sounds encouraging, but it also means markets are now watching every trade headline for signs of either thaw or renewed friction. Tariffs have not disappeared as a risk — they are just not the main thing traders cared about this week. (insight.factset.com) ### Why does that matter for investors now? Because momentum is doing a lot of the work, and momentum can reverse fast when a market is priced for good news. Record highs tell you buyers are confident. They do not tell you the path stays smooth. If earnings keep surprising higher and growth data stays decent, this run can keep going. But if trade talks crack or inflation re-accelerates, the same market that ignored risks this week could notice them all at once. (abcnews.com) ### Bottom line? The six-week streak is real, and it is not just blind optimism. Earnings have been genuinely strong, the economy still looks resilient, and tech keeps giving investors a reason to lean in. But the rally is also leaning on a fragile assumption — that trade and tariff noise stays manageable long enough for profits to keep doing the talking. (cnbc.com)