Wall Street extends rally on tech strength; Middle East deal stays in focus

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By Twesha Dikshit, Utkarsh Hathi and Saeed Azhar

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes extended their record run on Friday and were headed for weekly and monthly gains as Dell results drove tech shares higher, while investors awaited details on a potential U.S.-Iran deal.

President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he would make a final decision on the deal on Friday. Tehran earlier said it was looking for action, not words, when it came to an agreement.

Dell surged 28% after raising its full-year profit and revenue forecasts on Thursday. The tech sector climbed 1.83%, led by gains in chip stocks.

Peers Hewlett Packard Enterprise rose 12% and Super Micro Computer gained 10%. Among megacaps, Microsoft rose 3%.

All three indexes hit intraday record highs, cruising on renewed optimism around AI and strong earnings growth, despite concerns about the Iran war’s impact on inflation and the global economy.

At 2:29 p.m. ET (1829 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 316.39 points, or 0.62%, to 50,985.36, the S&P 500 gained 18.01 points, or 0.24%, to 7,581.64 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 61.30 points, or 0.23%, to 26,978.77.

EARNINGS-DRIVEN RALLY

“There’s definitely euphoric sentiment in the market around AI. The rally has really been driven by earnings,” said Ohsung Kwon, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo.

He suggested investors buy and hold AI stocks, then make extra income by selling call options at prices much higher than the current stock price.

Melissa Brown, head of investment decision research at SimCorp, said over the past few weeks volume has gone up, which suggests more people are coming into the market.

The S&P 500 was on track for a ninth consecutive weekly gain, its longest winning streak since December 2023.

The S&P 500 communications services sector fell 1.7%, as Alphabet dropped 1.8%.

Consumer staples shares were weak with heavyweights Costco and Walmart down 4.5% and 2.8%, respectively.

The S&P automaker index dropped 0.8% after reports the Trump administration wants North American-built vehicles to have 82% regional content to qualify for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

General Motors and U.S.-listed shares of Stellantis were down about 1% and 2.7%, respectively.

The software services index advanced 5%, erasing all losses since the end of January, when concerns over AI disruption had weighed on the sector.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index was down 0.6%.

U.S. economic data on Thursday showed inflation increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, while GDP for the first quarter was revised lower to a 1.6% annual rise.

The Fed’s Kansas City President Jeffrey Schmid warned that the energy shock may not be temporary; Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said a persistent rise in inflation might require tighter monetary policy.

Money markets expect the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates steady for the rest of the year, with expectations of a 25-basis-point hike in December.

Among other movers, Gap shares tumbled 17.5% after the apparel retailer cut its annual sales forecast, while American Eagle Outfitters dropped 12.7% after keeping its annual comparable sales forecast unchanged.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.1-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 440 new highs and 95 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 2,505 stocks rose and 2,293 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.09-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and eight new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 113 new highs and 44 new lows.

(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Utkarsh Hathi and Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Joyjeet Das, Devika Syamnath, Rod Nickel)