New York, May 11, 2026, 11:06 EDT
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged upward as late-morning trading rolled on.
- S&P 500 and Nasdaq held onto gains, trading in the green after last week’s record finishes.
- Oil’s surge yanks Tuesday’s consumer inflation report right back into focus.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up by 85.76 points, or 0.17%, to 49,694.92 late Monday morning, shrugging off another uptick in oil prices. The S&P 500 was up 0.23% at 7,416.00. Nasdaq Composite tacked on 0.12%, landing at 26,277.35, LSEG figures showed via Reuters.
It’s a tough spot for Wall Street as a record rally faces fresh tests: on one side, robust corporate earnings; on the other, a spike in anxiety over U.S.-Iran tensions. Crude jumped nearly 3% early Monday, according to Reuters, after President Donald Trump turned down Iran’s answer to a U.S. peace offer, fueling concern that Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes might remain frozen.
The Dow barely budged, trailing behind the sharper climbs seen in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, but managed to hold close to where it finished last week. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq wrapped up Friday at record highs, driven by AI-centric names and an unexpectedly robust April jobs readout. The Dow, for its part, inched up just 0.02% on the day—good enough for a second weekly advance in a row.
“The worry list is long, but the economy keeps proving the bears wrong,” Robert Edwards, chief investment officer at Edwards Asset Management, told Reuters. Solid revenue and earnings growth have put big tech back at the front, he said, pointing to their renewed leadership. Reuters
Energy names stood out. Brent crude pushed up 2.63% to $103.95. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield also climbed, reaching 4.386%—a shift that tends to raise borrowing costs across the board and tighten financial conditions.
The Dow tracks 30 major U.S. blue chips, weighted by price—so pricier stocks move the needle more than cheaper ones. Its trajectory doesn’t match the S&P 500 or Nasdaq, both of which have ridden the surge in megacap tech and semiconductor names.
Individual names reflected the broader divergence. Intel climbed, Reuters said, extending Friday’s gains after word of an early-stage chip-supply pact with Apple. Qualcomm notched a record high. On the flip side, airlines like Southwest, Delta, Alaska Air, and United slumped, squeezed by rising fuel expenses cutting into margins.
Inflation is up next. The consumer price index lands Tuesday, and economists in a Reuters poll see a 0.6% climb for April. Core CPI—excluding those unpredictable energy prices—could have a bigger impact on what traders expect from the Federal Reserve on rates.
Still, there’s a chance oil pushes prices up beyond what markets are betting on. “If core CPI is significantly higher, I think that’s going to be very problematic,” Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group, told Reuters. Reuters
The Dow isn’t driving the action right now—it’s just holding on. Broader moves hinge on earnings updates, the appetite for AI, and the question of oil sticking at levels that could muddy things for the Fed.
