New York, May 21, 2026, 17:03 EDT
- The Dow rose 276.31 points, or 0.55%, to 50,285.66, a record closing high.
- IBM jumped 12.4% after a proposed U.S. quantum-computing award; Nvidia fell despite strong results.
- Oil settled lower after a volatile session tied to U.S.-Iran talks and the Strait of Hormuz.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Thursday, helped by a late turn higher in U.S. stocks as oil prices fell and investors took some comfort from signs that U.S.-Iran talks had not broken down. The blue-chip index rose 276.31 points, or 0.55%, to 50,285.66. The S&P 500 added 0.17% to 7,445.72 and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.09% to 26,293.10.
That mattered because the session had started with a darker tone. Oil had jumped earlier after Reuters reported that Iran’s supreme leader had hardened his stance on enriched uranium, a key U.S. demand in talks to end the conflict. By the close, crude had reversed, taking some pressure off equities. Brent settled down 2.3% at $102.58 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 1.9% to $96.35.
The Dow’s gain was not broad euphoria. It was a narrow, headline-sensitive advance in a market still watching oil, bonds and the Middle East. Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede, told Reuters that “market attention is now back to Iran,” after earnings season had largely passed. Reuters
IBM did much of the heavy lifting. The stock rose 12.4% after IBM and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a letter of intent for Anderon, a new quantum-chip foundry backed by a proposed $1 billion CHIPS award and a matching $1 billion IBM cash investment. Quantum computing uses machines built to solve some problems far faster than classical computers, though the technology remains early and technically hard.
IBM Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said the company’s wafer-fabrication work would be “critical to enable a broader quantum technology landscape.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the investments would advance U.S. quantum capability and create high-paying jobs. IBM Newsroom
The government push also lifted peers tied to the quantum trade. Reuters said GlobalFoundries rose 14.9%, D-Wave Quantum gained 33.4%, Rigetti Computing jumped 30.6% and Infleqtion added 31.5%, after news of federal backing for quantum firms.
Tech did not give the market a straight lift. Nvidia fell 1.8% even after forecasting stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue and announcing an $80 billion share-repurchase program. Share repurchases, or buybacks, are when a company uses cash to buy back its own stock, often to return capital to investors. Reuters said some investors took profits and weighed tougher competition from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Retail was a drag. Walmart slid 7.3% after keeping a conservative full-year outlook and warning that high fuel costs were weighing on consumers and its own delivery operations. The company’s caution hurt consumer staples, which fell 1.6%; Casey’s General Stores and Costco also declined in sympathy.
Walmart CFO John David Rainey said that if the elevated cost environment persisted, the company would expect “somewhat higher retail price inflation” later this year. Rainey also said the average fuel fill-up at Walmart gasoline stations fell below 10 gallons for the first time since 2022, a sign of household strain. Reuters
Economic data gave the Federal Reserve little reason to hurry. Jobless claims fell last week, pointing to a still-resilient labor market, and U.S. manufacturing activity rose to a four-year high in May as firms built inventories against possible shortages and price increases tied to the Iran war.
The risk is that the same headlines that helped stocks late Thursday can turn against them. Talks with Iran remain fragile, and Reuters reported that uranium enrichment and control of the Strait of Hormuz are still sticking points. A renewed oil spike could hit consumer spending, keep inflation sticky and put rate-cut hopes under pressure.
For now, buyers had enough to push the Dow through a fresh closing high. The broader tape was positive but not runaway: advancing stocks outnumbered decliners on both the NYSE and Nasdaq, while U.S. exchange volume was 17.67 billion shares, below the 20-session average of 18.57 billion.
