New York, May 28, 2026, 11:02 EDT
- S&P 500 and Nasdaq ticked up, but the Dow dipped. Oil prices, higher yields, and news from Iran kept risk appetite in check.
- PCE inflation for April was up 3.8% from a year ago, the quickest pace since May 2023.
- Upbeat earnings tied to AI and strong company forecasts helped bring buyers into some tech and retail names.
Stocks traded mixed late Thursday morning. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ticked up, but the Dow moved lower. Investors took in stronger inflation and renewed U.S.-Iran tensions, while AI-related earnings gave some support.
S&P 500 rose 0.34% to 7,546.05, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.33% at 26,763.18. Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.08% to 50,601.42, LSEG data on Reuters showed. Brent crude traded at $94.73 a barrel and the 10-year Treasury yield was 4.508%. The session stayed contained, with few sharp moves.
Wall Street is wrestling with record highs at the same time inflation is picking up again. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said the personal consumption expenditures price index, which tracks what U.S. households pay for goods and services, rose 3.8% for the 12 months ended April. That’s up from 3.5% in March.
Core PCE came in at 3.3% higher than a year ago, excluding food and energy. That reading stays well above the Fed’s 2% goal. The data hits now as oil prices react to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and the Iran conflict.
Growth gave little support. U.S. GDP for the first quarter came in at a 1.6% annual rate, down from the previous 2.0% reading, according to the BEA. Exports, investment, consumer spending, and government spending all added, but higher imports reduced the total.
Still, the jolt investors worried about didn’t show up. Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones, said the PCE result was “not as bad as feared.” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, called the mix of softer growth and rising inflation a “stagflation problem.” Stagflation is when growth slows and inflation stays high, a tricky spot for central banks. Reuters
Mixed moves showed in stocks. Marvell Technology climbed after it forecast second-quarter revenue ahead of estimates. Snowflake gained on the day, after it lifted its product revenue outlook for the year and said it made a five-year AI infrastructure deal with Amazon Web Services. Datadog and MongoDB also rose, trading with the broad cloud and data group rather than off single-name news.
Retail names edged higher. Dollar Tree jumped after it raised its full-year profit outlook. Best Buy was also up on improved second-quarter sales guidance. Kohl’s gained as well, matching quarterly sales estimates and sticking with its annual targets. The gains come as consumer stocks have struggled with high energy prices and soft spending.
AI appetite still drives the market. Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, cited “AI secular tailwinds.” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, said an “AI arms race” by the big players could keep prices up for now. A Reuters poll put the median S&P 500 target for 2026 at 7,620, just above where it trades now. Reuters
Goldman Sachs lifted its year-end S&P 500 target to 8,000 from 7,600, pointing to steady corporate earnings. The bank also moved its 2026 S&P 500 EPS estimate up to $340, which would mean a 24% jump from a year earlier.
Oil could end up driving the next rates move, not AI. If the fight with Iran keeps crude expensive, inflation expectations could climb, Treasury yields might go up, and the Fed could hold off on cuts. That would put pressure on how much investors want to pay for growth stocks trading near records.
The market isn’t breaking for now. Stocks keep rotating, earnings are doing the heavy lifting, and investors are split. A clearer move could hinge more on what happens with oil and real AI revenues than where indexes land on Thursday.
