New York, May 21, 2026, 20:01 EDT
- U.S. stock ETFs rose in late trading after the Dow closed at a record high.
- Nvidia slipped in the regular session despite record revenue, keeping the AI trade under scrutiny.
- Oil, Iran headlines and inflation data remain the main risk into Friday and the Memorial Day break.
U.S. equity exchange-traded funds, baskets that trade like stocks, rose in after-hours trading on Thursday, extending a late-day rebound that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record close while Nvidia’s muted reaction to blockbuster earnings kept traders cautious on the AI trade. Near the end of the late session, SPY rose 0.19%, QQQ added 0.33% and DIA gained 0.15%, according to Investing.com after-hours data.
The move matters because it came just before a thinner Friday session ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, with Nasdaq’s calendar showing U.S. equity and options markets closed on Monday, May 25. After-hours trading is the 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET window after the regular close; it can be less liquid, meaning there are fewer buyers and sellers and prices can move on smaller trades.
The Dow rose 276.31 points, or 0.55%, to 50,285.66. The S&P 500 gained 12.75 points, or 0.17%, to 7,445.72, while the Nasdaq Composite added 22.74 points, or 0.09%, to 26,293.10. Reuters reported the three major indexes closed higher after a choppy session shaped by oil, earnings and U.S.-Iran diplomacy.
The day’s turn came from crude. Bloomberg reported U.S. crude settled near $96 as investors weighed hopes for a diplomatic path out of the Iran war, though the report also noted uncertainty over Iran’s uranium stockpile. That helped stocks recover from early weakness, but did not remove the macro risk sitting over the market.
“Oil and market sentiment is very sensitive to every headline,” Marc Dizard, chief investment officer at Huntington Wealth Management, told Reuters. Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede, also warned valuations were “partly driven by earnings,” a point that matters now that the reporting season is fading. Reuters
Nvidia was the awkward center of the tape. The chipmaker reported first-quarter revenue of $81.6 billion, up 85% from a year earlier, and data center revenue of $75.2 billion, up 92%; it also forecast second-quarter revenue of $91.0 billion, plus or minus 2%, and authorized an additional $80 billion in share repurchases. Chief Executive Jensen Huang said the buildout of “AI factories” was accelerating. NVIDIA Newsroom
But Nvidia shares fell 1.8% in the regular session, even as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 1.3%, suggesting traders had already priced in a lot of good news. Reuters tied part of that caution to worries that Nvidia will face tougher competition from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore wrote that Nvidia delivered a “clean beat and raise” and said the stock offered the “best value” in semiconductors, according to Investing.com. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, was less surprised by the flat reaction: “It shows how much good news is baked into NVDA,” he told the outlet. Investing.com
The after-hours tape still had a bid under megacap technology. Apple traded at $305.84, up 0.28% after hours; Microsoft rose 0.40% to $420.75; Alphabet added 0.45% to $389.40; and Nvidia edged up 0.19% to $219.93 in the late session. Tesla was up 0.18% at $418.59.
Retail was a drag in the regular session. Walmart fell 7.3% after its outlook, while consumer staples led sector losses; Reuters quoted Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey as saying consumers were feeling pressure from high fuel prices and warning of “somewhat higher retail price inflation” if costs stay elevated. Reuters
Fresh economic data did not give the Federal Reserve much reason to hurry. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 209,000 in the week ended May 16 from a revised 212,000, pointing to a labor market that is still holding up. A purchasing managers’ index, or PMI — a survey-based gauge where readings above 50 signal expansion — showed U.S. manufacturing rose to a four-year high in May, Reuters reported.
The risk is that the late-session bid proves too easy. A reversal in oil, a setback in U.S.-Iran talks, or another jump in inflation expectations could hit richly valued technology shares first, especially after a run that left investors demanding near-perfect earnings. Thin after-hours gains may not survive Friday’s open.
