New York, May 21, 2026, 20:01 EDT
- U.S. stock ETFs moved higher late in the session after the Dow finished at a record high.
- Nvidia fell in the regular session, even after posting record revenue. The AI trade stayed in focus.
- Oil, Iran news, and inflation numbers are still the key risks into Friday and the Memorial Day break.
U.S. equity ETFs traded higher in late trading Thursday as stocks extended gains from the close, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to another record. Nvidia’s strong earnings didn’t spark much in its shares, leaving traders wary of more AI exposure. SPY was up 0.19%, QQQ gained 0.33%, and DIA added 0.15% near the end of the session, Investing.com data showed.
The news lands right before a light Friday session with the Memorial Day weekend coming up, according to Nasdaq’s calendar, which lists U.S. equity and options markets closed Monday, May 25. After-hours trading runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET after the normal close. It tends to be less liquid, so there are fewer buyers and sellers, and small trades can swing prices.
The Dow finished up 276.31 points, or 0.55%, at 50,285.66. The S&P 500 closed 12.75 points higher, or 0.17%, at 7,445.72. The Nasdaq Composite edged up 22.74 points, or 0.09%, to 26,293.10. Reuters said all three indexes ended the day higher as traders weighed moves in oil, earnings and developments in U.S.-Iran talks.
Crude drove the reversal. Bloomberg said U.S. crude closed close to $96 as traders looked to a possible diplomatic solution in the Iran war but flagged ongoing questions about Iran’s uranium supply. The move pulled stocks back from earlier lows, although macro risk stayed in play.
“Oil and market sentiment is very sensitive to every headline,” Marc Dizard, chief investment officer at Huntington Wealth Management, said to Reuters. Jason Pride at Glenmede said valuations are “partly driven by earnings,” which is worth noting as reporting season winds down. Reuters
Nvidia sat uncomfortably in focus after posting first-quarter revenue of $81.6 billion, a gain of 85% from last year. Data center revenue reached $75.2 billion, up 92%. The company projected second-quarter sales at $91 billion, give or take 2%, and cleared a fresh $80 billion for buybacks. CEO Jensen Huang said growth in “AI factories” is picking up speed. NVIDIA Newsroom
Nvidia shares slipped 1.8% in the regular session, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index added 1.3%. Traders seemed to have already baked in most of the upside. Reuters pointed out that some of the hesitation was linked to concerns Nvidia could see stronger competition from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Morgan Stanley’s Joseph Moore called Nvidia’s results a “clean beat and raise,” saying the stock has the “best value” among chipmakers, Investing.com reported. But Steve Sosnick at Interactive Brokers saw little surprise in shares holding steady: “It shows how much good news is baked into NVDA,” he told Investing.com. Investing.com
Big tech was still catching buyers in after-hours trading. Apple was at $305.84, up 0.28%. Microsoft gained 0.40% to $420.75. Alphabet moved 0.45% higher to $389.40 and Nvidia was up 0.19% to $219.93. Tesla added 0.18%, last trading at $418.59.
Retail weighed on the regular session. Walmart slipped 7.3% after its outlook. Consumer staples posted the biggest sector decline. Reuters cited CFO John David Rainey, who said shoppers are under pressure from higher fuel prices and warned about “somewhat higher retail price inflation” if costs remain high. Reuters
Fed policymakers got little from new data to suggest a rush. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 209,000 for the week ended May 16, down from a revised 212,000. That keeps the labor market looking sturdy. A PMI reading, seen as a signal of growth at readings above 50, showed U.S. manufacturing at a four-year high in May, according to Reuters.
Late-session buying is looking shaky. If oil turns, U.S.-Iran talks break down, or inflation expectations pop again, pricey tech stocks could be the first to get hit. The sector’s run means investors are expecting spotless earnings, so there’s little room for disappointment. After-hours gains have been slim and might not hold when trading starts Friday.
