NEW YORK, May 22, 2026, 11:04 EDT
Stocks climbed on Friday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a new intraday high. Investors bought on signs of U.S.-Iran peace moves, solid earnings, and more gains for artificial intelligence stocks.
Dow gained 0.66% to 50,616.45, while the S&P 500 rose 0.47% to 7,481.05 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.41% to 26,400.13, according to LSEG data on Reuters. The quotes are delayed by a minimum of 15 minutes.
Dow catches up with new record high
The Dow pushed past its earlier record on Wednesday, touching 50,712.24 and beating its Feb. 10 intraday high of 50,512.79, according to Reuters. The index has lagged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in this year’s tech-driven climb.
Investors went into the long weekend still watching geopolitics. Iran’s foreign minister and Pakistan’s interior minister talked about ways to resolve the conflict, Reuters said, as Tehran and Washington stayed split on uranium stockpiles and the Strait of Hormuz. “The continuation of talks remains a supportive factor for investors,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. Reuters
Stocks traded during standard Friday hours, with the NYSE posting its core schedule as 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. The exchange also lists Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, as a holiday in 2026.
Bond traders faced a shortened session after SIFMA called for U.S. fixed-income markets to close early at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday ahead of Memorial Day. The move can leave markets thinner and make stock moves in the last part of the day more volatile.
Earnings are giving the rally another push. Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth, said traders are getting more confident as the market inches “toward that off-ramp in this war,” pointing to a strong earnings period. Reuters reported that analysts’ forecasts for U.S. earnings over the next year have climbed over 10% since the year began, citing LSEG Datastream. Reuters
Artificial intelligence stayed at the center of the move higher. The Dow, which is price-weighted, gets more impact from each share’s price and less from overall market cap, so it hasn’t caught as much of the tech-led rally as the S&P 500 or Nasdaq. But Cisco, Amazon and Nvidia led Dow gainers for the quarter, according to Reuters.
UBS Global Wealth Management bumped up its 2026 year-end S&P 500 target to 7,900 from 7,500, saying consumer spending remains solid. The bank pointed to strong demand for data-center infrastructure for AI computing.
UBS strategists said the bull market still has support, citing profit growth, the Fed’s stance and AI adoption. UBS lifted its 2026 S&P 500 EPS forecast to $335 from $310.
But the risk still remains. U.S. consumer sentiment dropped to a record-low 44.8 in May, Reuters said, as household confidence got hit by gas prices linked to the Iran war. One-year inflation expectations moved up to 4.8%, with longer-run expectations up to 3.9%.
Rates add another risk. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said the Fed should drop its “easing bias,” meaning it should stop signaling that rate cuts are probable, but he is not pushing for hikes yet. Stocks could take a hit if oil climbs, inflation holds, or peace talks fail. Reuters
Bulls are in control for now. The Dow hit a record, S&P 500 keeps climbing, and the Nasdaq holds just under the highs. But the next move might be more about what happens with geopolitics and inflation than more AI excitement.
