NEW YORK, May 6, 2026, 06:00 EDT
- S&P 500 futures pointed higher ahead of the U.S. open, following fresh record closes for both the index and the Nasdaq on Tuesday.
- Chip stocks caught a boost after AMD raised its outlook, giving fresh fuel to the AI trade that’s been powering the market.
- SPY is still heavily concentrated, with technology accounting for over 35% of the fund this week.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust pointed to another solid day Wednesday, following gains in U.S. stock-index futures as traders chased broad equities exposure. Optimism around a possible U.S.-Iran peace deal and renewed momentum in artificial-intelligence chip names lifted sentiment. By 4:43 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures had advanced 0.32%, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.81%, according to Reuters.
Timing is key here. SPY—the ETF tracking the S&P 500—lets investors move in and out of the entire U.S. large-cap space with a single trade. State Street’s numbers put SPY’s close on Tuesday at $723.77, and assets under management at $740.5 billion as of May 5.
The S&P 500 notched a new high on Tuesday, climbing 0.81% to finish at 7,259.22, with the Nasdaq Composite up 1.03%. Gains landed across all 11 sectors in the S&P 500, though tech and materials set the pace—momentum spread wide enough to lift SPY, even as chip stocks continued to dominate the action.
AMD surged almost 18% premarket, as its upbeat forecast fueled bets that AI infrastructure demand hasn’t peaked. Intel tacked on 6%. Arm added 11%. Qualcomm advanced roughly 4%. Tech’s momentum pushed SPY higher—both through its heavy tech allocation and a jolt to broader sentiment.
The technology edge stands out. On May 4, State Street pegged information technology at 35.47% of SPY. Big weights: Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet—all top stakes in the fund. Since the S&P 500 uses market-cap weighting, heavy hitters like these can swing the entire ETF when they rally.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst over at Hargreaves Lansdown, noted AMD’s story is shifting into “a broader compute opportunity” as AI workloads ramp up in complexity. That’s the crux for investors right now—will AI spending start fanning out past graphics chips, hitting servers, CPUs, and the full data-center stack? Reuters
Earnings have pulled their weight this season. S&P 500 companies are heading for a 28% jump in first-quarter profits from a year ago—the fastest growth rate since 2021, LSEG’s head of earnings research, Tajinder Dhillon, said. “Coming in pretty strong,” is how Tom Hainlin, investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, put it. Reuters
The rally picked up speed on the back of geopolitics. Stocks and bonds climbed after Axios said the U.S. and Iran were nearing a one-page agreement aimed at ending the war, although Reuters couldn’t immediately confirm the story. Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, pointed to U.S. messaging that seemed to calm nerves, telling investors Washington had “not interested in renewing hostilities.” Reuters
The downside’s still in focus. Should talks break down, oil might bounce back, inflation jitters could resurface, and the Fed’s flexibility to loosen policy gets squeezed. The Institute for Supply Management’s services index edged down to 53.6 in April, with the prices-paid measure stuck at 70.7—the highest since late 2022. Numbers above 50 mean expansion.
Labor data landed with a split message. March job openings edged down by 56,000 to 6.866 million, while hiring surged—up 655,000 to 5.554 million, according to the Labor Department’s JOLTS report. Reuters reported that steady labor conditions have underpinned forecasts for the Fed to hold rates steady through this year.
SPY isn’t the only one following the rally. BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) carried $805.9 billion in net assets and closed at $726.98 on May 5. Vanguard’s VOO stands as another heavyweight tracking the same index. But on Wednesday, traders are eyeing something else: fund fees fade to the background as the focus shifts to whether the S&P 500’s record close will stick when cash trading kicks in.
