New York, May 22, 2026, 06:59 (EDT)
Stock-index futures moved higher Friday morning. Treasury yields pulled back and that helped big tech again, with traders also watching U.S.-Iran talks and oil ahead of the Memorial Day break. At 4:55 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 151 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 e-minis gained 23 points, or 0.31%. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 148 points, or 0.5%. Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, said geopolitical risk looked “less immediately damaging for sentiment.” Reuters
Wall Street heads into Friday trading near its highs, not from a low point. The S&P 500 finished Thursday up 0.2% at 7,445.72. The Dow climbed 0.6% to 50,285.66. The Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.1% higher to 26,293.10. Stocks shook off earlier losses as oil prices reversed late.
Trading stays open today. The NYSE marks Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, as a 2026 market holiday, but its main stock hours remain 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. SIFMA suggests fixed income desks close early at 2 p.m. Eastern on the Friday before the holiday.
Oil remains the market’s stress test. Brent crude added about 2% to $104.96 a barrel, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate up 1.35% to $97.64 as traders watched the Strait of Hormuz for any shift. The waterway is a main route for energy shipments. “Nobody really knows” what’s next, Matt Britzman at Hargreaves Lansdown said. Deutsche Bank’s George Saravelos called sticky prices a “recipe for a lot of inflation.” Reuters
Equities gains are running into rate concerns. UBS Global Wealth Management raised its 2026 S&P 500 target to 7,900 from 7,500, citing steady spending and demand for data centers, and said “bull market drivers remain intact.” But UBS also mentioned the Strait of Hormuz as a risk. Reuters
Tech stayed the focus before the bell. Nvidia is guiding to $91 billion in second-quarter revenue, beating the $86.84 billion analysts looked for, according to LSEG. CEO Jensen Huang told analysts, “We should be growing faster than hyperscale capex.” But eMarketer’s Jacob Bourne noted questions remain over whether the “AI buildout has durability” with AMD and Intel coming after Nvidia’s lead with their own chips. Reuters
Workday shares surged almost 12% before the bell after the company topped first-quarter revenue and profit forecasts. Revenue came in at $2.54 billion, topping estimates of $2.52 billion. Valoir CEO Rebecca Wettemann told Reuters that Workday still has to prove its AI gives customers more value if it wants to “break out of the SaaSpocalypse narrative,” a Wall Street term for bearish views on SaaS stocks. Reuters
Take-Two Interactive picked up buyers as the video-game maker stuck with the November 19 launch for “Grand Theft Auto VI.” This came even after the company projected fiscal 2027 bookings below what Wall Street was looking for. Wedbush Securities’ Alicia Reese called the launch date the “primary focus,” pointing to Rockstar’s track record of pushing back big titles. Reuters
Estée Lauder shares rose after the company and Spain’s Puig called off merger talks that could have formed a premium beauty group to take on L’Oréal. RBC Capital’s Nik Modi called himself “relieved to hear” the deal talks were off, citing investors’ worries on timing, governance, and execution risk while Estée is still in turnaround mode. Reuters
Markets got a fresh read from the University of Michigan, with the preliminary May consumer sentiment index at 48.2, slipping from April’s 49.8. Final numbers for May are coming at 10 a.m. ET. Joanne Hsu, who leads the Surveys of Consumers, said households still “feel buffeted by cost pressures.” Kevin Warsh is due to be sworn in as Fed chair at 11 a.m. ET, drawing attention back to monetary policy. SC Analytics
Higher oil over $100 is an old risk for stocks. If prices stick up there, it could lift inflation views and push bond yields back up. That’s a problem for the AI and earnings story, since higher discount rates can pull down what investors are willing to pay for future profits. Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors, said higher long-term Treasury yields might put a “practical lid on equities.” The coming PCE inflation data, the Fed’s go-to price gauge, could make the test sharper next week. Reuters
