China trade talks, CPI Inflation, and an Apple conference are among the things to watch this week.
It has been a long climb back to 6,000 for the S&P 500, but the large cap benchmark retook that plateau on Friday, closing at 6,000 on the number.
It is the first time since February 21 that the index has closed over 6,000. It is now up 2% year-to-date after falling as far as 15% in April after the tariff announcements. Since April 8 when the S&P 500 hit their recent low of 4,983, it has gained more than 1,000 points.
It was the second straight week of gains for the S&P 500, along with the other major indexes. The S&P 500 rose 1.5% last week, while the Dow Jones industrial Average gained 1.2% to finish the week at 42,763. The Dow is now up 0.5% YTD.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2% last week to end it at 19,530. It is now up 1.1% this year.
The Russell 2000 index was the biggest mover last week, up 3.2% to 2,132. The Russell 2000 index is still down 4% YTD. Finally, the S&P 400 midcap index rose 1.7% to 3,051. The midcap index is off 2.2% YTD.
Will inflation rise in May?
Markets opened mixed on Monday as investors anticipated news from the trade talks between U.S. and China, which were happening Monday in London. The two nations agreed to a 90-day truce last month, but still, 30% tariffs remain on Chinese imports, at least for now. All of the tariffs were blocked by the courts two weeks ago, but that ruling has been appealed by the Trump administration.
In the tech world, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) kicked off its weeklong Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, where the company will show off what’s next for its products and services. Apple stock was trending slightly higher on Monday.
In economic news, all eyes will be on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for May, which comes out in April. Inflation has been trending downward, reaching 2.3% in April. However, May marks the first full month of tariffs, so it will be interesting to see what impact they had on prices.
Economists are expecting inflation to rise to 2.5% in May, from 2.3% in April. They also expect core CPI to tick up to 2.9% in May, from 2.8% in April.
Slow earnings, highlighted by GameStop
Earnings season is winding down, but because there are so few companies reporting earnings, there is more focus on the ones that are reporting. That can mean that investors react more aggressively, one way or the other, to the results.
One of the more intriguing names this week in GameStop (NYSE:GME), the meme stock that recently got into buying Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. On May 28, the company purchased 4,710 Bitcoin for roughly $500 million.
Analystsʻ are anticipating earnings of 8 cents per share, up from a 12 cents per share loss a year ago. Revenue is projected to be down about 15% to $750 million.
In the tech sector, Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is due to release its quarterly earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell. Analysts’ are expecting Oracle to post earnings of $1.64 per share, up about 1% year over year. Revenue is estimated to rise 9% to $15.6 billion. Oracle is building the first of its Stargate AI data centers in Abilene, Texas with Open AI.
Finally, Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) releases earnings Thursday after the market closes. Adobe stock is down 6% YTD to around $418 per share. Wall Street analysts anticipate earnings to increase 11% to $4.97 per share and revenue to rise 9% to $5.8 billion.
