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Stocks were choppy Friday as market participants awaited updates on negotiations with Iran. A continued rally in tech stocks kept the price action positive into the close, with all three main equity indexes ending the week at new all-time highs.
Following news on Thursday that the U.S. and Iran agreed to extend their ceasefire for 60 days, President Donald Trump on Friday said via a Truth Social post that he is making “a final determination” on a Middle East peace plan. According to Trump, Iran must agree to “never have a Nuclear Weapon or bomb” and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “immediately.”
The latest update sent oil prices sliding again, with front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures falling 1.7% to $87.36 per barrel — their lowest settlement since mid-April. For all of May, oil prices tumbled 17%, marking their worst monthly performance since early 2020, according to FactSet.
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As for equities, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 51,032, the broader S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 7,580, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.2% to 26,972 — fresh record closing highs. All three also finished notably higher for the week and the month.
Dell soars 33% after earnings
Tech stocks continued their march higher, with Dell Technologies’ (DELL) 32.8% post-earnings pop giving the sector a boost today.
The PC maker saw its fiscal 2027 first-quarter earnings more than triple year over year and its revenue surge 88%, thanks to strong demand for its AI-optimized servers.
Dell also gave fiscal Q2 and full-year guidance that blew away analysts’ estimates. “DELL believes it is well positioned within the generative AI opportunity, given its unique position both in the enterprise IT market and in the PC space,” writes Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher, who raised his price target on Dell to $460 from $200 after earnings.
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And for all of fiscal 2027, the analyst expects “Infrastructure growth driven by AI acceleration and improving AI PC sales to meaningfully offset margin pressure from higher memory costs.”
One stakeholder that was widely cited as a big winner from today’s price move is President Trump, who, according to ethics filings, bought $1 million to $5 million in DELL shares in early February — not long after a commitment from Michael and Susan Dell to fund Trump Accounts with a $6.25 billion gift.
Costco drops after bottom-line miss
Elsewhere on the earnings calendar, Costco Holdings (COST) fell 3.9% after the warehouse club retailer disclosed its fiscal third-quarter results.
For the three months ended May 10, Costco said earnings rose 15% year over year to $4.93 per share, while revenue was up 12% to $70.5 billion. While COST missed on the bottom line, its top line exceeded estimates.
The company also said same-store sales rose 6.6% and membership fees were up 10.5%.
“Costco’s latest earnings report is a classic reminder that even Wall Street’s absolute darlings aren’t immune to their own sky-high expectations,” says David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors.
Wagner adds that the retailer “remains an absolute powerhouse” and “the fact that consumers are still flocking to its warehouses and flooding its digital channels proves that Costco’s value proposition is practically bulletproof in this choppy economic climate.”
Today’s pullback for the consumer staples stock, which is still up 11% for the year to date, is what Wagner calls “a well-deserved breather.”
