Last week, stocks soared to record highs again, capping off a great month for the market. Investor optimism about an end to the Iran-US war, a series of strong corporate earnings reports and strength in tech stocks helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index rise more than 1% and 2%, respectively, during the holiday-shortened business week, setting new records. This brings the S&P 500’s weekly winning streak to nine, with the Nasdaq up eight of the past nine weeks. Friday was also the last trading day of May, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up about 5% and 8%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, made up of 30 smaller stocks, rose just under 1% last week and is up almost 3% for the month. Will the rally continue until Monday? The market has not yet reached overbought territory, according to the S&P Short Range Oscillator, which stands at 2.63%. If it exceeds 4%, it indicates that the stock price may decline. Until then, here are three themes that drove the market last week. Peace progress (probably) There were further mixed signals from the Middle East, but it ended on a positive note. Stocks soared on Wednesday as oil prices fell after Iranian state media reported that Iranian leaders want to restore commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels. But hours later, the White House denounced the report as a “complete fabrication.” The S&P 500 fell back, but still closed higher. The next day, Axios reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had finally reached a ceasefire agreement, but it required President Donald Trump’s approval. Stocks rose on this headline, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs on Thursday. The war has continued to drive markets since the foreign attack began on February 28th. Throughout all of this, our advice remains the same. “Don’t make big moves based on a single headline.” AI stocks pull away, driven by strong quarterly earnings reports from major tech companies. Cloud-based data platform provider Snowflake delivered rosy second-quarter guidance late Wednesday after a strong quarter. The real catalyst was Snowflake’s AI computing deal with Amazon, which included a $6 billion commitment to Amazon Web Services over the next five years. The news reignited enthusiasm in the AI industry and triggered a broad rally in the technology market. Snowflake stock soared more than 36% in early trading, a record high for the day. Amazon shares are up 1.6%, up 0.7% since the start of the week. Dell’s earnings results late Thursday further accelerated AI’s rise, as the company posted its fastest revenue growth in history, fueled by fervent AI-related demand. Dell stock soared more than 32% on Friday, marking its highest session on record. Other technology companies related to the AI industry also participated. Broadcom soared 4.7% to a record high. Arm shares rose 5.3%. (It cut chip designers on Tuesday after the parabolic move.) Nvidia, whose graphics processing units are in Dell servers, rose nearly 1%. Jim Cramer said Dell’s results strengthened his confidence in Nvidia, given its close relationship with Nvidia in powering AI systems. “This is the product to buy,” Jim said of Nvidia during Friday morning’s meeting. Stock prices did not rise every time financial results were announced. Salesforce continued its strong performance on sales and bottom line late Wednesday, but guidance was revealed. We were hoping that CEO Marc Benioff would convince Wall Street that AI wasn’t eating up software. That didn’t happen. Shares fell nearly 1% in subsequent trading, but were still up more than 6% since the beginning of the week. On Thursday, Jim said he plans to buy more if clubs are not restricted. Cyber Whiplash It’s been a volatile week for cyber stocks, as two corporate earnings reports told very different stories about the health of the sector. Zscaler’s underwhelming guidance led to the company’s worst single-day performance on Wednesday. Investors treated the announcement as a read-through for other companies in the industry, and the stock prices of CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks, which own the club, fell. We’re not concerned about Zscaler’s issues, as they appear to be company-specific rather than something more systemic. When Okta reported after a few sessions, it wasn’t an issue. The company beat expectations in the first quarter, citing increased demand for security tools due to the rise of agent AI. That sent Okta stock soaring more than 30% on Friday. Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike rose 9.2% and 8.9%, respectively. We have long said that increased adoption of AI will benefit both sides of our cybersecurity holdings. Let’s hope to hear something similar when Palo Alto and CrowdStrike report their quarterly results on June 2nd and June 3rd. (See here for a complete list of Jim Cramer Charitable Trust stocks.) 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