S&P 500 reaches record high, adds another firm to the $1 trillion market cap club

(SeaPRwire) –   U.S. stocks reached record levels on Tuesday, catching up to the global market advances from the previous day, after President Donald Trump noted that talks aimed at ending the conflict with Iran were “proceeding nicely”.

Following the resumption of trading after Monday’s holiday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to hit a new all-time high. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.2% to set its own record high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 118 points, or 0.2%, shy of its own all-time peak.

Most other global stock markets retreated from the gains they saw the prior day, as fighting persisted in the region and the U.S. military announced it had conducted “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and mine-laying boats. Markets have previously rallied on hopes of an imminent end to the U.S.-Iran war, only for the conflict to drag on further.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped 3.5% to $96.67 a barrel, though this only recouped a portion of the sharp drop it saw on Monday. U.S. crude oil prices, meanwhile, fell 2.8% to settle at $93.89 a barrel.

Oil prices have been the focal point of financial market movements since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February. The resulting conflict has shut down the Strait of Hormuz, trapping oil tankers in the Persian Gulf rather than transporting crude to global clients. This has pushed oil prices higher and sparked a wave of severe inflation across the world.

Optimism about a deal that would ease global oil shipments helped boost shares of firms with large fuel expenses. United Airlines shares rose 6%, while Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings climbed 4.9%.

Large tech stocks continued their strong upward trajectory. Micron Technology’s shares surged 19.3% to surpass $895.88, making it the top contributor to the S&P 500’s gains after UBS analysts led by Timothy Arcuri lifted the firm’s 12-month price target for the stock to $1,625 from $535.

The analysts are projecting continued robust demand for computer memory, and Micron’s shares have already more than tripled in value so far this year. The firm is the latest Big Tech company to reach a $1 trillion total market value, joining industry giants including Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, each of which has surpassed the $3 trillion mark.

AutoZone was among Wall Street’s worst-performing stocks, falling 9% after the company reported quarterly revenue that was slightly lower than analyst projections. CEO Phil Daniele noted that the retailer’s locations in Brazil and Mexico underperformed their targets, though the firm’s overall profit exceeded analyst expectations.

For the day, the S&P 500 gained 45.65 points to close at 7,519.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 118.02 points to 50,461.68, while the Nasdaq composite rose 312.21 points to 26,656.18.

Declining oil prices helped push U.S. bond yields lower, which relieved some of the pressure on Wall Street. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped to 4.49% from 4.56% late on Friday.

This marks a break from the recent upward trend in global bond yields, which had posed a threat to economic growth and dragged down prices for stocks and other types of investments. Elevated yields have already pushed the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its highest level since last summer, and they could limit companies’ ability to borrow funds to build the artificial intelligence data centers that have helped drive recent U.S. economic growth.

The majority of large U.S. companies have reported quarterly profits and revenue for the start of 2026 that exceeded analyst forecasts. These strong results have helped push U.S. stocks to record highs, despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding oil prices and the U.S.-Iran conflict.

U.S. consumers have grown discouraged about the economy amid rising inflation, and a Tuesday report showed that consumer confidence dipped slightly in May, though the figure was not as poor as economists had predicted. This followed a Friday report that revealed U.S. consumer sentiment had hit its lowest level on record.

Overseas stock markets saw most indexes decline, including Japan’s Nikkei 225, which fell 0.2% from the all-time high it hit the previous day.

South Korea’s Kospi index rose 2.5%, rebounding to catch up with global markets after being closed on Monday for a holiday. London’s FTSE 100 added 0.2%, even as British oil major BP saw its shares drop 4% amid news that the company had ousted its chairman over what it described as serious concerns regarding “key governance standards, oversight and conduct.”

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Associated Press Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.