Wall Street climbed to more record levels Thursday after Cisco Systems reported stronger-than-expected profit and revenue for the start of 2026, reinforcing a market narrative that artificial intelligence investment and demand are still driving corporate earnings. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% for another all-time high, and the Nasdaq Composite also finished at a record as investors added to positions in technology and other growth-linked names.
Cisco’s results were the catalyst for the day’s gains. The stock rose 13.4% for its best session in nearly 15 years after the company said it saw “very strong, broad-based demand for our products,” according to its chief executive, Chuck Robbins. The company also issued a forecast for profit in the current quarter that topped analysts’ expectations, pushing the stock higher and helping set the tone for other earnings movers.
Big Tech companies have been pouring cash into artificial intelligence technology, and Cisco’s forecast and report fit that broader pattern. Gargi Pal Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist at BlackRock, said the results “reinforced that this is still an AI-led market, but one where the impact is broadening quickly.” She also pointed to earnings growth expanding beyond a narrow set of companies, including into semiconductors, infrastructure, and parts of the industrial economy.
Other stocks that rose after posting better-than-expected results included StubHub Holdings, up 13.7%; Viking Holdings, up 5.5%; and Yeti Holdings, up 6.2%. The gains in companies tied to discretionary spending such as concert tickets, river cruises and insulated water bottles came even as investors weighed economic signals suggesting consumers remain cautious.
The outlook for spending mattered to traders because the market was also watching how the Iran war was affecting the cost of energy and household prices. The report said pressure has been bearing down on consumers from high oil prices and inflation created by the Iran conflict, including attention to a retail sales report that showed shoppers overall spent less at U.S. retailers last month than economists expected, while the slowdown—after excluding gasoline and automobile sales—wasn’t as severe as economists had anticipated.
Separately, a report described more U.S. workers filing for unemployment benefits last week, a data point that can indicate further layoffs. The report said, however, that the number remained relatively low compared with history, a detail that helped limit how much the labor signal weighed on risk appetite.
Rates and energy prices also moved in ways that traders were monitoring. The report said Treasury yields flitted up and down immediately after the reports but largely stayed steady, with the 10-year yield ticking up to 4.47% from 4.46% late Wednesday. In energy markets, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 0.1% to settle at $105.72 Thursday, and it remained well above its roughly $70 level before the war, according to the report.
Stocks abroad were mostly higher. European indexes rose after a mixed finish in Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 1% and South Korea’s Kospi up 1.8% to another record helped by AI-related stock gains. The report said stocks were virtually flat in Hong Kong and down 1.5% in Shanghai as Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing.
Some investors said they hoped Trump could encourage Xi to use China’s close economic ties with Iran to get it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure because of the war has kept oil tankers in the Persian Gulf rather than delivering crude globally, contributing to higher prices.