Summary (continued)

  • Ross Stores rose 8.1% after reporting quarterly profit and revenue that cleared analyst expectations, while Workday gained 5.2% and Zoom Communications jumped 9.2% after beating profit forecasts.

Wall Street extended gains Friday and closed out an eighth consecutive week of stock-market increases, even as a University of Michigan survey pointed to worsening economic anxiety among U.S. households. The market strength contrasted with the survey’s new low for consumer sentiment and its lift in inflation expectations, which economists said can feed behavior that makes inflation harder to bring down.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to finish at 7,473.47, after edging closer to an all-time high set earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6%, adding 294.04 points to close at 50,579.70, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2% and closed at 26,343.97.

AP also reported that the rally had been supported by corporate earnings that beat expectations for the start of 2026, helping keep stocks near record levels despite a more cautious consumer backdrop. Ross Stores helped lead the moves, rising 8.1% after the off-price retailer reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that cleared analysts’ expectations. The company’s CEO, Jim Conroy, said it saw strong customer traffic during the three-month period and that tax refunds may have played a role.

Estee Lauder shares jumped 11.9% after the company said it was no longer considering a possible merger with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and beauty company. Workday rose 5.2%, and Zoom Communications gained 9.2%, as both companies reported quarterly results that topped analysts’ expectations.

At the same time, the University of Michigan survey showed U.S. consumers feeling even worse about the economy, with sentiment dropping to a record low and falling below a low reached in 2022 during the inflation peak above 9%. The survey reported that households forecast inflation would worsen to 4.8% over the next 12 months, up from 4.7% last month, and that expectations over the longer run rose to 3.9% from 3.5% last month.

The report connected those concerns in part to expensive oil associated with the war with Iran. It described oil-market uncertainty as continuing to swing, with traders focused on timing around a potential U.S.-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz—closure that prevents oil tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf to deliver crude worldwide. Brent crude oil for August added 0.7% to settle at $100.21 a barrel after trimming an earlier decline.

Higher bond yields, the report said, threatened to slow economies and undercut stock and investment prices across asset classes. It noted that yields had been down earlier Friday before turning again after oil prices erased losses and the consumer survey showed higher inflation expectations. The 10-year Treasury yield edged down to 4.56% from 4.57% late Thursday but remained above its 3.97% level from before the war.

The market outlook also reflected reduced confidence among traders that the Federal Reserve would resume rate cuts later this year, according to the report. It cited Fed Gov. Christopher Waller’s speech Friday, in which Waller said, “If I believe inflation expectations start to become unanchored, I would not hesitate to support an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate,” while adding in the same remarks that it was “time to simply sit and watch how the conflict and the data evolve.”

Outside the U.S., indexes rose across Europe and Asia, the report said. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% to another record after a report showed inflation hitting a four-year low in April at 1.4%, despite higher oil and gas prices attributed to the war.