The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to close at 7,519.12 on Tuesday, setting an all-time high as U.S. markets resumed trading after the Memorial Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite rallied 1.2% to 26,656.18, also a record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 118 points, or 0.2%, to 50,461.68. The gains came after President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran on ending their war were “proceeding nicely,” comments that lifted markets in much of the rest of the world on Monday, when U.S. exchanges were closed.
Micron Technology led the advance, its stock leaping 19.3% to top $895.88 after analysts at UBS, led by Timothy Arcuri, raised their 12-month price target for the memory-chip maker to $1,625 from $535. The analysts cited continued strength in demand for computer memory, and Micron shares have more than tripled so far this year. The company became Wall Street’s latest to exceed $1 trillion in overall value, joining Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, each of which has surpassed $3 trillion.
Lower oil prices helped lift airlines and cruise lines with big fuel bills. United Airlines rose 6%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings gained 4.9%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.5% to $96.67, reclaiming only part of its plunge on Monday. U.S. crude oil fell 2.8% to settle at $93.89. Oil prices have been at the center of financial markets’ action since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. The ensuing war closed the Strait of Hormuz, keeping tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and driving up oil’s price, sending a wave of painful inflation worldwide.
Trading remained volatile as the U.S. military said it carried out “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats placing mines, as fighting continued. Markets have rallied on hopes for a coming end to the war only to see the conflict drag on, a pattern that has lifted stocks and then reversed them multiple times over the past three months.
On the losing side of Wall Street was AutoZone, which dropped 9% after reporting slightly weaker revenue than analysts expected for its latest quarter. CEO Phil Daniele said performance for the retailer’s stores in Brazil and Mexico was below plan, though overall profit topped expectations.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.49% from 4.56% late Friday, easing pressure on stock valuations after recent gains in bond yields worldwide had threatened to slow economic growth and undercut asset prices. High yields had already pushed the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level since last summer and could curtail corporate borrowing for artificial-intelligence data centers that have supported recent economic growth.
Most large U.S. companies have been reporting both profit and revenue for the start of 2026 above analysts’ expectations, helping vault stocks to records even with the uncertainty around oil prices and the Iran war. A report Tuesday showed consumer confidence edged downward in May, though the decline was not as steep as economists had projected, following a separate report Friday that put consumer sentiment at its lowest level on record.
In overseas markets, many indexes slipped from Monday’s highs. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.2% from its all-time high set the day before. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.5% as it caught up with other markets after a holiday closure. London’s FTSE 100 added 0.2% even though BP fell 4% there; the British oil giant ousted its chairman over what the company called serious governance concerns.