S&P 500 extends winning streak to 6 weeks. What drove the stock market gains

An important development from the financial markets: Another superb week for stocks is in the books. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq rallied on Friday to close out the week at a record high as Wall Street celebrated another solid batch of earnings and a strong-but-not-too-strong jobs report, while holding out hope for an end to the hostilities in the Mideast. As with each week since late February, the Iran war remained a major focus for investors.

But a dizzying number of headlines made it impossible to tell where the conflict was really headed next. Media reports on Wednesday said the U. and Iran were nearing a 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war.

Economic Details

A day later, both sides reported exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global choke point for oil transport. On Friday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "We should know something today" from Iran on the latest peace proposal. There was no word as of Saturday afternoon.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already said Iran will be a topic at next week's Beijing summit between President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping . For the week, the S & P 500 jumped 2. 3%, while the Nasdaq gained 4.

Both indexes are up for six weeks in a row — their longest winning streaks since 2024. It certainly helped that oil prices and bond yields dropped, which has been a bullish combination for stocks as of late. It's unclear if the stock market will be able to continue its run into next week.

Analyst Views

Until then, here are three things that drove last week's trading action. What's next for the Fed? Friday's mixed economic reports did not stop the market's run.

The April jobs report was strong, but consumer sentiment remained extremely low. They did complicate matters for the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision, though, with Jerome Powell's term as central bank chairman ending on May 15 and Trump's pick to take over, Kevin Warsh, zeroing in on Senate confirmation. The Labor Department said Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by 115,000 last month , far surpassing economists' muted expectations of 55,000, but well short of the 185,000 jobs created in an unusually strong March.

The April unemployment rate held steady at 4. The print weakened the case for a near-term rate cut because of the labor market's resilience. However, it didn't completely slam the door for Warsh, who has been a vocal proponent of lowering rates.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.