Market Review: May 08, 2026

Closing Recap

Friday, May 08, 2026

U.S. stock markets finish the day/week near highs in another straight up more from the opening bell, as the S&P 500 (SPX) officially topped 7,400 for the first time in history, now up over +17% since March 30^th and the S&P and Nasdaq post a 6^th straight week of gains amid maximum market bullishness on Ai demand growth boosting tech sectors leveraged to it (semis, optical, memory, data center), while software lags. It feels like maximum bullishness for Wall Street as every earnings beat, partnership, order related to the AI space sends tech stocks soaring daily as the semis (SOX) index added another 5% today (now up 65% in just four months after surging 40% in 2025), led by order or partner related headlines for INTC, AVGO (today alone), new highs for NVDA and strength in equipment names and of course memory/HDD stocks with MU, SNDK, WDC, STX which continue to be market leaders. Just truly astounding moves daily in tech land while broader S&P index is also buoyed by materials, industrials, and REITs (all up over 10% YTD), while healthcare and financials are both down over 6% YTD. This last leg higher the last few days certainly feels like FOMO buying as the biggest winners continue to surge.

Jobs numbers this week were strong, both the ADP private payroll report on Wednesday and today’s Nonfarm payroll report, pointing to continued labor market stability and reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged for some time while monitoring the economic fallout from the war with Iran. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 115,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 185,000 advance in March, and well above the economists forecast of 62,000 jobs after a previously reported 178,000 rebound in March. Wages increased 3.6% in the 12 months through April after gaining 3.4% in March. There were some “red flags” however as more people worked part-time for economic reasons last month, with the number jumping by 445,000 to 4.9Mm and household employment declined but was partly offset by dropouts from the labor force, keeping the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.3%.

Next week’s attention turns to April’s inflation prints in the U.S. and China as well as high stakes talks between President Trump’s Beijing visit to see President Xi. The timing is at a crucial time amid the urgent push to de-escalate Middle East hostilities. The visit could be the most anticipated diplomatic event of the year, framed as a high-stakes deal-making session, albeit one with modest expectations. The backdrop of an ongoing energy crisis and the scheduled lapse of major trade frameworks in November instill significant uncertainty regarding the summit’s outcomes. The most urgent priority is the Iran conflict and the impassable Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile economists expect the headline CPI to soften slightly to 0.8% YoY from 1.0% YoY previously, while the U.S. CPI report is next Wednesday and PPI on Thursday.

Interesting data points showed: Investors flocked to cash and bonds last week and emerging market stocks saw their biggest outflows since January, according to Bank of America. The US had its sixth week of equity inflows at $9.3 billion, BofA said. The Nasdaq 100 Index on Thursday reached an “extreme” spread of 13% above its 50-day moving average while also touching a 52-week high, according to BTIG LLC. The last time that happened, other than in September 2020, was in March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble.

• University of Michigan surveys of consumers sentiment prelim May 48.2 (consensus 49.5) vs final April 49.8 as the current conditions index prelim May 47.8 (consensus 52.0) vs final April 52.5 and the consumers expectations index prelim May 48.5 (consensus 48.1) vs final April 48.1.
• University of Michigan surveys of consumers 1-year inflation outlook prelim May 4.5% vs final April 4.7% and the survey of consumers 5-year inflation outlook prelim May 3.4% vs final April 3.5%
• March wholesale inventories revised to +1.3% vs. consensus +1.4% as U.S. March wholesale sales +2.8%; U.S. March wholesale sales +2.8% vs Feb +2.6%. U.S. March stock/sales ratio 1.21 months’ worth vs Feb 1.23 months

• In Restaurants: after falling the most since its IPO yesterday on earnings, SHAK was upgraded to Buy from Hold) at Stifel (while lower tgt to $85 from $105 as they believe the market has overreacted to disappointing Q1 earnings and soft April sales and stock is trading near 10-year valuation lows at ~12.5x updated NTM EBITDA. WEN reported a top and bottom line beat for Q1.
• Food & Beverages: MNST shares jumped on results as Q1 results beat as revs rose 26.9% Y/y to $2.35B above consensus $2.16B; did not provide specific financial guidance for the current quarter or full year; Q1 Net sales in the Monster Energy Drinks segment rose 27.6% Y/y, driven by increased consumer demand.

• In Leisure sector: PLNT was downgraded by both Bank America and TD Cowen after results saying while expected a difficult Q1 due to weather and heightened competition, the earnings reset came without a new multi-year framework. In theme parks, FUN was upgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan and raised tgt to $26 from $16 saying Q1 top/bottom line exceeded Street-high estimates into the print and it is raising its model for transitory attendance recapture opportunity in Q2/2H with building list of idiosyncratic “self-help” initiatives. PRKS was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Mizuho noting shares are only up 2% YTD and down ~40% from the 2-year high achieved in late ’24 noting risk/reward skewed.

• Energy Equipment: FLNC was upgraded to Buy from neutral at Roth and raise tgt to $26 from $13 after the co delivered FQ2 EBITDA modestly ahead of expectations despite a revenue miss, as GMs rebounded from FQ1 levels and reiterated FY’26 guidance while also signed MSAs with two hyperscalers.

• In Crypto: COIN posts its second consecutive quarterly loss as trading momentum fades with Q1 EPS loss (-$1.49) vs. est. for profit of $0.27 and  Q1 revs fell 21% q/q to $756M as total crypto market cap and trading volumes dropped more than 20% q/q; Q1 adj EBITDA fell -46% q/q and posted net loss of -$394.1M vs. $65.6M profit Y/y.
• In Employment Services: UPWK was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord after the co reported mixed Q1 results, with softer GSV, in line revenue, and stronger profitability and said GSV trends were tracking in line with internal expectations through early February but softened materially later in the month and through early April.

• GILD slides on guidance as Q1 adj EPS $2.03 vs est. $1.91; Q1 revs $6.96B vs est. $6.91B; Q1 Veklury sales down 52% to $144M; now sees FY26 adjusted EPS ($1.05)-(65c) due to charges and financing costs related to recent acquisitions but raises overall sales guidance for year by $400M and ests on Yeztugo to $1B from $800M.
• MRNA shares posted big gains after Moderna tells Reuters it has conducted preclinical research on hantaviruses in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases; says research is in early stages. Moderna signed a research agreement in 2023 with Korea University to develop an mRNA-based vaccine for hantavirus partnered, under its mRNA Access Program.
• PTCT was upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen after results and raised tgt to $90 from $75 saying the co has made strong progress over the past several years in streamlining its focus, executing on favorable transactions, which has fortified the balance sheet, and delivering early on a new product launch.
• BHVN, SRPT, REPL, QURE among biotech names that spiked midday (as well as tobacco names MO, PM) after the WSJ reported President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire FDA Marty Makary, following a tumultuous period for the regulator that included clashes over vaping, abortion and drug policy,

• In E&C sector: FLR shares fall on results as Q1 adj EPS $0.14 misses consensus $0.62 on revs $3.66B vs. consensus $3.89B; is narrowing its adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2026 from $525M-$585M to $525-$560M as upper end of guidance reflects Q1 recognition of cost growth on a mining project in the Americas.
• In Aerospace: RKLB shares jumped as Q1 revs rose 63.5% y/y to $200.35M vs. est. $190M on better guide as sees Q2 revs $225M-$240M vs. est. $201M; said record number of new launch and space systems contracts signed in Q1, including 31 Electron and HASTE contracts and five Neutron launches.
• In Metals, shares of gold and silver miners (AEM, B, CDE, HL, NEM, PAAS) saw weekly gains as gold prices posted a roughly 2.3% gain this week, best in over 5 weeks.

• In AI Data Center/Infrastructure sector: IREN shares jumped after the company announced NVDA to invest up to $2.1B as part of a broader AI partnership between the two firms, intended to accelerate deployment of large-scale AI factories; the deal gives NVDA a five-year right to buy up to 30 million IREN shares at $70 per share. CRWV beat 1Q26 expectations with active power now exceeding 1GW while 2Q revenue was below consensus, and management maintained full-year revenue, op. income, and capacity guides. DELL shares caught a big jump late day simply after President trump made a simple statement, “Go and buy a Dell” (just that kind of market).
• In Content Delivery: AKAM shares soared after results last night and news that a U.S. based frontier model provider commits $1.8B over seven years for cloud infrastructure services. NET shares tumbled after better results and mixed guidance as they raised its full-year revenue guide by $19M to account for the higher 1Q revenue but implies a deceleration in revenue growth through the year (30% CY26 growth).
• In Optical Sector: AAOI Q1 revs $151.1M vs. est. $157.1M; Q1 adj net Income -$4.9M vs. est. -$3.84M; Q1 GAAP gross margin was 29.1%, compared with 30.6% Y/y and 31.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025
• In AdTech: TTD shares stumbled as Q1 adj EPS $0.28 misses est $0.32 on revs $689M vs. est. $679.2M; guides Q2 revs at least $750M vs. est. $771.3M saying advertisers turned more cautious with their budgets in an uncertain macroeconomic environment (shares were downgraded at William Blair as believes competition has continued to be a challenge for the company and believes this growth profile will continue to be a concern for investors).
• IT Services & Consulting: EPAM downgraded to Neutral at Goldman Sachs citing greater than expected headwinds in discretionary spending that are pressuring the company’s custom applications and broader services business.

• INTC shares soared…again…now up 33% in just a few days in May, getting a boost after the WSJ reported Apple and Intel have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture some of the chips that power Apple Device. Intensive talks between the two companies have been ongoing for more than a year, and they hammered out a formal deal in recent months, these people said. Bloomberg News first reported the talks Tuesday.
• AVGO also surges late day after Bloomberg reported APO and BX are among private credit lenders involved in talks with chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO) over a roughly $35B financing to fund the AI build-out.
• MCHP reported Mar-Q sales up 11% q/q and guided Jun-Q up 11% q/q, well above typical seasonality driven by broad-based strength, led by Aerospace and Defense (16% of F26 sales).
• SYNA posted strong FQ3 (Mar) results and FQ4 (Jun) guidance, which slightly exceeded expectations as upside in the quarter was attributed to Enterprise, while both Mobile and IOT missed expectations. Smartphone demand was negatively impacted by memory and declined -16% Y/y, while IOT despite the miss still grew 30% Y/y.
• TSM posted its slowest pace of monthly revenue expansion since October as sales rose 17.5% to NT$410.7 billion ($13.1 billion), their smallest rise in about six months.