Dow crosses 51,000 — ninth straight winning week: The Dow closed at a record 51,032.46 on Friday — the first-ever close above 51,000. The S&P 500 posted its ninth consecutive weekly gain and closed May up 5%. The Nasdaq surged 8% for the month, its best monthly performance of 2026.

Dell’s best day on record (+33%): Dell reported Q1 FY2027 revenue of $43.8 billion, up 88% year-over-year, with EPS of $5.24 — up 282% YoY. The company booked $24.4 billion in AI orders and recorded $16.1 billion in AI server revenue in the quarter alone. It raised full-year guidance and was called “the poster child for AI broadening earnings.”

Snowflake’s best day ever (+36%): A Q1 earnings beat combined with a $6 billion multi-year Amazon Web Services partnership sent Snowflake to its largest single-day gain on record. ServiceNow jumped 14%, Datadog gained 10%, and Palantir rose 8% on the software sector’s tailwind. Oracle and Microsoft each added 6%+.

Micron crosses $1 trillion market cap: Shares jumped 19% Tuesday after UBS projected 100%+ upside, citing Micron’s dominance in high-bandwidth memory for AI chips. Micron finished May up roughly 88% — one of the most extraordinary monthly performances by a mega-cap stock in recent memory. At the start of 2026, shares traded near $315; by month’s end, they approached $900.

PCE inflation hot — markets shrug: April’s headline PCE rose 3.8% annually — the highest since May 2023 — while core PCE ticked up to 3.3% YoY, above the Fed’s 2% target. Monthly readings came in slightly below consensus, allowing markets to look past the data. Economists warn the 3- and 6-month inflation trend is accelerating toward 4%.

GDP revised lower — stagflation risk builds: The second estimate for Q1 2026 GDP came in at +1.2%, revised down from +1.6%. Slowing growth combined with rising inflation is fueling stagflation fears and intensifying pressure on new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh ahead of the critical June 16–17 FOMC meeting.

Salesforce beats but disappoints: Salesforce crushed Wall Street’s earnings targets but issued lackluster guidance, sending shares down ~2% on the week. The stock remains down 33% year-to-date amid ongoing concern that AI agents will displace traditional CRM software.

Blue Origin rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral: Jeff Bezos’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a hot-fire ground test on May 28 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Bezos called it a “very rough day” but said the company would rebuild. The incident weighed on space stocks including Rocket Lab and comes just weeks before the anticipated SpaceX (SPCX) Nasdaq debut.

Iran tit-for-tat strikes continue: Fresh military exchanges mid-week briefly rattled oil prices and equity futures before markets recovered. Brent crude remains near $105/barrel — approximately 40% above pre-conflict levels. No confirmed peace deal remains the base case.