New York, May 5, 2026, 18:22 EDT
AI chipmakers and sliding oil prices helped snap Wall Street out of its early-week slump, driving both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new closing records on Tuesday. The S&P 500 notched a 58.47-point gain, ending at 7,259.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on 356.35 points, finishing at 49,298.25. As for the Nasdaq composite, it advanced 258.32 points to close at 25,326.13.
With Tokyo’s cash equities market closed for Golden Week, only futures and offshore orders are picking up the slack until Japan comes back online. May 6 shows up as Constitution Memorial Day on the Japan Exchange Group’s calendar, so cash trading is paused, but the Osaka derivatives market keeps holiday hours from May 4 through May 6.
TV Asahi said Nikkei average futures wrapped up the May 2 night session at 59,300, briefly clawed back to 60,000 on May 4, then changed hands at 59,550 by 6 a.m. May 5. That move followed a 557-point drop for the Dow in New York. The network cited Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities, who pointed out Nvidia has lagged this round’s semiconductor rally, with other chip stocks driving gains. Hiroki added that sort of lag often pops up late in a bull run and estimated the AI semiconductor surge could be “80 or 90%” played out. テレ朝NEWS
Semiconductor stocks took the spotlight again. Intel surged 13% after Bloomberg News reported Apple had considered tapping Intel for chip production, according to Reuters. AMD gained 4% ahead of its latest earnings. The PHLX chip index, tracking major chipmakers, popped 4.2% — hitting an all-time high. “Markets are following fundamentals. Earnings are coming in pretty strong,” said Tom Hainlin, investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Reuters
After the bell, AMD put the trade back on the table. First-quarter revenue climbed 38% to $10.3 billion, with data-center sales up 57% at $5.8 billion. Looking ahead, the chipmaker is targeting around $11.2 billion in second-quarter revenue, give or take $300 million. “Data centers are now the primary driver of our revenue and earnings growth,” CEO Lisa Su said. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
The competitive landscape is moving as well. Analysts and investors have AMD pegged as the top contender against Nvidia in GPUs—critical chips for AI training and inference—while Intel’s efforts center on manufacturing expansion and taking the fight to AMD in CPUs. AMD shares surged about 5% after hours, according to Reuters.
Oil prices delivered another boost for equities. According to a Fisco market digest on Yahoo Finance, June WTI crude—the U.S. benchmark—dropped $4.15, or 3.9%, settling at $102.27. The dollar-yen pair wrapped up New York trading at 157.87, trading in a range from 157.60 to 157.92.
Relief in markets came with strings attached. On Monday, Reuters reported the S&P 500 slipped 0.41%, the Nasdaq edged down 0.19%, and the Dow dropped 1.13% following an explosion on a South Korean merchant vessel and renewed friction in the Strait of Hormuz. “Not a lot of room for error” at these market highs, said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management. Reuters
Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, noted investors kept shrugging off the U.S.-Iran conflict and rising oil prices, their attention fixed on earnings and capital expenditures. Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial, pointed out that AI-related spending is still expected to drive most of the S&P 500’s earnings gains.
In Japan, the question isn’t just if Wall Street’s bounce has staying power. The focus is also on whether chip stocks can keep lifting index futures after the holiday, especially with oil trading above $100, the yen remaining soft, and skepticism growing over the AI rally—specifically, how much optimism is already baked in.
