New York, May 5, 2026, 18:22 EDT
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs Tuesday as AI-linked chip stocks and lower oil prices pulled buyers back into Wall Street after a bruising start to the week. The broad S&P 500 rose 58.47 points to 7,259.22, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 356.35 points to 49,298.25, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 258.32 points to 25,326.13.
That matters now because Tokyo’s cash stock market is shut for Golden Week, leaving futures and overseas trading to carry the signal until Japan reopens. Japan Exchange Group lists May 6 as an observed Constitution Memorial Day holiday, while the Osaka derivatives market is open for holiday trading from May 4 through May 6.
TV Asahi reported that Nikkei average futures ended the May 2 night session at 59,300, briefly recovered the 60,000 level on May 4 and stood at 59,550 as of 6 a.m. on May 5, after the Dow had closed down 557 points in New York. The broadcaster quoted Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities, as saying Nvidia had not led the latest semiconductor rally as much as other chip names, a pattern he said can appear late in a market run. He said the AI semiconductor rally may be “80 or 90%” mature. テレ朝NEWS
The latest Wall Street move leaned hard on semiconductors, the computer chips used in AI systems and data centers. Reuters reported that Intel jumped 13% after Bloomberg News said Apple had discussed using Intel’s chipmaking services, while AMD rose 4% before its quarterly report; the PHLX chip index, a gauge of chip stocks, advanced 4.2% to a record high. “Markets are following fundamentals. Earnings are coming in pretty strong,” Tom Hainlin, investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said. Reuters
AMD then gave the trade another test after the close. The company said first-quarter revenue rose 38% to $10.3 billion, data-center revenue rose 57% to $5.8 billion and it expected second-quarter revenue of about $11.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Chief Executive Lisa Su said data centers were now “the primary driver” of revenue and earnings growth. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
The competitive frame is shifting, too. AMD is viewed by analysts and investors as a leading challenger to Nvidia in graphics processing units, or GPUs, chips used to train and run AI models, while Intel is trying to rebuild its position by ramping up its own manufacturing and challenging AMD in central processing units. Reuters reported that AMD shares jumped roughly 5% in extended trading.
Oil gave stocks a second tailwind. A Fisco market digest carried by Yahoo Finance said June WTI crude, the U.S. oil benchmark, fell $4.15, or 3.9%, to $102.27, while the dollar-yen rate finished New York trading at 157.87 after moving between 157.60 and 157.92.
The relief was still conditional. Reuters reported Monday that the S&P 500 had fallen 0.41%, the Nasdaq 0.19% and the Dow 1.13% after an explosion aboard a South Korean merchant ship and fresh tension around the Strait of Hormuz. Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management, said there was “not a lot of room for error” with markets near all-time highs. Reuters
Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, wrote that investors were still looking past the U.S.-Iran war and higher oil prices, focusing instead on earnings and capital spending. Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial, said AI-driven spending would likely keep doing much of the work for S&P 500 earnings growth.
For Japan, the issue is not only whether Wall Street’s rebound holds. It is whether the chip trade can keep carrying index futures after a holiday break, with oil above $100, the yen still weak and the AI rally drawing sharper questions about how much good news is already in the price.
