The US stock market rally has pushed major indexes near record highs despite the Iran war, high oil prices, rising inflation and tariff threats.
The Nasdaq has gained 11% since the start of 2026; the Dow and S&P 500 remain close to record levels.
Markets had entered correction territory on March 27 after the Dow and Nasdaq fell more than 10% from their peaks.
Cornell economist Eswar Prasad said investors expect the Federal Reserve and US government to step in during major financial stress.
April inflation rose to 3.8%, up from 2.4% in February. It said the top 10% of US earners own 87.2% of stocks, while the bottom 50% own 1.1%.
Tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla now make up 30% of the S&P 500.
Read: Oil Prices Rise 3% as US-Iran Talks Stall
Paul Kedrosky, a research fellow at MIT’s Institute for the Digital Economy, called AI the largest private-sector stimulus programme in US history.
