Stocks hit more records as earnings beat inflation worries

Wall Street kept climbing while many families still face higher prices, with earnings from Dollar Tree, Snowflake and Hormel Foods helping push U.S. indexes to new records on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to an all-time high, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9% to another record, showing that profits, not just sentiment, are still doing the heavy lifting.

The rally was helped by a tentative 60-day extension of the ceasefire in the war with Iran, which eased pressure on crude prices and steadied risk appetite. Treasury yields also eased in the bond market, giving equities another lift. Together, those moves helped investors look past the immediate background of inflation worries, expensive fuel and tariff uncertainty, and toward the more durable force driving stocks higher: companies are still protecting margins.

Dollar Tree was one of the clearest examples. Its shares jumped after the retailer reported stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results for the period ended May 2, 2026, with revenue of $4.98 billion, diluted earnings of $1.76 per share from continuing operations and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.74. The company also raised its fiscal 2026 outlook, a sign that its discount-focused model is still resonating even as shoppers remain price-sensitive.

Snowflake added a different kind of support, underscoring how technology earnings continue to anchor the market’s record run. The data-cloud company said first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue reached $1.39 billion, up 33% from a year earlier, with product revenue of $1.33 billion. Snowflake said it had 779 customers with trailing 12-month product revenue above $1 million and remaining performance obligations of $9.21 billion, figures that point to durable demand even as investors watch broader economic conditions.

Hormel Foods supplied a reminder that the earnings story is not confined to technology. The company had been hurt a year earlier by avian flu, but later posted better-than-expected sales as Spam and Jennie-O recovered. That rebound mattered on a day when investors were rewarding companies that could still grow through a mix of cost pressure, volatile commodities and uneven consumer demand.

The broader message from Thursday’s trading was clear: this record-setting market is being powered by profits that are holding up better than many expected. Some of the gains are concentrated in a few sectors, especially technology and consumer staples, but the common thread is the same. Corporate America is still generating enough earnings power to keep indexes moving higher, even as the economy around them remains uneasy.