New Highs on Dow, S&P, NASDAQ; 1Q 2026 GDP Steady at 1.6%; Durable Goods Jump 7.9%; PCE Index Up 4.5%; Retailers Mostly Post Strong Earnings

Stocks made another move slightly higher on Wednesday. Against a backdrop of rising inflation and renewed attacks by the U.S. against Iranian targets in the Gulf of Hormuz, the Dow, S&P, and NASDAQ all closed at record highs.

The euphoria may be wearing a little bit thin as stock futures heading into Thursday's session were trending lower, though release of GDP and Capital Goods Orders sent futures higher after 8:30 am ET. Any losses in the indices are likely to be short-lived as the rally has not been negatively affected by either geo-politics or domestic data.

Thursday morning brings a handful of useful data, led by the monthly PCE Price Index, second estimate of first quarter GDP and Durable Goods orders. Labor gets numbers from the weekly jobless claims.

Real GDP was unchanged from the initial estimate of 1.6%, and, according to the BEA:

The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 3.5 percent in the first quarter, revised down 0.1 percentage point from the previous estimate. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 4.5 percent, the same as previously estimated, and the PCE price index excluding food and energy increased 4.4 percent, revised up 0.1 percentage point.

Durable Goods Orders were an out--of-the-park hit:

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April, up two consecutive months, increased $25.5 billion or 7.9 percent to $346.0 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This followed a 1.3 percent March increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.1 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 8.1 percent. Transportation equipment, also up two consecutive months, led the increase, $23.1 billion or 21.5 percent to $130.9 billion.

Weekly initial and continuing unemployment claims were static, with the latest initial claims figure at 215,000, well within the current range.

First quarter earnings continue to trickle forward. After the close Wednesday, these companies reported:
Salesforce (CRM) - earnings beat, $3.88 adjusted vs. $3.12 expected, dull forecast, shares down less than 1%
HP (HPQ) - EPS beat, Dell merger dead, shares slip 2% pre-market
Marvell (MRVL) - earnings in-line, revenue up, forecast boldly positive, shares drop 3%

On Thursday, before the open,
Hormel Foods (HRL) - earnings beat, forecast confirmed, stock jumps 4-5% pre-open
Kohl's (KSS) - narrower than expected loss send shares soaring 18%
Best Buy (BBY) - Solid top and bottom line beats, shares up 9-10%
Burlington (BURL) - Meets expectations, forecast weak, stock down 10%
Dollar Tree (DLTR) - Strong 1Q translates into 18% gain pre-market

Wall Street, largely giddy over the morning's data drops and corporate earnings, continues to pile into stocks willy-nilly. a host of retail investors and skeptics continue moaning about high valuations, but the real money isn't holding back.

Heading toward Thursday’s open, futures have flattened out, gold and silver are lower, oil steady at around $90-91 and bitcoin continuing to drop, below $73,000 earlier this morning.

With institutions calling, "everybody into the pool; the water's fine," is this time, with stocks at record highs, the right time to take the leap? The right time was six months to a year or two ago, but retail is always the last to know and the last to move. When retail, always late to sense the obvious, does finally relent and join the party, then will be the correct time to take profits.

Until then, onward and upward.

At the Close, Wednesday, May 27, 2026:
Dow: 50,644.28, +182.60 (+0.36%)
NASDAQ: 26,674.73, +18.55 (+0.07%)
S&P 500: 7,520.36, +1.24 (+0.02%)
NYSE Composite: 23,267.07, -28.43 (-0.12%)