If April was Wall Street's most extraordinary month in two decades, the first week of May made clear the rally has no intention of cooling.
The S&P 500 – tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) – booked its sixth straight winning week above record highs at 7,400, while the Nasdaq 100 broke 29,000 for the first time ever. All-time highs lit up screens across the board as the AI-driven advances kept defying gravity.
The U.S. tech sector – tracked via the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) – has now rallied 34% in six weeks — the best six-week run on record, outpacing every comparable stretch of the dot-com era.
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) gained over 30% on the week, its strongest run since December 2008. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) climbed more than 20%, with shares jumping 17% in a single session after a blowout data-center beat — booking its ninth straight weekly gain.
A Colossal Divergence
But a colossal divergence unfolded between Wall Street and Main Street. While champagne flowed on the trading floor and President Donald Trump celebrated record highs, pessimism spread like wildfire outside Wall Street's doors and straight into the kitchens of average American families.
U.S. consumer sentiment, surveyed by the University of Michigan, collapsed to 48.2 in May — the lowest reading in the survey's nearly 80-year history. That is worse than the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, worse than the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, and worse than the June 2022 inflation panic.
About one-third of consumers spontaneously mentioned gasoline prices, and roughly 30% mentioned tariffs. Real income expectations have declined since March. The Michigan survey also exposed a stark divide in inflation anxiety between large stockholders and paycheck-to-paycheck households.
Pump Pain Persists
Even with crude sliding back below $100 a barrel on hopes of a final U.S.-Iran agreement, AAA kept reporting rising prices at the pump. The national average for gasoline crossed $4.55 per gallon and diesel surged above $5.65. In California, diesel hit $7.50 — within a hair of the 2022 record.
On Friday, a stronger-than-expected jobs report offered brief relief. The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, nearly twice the consensus, with unemployment holding at 4.3%.
Still, the picture stayed the same: two Americas, one tape. On the trading floor, the strongest tech run in history. In the kitchens, the worst mood ever recorded. Eventually, only one of them will be right.
