Nvidia and Micron boost S&P 500 to record highs

The S&P 500 has logged 25 record highs so far in 2026, the index’s seventh-best start in 33 years, fueled by 29% year-over-year earnings growth across its companies.

The rally reflects unusually strong corporate results. Second-quarter profits are on track to jump nearly 30% compared with last year, and analysts are raising their 12-month earnings forecasts at an unusually fast pace. That surge follows three straight years of double-digit gains—2023’s 26.3%, 2024’s 25%, and 2025’s 17.9%—a run not seen in more than 25 years. The forward price-to-earnings ratio has climbed alongside the index, meaning investors are paying more for each dollar of expected profit. If those earnings don’t keep pace, the multiple expansion behind part of the rally could reverse just as quickly.

Much of the market’s recent strength traces to just two stocks. Micron has delivered a 208% return this year despite its small index weight, contributing nearly as much to the S&P 500’s gains as Nvidia, which has a far larger footprint. Nvidia’s gains came from sheer size and steady performance, while Micron’s surge reflects demand for high-bandwidth memory chips feeding the AI data-center boom. Together, along with Apple, they account for a large share of the index’s new highs.

History suggests the rally could keep running. Bloomberg data shows that fresh S&P 500 highs have preceded positive six-month returns 76% of the time, though the pattern broke in 2007 with a 12% loss. For long-term investors, the challenge isn’t spotting the next record—it’s deciding what to do once the surprises stop.