As Friday’s U.S. stock market session draws to a close in its final hour, the S&P 500 is holding on for what could be its seventh straight day of gains. As of Wednesday, May 20, the index rose from 7,353 to an all-time high of 7,599 on Friday.

However, after rebounding at Friday’s opening, the S&P 500 stuck to the green line and is up just 0.1% at the time of writing. While the market had been upbeat about the prospects for peace between the U.S. and Iran throughout the week, the index lost some strength after reports surfaced on Friday afternoon that Russia shot down a Romanian apartment building from a drone. As a member of NATO, this event threatens to spread the war to other European allies.

Dell and NetApp achieved 25% growth on guidance

Friday’s results of the broad index were supported by over 20% increases in Dell Technologies (DELL) and NetApp (NTAP). Both tech giants have garnered impressive headlines.

NetApp beat consensus earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and raised its revenue outlook.

“The overall strong growth was supported by rising overall corporate spending and strong momentum in customer demand moving towards AI adoption and applications, with likely benefits from higher ASPs,” Barclays’ Tim Long wrote in a note to clients.

Long raised his price target for NTAP from $134 to $199 after NetApp offered average fiscal 2027 revenues of $7.45 billion. Fiscal 2026 revenues were $6.93 billion.

For its part, Dell’s shares rose more than 30% on Friday after it also raised its fiscal year outlook. The computer hardware maker now expects revenue of $60 billion for AI servers in fiscal 2027, with total revenue of $167 billion at the midpoint of guidance.

In the first quarter of 2027, Dell reported revenue of $43.8 billion, up 88% year-over-year.

S&P500 chart

The daily chart shows that the S&P 500 index has been on a long upward arc since March 30. Despite numerous false starts in negotiations between the US and Iran, as well as global oil production remaining confined due to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, investors preferred to believe that the war would be resolved sooner or later.

The strength of the gains is evidenced by the fact that since April 7, the index has not touched its 20-day straightforward moving average (SMA). The distance between the 20-day SMA and the 50-day SMA also remains wide as all dips have been quickly bought up over the past two months.

The index appears poised to reach its long-term trendline above 8,200 later this year if nothing stands in the way. However, if the S&P 500 somehow breaks the 20-day average, expect a pointed retracement to the 50-day SMA near 7,060 or prior year-to-date resistance at 7,000.