S&P 500 extends winning streak to 6 weeks. What drove the stock market gains

Another superb week for stocks is in the books. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq rallied on Friday to close out the week at a record high as Wall Street celebrated another solid batch of earnings and a strong-but-not-too-strong jobs report, while holding out hope for an end to the hostilities in the Mideast. As with each week since late February, the Iran war remained a major focus for investors. But a dizzying number of headlines made it impossible to tell where the conflict was really headed next. Media reports on Wednesday said the U.S. and Iran were nearing a 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war. A day later, both sides reported exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global choke point for oil transport. On Friday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "We should know something today" from Iran on the latest peace proposal. There was no word as of Saturday afternoon. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already said Iran will be a topic at next week's Beijing summit between President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping . For the week, the S & P 500 jumped 2.3%, while the Nasdaq gained 4.5%. Both indexes are up for six weeks in a row — their longest winning streaks since 2024. It certainly helped that oil prices and bond yields dropped, which has been a bullish combination for stocks as of late. It's unclear if the stock market will be able to continue its run into next week. …