3 themes that drove stocks to another week of records — and a banner month

Stocks soared to record highs again last week, capping off a banner month for the market. Investor optimism about an end to the Iran-U.S. war, a string of positive corporate earnings reports, and strength in technology stocks led to new records for the S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite , up over 1% and more than 2%, respectively, during the holiday-shortened trading week. That brought the weekly winning streak for the S & P 500 to nine, while the Nasdaq has been up eight out of the past nine weeks. Friday also marked the last trading day of May, with the S & P 500 and Nasdaq advancing roughly 5% and 8%, respectively. The smaller 30-stock Dow gained a little less than 1% last week, and posted an almost 3% climb for the month. Will the rally continue into Monday? The market isn't quite in overbought territory yet, according to the S & P Short Range Oscillator , with a reading of 2.63%. Anything above 4% indicates stocks might be due for a pullback. Until then, here are three themes that drove the market last week. Peace progress (maybe) More mixed signals out of the Middle East, but it ended on a positive note. Stocks jumped on Wednesday as oil prices retreated after Iranian state media reported that Iranian leaders wanted to restore commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels. Hours later, however, the White House called the report a "complete fabrication." The S & P 500 retreated but still ended the session higher. A day later, Axios reported that the U.S. …