US Stocks Hit Fresh Highs as Snowflake Surges 37% on AWS Deal, Iran Peace Talks Weigh on Oil

Executive Summary

Wall Street closed May’s record run with a whimper rather than a bang — major indexes notched their second straight session of record closes on May 27, though volume was thin heading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The standout story of the evening was Snowflake, which rocketed 37.5% in after-hours trading after unveiling a $6 billion Amazon Web Services spending commitment alongside first-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Bitcoin slipped below $74,000 as the consolidation phase that started in late May continued to weigh on crypto sentiment. The Federal Reserve’s rate-cut clock keeps getting pushed back, with December now the market’s consensus for the first cut.

Snowflake Sparks After-Hours Rally With $6B AWS Deal

Snowflake delivered the kind of earnings beat that stops the scroll. The cloud-data company posted better-than-expected Q1 results Thursday evening and announced plans to spend $6 billion with Amazon Web Services over the next five years — a commitment that investors read as a major vote of confidence in AWS infrastructure and a signal that enterprise AI data workloads are scaling fast. The stock surged 37.5% in after-hours trading, putting it on course for one of its biggest single-day gains in years.

The announcement is worth unpacking. $6 billion over five years works out to $1.2 billion annually — that’s meaningful even for a company Snowflake’s size, and it suggests the pipeline of AI-driven data ingestion deals is real and getting larger. Analysts had been cautious heading into the print, but the revenue beat combined with the AWS headline gave bears little to work with. If Snowflake holds even a fraction of those gains when the regular session opens, it’ll be one of the more notable single-session moves in the cloud sector this year.

Sources: Snowflake Earnings Beat — Trading Economics · Snowflake Q1 Results — Yahoo Finance

US Stocks Close at Records Ahead of Holiday Weekend

The broad market managed to extend its winning streak into a second consecutive session, with all three major indexes closing at all-time highs on May 27. The S&P 500 settled at 7,519.12, up 0.61% for the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.19% to close at 26,656.18 — both fresh record closes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 118.02 points, or 0.23%, ending at 50,461.68, even as it remained near its own intraday highs.

Thin trading conditions heading into the Memorial Day weekend likely amplified the moves in both directions. Equity futures were little changed in overnight trading following the Snowflake reaction, with investors digesting the earnings surprise while awaiting the next major catalyst — Nvidia’s next earnings report is among the upcoming dates to watch. The string of record closes reflects a market that keeps finding reasons to bid up equities even as rate-cut expectations keep getting pushed back.

Sources: May 27 Market Close — CNBC · S&P 500 at Record — Reuters · Dow, Nasdaq at Records — CNBC

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Bitcoin Slides Below $75,000 as Consolidation Drag Continues

Bitcoin opened May 28 at $74,332.94, down roughly 2% from Wednesday’s opening price, and slipped further to around $73,285 by mid-morning trading. The move puts BTC below the $75,000 mark for the first time in several sessions, though it’s still holding within the broader $73,000–$77,000 range that has defined price action over the past three weeks.

The technical picture looks constructive on the upside but uncertain in the near term. Multiple analyst notes describe the $73,000 level as a robust support zone that has held through several tests, while $80,500 remains the targeted breakout level for the more optimistic forecasts. CoinCodex’s quant models show a current “bearish” signal on the daily timeframe, though that coexists with long-term bullish targets in the $93,000 range. The prediction market on Polymarket has attracted over $36 million in wagers on where Bitcoin closes the month — a reflection of how much uncertainty remains even among crypto-native traders.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Sources: Bitcoin Price May 28 — Yahoo Finance · Bitcoin Price Analysis — Intellectia AI · BTC Price Prediction — CoinCodex

US-China Trade Talks Advance as Greer’s “Mostly Done” Comment Reshapes Tariff Outlook

Trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing took a notable step forward this week following President Trump’s visit to China earlier in May. USTR’s top trade official made waves when, in a Council on Foreign Relations conversation, she described the aggressive tariff campaign as largely complete — specifically using the phrase “I would say, mostly” when asked whether the US was done with tariff escalation. The remark suggests the administration is preparing to shift into a more targeted phase, one focused on lowering barriers for “non-strategic” Chinese goods rather than broad tariff increases.

The specifics still matter enormously. Both sides are coalescing around a basket of $30–$50 billion in goods for reduced tariffs or other trade barriers, according to former USTR negotiator Wendy Cutler. China’s current tariff regime includes a 12% most-favored-nation tariff on US beef and a 10% levy on all American imports, with the prospect of an additional 55% tariff if import quota levels are exceeded. A managed trade deal that chips away at even a portion of those duties would provide meaningful relief to US agricultural and energy exporters — the sectors that have born the brunt of Beijing’s retaliation. The market is watching closely: a successful Phase Two deal could remove one of the key downside risks priced into US small-cap and value stocks.

Sources: Greer on US-China Trade — Axios · China Tariff Structure — Reuters · Trump-Xi Tariff Talks — Reuters

Fed Rate-Cut Bets Drift to December as Goldman Sacks Its Outlook

The Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory remains the market’s most contested debate, and the consensus keeps shifting toward fewer cuts, later in the year. Polymarket’s prediction market — which has become a surprisingly reliable proxy for trader sentiment — shows “December Meeting” as the leading outcome for a first rate cut, with a 33% probability. October sits second at 22%. Those odds have been drifting later for weeks, reflecting a string of inflation readings that haven’t cooperated with the early-2026 cut narrative.

Goldman Sachs formalized what many on Wall Street had already concluded, pushing its Fed cut forecast to December 2026 and flagging Iran war-driven inflation as the key upside risk to its outlook. The reasoning: sustained geopolitical disruption in the Middle East could keep energy prices elevated, which feeds directly into services inflation — the component the Fed watches most closely because it’s stickier. Several regional Fed presidents have publicly expressed skepticism about easing policy while CPI remains above target, and with the voting roster on the FOMC getting more hawkish as new governors are appointed, the bar for a rate cut before year-end is rising.

Sources: Fed Rate Cut Odds — Polymarket · Goldman Fed Outlook — Reuters · Fed Rate Pressure — Bankrate

Commodities: Oil Retreats on Iran Peace Deal Optimism

Crude oil gave back some of its recent gains as news of progress in US-Iran nuclear negotiations undercut the geopolitical risk premium that had been supporting prices. The World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook, released in late May, projects a 24% surge in energy prices for 2026 — the highest level since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — driven largely by Middle East disruption. But the Iran talks have added a countervailing force: if a ceasefire or nuclear framework reduces the threat of supply disruption, the bull case for oil weakens meaningfully in the near term.

Gold traded in a relatively contained range in May, moving between $4,453 and $4,773 per ounce. The World Bank’s precious metals index fell 2.7% in the most recent monthly reading, a modest pullback that analysts attributed to profit-taking after gold’s strong Q1 run. The dollar’s renewed strength — driven by the delayed Fed cut narrative — creates headwinds for gold in the near term, but geopolitical uncertainty and central bank buying continue to underpin the longer-term bullish thesis.

Sources: World Bank Commodity Outlook — World Bank · Gold Price Forecast — LiteFinance · Gold Falls on Inflation Worries — CNBC

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Disclaimer: This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.