Wall St hits more record closing highs on US-Iran ceasefire extension

STORY: Wall Street's main indexes notched more record closing highs on Thursday, as the Dow ticked up marginally, the S&P 500 added more than half a percent and the Nasdaq climbed nearly one percent.Sources told Reuters the U.S. and Iran reached a draft agreement to extend their ceasefire for 60 days and lift restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, though President Donald Trump had yet to approve it.Meanwhile, economic data on Thursday showed that U.S. inflation in April rose at its fastest pace in three years and first-quarter GDP was revised lower.Chris Kampitsis, managing partner at Barnum Financial Group, said the economic overhang is still being offset by an AI trade that just won't quit."The way I've been describing the impact of the geopolitical events and inflation and interest rates to clients is that all of this represents a drag on the market and a drag on the economy. Concurrently, we have some pluses. We have some accelerants in the form of AI technology and exceptional corporate earnings. Right now, the pluses are outweighing the negatives. If we didn't have this overhang, you could only imagine where the market's results might be as it continues to participate in this euphoric run through what is in essence a technological revolution that we're experiencing.":: ArchiveReflecting that AI euphoria, shares of Dell soared more than 16% in extended trading after the company boosted its annual revenue and profit expectations. Dell reported that data center expansion by clients is fueling demand for its AI-optimized servers powered by Nvidia's chips.Snowflake shares soared 36% after the data analytics firm lifted its annual product revenue forecast and announced a five-year AI infrastructure deal worth $6 billion with Amazon Web Services. Peers Datadog and MongoDB also climbed.Elsewhere in the market, shares of Dollar Tree jumped almost 18% after the discount retailer lifted its full-year profit forecast, while Best Buy rose nearly 16% after the electronics vendor forecast second-quarter sales above estimates.On the flip side, shares of Gap tumbled 14% in extended trading after the apparel chain cut its annual sales forecast, signaling pressure from budget-strained Americans pulling back on discretionary spending amid macroeconomic uncertainty.