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The S&P 500 is enjoying its longest winning streak since 2004. The benchmark recorded its first nine-day winning streak in nearly two decades, jumping 10.2%. With this rally, the S&P 500 erased all the losses incurred during the early April market downturn triggered by President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement (read: Can S&P 500 ETFs Continue Their Winning Streak?).
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, the proxy version of the S&P 500 Index, has gained 7.6% in the past nine days. While many stocks in the ETF have gained during this timeframe, we have highlighted five stocks that were at the forefront of the rally over the past month. These include Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR, Netflix NFLX, Quanta Services Inc. PWR, GE Vernova GEV and DexCom Inc. DXCM.
Increasing hopes of a U.S. trade deal with major trading partners and solid corporate earnings buoyed sentiment. Here are the key drivers that are driving the stock market higher in recent weeks and will continue to do so:
Easing Trade Tensions
Several reports suggest that the United States and China are willing to negotiate on tariffs and put an end to the trade conflict. Chinese officials have signaled reopening trade talks with Washington, while President Trump on Sunday said he wants a "fair deal" with China.
Robust Earnings Reports
Strong quarterly earnings reports from software giant Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) spread strong optimism in the tech sector. The dual earnings outperformance underscores that strong demand for AI is helping both companies navigate tariff-driven economic uncertainty (read: AAI ETFs Set to Gain on Robust Meta, Microsoft Earnings).
Encouraging Jobs Report
April jobs data show that the U.S. labor market remained resilient amid the tariff chaos. The economy added better-than-expected 177,000 jobs while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, providing further assurance about the economy's health.
Let’s take a closer look at the fundamentals of SPY and the stocks behind this rally.
SPY in Focus
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust holds 503 stocks in its basket, with each accounting for no more than 7% of the assets. This suggests a nice balance across each security and prevents heavy concentration. The fund is widely spread across sectors with information technology, financials, healthcare and consumer discretionary accounting for a double-digit allocation each.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust has an AUM of $569 billion and charges 9 bps in fees per year. It trades in an average daily volume of 104 million shares and has a Zacks ETF Rank #2 (Buy) with a Medium risk outlook (see: all the Large Cap Blend ETFs here).