3 forces that drove another historic – yet volatile – week for the S&P 500

the s&p 500 and nasdaq both closed at record highs friday, after a week of whipsawing on iran war headlines. the s&p rose 0.6% for the week, the nasdaq 1.5%. oil swung sharply as the u.s. and iran imposed blockades in the strait of hormuz. monday was down after no peace progress. tuesday fell after trump told cnbc the u.s. was "ready" to bomb iran. wednesday reversed when trump announced a two-week ceasefire extension — both indexes hit records. thursday stocks dropped and oil spiked after trump ordered the navy to "shoot and kill any boat" laying mines. but friday the s&p and nasdaq rose 0.8% and 1.63% to new highs, betting peace talks restart. u.s. envoy witkoff and kushner are going to pakistan to meet iranian counterparts. the buy hardware, sell software trade returned. chip stocks rallied for their 18th straight session, boosted by intel's blowout earnings. nvidia gained 3.2% to a record, broadcom rose nearly 4% to a new high. arm jumped 33% since monday. on the other side, software fell after ibm and servicenow earnings disappointed. ibm didn't raise guidance despite beats. servicenow's margins and subscription revenue growth were concerns. salesforce lost 2% for the week, microsoft rose 0.4%. cybersecurity names palo alto and crowdstrike each gained about 6%.