Happy Monday! If you were waiting for the of the market, congratulations; they have finally arrived. Historically, November marks the start of the best half-year stretch for U.S. stocks. And with a bull run that already feels turbocharged, things just got a little more interesting. The market's been on fire, and now the ongoing earnings season is adding more fuel to it.
Meanwhile, Nvidia pulled off something markets have never seen before: it became the first publicly traded company to cross a $5 trillion valuation. Apple and Microsoft weren't far behind, each comfortably sitting above $4 trillion. Somewhere along the way, turned into .
Amazon joined the party, too. The stock jumped 9.6% to $244.22 on Friday, its first record close since February, after reporting EPS of $1.95 (versus $1.58 expected) and AWS revenue of $33 billion, a healthy 20% YoY jump.
Apple also topped estimates on both the top and bottom lines: EPS $1.85 vs $1.77 expected, revenue $102.5 billion vs $102.1 billion. Only iPhone sales lagged slightly; a small blemish on an otherwise impressive quarter.
Last week, the broader U.S. market kept grinding higher: the S&P 500 rose approximately 1.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average logged gains in the 2%-plus range. That said, the S&P 500 is about 13% above its 200-day moving average; that's super-impressive momentum, but also a sign the rally may be getting ahead of itself.
The Deep Dive
This week, we are tracking three key stories:
- The market enters its best 6 months
- The $5 trillion giant: Nvidia makes history
- The bull market gets fresh fuel from earnings
Let's take a closer look…
1. The market's best six months begin
November through April has historically been the market's sweet spot; the so-called .
Since 1950, the S&P 500 has averaged a 7% return during this window (compared with just 2% from May to October). Small-caps have done even better, with the Russell 2000 averaging 9% gains over the same stretch.
Bank of America calls November and history backs that up: since 1927, the S&P 500 has risen 59% of the time in November, averaging a 1% monthly gain.
If seasonality holds, the bull may just be getting started, and it couldn't have picked a more dramatic backdrop to do so: valuations are rich, bond yields are high, and investors are torn between optimism and caution.
2. The $5,000,000,000,000 giant
Nvidia (NVDA) just became the first company in history to hit a $5 trillion market cap, a number that feels less like a valuation and more like a statement about who's running this market.
The company's surge underscores a widening divide between the and the As one analyst quipped, Microsoft and Apple, each crossing the $4 trillion mark last week, are now officially part of the same trillion-dollar club that no one imagined could get this crowded.
It's been a three-year tech supercycle: the Morningstar U.S. Technology Index is up 167%, roughly double the broader market's return since the bull began.
3. The bull market gets fresh fuel from earnings
Another earnings season, another round of upside surprises. With 64% of S&P 500 companies having reported, 83% beat EPS estimates, and 79% topped revenue forecasts, according to FactSet data.
If the current 10.7% YoY earnings growth holds, this will mark the fourth straight quarter of double-digit growth. It proves that the AI-driven rally isn't out of sync with the fundamentals.
The market is running on both favorable seasonality and a tone of improving corporate momentum. That combination gives bulls a little extra cushion; even if they still have to watch for any cracks in the narrative.
The week ahead brings a busy slate: Palantir, AMD, Supermicro, Constellation Energy, Qualcomm, and Arm Holdings will all report, alongside heavyweights Berkshire Hathaway, Pfizer, Uber, and Shopify.
Keep an eye on our Earnings Calendar.
Before we sign-off
Markets move not just on data, but on how investors interpret them. In each of the stories we cover, it all comes down to market expectations and sentiment. When sentiment runs ahead of fundamentals, what follows is volatility.
At AlphaPro, we track the voice behind the numbers and tone of earnings calls, policy speeches, and analyst commentary. Our Earnings Sentiment Score helps you cut through the noise and see how executives and policymakers are shaping narratives in real time.
Same time next week? See you then.
Want to explore real-time sentiment scores, earnings call insights, and curated stock research?