Stocks are at a record high, and the market’s recent action continues to put this winter’s fears deep into the rearview for investors.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed up Friday 0.8% for a gain of 2.4% for the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) finished Friday 1.7% up for a 4.5% return over the five-day stretch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed flat on Friday to end 0.4% on the week.

A stronger-than-expected April jobs report showed that fears of an imminent downturn in the US labor market have been misplaced, even as the drumbeat of tech companies cutting roles amid AI remains loud. And a surge in semiconductor stocks and shares of companies that are feeding the beast that is America’s AI build-out continued to define the market action this week. More on both of these later in the story.

The calendar shifts from earnings to economic data

The calendar swings back from a busy earnings season to key releases of inflation data, which has quickly boxed out labor market worries after a week of data showing a steady-enough employment landscape.

April’s Consumer Price Index headlines the week on Tuesday, and economists expect price growth to have jumped from 3.3% to 3.8% due to the oil shock. Core CPI, which excludes energy and food, is expected to jump to 2.7% from March’s 2.6%.

Wholesale inflation will follow on Wednesday, with retail sales providing a check on the consumer’s ability to spend through the pain.

That’s a big week. But we’ll still have a steady trickle of news from medium-size businesses from all corners of the economy, from small nuclear reactor company Oklo (OKLO), Cisco Systems (CSCO), and USA Rare Earth (USAR) to Applied Materials (AMAT) and more. Make sure to check the calendar below.

‘Interesting’ inflation data marks Powell transition

With the labor market holding steady, all eyes will be on this week’s inflation data, which is expected to offer a less favorable outlook to markets, with annual increases in both headline and “core” prices expected to accelerate from March.

Headline inflation is set to 3.8% in April while core prices, which exclude food and gas, are forecast to rise 2.8%, according to Bloomberg estimates.

“April’s CPI report will be more interesting than usual,” wrote economists at Wells Fargo in a note on Friday. The firm notes that rising energy prices — and, in turn, transportation costs for companies — will start to show up in food prices. More discontent for the average American household.

More interesting for close inflation watchers will be shelter costs, which are expected to surge in April as a result of data distortions caused by the government shutdown back in October and November.

“We expect shelter inflation to quickly resume its moderation in May though, as real-time rent measures point to further softening,” Wells Fargo added. “Excluding shelter, services should be genuinely hot thanks to higher jet fuel costs leading to a jump in airfares.”

This data comes just a few days before Fed Chair Jay Powell’s final day leading the central bank, which is set for Friday, May 15. The Senate is expected to bring Kevin Warsh’s nomination as his replacement to the floor for a full vote in the middle of the week.

President Trump deals with Iran — and goes to China

Geopolitics will also be top of mind for investors in the coming week, with President Trump set to depart for Beijing next week along with about a dozen US business executives, which will reportedly include Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, Boeing (BA) CEO Kelly Ortberg, and Citi (C) CEO Jane Fraser.

Trump’s planned trip comes on the heels of another court defeat for the administration on the tariff front, with an international court ruling late on May 7 that Trump’s blanket 10% tariffs were invalid.

As Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul noted, experts at Capital Economics said the ruling might “not have any immediate implications for the US effective tariff rate,” though this ruling still puts the possibility that the government owes another round of refunds on the table.

During his time in office, a key part of Trump’s economic agenda has been centered on tariffs — implementing them, increasing them, and using them as leverage in trade talks. For investors, volatility around Trump’s exact agenda and results has become acceptable; Thursday evening’s court ruling had little obvious impact on stocks.

This development, coupled with Trump’s trip to China, however, is a reminder to investors that these structural pillars of the president’s economic agenda haven’t gone away just because war in Iran and AI enthusiasm has overtaken the day-to-day conversation.

AI’s first labor story has been told

AI’s impact on the economy seems to take a new shape each week, and how AI will impact industries over time is not on a set course.

But recent events have, to our mind, closed the book on at least one chapter of the AI-induced transformation of the US labor market.

Block’s decision to cut 40% of its staff in March kicked off this trend. Moves from Meta and Microsoft in late April showed AI-related cuts coming to some of the biggest companies in the world.

This week, the trend reached, if not a fever pitch, then something certainly more heated and came with enough supporting evidence that we’ll look back at the spring of 2026 as the period in which AI provided cover for all manner of tech-related companies to cut staff and meet the moment with some kind of organizational transformation and tale about new ways of working.

Coinbase (COIN), Bill.com (BILL), Cloudflare (NET), and Upwork (UPWK) each announced workforce reductions this week. The latter three all announced moves after the market close on Thursday.

The explanations ranged from “ongoing efforts to improve organizational agility and efficiency, while also seeking to drive greater profitability” (Bill.com), to a decision aimed to “further accelerate its evolution to an agentic AI-first operating model” (Cloudflare), to a push “to rethink the company from the bottom up, not incrementally change what exists” (Upwork).

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, in his memo to staff explaining the decision, wrote that the rapid pace of AI adoption “has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action.”

There’s a “Coke or Pepsi?” quality to these announcements: they’re certainly colas, but how they taste varies by customer. And like the reasons for your preferred soft drink, AI-related organizational changes made under the cover of this year’s tech environment are still a matter of taste.

As a management team, you can rejigger the org structure. Cut a bunch of roles you’ve always wanted to. Pick a couple of AI-centric initiatives that are really working and then extrapolate them outward with some aggression.

But having industry-level license to cut, and cut boldly, is what this first phase of AI’s labor transformation is all about.

Economic and earnings calendar

Monday

Economic data: Existing home sales, April (4.05 million expected, 3.98 million previously)

Earnings calendar: Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG), Barrick Mining Corporation (B), Simon Property Group (SPG), Circle Internet Group (CRCL), Fox Corporation (FOX), AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), Ovinitiv (OVV), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), Hims & Hers Health (HIMS), Plug Power (PLUG), monday.com (MNDY)

Tuesday

Economic data: ADP weekly employment change, week ended Apr. 25 (+39,250 previously); CPI, month-on-month, April (+0.7% expected, +0.9% previously); Core CPI, month-on-month, April (+0.3% expected, +0.2% previously); CPI, year-on-year, April (+3.8% expected, +3.3% previously); Core CPI, year-on-year, April (+2.7% expected, +2.6% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-on-year, April (+0.3% previously); Real average weekly earnings, year-on-year, April (+0.2% previously)

Earnings calendar: Venture Global (VG), Nextpower (NXT), Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME), Oklo (OKLO), Aramark (ARMK), On Holding AG (ONON)

Wednesday

Economic data: MBA mortgage applications, week ended May 8 (-4.4% previously); PPI final demand, month-on-month, April (+0.5% expected, +0.5% previously); PPI ex food and energy, month-on-month, April (+0.3% expected, +0.1% previously); PPI final demand, year-on-year, April (+4% previously); PPI ex food and energy, year-on-year, April (+3.8% previously

Earnings calendar: Cisco Systems (CSCO), Alibaba Group (BABA), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), Manulife Financial (MFC), Takeda Pharmaceutical (TAK), Nebius Group (NBIS), Tower Semiconductor (TSEM), Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEP), Dynatrace (DT), Birkenstock (BIRK), USA Rare Earth (USAR)

Thursday

Economic data: Retail sales advance, month-on-month, April (+0.4% expected, +1.7% previously); Retail sales ex auto, month-on-month, April (+0.5% expected, +1.9% previously); Import price index, month-on-month, April (+0.8% previously); Import price index ex petroleum, month-on-month, April (+0.1% previously); Import price index, year-on-year, April (+2.1% previously); Export price index, month-on-month, April (+1.6% previously); Export price index, year-on-year, April (+5.6% previously); Initial jobless claims, week ended May 9 (+200,000 previously); Continuing claims, week ended May 2 (+1.76 million previously)

Earnings calendar: Applied Materials (AMAT), Brookfield Corporation (BN), National Grid (NGG), Nu Holdings (NU), Viking Holdings (VIK), Honda Motor Co. (HMC), Li Auto (LI), Figma (FIG), Forgent Power Solutions (FPS), Dillard’s (DDS), Legence Corp. (LGN), Versant Media Group (VSNT), Klarna Group (KLAR)

Friday

Economic data: Empire manufacturing, May (8.0 expected, 11.0 previously); Industrial production, month-on-month, April (+0.2% expected, -0.5% previously); Manufacturing production, April (-0.1% previously)

Earnings calendar: Mizuho Financial Group (MFG), RBC Bearings (RBC), Sigma Lithium Corporation (SGML)

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