The S&P 500 has notched 25 all-time highs in 2026, its seventh-best start in 33 years, fueled by 29% year-over-year earnings growth. Micron Technology’s 208% year-to-date return generated nearly as much index-level contribution as Nvidia despite holding just a fraction of Nvidia’s index weight, while Apple also added over one percentage point to the index’s gains. Bloomberg data shows that fresh S&P 500 highs have been followed by positive six-month returns 76% of the time, with a median gain of 8.25%, though the pattern broke in 2007 with a 12% loss ahead of the financial crisis. The index is up 13.7% on a total-return basis through August 7, following double-digit gains in each of the prior three years, but its forward price-to-earnings ratio has climbed alongside the rally, meaning a growing share of gains comes from multiple expansion rather than earnings alone.
Apple Inc.
Alphabet Inc Class C
Microsoft Corporation
NVIDIA Corporation
Micron Technology Inc
Palantir Technologies Inc.