The winning streak continued to close out the month of May. All six indices closed higher,  extending the rally for the holiday-shortened week. The Nasdaq resumed the top spot followed by the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500.

Last week’s gains in the Russell highlighted the difference that can appear at times between benchmarks created to measure the same capitalization or style boxes. While the Russell added 1 and three quarters percent, the S&P Mid Cap 600 only reflected half that.

Using the most recent available sector data, we see can see that the Russell favors Health Care and Industrials at the expense of sectors like Technology and Consumer Discretionary, relative to the S&P 600. This illustrates how even benchmarks of generally the same spaces might show differences in actual performance.

Regardless, the gains were fairly widespread. In the news, the dominate themes revolved around positive sentiment with AI and optimism regarding the situation with Iran. Crude Oil prices fell off at the end of the month with a price per barrel of 87.36 . Nevertheless, the average price of gasoline came in at $4.609 as the long-term weight of higher prices continues to be felt at the pump.

All in all, the month of May ended with a 5 percent gain for the S&P 500. This takes the blue chip index to an over 10 percentage point gain for the year, as the final month of the 2nd quarter gears up.