You can call it a comeback. Stocks surged last week to record highs on hopes of a peace deal with Iran. The S&P 500 closed above 7,100 for the first time and the Nasdaq reached its longest winning streak since 1992 with 13 days of gains. For the week, the broad-based S&P rose 4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7%. It capped a rare and dramatic turnaround for stocks. As Barclays strategist Venu Krishna pointed out in a note to clients, the S&P 500 went from near a correction zone (down about 9% from its all-time high) back to an all-time high in just 11 trading days. That’s the fastest move to record levels from a low of at least 9% since at least 1990, he said. This quick turnaround was largely due to investors pricing in an end to the Iran-US conflict. But Wall Street also had to digest solid bank profits and a comeback in the troubled software sector. Signs of peace The week began like every Monday since the US attack on Iran in late February: investors tried to figure out how the latest developments abroad might affect their portfolios. First, negotiations in Islamabad collapsed over the weekend, prompting President Donald Trump to announce a blockade of all maritime traffic in and out of Iranian ports. None of this seemed to matter, however; The market roared higher. There was another round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran on Tuesday, and on Wednesday Trump told Fox Business that the war was “almost over,” sending stock prices soaring. A session later, the president announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, setting another record. On Friday, Iran finally declared that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open.” If the good news keeps coming, Jim Cramer said, stocks pressured by the war could make further gains. He named homebuilders like Home Depot, whose shares rose 3.6% on Friday. During Friday’s morning session, Cramer said he expects an impending rotation into stocks that have been pressured by the war. “Now the Fed has a chance to cut rates under Kevin Warsh, so we’re seeing a return to things that have really lagged behind,” he said. Software Returns Underperforming software stocks were our biggest winners in the portfolio, with Microsoft, CrowdStrike and Salesforce our top three gainers. Software stocks have been hit this year by fears that artificial intelligence startups will eat into their market share. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) rose nearly 14%, recouping some of its losses, but remains down about 20% for 2026. Microsoft has gained 14% since the beginning of the week. Management needs to allocate more of its available computing capacity to Microsoft Azure than to Copilot, its failing AI assistant. CrowdStrike gained 11.9%. The club is not worried about what AI means for this company. As AI models become more advanced, this should actually be a tailwind for our two cybersecurity companies, including Palo Alto Networks. We plan to eventually leave Palo Alto and put some of these funds into CrowdStrike. Salesforce rose 10.4%. Although AI could hurt its seat-based business model, we’re hopeful that management will turn things around. In May, we will listen closely to CEO Marc Benioff’s comments during the earnings release. Consumers are doing well. Bank results showed fairly healthy consumer behavior despite the war-related market volatility in the final month of the quarter. Results from consumer-facing businesses such as credit cards painted a positive – if cautious – picture. According to JPMorgan, consumer spending growth in the quarter was above the pace set in 2025. Credit card spending volumes also increased by 9% year-over-year, while delinquencies remained relatively stable. JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum said that “consumers and small businesses remain resilient.” Wells Fargo’s credit card business was also promising. According to CFO Mike Santomassimo, new credit card accounts increased nearly 60% year-over-year. Revenue from the consumer banking and lending division recorded a 6.6% increase in revenue in the first quarter. Before the war-related rise in energy prices, CEO Charlie Scharf said gas accounted for 6% of total debit card spending and 4% of total credit spending. Each of these values increased by 1%. “Consumers are spending more than they were a year ago, including spending on gasoline, but they haven’t curbed their spending on everything else,” Scharf said. It was an otherwise lackluster report from Wells. Although the bank’s earnings expectations were exceeded, management disappointed us with a decline in sales for the second quarter in a row. The club downgraded the stock to a hold-equivalent rating of 2 upon publication. The other major banks on Wall Street survived the first quarter of 2026 much better. The club holding Goldman Sachs, along with competitors such as Bank of America, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, was able to prevail in both profits and profits. “The one [bank] “You really want to own Goldman because this was actually a really good quarter,” Cramer said Friday. We continue to love this stock for its profitable business. (A complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust can be found here.) As a subscriber to CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust. If Jim discussed a stock on CNBC television, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. 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