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Sell in May? No Way.
Nine straight weeks of gains, Dell's best day ever, Micron joins the trillion-dollar club, and May closes up 8%.
George Babis
May 31, 2026
👋 ICYMI
The old Wall Street adage says "sell in May and go away." This May, the Nasdaq gained 8%, the S&P 500 posted its ninth consecutive weekly gain — the longest streak since 2004 — and the market closed at fresh all-time highs on the final trading day of the month.
The week's headline was Dell Technologies $DELL ( ▲ 32.76% ) , which posted its best single day in history on Friday — surging 33% after reporting Q1 revenue of $43.8 billion (+88% YoY), adjusted EPS of $4.86 versus the $2.94 consensus, and AI server revenue of $16.1 billion, up 757% from a year ago. Dell raised its full-year revenue guidance to $167 billion — up $27 billion from prior guidance — and now projects $60 billion in AI server sales for the year. The stock is up 234% in 2026.
On Tuesday, Micron Technology $MU ( ▲ 5.14% ) joined the trillion-dollar club for the first time, surging 19% after UBS tripled its price target to $1,625 — citing transformative long-term supply agreements that are structurally changing the memory business. Micron is now up roughly 25% in the past week alone and is the 13th most valuable company in the world.
The week began nervously as Iran launched strikes over the Memorial Day weekend — but markets shrugged it off within hours of reopening on Tuesday. The Russell 2000 and Nasdaq both gained roughly 1% on Tuesday despite the strikes, and the S&P 500 closed at a fresh record of 7,519. Oil settled at $87.93 on Friday, down 1% on the week, while gold rose 1% to $4,578.
🔁 Market Movers
💻 Dell Posts Best Day in History — AI Server Revenue Up 757%
Dell surged 33% on Friday — its largest single-day gain since returning to public markets in 2018 — after reporting Q1 revenue of $43.8 billion versus $35.8 billion expected. AI server revenue of $16.1 billion was up 757% year over year. The company recorded $24.4 billion in AI orders and holds a record $51.3 billion AI-related backlog. Dell raised full-year revenue guidance to $167 billion and AI server revenue guidance to $60 billion. JPMorgan $JPM ( ▲ 0.87% ) , BofA $BAC ( ▲ 1.64% ) , and Wells Fargo $WFC ( ▲ 1.16% ) all raised price targets. The stock added roughly $62 billion in market cap in a single session.
🧠 Micron Joins the Trillion-Dollar Club
Micron shares surged 19% on Tuesday to $896 after UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri raised his price target from $535 to $1,625, calling long-term memory supply agreements a "structural change" in how the business works. The rally pushed Micron's market cap past $1 trillion for the first time, making it the 10th most valuable U.S. company. Micron is up roughly 25% in the past week and is part of a broader re-rating of memory and CPU names as AI workloads diversify beyond GPUs.
📈 Ninth Straight Weekly Gain — Longest Since 2004
The S&P 500's ninth consecutive week of gains is its longest weekly winning streak in over two decades. The Dow hit fresh record highs on both Thursday and Friday. The Russell 2000 briefly approached 3,000 before pulling back to 2,919. May's performance — the Nasdaq up 8%, the S&P 500 up roughly 5% — is the strongest May for equities since 2020.
🛢 Iran Strikes Over Holiday Weekend — Market Shrugs
Iran launched strikes over the Memorial Day weekend, but markets absorbed the news within the first hours of Tuesday's trading session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at record highs on Tuesday. Oil remains well below its March crisis levels at $88, and traders priced Strait of Hormuz normalization for August on prediction markets. CME FedWatch shows an 11% probability of a rate hike in July, up from 0.9% a month ago.
❄️ Snowflake Surges 40%+ Alongside Dell
Snowflake $SNOW ( ▲ 6.84% ) was among the week's best performers alongside Dell, surging over 40% during the abbreviated trading week on strong earnings results. Both companies were among the top performers in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq for the week, underscoring how the AI trade continues to broaden beyond the usual semiconductor suspects into enterprise infrastructure, data platforms, and server hardware.
👀 Signals I'm Watching
🔄 The AI Trade Is Broadening — Fast
Dell up 234% year to date. Micron joining the trillion-dollar club. Intel up over 100% in 2026. Snowflake surging 40% in a week. The AI investment narrative is no longer just about Nvidia. It's spreading into memory (Micron), servers (Dell), CPUs (Intel), networking (Arista $ANET ( ▲ 2.71% ) , Broadcom $AVGO ( ▲ 4.73% ) ), and data infrastructure (Snowflake $SNOW ( ▲ 6.84% ) ). This broadening is healthy for the durability of the rally — it means the market isn't dependent on a single stock. But it also means more names are trading at elevated multiples, which increases the aggregate risk if the AI spend cycle slows.
📊 "Sell in May" Failed Spectacularly
May 2026 was one of the strongest months for U.S. equities in recent years. The Nasdaq gained 8%. The Dow gained over 5%. The S&P 500 posted new all-time highs on the final day. The old seasonal pattern that says to exit equities in May has failed for the third time in four years. The lesson: seasonal patterns work until they don't, and fundamental drivers — in this case, AI earnings and geopolitical de-escalation — override calendar-based strategies.
🏦 Bond Yields Stabilised — But Haven't Retreated
The 10-year settled at 4.44% and the 30-year at 4.98% — both below their recent peaks but still elevated by any historical standard. The market has learned to coexist with higher yields as long as earnings growth outpaces the rise in discount rates. But the 5% level on the 30-year remains a psychological and technical line. A sustained break above 5% — which nearly happened two weeks ago — would likely force a re-rating in equity valuations.
🚀 SpaceX Roadshow Begins June 8
The SpaceX roadshow kicks off next week, with pricing expected around June 12–18. The $75 billion raise at a ~$1.8 trillion valuation will dominate market attention and could draw significant capital away from existing tech positions. The 30% retail allocation — three times the typical mega-cap IPO — means individual investors will have an unusually large opportunity to participate. Watch for secondary effects on the broader space sector and on IPO-sensitive names.
Most investors are focused on AI chips. Far fewer pay attention to what actually powers them.
In this week's premium newsletter, I wrote about Vicor ($VICR) — a largely unknown company that sits at one of the quietest bottlenecks in the entire AI infrastructure stack. The stock has surged over 700% in the past twelve months. And I believe the market still hasn't fully priced in what this company could become.
Premium members got the full breakdown — the business model, the competitive moat, the financials, and my price target.
If you'd like to learn alongside us and follow our thinking in real time, you're welcome to join the Club here.
— George
⚠️ Red Flag to Note
The AI Bubble Debate Is No Longer Fringe
Dell is up 234% year to date. Micron is up over 300% in 12 months. The SOX index is up 65% in 2026. UBS just issued a $1,625 price target on Micron — implying a $1.8 trillion market cap for a memory chip company. And Zacks' senior strategist described memory stocks as being at the beginning of a "climactic blow-off top". None of this means a crash is imminent. Corporate earnings are genuinely strong, and AI demand is real. But when analysts start using phrases like "blow-off top" and price targets triple in a single upgrade, it's worth remembering that the difference between a bull market and a bubble is only visible in hindsight. The best protection isn't to sell everything — it's to ensure your portfolio can withstand a 20–30% drawdown in the names that have run the hardest.
🔍 Insider Transactions I’m Watching
Ticker | Insider | Action | Value | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hartley R. Rogers — Executive Co-Chairman & 10%+ Owner | Buy | ~$10M | Hamilton Lane's co-chairman purchased 110,932 shares at $89–$93 across May 26–27 in both direct and indirect accounts. A $10M buy by a co-chairman of one of the largest private markets investment firms in the world — during a week of record equity highs — is a strong vote of confidence in the alternatives space. | |
Bernardo Hees — Director | Buy | ~$769K | The Krispy Kreme director purchased 225,077 shares at $3.30–$3.42 across May 26–28. The stock is trading near its 52-week low and down roughly 75% from its 2021 IPO price. A director buying three-quarters of a million dollars in a beaten-down consumer brand at multi-year lows is a classic contrarian signal. | |
Michael Doak — Director | Buy | ~$883K | The TWFG director purchased 46,880 shares at $18.62–$19.23 across May 22–27. The insurance distribution stock has fallen 35% over the past six months and is nearly 50% below its 52-week high. |
📬 Closing Note
Nine straight weeks. That's how long this rally has lasted since the market bottomed in mid-March amid the worst of the Iran crisis. The S&P 500 has gained roughly 20% from those lows. The Nasdaq is up 8% in May alone. Dell just had its best day in history. Micron crossed $1 trillion. And the market absorbed Iranian strikes over a holiday weekend without flinching.
"Sell in May and go away" didn't just fail — it cost anyone who followed it one of the best months for equities in years.
But with nine straight weeks of gains, here's the honest question: how much of the good news is already priced in?
The AI trade is broadening, and the earnings backing it are real — Dell's $16.1 billion in AI server revenue isn't hype, it's hardware being shipped. Micron's re-rating from cyclical commodity to AI infrastructure is happening before our eyes. Intel is up 100% this year. The entire compute stack is being repriced.
At the same time, bond yields are testing levels not seen since 2007. Consumer sentiment remains near historic lows. The Iran conflict hasn't ended. And the SpaceX IPO next month could absorb tens of billions in investor capital at a time when the market is already extended.
The best investors I know don't try to time the top. They size their positions for the environment, stay diversified across the AI ecosystem rather than concentrated in one or two names, and maintain enough dry powder to take advantage of the inevitable pullback when it comes.
Nine weeks is a long time. Enjoy the ride. But check your seatbelt.
Stay patient. Stay selective. And let the data guide the story.
Until next Sunday —