Stock Market Live May 20, 2026: S&P 500 (SPY) Ticks Higher Ahead of Nvidia Earnings

The major indices are back in the green.

At the moment, the S&P 500 is up 0.34%, or by 25 points, at 7,403. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up by 0.38%, or by $2.76 at $736.50. The Dow is up by 0.31%, or by 137 points. The Nasdaq is up by 0.62%, or by 181 points. Gold is down about $13.04 at $4,494. Bitcoin is up by $608 AT $77,375. And oil is down by about $2.10 at $102.06.

Of course, a lot of what we’re seeing is dependent on what happens next with Iran. At the moment, Vice President JD Vance says President Trump is pursuing a diplomatic deal with Iran but remains “locked and loaded” to restart the military campaign if nuclear talks collapse. And Iran promised to take the war beyond the region if they are attacked again.

Markets will watch that closely.

They’ll also be waiting for Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) earnings after the bell. As we noted the other day, analysts are looking for revenue to range from $70 billion to $78 billion, or about 60% year over year growth. EPS is expected to nearly double. And is data center segment is expected to drive a good deal of growth, supported by heavy spending from hyperscale customers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.

Lowe’s Beat, but Dropped

Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) just reported EPS of $3.03, which beat by six cents. Revenue of $23.1 billion, up 10.4%

year over year, beat by $220 million. Comparable sales also climbed 0.6%, showing that demand for home improvement projects remains resilient despite ongoing pressure from high interest rates and cautious consumer spending.

However, even with those impressive numbers, the LOW stock slipped.

The reason comes down to guidance. Lowe’s now expects adjusted diluted EPS for the year to range from $12.25 to $12.75. While that may still look healthy on the surface, the midpoint of the range falls slightly below Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $12.59. Investors were hoping for a more optimistic outlook, particularly after the company delivered a quarterly beat on both earnings and revenue.

Still, investors should not rush to write off Lowe’s just yet. For one, analysts are bullish on the home improvement sector. Citi, for example, just upgraded Lowe’s to a buy rating following the latest pullback, arguing that the worst may already be priced into the stock.

According to Citi analysts, the housing and home improvement market could see gradual improvement throughout 2026. While growth may remain modest, there is still significant pent-up demand for home improvement spending after years of elevated mortgage rates and reduced housing turnover.