S&P 500 snaps its 5-week losing streak. Here are 3 themes that caught our eye

The stock market rose this weekend, fueled by optimism that the Iran war will end sooner or later. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended a five-week losing streak on Thursday during a holiday-shortened trading week. The broad market index rose 3.4 percent and the tech-heavy gauge rose 4.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.96%, its first positive week in six. For most of the week, falling oil prices gave stocks the opportunity to move higher, reinforcing the inverse relationship seen since the war began on February 28. The exception was Thursday, when oil prices rose but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite still rose, an encouraging sign. Up 11.4% on Thursday, US oil benchmark WTI crude for May delivery was up almost 12% over the four-day period, its sixth positive week in seven. The stock market was poised for a bounce after last week's abysmal performance with any reason for optimism. Uncertainty has rattled the market as Iranian officials and President Donald Trump send mixed signals about where the conflict lies. From March 23 to March 27, the S&P 500 fell 2.1%, its worst week since last October. The Nasdaq's weekly decline of 3.2% was its worst drop since last April, when Trump announced "Emancipation Day" tariffs. While Wall Street has been focusing on developments abroad in recent days, new labor force data and giant public offering reports also caught our attention. While we wait to see what Monday brings, here's a breakdown of these three themes. Another week of war The market has survived the fifth week of the US-Iran war, heading for weekly gains for the first time during the conflict. Wall Street focused on the positive messages in a series of conflicting headlines, making resolution seem more likely. Most of the market's gains came from Tuesday's session following an unconfirmed report that said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was open to ending the war with guarantees. That flight continued into Wednesday, after Trump told reporters late Tuesday that U.S. military forces would leave Iran in "two or three weeks." The rally boiled over Thursday after Trump's first speech Wednesday evening was filled with escalatory rhetoric. News on Thursday that Iran and Oman were drafting a protocol to "monitor transit" through the vital oil channel the Strait of Hormuz helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq overcome sharp declines and post a modest gain. The blue-chip Dow lost 61 points, or 0.13%, after falling more than 600 points from its low on Thursday. "This was an extremely unexpected event and made us think the 'bear' might have gone on a short vacation, an incredible, extraordinary comeback," Jim Cramer said Thursday night. "On any other day, if oil came out like this, we should have been down maybe 1.5% to 2%. It was stunning, it was surreal, and it seemed to herald some good things in the workplace. But we don't know what those things are right now, and I'm not going to try to pretend that we do." On Thursday morning, the club released an analysis of how investors should navigate this confusing, uncertainty-filled market. Lots of labor data The week filled with labor market updates ended on a high note. Tuesday's so-called JOLTS report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job openings fell more than expected in February. In fact, businesses hired workers at the slowest pace since 2011, not counting the start of the pandemic in 2020. ADP data told a slightly more encouraging story on Wednesday. The payroll processor's monthly assessment of private sector hiring for March showed an increase of 62,000 jobs. The government's official March employment report, which closed the week on Friday morning, showed employment rose by 178,000 last month; That's much stronger than the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 59,000. Revisions to the strong January report and the weak February report revealed the three-month average added about 68,000 jobs. In addition to inflation data, the health of the labor market also plays a major role in the Fed's interest rate decisions. The central bank's dual goals are price stability and maximum employment. While the war-fueled rise in oil prices has the potential to reignite inflation, the March jobs report could help ease short-term "stagflation" concerns by suggesting the labor market is not as soft as February's grim data suggests. Traders are overwhelmingly pricing in zero cuts from the central bank for the remainder of 2026, according to CME's FedWatch tool. But it's unclear what the rate cut path will look like if Trump's Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh replaces Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May. Warsh remained committed to loosening monetary policy. Of course, Warsh has yet to receive Senate confirmation. Big IPO plans There were plenty of IPO headlines this week too. Elon Musk's SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, CNBC's David Faber reported Wednesday. The rocket maker is reportedly working with at least 21 banks for its public launch, which could be worth $1.75 trillion, according to Reuters. Expectations for OpenAI's potential IPO also continue to rise. The ChatGPT creator closed a $122 billion funding round this week at an eye-watering post-money valuation of $852 billion. Anthropic, the startup behind the Claude models, is also weighing an IPO this year, as is the lesser-known Databricks, which was last valued at $134 billion. "We've never done deals like this," Jim said on CNBC on Wednesday. "We don't even know how to analyze them [because] They're huge." While the IPO pipeline is a notable story, it's still secondary to the war. But if the conflict in the Middle East is resolved soon, it will be impossible to ignore these mega IPOs and all the ripple effects they could have on the market. On the upside, this could be a much-needed financial windfall for our bank stocks Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo after a lackluster first quarter of 2026. As we wrote on Wednesday, there could be a rebound in the deal. At the same time, an influx of new supply coming into the market It can also pose risks to other markets. Investors often need to sell something else to raise cash and free up space in their portfolios. The stock market is like any other market: If the supply of a product is greater than demand, prices will likely fall. (See here for a full list of stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) 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