US stock market rallies today as Dow Jones nears 50,000: The Dow Jones Industrial Average punched back above the 50,000 level on Thursday morning, May 14, 2026 — a milestone that matters not just for the number, but for what it signals about investor confidence returning to American equities. The Dow Jones was up 262 points, or 0.53%, in early trade, with Cisco Systems alone responsible for a remarkable portion of that lift after the tech giant reported third-quarter earnings that demolished expectations. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 climbed 0.63% to 7,491, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.75%, extending a recent streak of record closes that has defined this market year.
The backdrop was anything but ordinary. As Wall Street opened Thursday, diplomatic history was being written in Beijing. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for a high-stakes summit that drew immediate comparisons to the trade truce of 2019.
