April was an impressive month for the major stock market averages — and while May is usually the beginning of a seasonally weak period for stocks, recent momentum might just continue in the month ahead. Last month, the S & P 500 soared more than 10%, its best month since November 2020. The Nasdaq Composite , which climbed more than 15%, saw its strongest monthly performance since April 2020, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped roughly 7% — its largest monthly gain since November 2024. .SPX mountain 2026-04-01 S & P 500, performance since April “Surprisingly strong earnings growth seems to be the driver of recent market action, as investors have placed the oil supply issue on the back burner,” Sam Stovall, CFRA Research’s chief investment strategist, wrote in a Monday note. The S & P 500’s April performance was the index’s second-best performance for that month since 1945, according to Stovall. That could herald more gains to come. When looking at the top 25 April results since World War II, the strategist found that in those instances the broad market index increased an average 2% in May, rising 88% of the time that month. But higher oil prices this time around may throw a wrench into that scenario as the vital Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf remains blockaded. Oil prices were higher on Monday as tensions between the U.S. and Iran were heightened in the key passageway. Notably, the S & P 500 energy sector underperformed the wider market in April, dropping more than 3%.
