NEW YORK — Equity benchmarks closed the week with a fourth consecutive weekly gain as cooler inflation data and stable post-war oil pricing combined to extend the post-ceasefire rally that has now lifted the S&P 500 to within one percent of its February all-time high, while Brent crude settled the week at $88.14, essentially unchanged from the prior Friday close and reinforcing the consensus that the war premium has been fully discounted from energy markets.

The S&P 500 rose seven-tenths of a percent on the week, the Nasdaq Composite added one-point-three percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added four-tenths. Friday’s session contributed modestly to the weekly gains, with the broad index closing essentially flat on the day as traders consolidated positions after the morning’s stronger-than-expected retail-sales print and ahead of a thin Monday data calendar.

Brent crude’s weekly range had been particularly narrow, with the global benchmark trading between $87.32 and $89.18 across the five sessions. The contract’s settlement at $88.14 reflected what traders characterized as a market increasingly anchored on the OPEC+ Vienna meeting scheduled for June 1, with the cartel’s expected production decision setting a near-term direction for the second-quarter price path. Brent options-market positioning showed elevated open interest in the $85-90 strike range for the July contract.

The yield on the ten-year Treasury note closed the week at four-point-three-eight percent, up four basis points from the prior Friday, with the curve marginally steepening as the front end stayed anchored on Federal Reserve communications and the back end traded modestly higher on the resilient consumption data. The two-year yield closed at four-point-five-nine percent, essentially unchanged on the week.

The dollar index gained six-tenths of a percent on the week, with the euro slipping toward the lower end of its recent range and the yen trading near multi-month highs against the U.S. currency. The Mexican peso strengthened modestly on the week, supported by the strong U.S. consumer data and by ongoing easing in cross-border trade-related uncertainty.

Sector performance within the S&P 500 was mixed. Communication services led the week with a one-point-eight percent gain, supported by gains in the index’s largest constituent. Consumer discretionary rose one-point-four percent, helped by Friday’s retail-sales data and by automotive-sector strength. Energy slipped half a percent on the week, with the sector’s stable but elevated valuations meeting modest profit-taking flows.

The week’s most consequential data points were the April CPI release Tuesday, which printed at 3.0 percent headline year-over-year, and the April PPI release Wednesday, which came in at 2.2 percent. Both prints came in slightly below consensus and reinforced market positioning for a first Federal Reserve rate cut at the July 29 FOMC meeting. The CME FedWatch tool closed the week with the implied probability of a July cut at 72 percent, up from 64 percent at the start of the week.

Friday’s retail-sales data, which exceeded consensus expectations across multiple categories, had marginal effect on rate-cut positioning but supported the broader market-narrative shift toward a higher-confidence soft-landing characterization of the current cycle. A senior strategist at a major U.S. brokerage, in a Friday morning client note, said the week’s data had “moved the soft-landing case from the consensus reasonable interpretation to the consensus single best interpretation” of the post-war macro environment.

The Federal Open Market Committee’s May 14 minutes, released Wednesday afternoon, showed substantial committee debate over the appropriate timing of the first rate cut, with several members favoring a June reduction and others preferring to wait until at least September. The chairman’s recent communications have emphasized data dependence without committing to a specific meeting, a posture markets have interpreted as compatible with a July cut.

International data flow was lighter on the week, with the European Central Bank’s account of its April meeting indicating that the governing council viewed the recent disinflationary path in the euro area as broadly consistent with a continued easing cycle. The Bank of Japan published wage-survey data Thursday that showed continued momentum in spring wage negotiations, supporting the bank’s recent communications on policy normalization.

Earnings releases remained light on the week, with the bulk of the first-quarter calendar having been completed earlier in May. Several large retailers reported on the week, with results generally consistent with the broader narrative of consumer resilience. The week’s notable earnings disappointments were concentrated in the cybersecurity software sub-sector, where two large names reported quarter-over-quarter declines in new bookings that the companies attributed to elongated customer evaluation cycles.

The week ahead is expected to be dominated by housing-sector data — housing starts and existing home sales on Tuesday and Thursday respectively — and by Federal Reserve speaker calendar. Five FOMC participants are scheduled to speak during the week, with the vice chair’s Wednesday speech at the New York Economic Club expected to be the most closely watched. The Aramco roadshow in Asian institutional capitals will also receive market attention, with the company’s revised upstream capex commentary expected to influence sector-level energy positioning.