Wall Street’s momentum trade just posted its strongest two-month performance ever recorded. The S&P 500 Momentum Index surged 32% across April and May 2026, a run fueled almost entirely by concentrated bets in technology and artificial intelligence stocks that have dominated market returns this year.
The numbers are staggering even by momentum’s historically volatile standards. In April alone, the S&P 500 Momentum Index delivered a 19.3% total return, nearly doubling the broader S&P 500’s already impressive 10.5% gain for the same month. That single-month performance was the index’s best since November 2020, when post-election euphoria and vaccine optimism sent growth stocks into orbit.
A global phenomenon, not just a US story
This isn’t confined to American equities. MSCI’s global momentum gauge outperformed the MSCI All Country World Index by 17 percentage points from end-March through late May 2026. That gap represents one of the widest spreads in data going back to 1991, suggesting the momentum trade has been working almost everywhere simultaneously.
Goldman Sachs’ own momentum factor climbed 25% over the three months through mid-May, marking one of its sharpest rallies on record.
