Market’s ’90s flashback

Intel. Dell. Western Digital. Sandisk. Some of the old tech names that helped define the stock market mania of the 1990s are among the market’s top performers this year, blowing past decades-old market milestones thanks to the AI investment boom.

Hey Snackers, The rules around how CEOs get paid or get replaced are rarely interesting, but then there’s Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Earlier this week, we learned the only person who can fire Elon Musk from SpaceX is himself, but Friday we found out that his astronomical SpaceX pay package is directly tied to his success in building a human space colony on America’s favorite planet (not including Earth).  All three major US stock indexes set new record closing highs on Friday amid hopes for a deal to end the war with Iran. The S&P 500 also notched its fifth weekly gain, its longest weekly winning streak since 2024. 🎥 Here’s some movie trivia for you: What is the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time? Check your answer. 90s NEVER ENDED The dot-com dream of the 1990s is thriving in today’s market Companies known for their dot-com glory days have been on fire, and they’ve taken a run even higher lately. Intel. Dell. Western Digital. Sandisk. Some of the old tech names that helped define the stock market mania of the 1990s are among the market’s top performers this year, blowing past decades-old market milestones thanks to the AI investment boom. Micron’s April gain of more than 50% was its best showing since February 2000, right before the dot-com market’s peak. Western Digital’s 60% run in April was its best performance since right after the dot-com market rolled over in January 2001. Dell, a ubiquitous brand of early internet-era PCs and laptops, is up more than 60% this year, including 27% in April.  A range of lesser-known internet-era darlings — Lam Research, Jabil Circuit, Ciena Corp., and ON Semiconductor — are also clustered near the top of the S&P 500’s list of best performers in 2026. It wasn’t easy for these early internet icons to thrive two decades into the new millennium.  Sandisk, which is up nearly 300% in 2026, is now primarily a supplier of large storage systems for data centers, rather than a producer of memory chips consumers can use in digital cameras and music players.  Intel restructured its struggling manufacturing operations into a contract chipmaking unit in 2021, a decision that produced billions of dollars in losses, but left it with the valuable ability to ramp up some production to meet surging AI-related demand today.  Dell transformed itself via acquisitions, from a maker of affordable computers for companies and corporations into a data networking, software AI server giant. Analysts now expect sales growth for business software giant Oracle — a 1990s beast — to eclipse the 37% and 35% high-water marks of 1996 and 1997, as a result of expectations about its AI data center business. THE TAKEAWAY The resurgence of such stocks is a fairly straightforward reflection of what’s going on in the US economy, as the rising tide of IT spending is lifting even companies that have struggled for decades to recapture their past glory. Tech investment as a share of GDP is reaching record levels, surpassing the 4.5% peak set in 2000. That means we’re in the biggest spending spree on computer equipment and software since America was first getting wired up for the web. Read more ZOOM OUT Stories we’re obsessed with Crypto’s high hopes for May: Following an April where bitcoin saw its best monthly performance in a year (even as the DeFi ecosystem overall suffered the most attacks in a month ever), fans of digital assets are hoping May can continue the momentum and bitcoin can manage a sustained break above $80,000. Here’s what analysts and experts Sherwood News spoke to see ahead, and what headwinds and catalysts to watch for. Apple actually does fall far from the tree… One of the big stories of the past year has been just how much Big Tech is spending on capex to support its AI ambitions — but not Apple. The iPhone maker has barely dipped a toe in the AI race, preferring to partner rather than create its own frontier models. And while Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are all spending increasingly vast sums every year on capex, Apple’s has gone the other direction. THE BEST THING WE READ TODAY Elon Musk’s companies more than doubled their spending on each other last year Last year, Elon Musk’s companies spent $600 million doing business with… other Elon Musk-led companies: xAI spent $430 million on Megapacks (giant rechargeable battery systems) from Tesla. SpaceX spent $143 million on Tesla vehicles. And Tesla shelled out $4.8 million for security services to Musk’s personal security company.  Follow the money Snacks Shots 🎵 Music: May is set for some exciting new music, and prediction markets* are pricing in a 60% chance that Ariana Grande will have a song reach the top of Spotify’s charts in the month, a 44% chance Taylor Swift will have a song go to No. 1, and a 19% chance that Lana Del Rey does.  ⛽ Gasoline: Markets are pricing in a 49% chance that gasoline hits $4.60 a gallon in May, not to mention a 32% chance that it rises above $5 by the end of the month. Analysts are already fretting about what the price of gas might look like when the ramifications of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz hit the US, believing that not only is $5 gas by Memorial Day possible, but $6 per gallon by the end of the summer is on the table. *Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. What Else We're Snackin' Meta is pushing further into the world of autonomous machines with its acquisition of an AI robotics startup, joining Tesla and Amazon in the hardware race Estée Lauder got a glow-up after beating earnings estimates and hiking its profit outlook, proving the beauty giant still has plenty of radiance left Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that the Mac mini and Mac Studio — red-hot with AI enthusiasts — will face supply constraints for “several months” Roblox hit its lowest point since 2024 after a rotten earnings report showed it was losing users… and management sees even less Robux coming in the future Snack Fact of the Day US jobless claims have sunk to the lowest level in more than 50 years.  This Week Monday: Premarket earnings: Tyson Foods, Loews, Axsome Therapeutics, and Pinnacle West Capital. Postmarket earnings: Palantir, Vertex Pharma, Pinterest, Duolingo, ON Semiconductor, and Diamondback Energy Tuesday: Premarket earnings: PayPal, Pfizer, Cummins, KKR & Co., Marathon Petroleum, and GlobalFoundries. Postmarket earnings: AMD, Arista Networks, Super Micro Computer, Electronic Arts, and Occidental Petroleum Wednesday: Premarket earnings: CVS Health, Disney, Uber, Apollo, Kraft Heinz, and Oscar Health. Postmarket earnings: DoorDash, AppLovin, Fortinet, Snap, Zillow Group, Warner Bros. Discovery, IonQ, and Beyond Meat Thursday: Premarket earnings: McDonald’s, Datadog, Peloton, Warby Parker, and Tapestry. Postmarket earnings: Coinbase, Airbnb, Affirm, Cloudflare, and Lyft  Friday: Premarket earnings: Wendy’s, Fluor, Trump Media & Technology Group, Monster Beverage, MARA Holdings, Allbirds, EchoStar, Terawulf, and Globalstar Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more Sherwood Terms and Conditions Our Editorial Standards Contact Us Advertise With Us Unsubscribe Privacy Policy SHERWOOD MEDIA, LLC, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025