Dell Is Partying Like It’s 1999
The stock market hit record highs again this week as AI-mania won't stop.
And the funny thing is, the tech highflyers of the late 1990s are dominating 2026, led by names like Dell (Dell).
Yes, Dell.
Dell Is Partying Like It's 1999
It's 1999 all over again.
The New York Knicks are in the NBA finals.
Kids across America are wearing Doc Martens.
And Del is once again a stock market darling.
On Thursday after the close, Dell dropped a huge earnings beat with shocking forward guidance thanks to momentum in its AI server business.
And now the stock is up 234% year-to-date, making it the 3rd best name in the S&P 500.
Furthermore, look at this list of the best-performing S&P stocks:
Many were late 90s dot.com favorites, including Ciena (CIEN), Texas Instruments (TXN), and NetApp (NTAP) in there.
What goes around comes around.
Turns out that AI is driving demand for memory, processors, and networking tools. Just like the Internet explosion did.
And on a random note, I looked up what happened to JDS Uniphase, another 90s superstar. In 2015, it split into networking names Viavi Solutions (VIAV) and Lumentum Holdings (LITE).
Both are AI monsters, up well over 100% this year:
The Software Short Squeeze
Software has made a massive rebound from the April lows, when the “AI will eat software” theme caught fire.
The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) is now up 29% from its 52-week low on April 10.
And interestingly, the average individual name in IGV is up a whopping 65% from its 52-week low.
Some examples:
- D-Wave Quantum (QBTS): +133%
- Datadog (DDOG): +133%
- Palo Alto Networks (PANW): +84%
- Oracle (ORCL): +51%
- ServiceNow (NOW): +34%
And interestingly, it looks like the software rally was at least partly a short squeeze.
Of the 106 stocks in IGV:
- 30 have short interest over 10%
- 75 have short interest over 5%
And because of heavily shorted individual names like SoundHound (SOUN) and MARA Holdings (MARA), the average stock has short interest of 8.9%.
For comparison, the average QQQ name has short interest of just 3.4%.
Remember Rate Cuts?
Seems like just yesterday we were thinking about how many times the Fed would cut rates in 2026.
But the CME's FedWatch tool shows traders are now pricing in a 0% chance of rate cuts until July 2027.
So presumably, the market does not believe new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh will automatically cut rates as President Trump wants.
Today's PCE Price Index Report showed that inflation accelerated for the 3rd straight month to 3.8%. Excluding food and energy, it rose 3.3%.
Because everything is more expensive. Oil, imports, insurance, healthcare, etc.
No wonder consumer confidence is in the dumps.
The Bulls Are Not That Bulled Up
The $SPX just hit a new record high at 7565, but are investors euphoric?
Nope.
The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that just 35.6% of investors are bullish.
This is the 2nd straight week of below-average bullishness.
Meanwhile, CNN's Fear & Greed Index is at 61/100, showing modest greed.
However, the options market is showing elevated bullishness.
The CBOE equity put-call ratio was just 0.43 Wednesday, which shows low demand for puts.
But add it up, and it's hard to say sentiment is anywhere near euphoric.
ATTN: Serious Options Traders
There Is Just ONE Epic Trade Every Week