The list of challenges confronting Wall Street piled up this week. Oil firmly above $100. Inflation refusing to disappear.

A defiant bond market that all but dared Scott Bessent to bring more policy firepower. Unbowed, Wall Street stuck with the 2026 playbook: betting that an AI-fueled earnings boom and a still-growing economy can take the hit from expensive energy and higher interest rates. Stocks rallied Friday even after hotter-than-expected inflation strengthened expectations of a Federal Reserve hike next week.