Yesterday was a somewhat quiet session with spotty attendance on trading desks as the country dugout from the snowstorm. The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, outpacing the equal-weight (+0.2%) and the Russell 2000 (-0.4%) as mega caps and tech outperformed for the second consecutive session. The Dollar continued to be under pressure on reverberations from potential yen intervention on Friday. Silver saw significant intra-day volatility, rocketing to a high ~$118 before quickly falling to ~$102 and then bouncing back to ~$115 with SLV the iShares Silver Trust the most heavily traded security on the day, the first time an ETF other than the SPY finished #1 on that list since at least 2012 when we started to track the data.

Global markets were mostly higher overnight despite President Trump threatening to increase the tariff rate on South Korea to 25%, as he said that the legislature has been slow to enact the previously announced trade deal. However, the Kospi was up nearly 3% overnight with continued outperformance from the memory stocks. US futures were mixed with S&P futures modestly higher helped by tech strength while Dow futures were under pressure as insurers were sharply lower after CMS released its 2027 Advance Notice with Medicare premiums expected to be up 0.9% y/y, well below mid-single digit expectations. For the third consecutive session we’re seeing mega-cap tech outperform helping the S&P 500 tick to a new all-time high currently up ~0.5% trading just under the round 7k. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down nearly 1% while small/mid cap indices are modestly lower.