Today started on more positive footing- if you weren’t an investor in Asian equities. A NYT story suggested that Iranian operatives reached out to discuss terms of ending the war. That story was later contradicted by other sources but helped the S&P open modestly higher, then extend further to our current levels, up ~1%. What’s more, the S&P 500 is back to a familiar position between the 50d on the upside and 100d on the downside. The Russell 2000 and Dow are also up around 1%, while the S&P equal-weight is higher as well but lags. Growth is outperforming Value in the larger caps. 8/11 sectors are flat to higher.

Consumer Discretionary is the leading sector as mega caps see solid gains and travel-related stocks like cruise lines bounce. The automakers are higher- GM, F, TSLA +2 to 4% and Amazon is up 3%. Retail is mixed. Ross Stores and Bed Bath & Body are seeing gains after reporting earnings while Abercrombie is trading lower as investors fade Syndey Sweeney today. Ross management noted they are “very comfortable saying that we've seen growth very broad-based across income demographics, age demographics…”.

Tech is another leader. Software continues to recover from the latest SAAS-pocolypse sell-off (IGV +2%) but semis are slightly outperforming ahead of Broadcom earnings this evening and mega caps are higher (FANG+ up 2%). Financials are middle of the pack but two recently beat up areas- credit and crypto- are seeing strong gains. Energy is leading lower. Real Estate and Consumer Staples (broad weakness) are also lower though Target is modestly higher and hitting a 52-week high, following through on yesterday’s sharp gains from earnings and Investment Community Meeting. Treasury yields are slightly higher flat but moving in a much tighter range than recent action. The US Dollar Index is pulling back a little after sharp gains the past two days. Crypto is up solidly with both Bitcoin and Ether +8%. Brent crude was slightly higher but is moving lower. Like yesterday an attempt to break above $84 was rejected.

It was a rough overnight session in Asian markets. South Korea’s Kospi triggered multiple circuit breakers, ending down ~12%. The Nikkei also fell over 3% for the second consecutive session. European indices were solidly higher.