Happy Fat Tuesday / Mardi Gras to everyone celebrating down on Bourbon Street. Today S&P futures had a few too many Hurricanes (the drink) and were a little hungover coming back from the President’s Day holiday early on. Futures were down ~0.5% ahead of the Open but a stronger ADP weekly jobs print pushed levels higher, followed by news from Iran’s Foreign Minister that an understanding on main principles in negotiations with the US had been reached. The S&P opened down 0.2%, just above the 100d ma. It quickly slipped below it but rallied back above. We’re currently near best levels as upside momentum picked up after noon. The equal-weight is underperforming as are small and mid-caps.

Financials are bouncing from last week’s weakness. Banks are mostly higher, Insurance is trading well and some of the names hit hard the past two weeks (data providers/services, etc) are seeing a modest bounce. Industrials are adding to their strong start YTD. Apple’s 3% gain is helping push Tech higher as software weakness resumes. Outside of residential names, Real Estate is trading higher as well. Energy (easing geopolitical tensions) and Staples are the worst sectors today. Staples are getting hit on conference commentary today and some lowered guidance from consumer companies.

Treasury yields moved higher on the stronger ADP weekly jobs print and are around their HODs across the curve as equities strengthened. The 10y looked like it might test 4.0% but didn't quite get there. The USD index is also higher, trying to hold above 97. The USD strength and geopolitical news are weighing on commodity prices. Oil moved to its LOD, down ~1% after headlines of progress in US-Iran nuclear talks. Gold and silver are lower. Bitcoin and Ethereum are both down as well. Bitcoin is hovering ~$68k and Ethereum trades just under $2k.