The 2026 MLB Season steps to the plate tonight when the NY Yankees take on former cross-river neighbors the San Francisco Giants. Before we can enjoy that and really start getting into Spring though, the bases are full with more Iran headlines. Yesterday after a wave of often conflicting news, the S&P 500 ended modestly lower with tech and software coming under pressure again as Anthropic released a new solution.

Shortly after the close there were reports that the US proposed a one-month ceasefire after sending a 15-pt plan to end the war to Iran. The optimism was tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism however as strikes on Iran continued and the US continued to move more military assets to the region. This morning S&P futures were trading up ~1%, right at the 200d moving average again, when the Fars News Agency said that Iran will not accept a ceasefire. Futures came off their highs but we opened up 0.6%, with small caps and the equal-weight again outperforming. In the afternoon, White House Press Secretary Levitt said there were "elements of truth" to the reports of a 15-point peace plan.

The S&P is up a little less than 1% and just below the 200d ma. The equal-weight is inline while small caps outperform. Beyond the Iran news flow, we got official word that the Trump-Xi meeting, postponed due to the outbreak of the Iran war, is now on for May 14-15.

Materials is leading today as miners ride the gains in metals and chemicals are benefiting from hopes of easing supply chains/input prices. Travel/leisure is leading Discretionary higher. Healthcare is also higher, with strength in Biotech and Pharma. Energy is the lagging sector day as oil falls but is only modestly lower. Financials are also underperforming, weighed down by modest weakness in exchanges and capital markets and insurance. Credit names are mostly higher.