Yesterday US equites rebounded from Monday’s hypothetical thought-experiment AI-Doom-triggered weakness (see Citrini Research post). The S&P and the equal-weight gained 0.8% while the Russell added over 1% in a broad rally. The IGV software ETF rebounded 2% after Monday’s 5% drop. Big Tech was mostly higher. Helping the bounce was Anthropic’s event that was more about forging partnerships than ushering in total economic disruption. That allowed beaten-up areas to catch a breadth, at least for the moment.

Ahead of some major earnings tonight, including Nvidia, Snowflake and Salesforce, equities are following up on yesterday’s gains. The S&P 500 opened up 0.4%, above both the 50d ma and the 6900 level. We’ve extended to further highs of the day, to the prior Friday’s close. Unlike yesterday though, gains are more concentrated. While the NYSE FANG+ index is up 2%, the equal-weight is flat and small/mid caps are lagging a bit. Growth is outperforming Value. Most sectors are flat-to-lower.

Tech is leading with software continuing its bounce from yesterday (IGV +3%). Snowflake is up 5% ahead of earnings, Salesforce 3%. Tonight’s earnings will be heavily scrutinized. Nvidia is the key pillar in the AI buildout that has benefitted huge parts of the economy and driven equity market gains. Salesforce and Snowflake are showing the path of software's evolution in a rapidly changing AI world. Energy is the laggard with oil stalling and the next round of negotiations with Iran tomorrow. Staples are also lower as alcoholic beverage names are under pressure following Diageo earnings that included a dividend cut.

Crude was up ~1% earlier today but pulled back following a big inventory build in the DOE data this morning. Yesterday’s post-market API data also showed a big 11.4M build. There have also been reports that OPEC is considering increases in production quotas in April. The next talks between the US and Iran are tomorrow. The commodity has pulled back from >$72 since Monday.

Precious metals are higher, with gold up modestly, holding around $5200 while silver is up 4%, hitting $90 again after falling to $75 earlier this month. Copper is also higher. Ag is higher with wheat lagging. Crypto is extending earlier gains. Bitcoin was sub $65k but bounced off those levels and broke through its 8d ma ~$66.75k, making a beeline for $69k. Ether is up 10% and regained $2k. Circle is up ~30% on earnings and Coinbase is up >10%, following up on Circle’s gains (the two are partners in Circle’s stablecoin).