Happy Fed Day and Trump/XI Meeting Eve! Yesterday should have been called Halo Day, as the seemingly never-ending partnership announcements from OpenAI and Nvidia drove the market action. The S&P 500 closed modestly higher briefly trading above 6,900 before fading into the close. For the week, the index is up over 1.5% but the equal weight version of the index is down almost 1%. Today the S&P 500 is hovering above 6900, up modestly but off its highs ~6920. Like the past two days, the equal-weight is lagging, trailing the regular index by ~2% WTD. However, the relative weakness in the small and mid caps is reversing as those indexes gain upside momentum as we hit mid-day while the S&P trades sideways. Tech is leading with semis up front (ICE Semis +2%). Nvidia is up another 3%. Energy is near the top with oil up 1% today as inventory draws boost prices. Industrials round out the leaders with Caterpillar ripping >10% on earnings while Carrier and Hubbell also move higher on results. On the downside is Real Estate, with Residential REITS trading down 2-4% on some negative earnings takeaways and muted real estate data. Staples are lagging too with some negative consumer trend commentary. Financials are also down, concentrated in the services and data segments. The FOMC is widely expected to cut rates by 25bps with growing speculation that QT will be wound down. Ahead of the meeting rates are hovering around unchanged to slightly higher.

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