The S&P’s daily winning streak ended at nine yesterday but fortunately that didn’t stop the Knicks from extending theirs to 12 last night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Tech weakness weighed on the market with software pulling back and mega caps mostly lower. Crude and yields rose, providing a headwind for equities overall and driving small caps to underperform.

Today the S&P 500 has steadily rallied since a weaker open and is now up ~0.5%, drawing neck-and-neck with the equal-weight. Tech has cut into its opening losses while the defensive Staples pulled back. The Russell 2000 has also strengthened.

Labor market updates headlined the economic data this morning and while not alarming it wasn’t the strongest showing either. Weekly initial jobless claims rose from last week’s 215K to 225K and were above consensus. That’s the highest level since early February, but the period includes the Memorial Day holiday, which could have skewed things. Continuing claims, however, fell slightly from last week.

Yields moved steadily lower overnight, following oil lower on relatively positive Iran headlines. Crude is lower on the geopolitical headlines, though natural gas is higher with a lower-than-expected inventory build. Brent is testing support at its 50d ma. Precious metals are gaining as rates and oil fall. The pressure on crypto continues with Bitcoin and ETH down another ~3%. Bitcoin took a run at $60K earlier today but is back around $63k and the Feb lows.