What’s going on in the world…
Market opens higher as earnings continue to provide a bit of a boost while global economic data is showing a less bad scenario. Apple and Qualcomm settled their multi-year litigation with a long-term deal surrounded around 5G. Both stocks are higher in early trading, with QCOM exploding nearly 40% since yesterday’s closing price. It is clearly a big deal. Apple has been slow to embrace the 5G rollout versus its competitors, so this deal might help expedite it. Stronger than expected economic data out of China is giving global stocks a lift. China reported better than expected GDP number, growing 6.4% in Q1. Chinese stimulus has been the biggest driver in the global economic turnaround. That certainly is what the Market is indicating. Central Bank backstops are the theme of the year, and really the driver of the decade. It just does not pay to fight the Fed. Oil is higher again today, moving back toward YTD highs, receiving some support from better-than-expected Chinese economic data. The IPO train continues tonight with Pinterest and Zoom. It will be very interesting and significant to see how these deals launch considering LYFT’s complete flop. The S&P 500 has gone 157 trading days through Tuesday without reaching a new 100-point milestone (2900 to 3000), the longest streak since the index took 447 trading days to move from 2100 to 2200 in November 2016. Yesterday’s small gain eked out by the S&P 500 gave it its 12th advance in 13 trading days, while the Nasdaq’s 0.3% rise allowed it to close above the 8,000 mark for the first time since October 3.
Have a great morning,
Mike Frazier
