Stocks were up across the board yesterday with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the mid-cap S&P 400 making new all-time highs in the process. The Nasdaq is close by, which only needs another 0.90% to hit their all-time high from July.

The momentum in the market continues, as it should. Inflation continues to ease. Interest rates are being cut. Economic growth is strong. The labor market is resilient. And corporate earnings estimates are on the rise.

The soft landing the Fed was looking for is unfolding. And the market is responding accordingly.

No one should get complacent as there are always headwinds out there. But the economy appears to be in a Goldilocks period right now. And it should usher in more new highs as we head into the end of the year.

As you know, earnings season unofficially began last week. And it got off to a great start when big banks JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and BlackRock all posted positive EPS surprises on Friday.

Earnings season officially kicks off this week when Alcoa reports on Wednesday after the close. But there are plenty of companies set to report earnings before then, including more big banks today, such as Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. We'll also hear from other widely held companies in other industries like Johnson & Johnson, Walgreens and United Airlines.

Earnings season is always an exciting time since stocks typically go up during earnings season.

On the economic report front today, we'll get the Empire State Manufacturing Index. We'll also hear from Fed policymakers Mary Daly, Adriana Kugler and Raphael Bostic as they speak at their respective engagements throughout the day.

Over the weekend, a drone attack on Israel heightened worries over rising Middle East tensions, and what Israel's response will be.

Jamie Dimon, last week, expressed his concern over geopolitical issues, calling them "treacherous and getting worse." The weekend events serve to underscore those sentiments.

On the domestic front, however, he expressed a positive tone when noting that "inflation is slowing and the U.S. economy remains resilient."

For now, absent any dramatic escalation in hot spots around the world, the market will remain focused on earnings. And if so, that should bode well for more gains to come given the upward trend of improvement in earnings estimates for the S&P 500 with Q3'24 earnings expected to be up 3.1%, Q4'24 earnings expected to be up 9.6%, Q1'25 earnings expected to be up 12.4%, and Q2'25 earnings expected to be up 13.4%.

See you tomorrow,