Stocks closed higher again yesterday, extending their winning streak to 3 days in a row.

The softer tone on tariffs by the White House has been lifting stocks.

It all started back on April 9^th when President Trump said he would be suspending reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on most countries, sans China. The 10% base rate would still apply.

Even though tariffs on China have been ratcheted up to 145% (with China placing 125% tariffs on the U.S.), it became clear that the worst-case scenario on tariffs had seemingly come and gone.

Stocks soared after the news, with the S&P gaining roughly 10% in a single day, the best one day performance in nearly two decades.

Since then, a steady stream of encouraging news has taken stocks further away from their worst levels. That includes reports of positive negotiations with numerous countries (34 are on the docket for just this week); exemptions on smartphones, semiconductors, and other electronic components and devices; consideration for carve-outs for some autos and parts; and comments by President Trump just the other day that tariffs on China will "come down substantially," if they are able to make a deal.

The worst truly does seem to be behind us.

It being earnings season doesn't hurt either since stocks typically go up during earnings season.

After the close yesterday, Alphabet reported earnings and posted a positive EPS surprise of 39.1%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.27%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 48.7% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 13.2%. They were up 2.53% in the regular session before earnings, and were up another 5.50% in after-hours trade following earnings.

Today we'll hear from another 90 companies on deck to report including AbbVie, Schlumberger and Colgate-Palmolive to name a few.

In other news yesterday, Weekly Jobless Claims rose by 6,000 to 222K vs. views for 220K.

Existing Home Sales slipped to 4.02 million units (annualized) vs. last month's 4.27M and estimates for 4.12M. That was a m/m decrease of -5.9%. And a y/y change of -2.4%.

And the Durable Goods Orders report showed New Orders up 9.2% m/m vs. last month's 0.9% and the consensus for 1.4%. Ex-Transportation it was flat (0.0%) vs. last month's 0.7% and estimates for 0.3%. Core Capital Goods were up 0.1% vs. last month's -0.3% and expectations for 0.3%.

Today we'll get the Consumer Sentiment report, and the Baker Hughes Rig Count report.

With one more day to go, all of the major indexes are up for the week. If all goes well, that will make it the second up week out of the last 3.

As it stands now, the Dow is up 9.51% from their lows on April 9; the S&P is up 13.4%; and the Nasdaq is up 16.1%.

What a difference a few weeks can make.

Best,