Stocks closed mostly higher yesterday with only the Nasdaq missing out, although not by much.

For the S&P 500, it marked the 5th up day in a row.

Tariff concerns continue to grip the market. Fortunately, recent news has been more optimistic surrounding that vs. several weeks ago.

According to reports, negotiations are going well for those countries that got a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs. Although, little is known on what that looks like.

But news regarding China, and what kind of tariff talks have taken place so far (formal or informal) are hard to come by. Just yesterday, a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed that no talks have taken place. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that "it's up to China to de-escalate."

The market did not seem phased by this. But soon, details on negotiated deals with other countries will need to be forthcoming. And some type of progress with China will need to be revealed.

For now, the lack of new bad news, has allowed optimism for the prospect of future deals to be cheered.

A solid start to earnings season has helped as well. Positive results from marquee names like Netflix and Alphabet underscore the strength and resilience of the economy.

We'll get a closer look at earnings this week with another 903 companies on deck to report between today and the rest of the week. That includes 4 of the Magnificent 7 stocks with Microsoft and Meta going on Wednesday, and Apple and Amazon reporting on Thursday.

No Mag 7's today, but there's 253 companies in queue to report, including Coca-Cola, AstraZeneca and Pfizer before the open, and Visa, Booking Holdings and Starbucks after the close.

In other news, yesterday's Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey fell to -35.6 vs. last month's -16.3. The Production Index slipped to 5.1 from 6.0.

Today we'll get Retail and Wholesale Inventories, the International Trade in Goods report, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report (or JOLTS for short), and Consumer Confidence.

The two big reports everybody is waiting for, however, is Wednesday's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index (which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge), and Friday's always important Employment Situation report.

In the meantime, earnings will continue to drive the market, as will news of tariffs.

With only 2 more days left in the month, the S&P is only down -1.48% MTD. What a difference a couple of weeks makes as it was down as much as -13.8% at its worst on 4/7.

And it won't take much to get into the plus column by month's end.

See you tomorrow,