January 16, 2025

Markets:

Stock futures were little changed Thursday after Wall Street notched its best day since November, on the back of a tame inflation report and blowout bank results.

Bank of America shares inched higher after the company reported an earnings and revenue beat in the prior quarter. Shares of Morgan Stanley climbed 1.3% after also posting a top- and bottom-line beat in the fourth quarter on strong investment banking activity and fixed income trading revenue. The results come a day after other financial peers such as JPMorgan Chase
and Goldman Sachs also beat fourth-quarter estimates.

On Wednesday, the 30-stock Dow surged more than 700 points, or 1.65%, while the S&P 500 rallied 1.83%. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, advancing 2.45%. The small-cap Russell 2000
gained about 2%. A moderate improvement in core inflation in December’s consumer price index and strong earnings from big banks spurred a risk-on rally.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield pulled back sharply from a 14-month high reached earlier in the week. It last hovered around 4.667%.

Wall Street will glean more insight into the state of the economy Thursday. The December retail sales report is expected to show a 0.5% increase, down from a 0.7% rise the previous month, according to a Dow Jones consensus estimate. Weekly jobless claims are also due.

Elsewhere, Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, will sit down before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Thursday morning, a hearing investors will parse for clues into tariffs and other policies from the incoming administration.

Portfolio:

Monster session yesterday and we enter today holding setups in TSLL and SOUN.  If we can get QQQ above 520 and hold that line next, it's a massive runway few understand.  We spoke about the bottom forming, it's in play and we continue to build these higher lows.  It still amazes me the people that continue to fight this move and want to call tops so badly.  Just enjoy the ride and do not fight the trend right now.  About to enter a monster earnings season and anything can obviously happen.  But new administration, tech revolution occurring, and massive earnings coming in.  Take advantage of this period!  Bulls mangled the bears yesterday.  Technically, Bulls are setup for a massive spot now.  TSM earnings also helped and should ignite semi's now.

Again, SPY we can see a run / test of 600 again short term.  QQQ we want to see a break and hold of 520.  Let's see if we receive any trend shift today but this is what we need to build for right now.