1. S&P Best May in 35 Years
Earnings for companies that have already reported are up 13% year over year, according to Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial. An impressive 78% of companies have beaten earnings expectations, he notes, and most companies have been expanding their margins despite anxiety that tariffs and consumer weakness would weigh on them. The biggest tech stocks have cributed about half of that earnings growth, which is a big reason why the Nasdaq is outpacing the other indexes.
Barron’s
2. MAG 7 Back to Leading Gains…+26% from Lows
The Market Ear
3. Big Rally Off Bottom is Historically Bullish
I didn’t quite realize that the S&P 500 has been up over 18% in the past 7 weeks. That’s occurred in only 35 trading days! That tells me that the market has been white hot! Does that mean we should expect some red now in the short to medium term? Not quite the case. A lot more green has followed.
Subu Trade
4. NVDA Vs. AAPL Chart…Breakout for NVDA
Nvidia stock is now up nearly 40% from the trade war lows in April. It’s up 4% on the year. Even after the latest rally, the stock isn’t expensive, trading at 29 times forward earnings estimates, while analysts expect 45% sales growth over the next 12 mhs. Compare those numbers to Apple, which trades at 28 times with 4% sales growth. Nvidia is far more attractive on a valuation-to-growth basis.
StockCharts
5. Tesla Fundamentals Keep Getting Worse But Options Bets Keep Getting More Bullish
Sherwood
6. Personal Savings Rate Increases in 2025
FRED
7. Massive Jump in U.S. Customs Revenues from Tariffs
As President Trump and his team cinue to search for plan B, and maybe plan C, to enact their trade agenda, data from the Treasury Department reveals that the US has brought in ~$40 billion worth of customs duties since the start of April, with a record-breaking $22.3 billion already collected in May (as of May 22). That’s a massive jump from $9 billion back in January, and is likely even lower than the actual total, given the customs-only figure excludes excise taxes on specific imported goods like fuel, alcohol, and tobacco.
Sherwood
Of course, the ruling this week means that the US government might have to give that revenue back.
But for now, tariffs remain a go, with a federal appeals court granting a temporary reinstatement of the levies, including the 10% baseline tariff applicable to nearly all imports.
Should Trump’s legal challenges, which might include going to the Supreme Court, fail, the White House has other levers and trade lawsat its disposal. Per Goldman Sachs analysts writing on Wednesday evening, the ruling might not change the final outcome for a lot of America’s major trading partners anyway.
8. Top 10 Largest Stablecoins
Perplexity
9. Ukraine Drone Strikes in 3 Russian Time Zones
Bloomberg
10. Softness is Creeping into Housing Market
VettaFi