EB Daily Market Report - Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Executive Summary

• Futures were a tad higher on the NASDAQ, but down most everywhere else
• Action today has been mostly to the downside, though the Volatility Index ($VIX, +5.22%), while higher, remains in the 18s
• The 10-year treasury yield ($TNX) has been climbing and, on the heels of the latest Fed announcement, it's up another 8 basis points to 4.43%
• 4 Fed officials dissented in what is likely to be Fed Chair Powell's last meeting as the Chair; the Fed left rates unchanged, as expected
• Cryptocurrencies are lower today as bitcoin ($BTCUSD, -1.18%) pulls back to test key support near 75000
• Gold ($GOLD, -1.47%) and silver ($SILVER, -3.00%) are weakening again, while crude oil ($WTIC, +7.31%) surges back above $100 per barrel
• Energy (XLE, +1.69%), on the back of rising crude prices, leads all sectors today
• Technology (XLK, +0.52%) remains strong as well, as telecom equipment ($DJUSCT, +1.91%) rebounds strongly off its 20-day EMA test
• Teradyne (TER, -18.80%) and Robinhood (HOOD, -13.71%) both disappointed Wall Street with their quarterly results
• Meanwhile, NXP Semiconductor (NXPI, +26.23%) and Seagate Technology (STX, +10.47%) were among the big earnings winners
• Microsoft (MSFT, -0.93%), Meta Platforms (META, +0.26%), Amazon.com (AMZN, +1.57%), and Alphabet (GOOGL, +0.34%) all report their latest results after the bell today

Market Outlook

Rising energy prices and rising treasury yields weighed on some areas of the U.S. stock market on Wednesday as home construction ($DJUSHB, -2.87%) was hit hard, in particular. Utilities (XLU, -1.24%) become less attractive when treasury yields are rising and that's the case again today.

Leading groups continue to perform quite well, keeping our major indices above key 20-day EMAs. So long as the combination of 7000 price support and the rising 20-day EMA, currently at 6983, hold on the S&P 500, I expect higher prices. Growth stocks (IWF) have led this rally since it began in late March, rising 14.93% over the past month, while its value counterpart (IWD) has gained roughly half that at 7.91%. It's a signal that Wall Street has no problem taking on more risk and it's this type of market environment that generally supports secular bull market rallies.

Sectors/Industries

I will be watching communication services (XLC) very closely after key earnings reports this afternoon. Both GOOGL and META report results and both belong to the internet group ($DJUSNS), where we're on the verge of a major breakout.....potentially:

If both GOOGL and META gain ground after their reports, I see internet stocks continuing their very strong April advance, both on an absolute and relative basis. It could very well lead to breakouts in a number of other internet stocks as well.

I believe internet holds the key to the communication services sector. So, these two earnings reports will be very important in the near-term, in my opinion.

ChartLists and Trading Strategies

Starbucks (SBUX) reported better-than-expected earnings and did what I LOVE to see from companies that report strong results and gap higher. It eclipsed key candle body resistance at the opening bell. In my experience, breakouts like this usually result in much further price appreciation. Check out this breakout:

There's no mistaking the extremely heavy volume that's accompanying today's breakout, nor the strong relative performance of SBUX leading up to this quarterly report. I suspect SBUX is heading higher in the near-term and intermediate-term. There is price resistance closer to 113 that SBUX will need to navigate. 114.31 is its all-time high.

Upcoming Earnings

Our Upcoming Earnings ChartLists and Upcoming Earnings Relative Strength ChartList are now on our website as earnings season has kicked off this week.

Economic Reports

March durable goods: +0.8% (actual) vs. +0.2% (estimate)

March durable goods ex transports: +0.9% (actual) vs. +0.2% (estimate)

February housing starts (delayed): 1,360,000 (actual) vs. 1,360,000 (estimate)

February building permits (delayed): 1,540,000 (actual) vs. 1,390,000 (estimate)

March housing starts: 1,500,000 (actual) vs. 1,400,000 (estimate)

March building permits: 1,370,000 (actual) vs. 1,390,000 (estimate)

FOMC rate decision and policy statement at 2:00pm ET: No rate change

Happy trading!
Tom