Good News From Bank Earnings

Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Friday, April 11.

State of Play

Yesterday was another ugly day on Wall Street, with major indexes dropping multiple percent as investors realized major tariffs on China were unaffected by the 90-day pause and therefore still in effect. China for its part, retaliated overnight with retaliatory tariffs of its own but said it wouldn’t need to push the envelope beyond that because “there is no longer a market for US goods imported to China.” Tell that to all the Chinese buying coffee at Starbucks and vacationing at Shanghai Disney.

Today’s briefing is delayed a bit because we wanted to wait for the bank earnings. These were actually quite positive (more below). As we eye our board of indicators for signs of direction at 0710, risk appetite seems to be re-emerging, however fleetingly:

• Stock index futures are pointing to gains. S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 0.7% each;

• Commodities are moving higher. Copper is up almost 3%. WTI crude oil is up 0.2% to move north of $60/barrel. Gold and silver continue to rally, both up >1%;

• Cryptos, too, showing a few signs of life. Bitcoin is up 1% to trade around $82,600;

• Bonds are unchanged. The 10-year yields 3.89%.

Today’s Known Events

Earnings season is upon us! Major financial institutions report today:

• JPMorgan (JPM 0.00%↑) beat estimates. Net charge offs were up a bit but not enough to scare Wall Street as the stock is rallying in the pre-market. More important than earnings are what Jamie Dimon has to say about all this on the call. His statement alluded to “considerable turbulence” in the economy…

• BlackRock (BLK 0.00%↑) results were mixed but asset levels hit a new record high during the quarter and that stock is rallying in the pre-market;

• Wells Fargo (WFC 0.00%↑) also reported mixed results and weirdly lowered loan loss provisions. The stock has yet to react;

• Morgan Stanley (MS 0.00%↑) is also due to report before the open at 0930.

Cover art by author via OpenArt SDXL