Risk On, For Now…

Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Wednesday, April 23.

State of Play

Stocks put in a big rally yesterday and the good news continued after the close as President Trump said tariffs on China would drop ‘substantially’ from the 145% rate declared previously. He also said he had ‘no intention’ of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Then Tesla (TSLA 0.00%↑) earnings missed estimates but the stock rallied when Elon Musk said he would be spending less time on DOGE.

So a bunch of good news that is having a clear impact on our board of indicators. As of 0705, it is all risk-on:

• Stock index futures are off to the races. Tech is leading things, with the Nasdaq up 2.9%. S&P 500 futures are 2.5% to the good;

• Cryptos are also rallying. Bitcoin is up 6% to trade around $93,500. That’s a big move upward for Bitcoin, breaking out of the range it had found itself in for weeks;

• Commodities are mixed. Noteworthy that gold is down over 2%, another indication of calmer days ahead. WTI crude oil is up 1%. Copper up 0.5%;

• Bonds, too, are being bid up. The 10-year yield is down 7 basis points to 4.32% (yields move inversely to prices).

(Today’s cover art by author via OpenArt.ai)