Wall Street Breakfast: Bull Riding

Another bull is awakening from its 2022 slumber as investors continue to pile back into tech stocks that have been shunned for much of the past year. It's an interesting turn for the market, with worries over interest rates and a looming recession, but perhaps that is what is getting cash off the sidelines. Rates will soon peak - as telegraphed by the Fed's dot plot - or easing may even ensue, while a lower growth environment can see a premium return to the old beloved tech names. Many are also nervous about missing out on the market ride-up, especially when weighing alternatives like high-yielding money market funds and inflation-linked bonds. The latest: The Nasdaq 100 Index (NDX) has surged into a new bull market for the first time in nearly three years, with the tech-heavy benchmark now up more than 20% from its closing low on Dec. 28. The latest leg was powered by earnings from Micron Technology (MU), which stressed confidence in industry fundamentals, as well as broader rallies for megacaps Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Speaking of chips and tech, Nvidia (NVDA) has exploded with an advance of more than 80% so far this year, taking these ETFs higher. "Some stocks, especially the severely oversold high-quality technology names I discussed in many articles around their lows last fall, probably made long-term bottoms but should continue providing buying opportunities on pullbacks and dips," wrote Victor Dergunov, SA Investing Group author of The Financial Prophet. Check out the article, The 'Fed Pivot' Is Coming - The Bottom Is Close. His "All-Weather Portfolio" is up by 17% YTD, with its technology segment boosting returns, advancing about 25% since the beginning of the year. Go deeper: With no fresh news about a banking contagion, market participants have appeared to have regained a risk-on mood. The tech bull market also hasn't been limited to growth stocks, with recent gains over the past week in financials and energy. Meanwhile, bigger concerns for the housing sector haven't materialized, with pending home sales rising for a third straight month in February and mortgage applications increasing over the past week. (5 comments)

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Top News Bull riding Getty Images Another bull is awakening from its 2022 slumber as investors continue to pile back into tech stocks that have been shunned for much of the past year. It's an interesting turn for the market, with worries over interest rates and a looming recession, but perhaps that is what is getting cash off the sidelines. Rates will soon peak - as telegraphed by the Fed's dot plot - or easing may even ensue, while a lower growth environment can see a premium return to the old beloved tech names. Many are also nervous about missing out on the market ride-up, especially when weighing alternatives like high-yielding money market funds and inflation-linked bonds. The latest: The Nasdaq 100 Index (NDX) has surged into a new bull market for the first time in nearly three years, with the tech-heavy benchmark now up more than 20% from its closing low on Dec. 28. The latest leg was powered by earnings from Micron Technology (MU), which stressed confidence in industry fundamentals, as well as broader rallies for megacaps Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Speaking of chips and tech, Nvidia (NVDA) has exploded with an advance of more than 80% so far this year, taking these ETFs higher. "Some stocks, especially the severely oversold high-quality technology names I discussed in many articles around their lows last fall, probably made long-term bottoms but should continue providing buying opportunities on pullbacks and dips," wrote Victor Dergunov, SA Investing Group author of The Financial Prophet. Check out the article, The 'Fed Pivot' Is Coming - The Bottom Is Close. His "All-Weather Portfolio" is up by 17% YTD, with its technology segment boosting returns, advancing about 25% since the beginning of the year. Go deeper: With no fresh news about a banking contagion, market participants have appeared to have regained a risk-on mood. The tech bull market also hasn't been limited to growth stocks, with recent gains over the past week in financials and energy. Meanwhile, bigger concerns for the housing sector haven't materialized, with pending home sales rising for a third straight month in February and mortgage applications increasing over the past week. (5 comments)       Featured Go Premium for $4.95 for your first 30 days What can $5 buy you at the mall today? Not much. But if you choose wisely, $5 can make a big difference to how you invest. Seeking Alpha Premium is the best source of analysis for almost any investment out there - not only the trending tickers. Thanks to Seeking Alpha's diverse pool of contributors and community debate, you get the bull and the bear perspective on 1000s of stocks. You'll be able to make the most informed buy, hold or sell decisions for your portfolio. Right now you can join Premium for the incredibly low price of $4.95 for your first 30 days. 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AI has become one of the hottest topics in the tech sector, with OpenAI claiming earlier this month that its GPT-4 could do better on the SAT exam than 90% of all test takers. (121 comments)       Financials More transparency? In hindsight, it's clear that the overall regulatory system, supervisors and bank management all failed with respect to overseeing Silicon Valley Bank (OTC:SIVBQ), Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr said before the House Financial Services panel. In the summer of 2022, Barr noted that SVB had a composite rating of three (i.e., not well-managed), though its liquidity rating was a two, which is satisfactory. Now the Fed is "looking at whether those standards were sufficiently stringent, whether the firm should've been downgraded further and whether further supervisory steps should've been taken." His opening statement was identical to that of Tuesday's Senate hearing, where he blamed the downfall of SVB on the lender's poor management of interest rate and liquidity risk and inadequate internal controls. (11 comments)       Defense Hypersonic trouble The Pentagon had hoped to declare the first combat-capable U.S. hypersonic weapon by mid-2022, but its test programs are running into trouble. Reports suggest that the Air Force isn't going to pursue a follow-on procurement of Lockheed Martin's (LMT) Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, also known as ARRW, after the transmission failure and loss of data in a recent exercise (this defense company might gain from the development). The objective of hypersonics, like boost-glide missiles and air-breathing missiles, is to evade defense systems while flying at speeds higher than Mach 5, while they can maneuver in-flight compared to the fixed sub-orbital trajectories of ballistic missiles. The U.S. has sought to rush their development after Russia claimed the use of its Kinzhal in Ukraine last year, which marked the first time hypersonic missiles were used in combat. (30 comments)       Today's Markets In Asia, Japan -0.4%. Hong Kong +0.6%. China +0.7%. India closed. In Europe, at midday, London +0.9%. Paris +1.4%. Frankfurt +1.3%. Futures at 6:30, Dow +0.5%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.4%. Crude +1% to $73.70. Gold +1.1% to $1987.60. Bitcoin +0.8% to $28,585. Ten-year Treasury Yield unchanged at 3.57% Today's Economic Calendar 8:30 GDP Q4 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 Corporate profits 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory 12:45 PM Fed's Barkin Speech 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet Companies reporting earnings today » What else is happening... Shadows of Peltz controversy? Disney (DIS) fires Marvel chair. More layoffs: Warner Music (WMG) and Electronic Arts (EA) are next. World's largest ESG ETF saw $5B exit in March, leading all ETFs. Electric stuff: EV makers may jolt sector with deliveries report. Bowing out of race, J&J (JNJ) drops RSV vaccine program. UnitedHealthcare (UNH) to cut use of prior authorizations by 20%. Apple (AAPL) sets date for its annual developer conference. China threatens countermeasures if McCarthy meets Taiwan leader. Did crypto exchange Binance just suffer $2B in outflows? Best long-term stocks: Morgan Stanley picks 30 for 2025. Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast Podcast Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast podcast brings you all the news you need to know for your market day. Released by 8:00 AM ET each morning, it is a quick listen that you can put on as you get ready to start your working day.
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