🧪 We Are So Back

Good Morning! 

Markets might be chilling on the surface today, but under the hood, it's all gears grinding. Futures are flat-ish, but don't be fooled, Alphabet just dropped a flex-heavy earnings beat, Tesla popped despite flopping, and China might be cracking on tariffs. Oh, and a certain Florida politician just casually dumped a cool half-mil in stock. Nothing to see here, right?

We’re breaking it all down, from Google’s AI moonshot to tariff tea leaves and the earnings flood coming for your watchlist.

Let’s get into it 👇

🌡 TradingLab’s Headline Roundup

Stock Markets

• $SPY ( ▲ 2.11% ) S&P 500 Rallies 2% and Is Now Out of Correction as Traders Go Full Buy-the-Dip Mode

• $GOOGL ( ▲ 2.53% ) Alphabet Jumps 5% as AI-Led Blowout Earnings Impress Wall Street

• $TSLA ( ▲ 3.5% ) Tesla Stock Pops Over 5% as Markets Shrug Off Bad Quarter for Low-Priced Car Reveal

• 7 Growth Stocks Motley Fool Buying Hand Over Fist Right Now

Crypto

• $BTC.X ( ▲ 1.83% ) Serbia’s Prince Filip Predicts Bitcoin ‘Omega Candle’, Expects BTC Price Explosion Above $100K

• North Korean Hackers Targeting Crypto Developers With U.S. Shell Firms

• Blockchain could be headed for ‘ChatGPT moment’ in adoption

• Slovenia’s capital of Ljubljana ranked as world’s most crypto-friendly city

Forex/Commodities

• $GBPUSD ( ▲ 0.15% ) Sterling Resumes Upside Swing and Reclaims $1.33 After Two Down Days

• $EURUSD ( ▼ 0.28% ) Euro Marches Lower to Float Near $1.13 as Trump’s Tariff Retreat Sparks Dollar Rally

Upcoming Earnings

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📅 FRI.
AbbVie (ABBV), Charter Communications (CHTR), Centene (CNC), HCA Healthcare (HCA), AutoNation (AN)

🕵️‍♂️ Pol Watch: Who’s Buying, Selling, and Hiding It

Quiet week on Capitol Hill... except for Scott Franklin making some noise.

• The Florida Republican offloaded $500K–$1M worth of BRP Group Inc stock at $41.73 a pop.

• Trade went down on April 10, but he didn’t drop the paperwork until 7 days later (April 18). Classic move.

• It was a joint sale, so someone else at home’s in on it too.

No action from Pelosi, Crenshaw, or Tuberville this time. Maybe they’re just watching the market—or waiting to strike.

📈 What’s Moving Markets Today?

🔥 Futures Hold Steady: Calm Before the Earnings Storm

Markets this morning? Chill. U.S. stock futures are cruising just above the flatline, like they’re waiting for someone else to make the first move. Blame it on earnings overload and a potential softening in U.S.-China trade tensions.

📌 Key Moves:

• S&P 500 Futures: Up 0.4%, the market’s version of a shrug.

• Nasdaq 100 Futures: Also up 0.4% — thanks to some big tech muscle (we’ll get to that).

• Dow Futures: Barely budging. Call it a breather.

Everyone's on edge watching Trump's tariff tantrums, but now there's chatter that he might, might, be easing up. That’s enough to keep the bulls from panicking… for now.

🇨🇳 Beijing Blinks? China Eyes Tariff Exemptions

In a twist worthy of a Wall Street soap opera, China is reportedly considering tariff exemptions on some U.S. imports, including a few semiconductor-related goodies (but no, memory chips didn’t make the cut).

📌 What’s Going Down:

• China’s Ministry of Commerce is asking local businesses what U.S. goods they actually need, and can’t replace.

• Could be a sign Beijing’s feeling the heat from its 125% retaliatory tariffs.

• U.S. officials, meanwhile, are quietly debating whether their own sky-high levies, up to 145%, are even sustainable anymore.

If you’re holding chip stocks or anything with a Made-in-China label, this is the moment to pay attention.

💸 Alphabet Doesn’t Flinch

Alphabet (GOOGL) came out swinging with a first-quarter report that crushed expectations, and it’s doubling down on AI like it’s 2021 all over again.

📌 Big Numbers:

• Operating income: A beastly $30.6 billion, comfortably above Wall Street’s estimates.

• CapEx: Shot up to an all-time high of $17.2 billion, part of a massive $75 billion investment plan focused on AI.

• Stock pop: Shares jumped after hours as investors rewarded the “spend now, dominate later” strategy.

Despite the tariff drama, Alphabet's staying the course. Execs aren’t sweating the impact yet — but they admit ad budgets from affected industries could take a hit.

📊 Earnings Avalanche Incoming

Today’s earnings docket is a full-blown buffet, and traders are digging in. Companies are being grilled not just on performance, but how they plan to dodge the economic landmines set by tariffs and policy shifts.

📌 Names to Watch:

• AbbVie (ABBV): All eyes on how it's prepping for potential U.S. pharma tariffs and price controls.

• HCA Healthcare (HCA): Could get grilled over Medicaid-related concerns.

• Also reporting: Colgate-Palmolive, Phillips 66, Centene, and more.

Add in the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment data, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for volatility.

🧠 The Takeaway: Tariff Drama, AI Dominance, and Earnings Roulette

It’s one of those “don’t blink” days in the market. Between trade war smoke signals, mega-cap tech flexing, and a tsunami of earnings, there’s plenty to chew on.

Want the cheat sheet?

• Watch China, if exemptions happen, that’s a tailwind for semis.

• Stick with quality tech, Alphabet’s showing that bold bets still get rewarded.

• Stay nimble, this market isn’t dead, it’s waiting.

See you on the other side of the weekend. 🥂

Stay ahead, stay informed, and most importantly, stay profitable.

‘til next time,

TradingLab