Stocks closed mixed yesterday with the Dow and the small-cap Russell 2000 finishing in the green, while the S&P and Nasdaq finished in the red.

All of the indexes were up at one point during the day, before coming off their highs in the afternoon.

The big news everyone was talking about yesterday was the trading debut for Coinbase – a cryptocurrency exchange/transaction company. They closed at $328.28, for a 31.31% gain above their initial reference price of $250.

While that doesn't mean anything to the broader market, it was a big deal for anybody following cryptocurrencies and those interested in blockchain.

In other news, MBA Mortgage Applications were down -3.7% in the latest week, with purchases down -1% and refi's dropping -5%.

Import and Export Prices rose with import prices up 1.2% m/m (6.9% y/y), and export prices rising 2.1% (9.1% y/y). The report notes that higher import prices were driven by higher petroleum prices, while higher export prices were driven by higher agricultural prices.

The Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations report came in at 2.5% y/y, up a bit from last month?s reading of 2.4%.

And the Beige Book report confirmed what we basically already knew, which is that "national economic activity accelerated to a moderate pace from late February to early April." And that "consumer spending strengthened."

Today we'll get another look at the economy with Weekly Jobless Claims, Retail Sales, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, the Empire State Manufacturing Index, Industrial Production, Business Inventories, and the Housing Market Index. Should be a busy day.

In the meantime, the economy continues to improve. And it looks like there's a lot more upside to go.

And with earnings season having just gotten started (stocks typically go up during earnings season), there's even more reason for stocks to go up.

As you know, earnings season always brings with it a level of excitement as it's not uncommon to see individual stocks move 10%, 15%, or even 20% or more in one day after an earnings report.

The key is getting into the right stocks.

If you want to learn how to potentially find big winners this earnings season BEFORE they report, be sure to read our latest commentary...

How to Find Big Winners This Earnings Season

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