Stocks closed higher yesterday, picking up where last week left off.

Last week's lighter than expected employment report (but still solid), was interpreted bullishly. It shows that higher interest rates have slowed down the economy. But is not at risk of slowing it down too much.

And while inflation is still too high, last week's FOMC announcement shows the Fed is still expecting to cut rates this year.

Combined it shows the economy is on a soft-landing trajectory. And that's bullish for stocks.

Earnings season continues on. And that's also bullish for stocks, since stocks typically go up during earnings season.

With more than 60% of the stocks in the S&P having reported, it shows earnings up 5% vs. this time last year, on a 4.5% increase in sales. While we wait to see how the other 40% do, not to mention all of the other stocks not in the S&P, we have a good sense of how the rest of this earnings season will go.

Even more exciting than a better than expected earnings season that we're in the midst of now, is next quarter's estimate for S&P earnings to be up 9.3%.

Today we'll hear from 363 companies on deck to report, with Disney, Duke Energy, and Builders FirstSource going before the open, and Occidental Petroleum, Datadog, and Electronic Arts reporting after the close.

Not much in the way of economic reports today. Although, we will hear from Minneapolis Federal Reserve President, Neel Kashkari, as he speaks this morning. People will be listening for any clues on his expectation for rate cuts later this year, and how it compares with what Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell said last week.

With last month's pullback seemingly behind us, the big three indexes are all within striking distance of their all-time high closes with the Dow just -2.40% away, the S&P just -1.41% away, and the Nasdaq Composite just -0.57% away from its record close.

And it won't take much to get over those thresholds.

See you tomorrow,