Stocks closed higher yesterday after the Fed left interest rates unchanged.

Yesterday's FOMC Announcement came out as expected with the Fed keeping interest rates steady.

After they cut interest rates by 100 basis points late last year, all within 4 short months, their rate-cutting cycle has been on pause this year.

But even though they cite uncertainty surrounding tariffs (and the possible impact they could have on inflation and the economy), the Fed still expects to cut interest rates two times this year (presumably by 25 basis points each). And the CME's FedWatch tool places a 71.2% likelihood that they begin cutting again at their July 30 meeting.

The key takeaway from the meeting is that the Fed feels good enough about the economy where it can afford to wait and see what impact the tariffs have. But their willingness to wait (which I'm interpreting as the economy is not in need of support) is a positive assessment. One doesn't even need to read the tea leaves to glean that. The Fed statement alone said as much, which read, "economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace."

Sure, they acknowledge that "risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen," but none of that has been reflected in the recent data. Last week's employment report came in better than expected. Q1's GDP estimate, when adjusting for the surge of likely one-time imports to beat the implementation of tariffs, saw core GDP grow. And the latest PCE report showed inflation easing.

All good signs. For the economy. And the market.

In other news, before the open yesterday, Disney reported earnings and posted a positive EPS surprise of 22.9%, and a positive sales surprise of 2.10%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 19.8% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 6.97%. They soared 10.8% in the regular session yesterday following earnings.

After the close, ARM Holdings posted a positive EPS surprise of 5.77%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.55%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 53% vs. this quarter last year, and a sales growth of 34.0%. But weak sales and earnings guidance (-4.55% downward estimate revision is sales, and -19.0% downward estimate revision in earnings) sent shares lower by -12% in after-hours trade.

AppLovin, on the other hand, posted a positive EPS surprise of 15.2%, and a positive sales surprise of 7.70%, for a quarterly EPS growth rate of 149%, and a sales growth of 39.6%. They were trading up more than 13% in after-hours.

Today we'll hear from another 654 companies on deck to report, including Shopify, Expedia, ConocoPhillips, Pinterest and Toast to name a handful.

Yesterday's MBA Mortgage Applications showed the composite index up 11.0% w/w with purchases up 11.1%, and refi's up 11.1% as well.

Today we'll get Weekly Jobless Claims, the Productivity and Costs Report, and Wholesale Inventories.

See you tomorrow,