Stocks closed higher again yesterday with all of the major indexes in the green. And we saw another round of fresh, new all-time highs again by the Nasdaq and the S&P 500.

YTD, the Dow is up 1.07%; the S&P 500 is up 2.86%; and the Nasdaq is up 3.70%. But the standout performers this year remain the small-cap Russell 2000 with 9.58%, and mid-cap S&P 400 with 8.19%.

Optimism over a longer-lasting peace deal continues to lift stocks.

And word that Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire is also a positive sign.

There were also reports that Iran offered to hand over highly enriched uranium. Although, public statements from Iran have contradicted that.

Nonetheless, the hope is that we are nearing the end of the Middle East conflict.

And with it, the eventual decrease in energy prices. Already, crude oil is off -20.6% from their conflict highs less than 2 weeks ago. But they are still up 33.8% since the start of the war, and 56.1% YTD.

In the meantime, the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remains in effect. And the U.S. Navy has already prevented numerous merchant ships that departed from Iranian ports from passing through.

In other news, Weekly Jobless Claims fell -11,000 to 207K vs. views for 215K.

And the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to 26.7 vs. last month's 18.1 and estimates for 12.0.

Not much on the economic report docket today. Although, we will hear from Fed policymakers Mary Daly, Thomas Barkin, and Christopher Waller as they speak at their respective engagements throughout the day.

As for earnings, Taiwan Semiconductor reported a positive EPS surprise of 5.44%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.13%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 58.3% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 35.1%. They also guided their midpoint outlook for the current quarter up by 4.13% above the consensus. They were off -3.13% yesterday. And were up about 0.20% in after-hours trade. For context, they are up 19.6% YTD.

Yet another big-tech company showing that the AI boom is alive and well.

After the close, Netflix reported a positive EPS surprise of 61.84%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.65%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 86.4% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 16.2%. But soft guidance for the current quarter (-7.14% under the consensus on EPS, and -0.55% under the consensus on sales), weighed on shares in after-hours. They were up 0.07% in the regular session before earnings, but sank roughly -9% following earnings.

Today we'll hear from another 20 companies on deck to report.

But that number rises to 491 next week, and 841 the following week (with 5 of the Magnificent 7 reporting).

After heady bank earnings earlier in the week, along with double-digit EPS growth rates from several big-tech companies, earnings season is already off to a good start. But it should not come as a surprise, since stocks typically go up during earnings season. Nonetheless, always exciting to see.

We'll see if the markets can extend their gains today.

With one more day to go, all of the indexes are on pace for another up week. If all goes well, that'll be 3 up weeks in a row for the big three indexes (Dow, S&P and Nasdaq), and 4 up weeks in a row for the Russell and S&P 400.

Best,