Stocks closed higher again yesterday led by the small-cap Russell 2000 with 1.75%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq with 1.03%. They also both made new all-time highs in the process, along with the S&P 500.

Despite the increased tension in the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S. announcement of Project Freedom (which sought to guide ships out of the Strait for humanitarian reasons, but in turn saw Iran fire at vessels and Gulf States as a result), the markets have looked past that and instead focused on the better-than-expected earnings season.

As for efforts for a longer-term peace deal, last night President Trump said he would suspend Project Freedom due to the progress that was made toward ending the war. The President wrote in a social media post that, "...Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed."

There's still hope that an end to the Middle East conflict will come sooner rather than later.

In other news, earnings season continues.

After the close, we heard from Advanced Micro Devices. They posted a positive EPS surprise of 5.38%, and a positive sales surprise of 4.09%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 42.7% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 37.8%. They once again cited strong AI demand for their stellar results saying the quarter was "driven by accelerating demand for AI infrastructure." They also guided next quarter's revenue estimate to $11.2 billion vs. the consensus for $10.52B (a 6.46% upward revision above the current estimates). They were up 4.02% in the regular session before earnings, and jumped another 16% in after-hours trade following earnings.

The common theme this earnings season has been the soaring demand for AI. That's been the driver behind the increased AI CapEx, and the driver for the spectacular earnings growth for those providing the products and services to meet this demand. But AI is also partly responsible for other companies unlocking increased productivity and customer value thru the use of their AI products.

This earnings season further underscored that the AI trade is alive and well. And suggests there's a lot more upside to go.

Today we'll hear from another 490 companies on deck to report including ARM Holdings, AppLovin, and Uber to name a few.

In other news yesterday, the PMI Composite Index ticked up to 51.7 vs. last month's 50.3, but was under views for 52.0. The Services Index was at 51.0 vs. last month's 49.8 and estimates for 52.1.

And the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report (or JOLTS for short) came in at 6.866 million job openings for March. That was under the upwardly revised 6.922M from last month (originally 6.882M), but above the consensus for 6.656M.

But the jobs report everybody is really waiting for is the Employment Situation Report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

In the meantime, we'll get the ADP Employment Report today, and the Weekly Jobless Claims on Thursday.

Stocks have been on a tear. And with more earnings on tap, we could see even higher highs as the week goes on.

See you tomorrow,