Stocks closed lower yesterday in uneven trade. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was only down -0.13%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 was down -1.63%.

But with 1 day left, all of the major indexes are poised to close higher for the week. That would make it 6 up weeks in a row for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. And 7 up weeks in a row for the Russell.

As for Middle East news, peace talks continue. And a peace deal could come within a week.

A Chinese owned tanker was fired upon near the Strait of Hormuz. But reports do not say who the perpetrators were.

Separately, China's Ministry of Commerce ordered Chinese companies to not comply with U.S. sanctions tied to Iranian crude oil, citing its 2021 "Blocking Rule" that prohibits Chinese firms from recognizing or enforcing foreign sanctions it considers extraterritorial.

And the U.S. struck 3 Iranian ports yesterday after Iranian drones targeted 3 U.S. warships.

Meantime, the ceasefire still holds. The U.S. blockade is still in place. But there's still optimism that a peace deal could be had.

In other news, yesterday's Construction Spending (for March) was up 0.6% m/m vs. last month's -0.2% and views for 0.4%.

And Weekly Jobless Claims rose 10,000 to 200,000 vs. estimates for 205K.

But the jobs report everybody is really waiting for is this morning's Employment Situation Report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The consensus is calling for 63,000 new jobs being created for April (67,000 in the private sector and -4,000 in the public sector), vs. last month's 178,000 (186K private, -8K public). The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.3%.

Wednesday's ADP report estimated 109,000 private sector jobs were created in April. If the ADP report is accurate, that could mean a big upside surprise for today's BLS report.

We'll get another 132 companies set to report earnings today, including Enbridge, Brookfield Asset Management, and Ubiquiti to name a few.

Next week is another busy earnings week with as many as 1,185 companies on deck to report.

Earnings season winds down the following week, but we'll hear from AI juggernaut NVIDIA when they report on Wednesday, 5/20, after the close.

So far, this earnings season has been stellar. And it's been the biggest driver of stocks over the last several weeks. Especially by big-tech and AI related names. Many of the growth rates have been stunning. Lots of upward guidance. And the common theme propelling these numbers has been attributed to AI.

It has underscored the resiliency of the economy. And proved once again that the AI trade is alive and well.

Legendary trader Paul Tudor Jones yesterday said the AI-driven bull market still has "another year or two to run," and compared it to the late 1990's tech boom.

That has been my sentiment all along, and comports with my expectation that we see 5 years in a row of double-digit market gains, just like we did in the 1995-1999 dot-com boom.

I'm expecting 5 years in a row of big gains due to the AI boom. This year (2026), would be year 4, while 2027 would be year 5. But nobody says it has to stop there. With AI being touted as the most transformational tech breakthrough ever, it could very well last much longer.

In the meantime, the market is sitting in record territory. And the best news is that it looks like there's a lot more upside to go.

Best,