Stocks closed solidly higher yesterday. The small-cap Russell 2000 led the way with an outsized gain of 2.56%, followed by the mid-cap S&P 400 with 1.94%, the Nasdaq with 1.55%, and the S&P 500 with 1.08%.

Word that the U.S. is "in the final stages" of negotiations for a peace deal with Iran, lifted stocks.

As did word that the EU has finally agreed to move forward with the trade deal that was signed with the U.S. back in August 2025.

The provisional agreement by the EU Parliament and Council makes way for the final vote to ratify the agreement, and puts them on track to pass it before the retaliatory 25% tariffs on autos would go into effect if they missed the July 4^th deadline.

Before the open yesterday, we got earnings from AI-linked Analog Devices. They posted a positive EPS surprise of 6.92%, and a positive sales surprise of 3.14%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 67.0% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 37.1%. They cited AI infrastructure demand for their strong performance. And they announced they would be acquiring Empower Semiconductor for roughly $1.5 billion in cash. This is expected to bolster their AI-aligned power management efforts. Additionally, CEO Richard Puccio said they are seeing "growing demand in the second quarter with record bookings across our B2B markets of Industrial, Automotive, and Communications." They raised their Q3 guidance, putting revenue at a midpoint of $3.9B vs. the $3.62B consensus, and EPS at a midpoint of $3.30 vs. the consensus for $3.00. They were off -3.92% yesterday. But YTD, they are up 46.8%.

After the close we heard from AI-juggernaut NVIDIA. They posted a positive EPS surprise of 5.65%, and a positive sales surprise of 3.63%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 130.9%, and a sales growth of 85.2%. Data center revenue nearly doubled. CEO Jensen Huang said that "agentic artificial intelligence has arrived," and that "the AI factory buildout is accelerating at extraordinary speed." He said "we're growing share in inference very, very quickly." Additionally, he said that "the amount of capacity we're going to bring online for Anthropic this year and next year is going to be quite significant." He also said, "every single frontier model company will jump on Vera Rubin from the get-go," and that it "is going to be even more successful than Grace Blackwell." Pretty exciting comments given he also said sales of its Blackwell platform is "off the charts." They raised forward revenue guidance by 4.79% above estimates (to $91B vs. the consensus for $86.84B). They were up 1.30% in the regular session before earnings, and off by roughly -1.00% in after-hours trade following earnings. YTD, they are up 19.8%.

The FOMC Minutes from the Fed meeting earlier this month didn't pack any real surprises. But for those who weren't dialed into the last FOMC Announcement earlier this month, it showed the Fed as somewhat split, with some looking for rate cuts, while others were considering possible rate hikes if inflation persists. The Fed continues to see downside risk to the labor market, citing job gains as "low." They also acknowledge that economic growth is solid, but the outlook is uncertain given geopolitical risks and higher oil prices. But they also noted that consumer spending is "resilient."

With two more days to go, the markets are back in the green for the week.

We'll see if they can build on those gains today.

See you tomorrow,