Stocks closed lower yesterday as crude oil ticked up.

With tensions in the Middle East ratcheting higher, oil is ratcheting up along with it. Crude was up more than 2% yesterday.

Reports that Iran attacked another ship in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday added to the tension. That comes on the heels of the U.S. getting ready to impose "Economic D-Day" on Iran, which includes sweeping sanctions expansion, and economic consequences (secondary sanctions), for any country helping Iran. Adding to the tension level are reports that Israel launched new strikes against Hamas in Gaza.

Rising yields also weighed on stocks yesterday. The rise in yields were marginal. And they did not undo the drop we saw the day before. Nonetheless, with earnings season winding down, the market has begun paying attention to other things, one of them being rising yields.

While earnings season is indeed winding down, it's still going on.

Before the open yesterday, we heard from Walmart, which posted a positive EPS surprise of 10.96%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.90%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 19.1% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 5.94%. But comparable sales were the slowest in 6 years (2.6% vs. midpoint of 3.6% expected). They also mentioned that recent Medicare price caps created a 0.8% headwind to comps. E-Commerce sales impressed with a 23% increase. And its global advertising revenue rose by 38%. But full-year net sales guidance was 'only' put at a midpoint 4.5% increase vs. the previous outlook of 4.0%, while EPS guidance is for a midpoint of $2.84 vs. prior guidance of $2.80. All fine enough, but apparently not enough to excite. They were off -9.15% yesterday.

After the close, however, Ross Stores posted a positive EPS surprise of 6.74%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.89%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 32.1%, and a sales growth of 13.2%. They raised their full-year fiscal 2026 EPS outlook to a midpoint of $8.69 vs. their prior midpoint of $7.62. That's a 14% increase in expectations. They also raised their Q3 sales comps to a growth rate of 6-7%, and Q4 sales growth to 4-5%, both above analyst expectations. They were off -2.43% during the regular session before earnings, but jumped by roughly 8% in after-hours trade following earnings.

Today we'll hear from another 21 companies on deck to report, including BJ's Wholesale Club.

Earnings season will 'officially' come to a close next week when NVIDIA reports on Wednesday, 8/26 after the close.

It's been a pretty stellar earnings season so far. With nearly 93% of the S&P 500 companies having already reported Q2 results, aggregate earnings are up 40.9% vs. this time last year, and are on pace to be up 43.4% by the time earnings season is over.

In other news, yesterday's Weekly Jobless Claims fell by -6,000 to 206,000 vs. the consensus for 211,000. The smoother 4-week moving average was at 204,000.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to 47.4 vs. last month's 41.4 and views for 25.0.

And Leading Indicators were up 0.2% m/m vs. last month's -0.1% and estimates for 0.1%.

Today we'll get the PMI Composite Report, and the Baker Hughes Rig Count Report.

And, of course, the market will be listening for any new news out of the Middle East.

Best,