By Alex Eule
Risk On. With war worries fading a bit, investors are rediscovering their appetite for risk. The sentiment shift drove the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 0.4% today and 4.7% on the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a weekly gain of 1,412 points, or 3.0%, while the S&P 500 rose 3.6%. For all three indexes, it was the best week since November.
The Nasdaq is up 10% since a recent low 11 days ago, signifying an exit from so-called correction territory.
The day's big headline focused on prices, with the release of the consumer price index for March showing inflation heating up. All told, prices were up 0.9% in March, with the gains largely driven by a 10.9% increase for energy-related components.
"This is a direct reflection of the oil price shock that followed the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the March figures are unlikely to be the last word on energy's contribution to inflation while the geopolitical situation remains unresolved," Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede, wrote today.
For interest-rate watchers, the report was basically a non-event. Fed futures continue to show very low expectations of a cut at either of the Fed's next two meetings, later this month and then in June.
Year-over-year, the CPI was up 3.3%. The numbers are the highest they have been in two years, but they were roughly in line with expectations.
"Today's report complicates the Fed's calculus without fundamentally rewriting it," Pride added. "A single energy-driven spike is unlikely to trigger a policy response on its own, particularly when core inflation remains close to target. But the Fed will be watching whether the bleed of higher energy prices into other components is a preview of broader re-acceleration...Investors should expect the Fed to hold until there is clearer evidence that energy pressures are fading rather than spreading."
Next week brings the return of earnings, with the big U.S. banks kicking off first-quarter earnings season. (More on that in the calendar below.) For now, analysts are expecting 12.6% earnings growth from S&P 500 companies in the first quarter, according to FactSet. That would mark the sixth straight quarter of 10%-plus growth for the index.
Watch our TV show on Fox Business Fridays at 7:30 p.m. ET and Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. ET. This week, Parnassus Investments' Todd Ahlsten says that despite uncertainties, AI could power big gains in the S&P 500 this year.
The Hot Stock: Super Micro Computer +8.8% The Biggest Loser: Akamai Technologies -16.7%
Best Sector: Technology +0.8% Worst Sector: Consumer Staples -1.4%
This Weekend's Magazine
The Calendar
Negotiations to the end of the war will be top of mind for investors next week. Wall Street also has to contend with the start of first-quarter earnings seasons.
Goldman Sachs Group releases quarterly results on Monday, followed by BlackRock, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo on Tuesday. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and PNC Financial Services Group announce earnings on Wednesday, and Charles Schwab and U.S. Bancorp follow suit on Thursday.
Outside the financial sector, Johnson & Johnson reports results on Tuesday, while Abbott Laboratories, Netflix, and PepsiCo report on Thursday.
The key economic data point next week will be the producer price index released on Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wholesale inflation was already running hot before the beginning of the war, and rising oil prices have added fuel to that fire.
-- Dan Lam
What We're Reading Today
-- The 'Real' Oil Price Is a Lot Higher Than It Looks
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Even Possible?
-- Paramount Warrants Are an Underappreciated Aspect of Warner Bros. Deal
-- Anthropic's New AI Model Triggered an Emergency Banking Meeting. It's a
Reason to Buy Cybersecurity Stocks.
-- And this weekend's cover story: SpaceX Is Going Public. Why a Tesla
Merger Could Be Musk's Real Endgame.
Join Barron's Live on Monday at noon. Where will energy prices head now that a fragile truce has been achieved in the Iran war? Barron's Lauren Rublin and Avi Salzman speak with Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at OPIS, about the latest outlook for oil, gas, and energy stocks.
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Write to Alex Eule at alex.eule@barrons.com
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April 10, 2026 20:50 ET (00:50 GMT)
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