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Anna's Markets Recap

_{Just facts, you think for yourself}

Saturday, 5:11 AM

April 18, 2026

Good morning news friend! Here is a quick recap of what happened in the markets this week. 📰🌟

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Economic & Market Overview

The S&P 500 closed Friday April 17 at 7,126.06, up 4.5% on the week and at a record. The Nasdaq finished at 24,472.41, up 6.8%, riding a 13-session winning streak — its longest since 1992. The Dow added about 2.9%, closing Friday at 49,446 after an 868-point rally. Gold hit a fresh closing high near $4,867.92 per ounce, up about 0.8% on the week in its fourth consecutive advance. Consumer sentiment sat at a survey record low.

Monday April 13 opened weak. US-Iran peace talks collapsed over the weekend, the White House ordered a naval blockade of Iranian ports at 10 a.m. ET, and WTI crude spiked above $100 intraday. Tuesday brought an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire and a soft PPI print. Friday Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz "completely open," WTI plunged 11% to $83.23, and the Dow ripped. Three days of diplomacy reset the week.

Macro data and the Fed

March PPI posted Tuesday April 14 at +0.5% month over month versus +1.1% expected. Core PPI rose 0.2%. Headline PPI ran 4.0% year over year, the highest since February 2023, but the monthly miss drove the 10-year Treasury yield lower. March industrial production dropped 0.5% Thursday April 16, the biggest fall since September 2024. Initial jobless claims printed 207,000 for the week ended April 11. The Census Bureau pushed retail sales to April 21 and housing starts to April 29.

The preliminary University of Michigan sentiment reading released Friday April 10 logged 47.6, a 74-year low, with one-year inflation expectations rising to 4.8%. Consumers tied the mood to Iran.

The Fed calendar was crowded. New York's John Williams said Thursday April 16 that uncertainty should limit forward guidance but kept rate cuts in his baseline. Governor Christopher Waller echoed that Friday at Auburn. The target range held at 3.50% to 3.75% with blackout starting Saturday April 18 ahead of the April 28-29 meeting.

The 10-year Treasury yield slipped from about 4.31% to 4.26% Friday. The dollar index closed Friday at 97.70, down a third straight week. The VIX spiked roughly 7% toward 30 Monday on the blockade, then fell to 17.28 by Friday.

Technology & Growth

Netflix reported after the close Thursday April 16. Revenue of $12.25B beat $12.18B; EPS of $1.23 crushed $0.76, though about $0.42 came from the $2.8B Warner Bros. Discovery termination fee. Operating margin printed 32.3%. Q2 revenue was guided to $12.574B versus $12.64B consensus and EPS to $0.78 versus $0.84. FY26 was held at $50.7-51.7B rather than raised. Co-founder Reed Hastings will leave the board later in the year. Shares fell 9.72% Friday April 17 to close at $97.31, the worst single-day drop in roughly six months. Positioning had crowded into a raise; the guide did not break the bull story, but it broke the setup.

NVIDIA closed Friday near $200.94, up about 1.86% on the week. Monday shares wobbled on a PC-maker acquisition rumor the company denied. Bernstein held Buy with a $300 target on Rubin ramp. Broadcom announced Tuesday evening an extended MTIA partnership with Meta through 2029 covering over 1 GW of compute. CEO Hock Tan stepped off Meta's board. Shares closed Wednesday at $394.99, up 3.9%, and finished Friday at $403.12, up 1.17%, with RSI at 77.69.

Tesla led the Mag-7. UBS upgraded to Neutral with a $352 target Tuesday. Wednesday Musk said AI5 chip had taped out and unveiled the Tesla/SpaceX/xAI "Terafab" Austin plan, sending shares 7.63% higher to close $391.95. Friday closed at $400.62, up 2.96%, for a weekly gain above 12% into the April 22 print.

Microsoft rose 3.1% Monday to $382.15 on Bernstein support, 5.1% Wednesday on reports of Norwegian data-center capacity, and closed Friday at $411.22, up 4.63%. Apple closed Friday at $263.85, up 2.65%, after Counterpoint data showed iPhone China shipments up 20% year over year. BofA raised its target to $325. Amazon closed near $250.56 Friday, within 3% of record. Meta gained on the Broadcom deal and the "Muse Spark" model. Alphabet drifted near $295.77.

Salesforce bounced on software rebound, closing Wednesday at $177.80 after adds of 4.8% Monday, 3.4% Tuesday, and 4.4% Wednesday. The stock remains down 29.9% year to date.

Financial Institutions

JPMorgan reported pre-market Tuesday April 14. EPS of $5.94 beat $5.46; revenue of $50.5B beat $49.17B. Total markets revenue hit a record $11.6B. Investment banking fees grew 28% to $2.88B. But FY26 net interest income guidance was cut to roughly $103B from $104.5B, and Dimon warned about "stickier inflation." Shares closed Tuesday at $311.12, down under 1%. Morgan Stanley raised its target to $336.

Bank of America reported Wednesday. EPS of $1.11 beat $1.00; revenue of $30.43B topped $29.93B. NII of $15.9B beat, and FY26 NII growth guidance was raised to 6-8% from 5-7%. Equities trading rose 30% to $2.83B. Shares opened Wednesday up 3.15% and closed up about 1.5%. Friday closed at $53.91.

Berkshire Hathaway drifted flat near $478.15 Friday. Visa closed Thursday at $315.10 while in quiet period; Tuesday it launched a Tempo blockchain validator. Mastercard opened Tuesday at $513.08 after Citi cut its target to $675 from $735.

Consumer Staples & Healthcare

Johnson & Johnson reported Tuesday April 14 pre-market. Revenue of $24.06B beat $23.86B; EPS of $2.70 beat $2.68. Innovative Medicine rose 11.2% to $15.4B. FY26 guidance rose to $100.3-101.3B in revenue, the first $100B milestone. Shares rose roughly 0.5% Tuesday to around $240.

UnitedHealth does not report until April 21. Shares still climbed from roughly $306 Monday to $324.63 Friday on CMS 2027 Medicare Advantage rate clarity at +2.48%. Eli Lilly logged BRUIN CLL-322 success Monday and ACHIEVE-4 data Thursday. Friday shares added 1.89% to 2.57%. AbbVie struck a Haisco licensing deal Monday worth up to $715M and disclosed Elahere Phase 2 data Saturday April 12.

Procter & Gamble raised its dividend 3% Tuesday to $1.0885 quarterly for a 70th consecutive year; shares lagged near $145-147. Costco raised its dividend 13.1% to $1.47 Wednesday. Walmart redesigned Great Value Wednesday, announced 650-plus remodels, and closed Friday at $125.60, up 2.1%.

Energy & Industrial

Oil whipsawed on Iran. WTI traded above $100 intraday Monday, settled $91.28 Tuesday, held above $95 Thursday on a 9.13M-barrel inventory draw, then crashed 11% Friday to close near $83.23 on Hormuz reopening. Brent ended near $88.96, down about 13-14% on the week. The IEA's April report pegged March supply loss at 10.1 mb/d and cut 2026 demand by 80,000 bpd.

Exxon Mobil fell 3.24% Tuesday, closed Wednesday at $149.01, rose 1.99% Thursday to $151.98, and then fell roughly 4.67% Friday to $144.88. An April 8 8-K flagged Q1 output down 6% sequentially; April 15 commentary pointed to a $1.9-2.3B sequential upstream profit lift. Morgan Stanley trimmed its target to $171. The weekly loss came to roughly 4-5%.

Home Depot ran opposite. Tuesday April 14 the stock printed $342.71, up from a 52-week low of $315.31 on April 7. Friday April 17 closed at $349.40, a weekly gain near 8-10% and one of the Dow's top performers. Existing home sales fell 3.6% Monday to 3.98M SAAR. The NAHB Housing Market Index dropped to 34 Wednesday, a two-year low, with 62% of builders citing fuel-driven material cost increases. Friday's oil crash flipped the demand narrative in HD's favor.

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Baked with love,

Anna Eisenberg ❤️