Summary

Wall Street let out a sigh of relief on Monday as hostilities in the Middle East relatively calmed, though the situation remains clearly volatile. Crude oil (WTI) initially shot up to $77.50/barrel, but fell sharply from there, closing the day at $71.35. Brent oil peaked at $78.30 and declined to $72.90. Stocks exploded out of the gate Monday morning, and the major indices finished the session with decent gains after some late-day selling. The S&P 500 (SPX), S&P 100, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600 all finished with 1% gains, while the Nasdaq tacked on 1.5% and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) rose 1.4%. Bitcoin was the big winner, popping 2.8% as the crypt currency continues its sideways consolidation. The QQQ is within 1% of its February 19 all-time closing high of $538.72. What a difference just nine weeks makes on chart construction, intermediate-term trend, price versus moving averages, momentum, and relative strength. The largest components of the QQQ index were in rough shape in early April, as nine of the top 10 holdings were below their 200-day average. Today, nine of 10 are above their 200-day line. The order of the largest stocks in the QQQ has changed a bit. MSFT is top dog, with 8.8% of the ETF. It is followed by NVDA (8.6%