Morning Preview: April 20, 2026

Early Look

Monday, April 20, 2026

Stock futures tumbled overnight but are well off their worst levels as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated over the weekend with the seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship. A ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared in jeopardy on Monday after the U.S. said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate, refusing for now to join new peace talks. President Trump said the U.S. had fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. This comes after Iran declined to join another round of peace talks in Pakistan planned by the U.S. Both WTI and Brent crude prices surged overnight, but off the highs. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index advanced 348 points to 58,824, the Shanghai Index rose 30 points to 4,082, and the Hang Seng Index climbed 200 points to 26,361. In Europe, the German DAX is sliding -334 points to 24,367, while the FTSE 100 is down -67 points to 10,600. In addition to the unresolved situation in the Middle East, investors remain focused on a busy week of corporate earnings with some heavy hitters out this week.

Meanwhile, another record on Friday for the S&P 500 index, Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 index, extending the more than 2-week rally for US stocks. The Nasdaq ended Friday rising 1.52% to 24,468, now in the midst of a remarkable 13 day winning streak that has seen 3,000 points added. Since March 30th Iran/US war lows, the QQQ has risen +16%, SPY +12% (to all-time highs), IWM +15% (to all-time highs), and Bitcoin +18%. Currently, the Nasdaq 100 is on track for its best April in 40 years. Last week, the S&P 500 gained 4.53%, the Nasdaq climbed 6.84%, and the Dow climbed 3.2%. Other sectors hitting all-time highs last week included the Philly Semi index (SOX) and Dow Transports.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 868.71 points, or 1.79%, to 49,447.43
• The Nasdaq Composite spiked 365.78 points, or 1.52%, to 24,468.48
• The Russell 2000 Index jumped 57.30 points, or 2.11% to 2,776.90

• Earnings After the Close: AGNC ALK BOKF FLXS HBCP NTST RBB SFBS STLD WASH WTFC ZION

• Avis Budget (CAR) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclay’s while raised its price tgt to $150 from $95 noting the shares were just $100 a month ago, and on Friday closed at nearly $500, attributing the rally to a “sharp supply/demand mismatch,” with two holders accounting for 71% of outright ownership of the company, and over 100% of economic interest given outstanding swaps. With Avis Budget’s short interest now at nearly 100% of the float, a “sharp short squeeze” has occurred.
• QXO Inc. (QXO) said it has agreed to acquire TopBuild Corp. (BLD) in a transaction valued at about $17 billion. The deal has been approved by both companies’ boards and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending shareholder approval and other customary conditions.

• Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Rupert Resources (RUPRF) for about C$2.9 billion ($2.12 billion), the companies said on Monday
• AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) shares fall -13% pre mkt after New Glenn rocket, launched by Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin on Sunday, failed to deploy ASTS satellite into correct orbit. The Satellite placed too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology, will be de-orbited.
• Blue Origin’s first commercial launch for its massive new rocket suffered a mission hiccup Sunday, a setback for Jeff Bezos’ rocket company. The launch of the company’s New Glenn rocket started smoothly, with the vehicle shooting into the sky from the Blue Origin launch site in the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area.
• Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) Q1 adj EPS loss (-$0.40) vs. est. loss (-$0.42) on revs $4.9B vs. consensus $4.79B; reported adjusted EBITDA of $95M, impacted by $80M one-time energy cost from extreme cold weather; maintains 2026 steel shipment guidance at 16.5-17.0 mln net tons; expects 2026 capital expenditures of about $700M.
• Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and RTX Corp. (RTX) were named principal contractors as the U.S. State Department seeks to sell an Integrated Combat System and supporting equipment worth $11.9B to Germany.
• Sable Offshore Corp. (SOC) provides corporate update saying they plan to consummate a debt refinancing of its Senior secured term loan in Q2 of 2026; Platform Hondo expected online June 2026 with 10,000 gross barrels per day production; capital spend expected to be $180M from April to December 2026.
• USA Rare Earth (USAR) said to acquire Brazilian rare earths miner Serra Verde for $2.8 billion in cash and shares. The U.S. company will pay $300 million in cash and 126.9 million newly issued shares of its stock for the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

• Greenwich LifeSciences (GLSI) said its experimental breast cancer vaccine shows stronger immune response; says the late-stage FLAMINGO‑01 study tests GLSI‑100, an experimental vaccine aimed at preventing breast cancer from coming back after standard treatment.
• Immunocore (IMCR) at AACR this weekend provided oral presentation of 5-year overall survival (OS) data for KIMMTRAK (tebentafusp) in previously untreated HLA-A*02:01+ metastatic uveal melanoma from the Phase 3 trial—the longest randomized OS follow-up in this setting.
• Perspective Therapeutics (CATX) said its experimental targeted radiation drug [212Pb]VMT-α-NET showed encouraging results in an early-stage trial in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors, a rare cancer that forms in hormone-making cells; says in one dose group, 43% of patients saw tumors shrink.
• Psychedelic Stocks (ATAI, CMPS, DFTX) shares are pushing higher premarket after late Friday The White House announced they are “Accelerating Medical treatments for serious mental illness”.

• Global DRAM supply is on track to meet only about 60% of demand through 2027 as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron keep prioritizing AI memory. Memory could make up nearly 40% of low-end smartphone build costs by mid-2026, up from 20% now – Nikkei Asia reports.
• Okta (OKTA) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays and raise tgt to $90 from $85 as the firm’s chief investment officer survey indicates identity has moved to the top spending security priority.