Mid-Morning Look: April 14, 2026

Mid-Morning Look

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

U.S. stocks continue their 2 week push higher, rising on peace talk hopes and optimism into earnings season as the S&P 500 has completely erased its losses from the start of the Iran/U.S. war that began in late February, though oil prices still remain elevated around $100 per barrel and Treasury yields also remain high. This morning’s rally is being helped by inflation data as the March PPI data comes in above prior months, but below consensus as the Dollar index (DXY) slips -0.35% to 98.04 (if closed here would be lowest level since 2.27, the date prior to the Iran war). Markets got a boost on reports the US/Iran are in discussions about holding another round of face-to-face negotiations for a longer-term ceasefire. VP Vance said that talks with Iran made a lot of progress, but no deal yet, as framework for grand deal exists; Iran seen as not fully authorized to agree; US key demands include the Strait of Hormuz reopening and no uranium enrichment. Iran proposes suspending nuclear activity for up to 5 yrs, US is pushing for 20 yr suspension. Oil futures are lower in early U.S. trade with the market keeping alive hopes the U.S. and Iran will return to the negotiating table. Bitcoin+3% above $75,000 and Ethereum+6% at $2,388 as crypto rallies again. Bank earnings mixed this morning as Citigroup rises on results, JPM was little changed and WFC declined on weaker NII revs. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is trying to make it a 10^th straight day of gains, its longest winning streak since 2021.

• U.S. small-business sentiment dropped to an 11-month low in March as the National Federation of Independent Business said its Small Business Optimism Index dropped 3.0 points to 95.8 last month, the lowest level since April 2025, and pushed it below its 52-year average of 98.0.

• In Retailers: Seaport Research with three rating changes as they: 1) upgraded VFC from Neutral to Buy with $24 PT as believes that Vans is at a bottom, especially in terms of demand and also likes how FY27 sets up for TNF and Timberland, largely due to what it suspects are healthy fall orders for each brand; 2) CROX upgraded from Neutral to Buy with $135 PT as they believe that Crocs demand has picked up this Spring, partly due to strong sandal demand, and it also believes that weak Heydude demand may be bottoming; 3) BIRK upgraded to Buy and $52 PT as less concerned about fall setup and believes that Birkenstock demand trends have improved for Spring, and it is now less concerned about the fall 2026 setup.
• In Steel sector: JP Morgan previewed sector staying Overweight on NUE, CMC; RS named a positive catalyst watch and downgraded EAF to Underweight saying since the onset of the Middle East conflict, Steel mills under coverage have retreated 3%, in-line with XME -4% but underperforming HRC +4%. Barring a US recession, JPM and most investors they spoke with view the US Steel sector as a relative ‘safe haven’ given durable S232 tariffs Lending to structurally higher profitability to fund growth/shareholder returns, while pent-up demand from Trump 2.0 growth initiatives and easing US trade uncertainty should maintain momentum moving forward.
• Life Sciences & Tools: QGEN was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays (tgt to $44 from $58) and RVTY was downgraded to EW as well in Life Sciences & Tools Q1 preview. The firm now sees QGEN takeout potential as less likely and says Qiagen has high U.S. academic and government exposure, which creates added risk into the Q1 report. For RVTY, says outsized margin ramp (~1,000bps OMx from Q1 to Q4) at risk in their view + potential competitive threats to flow cytometry reagents from WAT going prime.

• AVNS +67%; agrees to be bought by American industrial Partners for $1.272B; Avanos Medical Inc stockholders to receive $25.00 per share in cash; to become private company. https://tinyurl.com/bd7y495x
• BE +17%; shares jump after deal expansion with ORCL. BE to supply ORCL with up to 2.8 gigawatts of fuel cell capacity, the co said on Monday; says its fuel cell systems can be rolled out much faster than traditional power options, helping customers get electricity sooner and with lower project risks.
• C +2%; Q1 profit rose 42% as geopolitical tensions fueled market volatility, while strong dealmaking buoyed investment banking fees; Q1 net interest income (NII), the difference between what a bank earns on loans and pays out on deposits, rose 12%; Q1 EPS $3.06 topped ests $2.63 and revs $24.6B beats $23.59B estimate
• CRDO +16%; said it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire DustPhotonics, a developer of Silicon Photonics Photonic Integrated Circuit technology for optical transceivers for upfront consideration of $750M cash and approximately 0.92 million shares of Credo common stock.
• GSAT +7%; to be acquired by AMZN for $90 per share in cash or shares, in $11.5B deal, confirming reports overnight in a deal that boosts the tech giant’s efforts to build its own satellite operation, (shares of other satellite related companies like ASTS, IRDM saw activity in sympathy).
• TVTX +35%; after the FDA approved Filspari (sparsentan) to reduce proteinuria in adult and pediatric patients aged 8 years and older with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) who do not have active nephrotic syndrome, making Filspari the first and only FDA-approved Medicine for FSGS.

• CAR -10%; after closing higher a 9th straight day Monday as shares have tripled in the last 3 weeks.
• DELL -3%; along with HPQ shares after both jumped yesterday; last night, NVDA told CNBC: “the media report is false; Nvidia is not engaged in discussions to acquire any PC maker.” This after a SemiAccurate report sent DELL up ~6% and HPQ up ~5% on speculation NVDA was negotiating to buy a major PC company.
• KMX -15%; beat on Q4 top/bottom line ($0.34/$5.95B vs. $0.23/$5.71B) but there was some concern in the CarMax Auto Finance unit, were income decreased -9.8% to $143.7M, driven by lower total interest margin resulting from a decline in auto loans outstanding following the $900M non-prime securitization in Q3
• TE -11%; shares slipped after announces public offering of $125 mln convertible bonds due 2031 saying they expect to use net offering proceeds for construction/development of infrastructure relating to Phase 1 of its Austin facility, and for general corporate purposes.
• WFC -5%; Q1 EPS $1.60 vs. consensus $1.58; Q1 revenue rose 6% y/y to $21.45B vs. consensus $21.79B; Q1 credit loss provision $1.135B; Q1 net interest Income $12.096B vs. vs. est. $12.303B; says in corporate debt finance industry about 23% of exposure is to BDCs as equity counterparty.