Stocks are sagging amid rising war fears. Crude oil is higher, while gold and silver are mixed. Treasuries and the dollar are flat.

The first-quarter earnings reporting period unofficially starts during the week of April 14. Q1 earnings per share (EPS) are now forecast to rise 12.3% year-over-year, according to S&P Capital IQ consensus estimates. That is higher than the 11.4% average quarterly YOY increase since 2009, writes Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

The ISM services index fell to 54 in March from 56.1, coming in below the estimate of 54.9. The Business Activity component dropped by six points to 53.9, the lowest since September, observes Peter Boockvar, editor of The Boock Report.

Stocks are mixed in early trading. Gold and silver are up modestly, while crude oil is dipping a bit. The dollar and Treasuries are flat.

Defense stocks have been a no-brainer “buy” given all the geopolitical upheaval of the past few years. Now, investors just got another 1.5 TRILLION reasons to add more – the 2027 budget outline from the Trump Administration.

As part of our Investing 2026 Forecast Series back at the start of the year, we introduced a brand-new storyline: The Space Economy. And we predicted 2026 would be the year this whole new market reached “critical mass.” I like L3Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX), says Bill Patalon, chief stock picker at Stock Picker’s Corner.  

Is the US stock market “cheap” right now...or not? Let’s take a look, writes John Blank, chief equity strategist at Zacks Investment Research.

Volatility continues to be elevated both in terms of realized and implied. The CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX) and the equity-only put-call ratios began to rise well in advance of the current market decline, and they are still advancing, explains Lawrence McMillan, editor of Option Strategist.

The criteria to issue our Seasonal MACD Sell signal for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index (^SPX) is a new sell signal after the first trading day of April. Both DJIA and S&P 500 have to agree, notes Jeff Hirsch, editor-in-chief of The Stock Trader’s Almanac.

Like Tom Hanks’ character at the end of the movie Cast Away, the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is at a key fork in the road. Whether it takes the bullish or bearish path is critical.

Volume profiling provides unique insight into the profit-and-loss position of recent traders by identifying price levels at which significant buying and selling have occurred. The current volume profile analysis for the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) highlights that many people are trapped in the market with losses, warns Lance Roberts, editor of the Bull Bear Report.

Private lending fears have spread far beyond the handful of companies that could be affected if there are actual problems with the $1.5 trillion that has been issued as private loans to corporations. I recommend you take advantage of that by targeting Starwood Property Trust (STWD), advises Tim Plaehn, editor of The Dividend Hunter.

I think if we told people in 1970s America that one of the most promising places you could put your money was Vietnam, they’d call you nuts. Fast forward over the decades, and I’m going to show you why the VanEck Vietnam ETF (VNM) is a great trade here, notes Sean Brodrick, editor at Weiss Ratings Daily.

Gold is closing in on its key $4,800 level, which is now both its 5- and 15-week moving averages. The chart below shows that gold's short-term indicator is extremely oversold, while its medium-term indicator is approaching the lows, note Mary Anne and Pamela Aden, editors of The Aden Forecast.

Ken Medlock is senior director of the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He breaks down the Middle East conflict’s impact on global energy in this MoneyShow MoneyMasters Podcast episode.

Following disappointing readings in December and January, February’s retail sales report offered some reassurance. It was the strongest reading since July, while core retail sales and control group sales, the portion that feeds into GDP, also came in ahead of economists’ expectations, observes Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro US.

Forget flashy AI hype or speculative tech moonshots. V2X Inc. (VVX) is quietly embedded in the backbone of global defense infrastructure — delivering mission-critical services that governments cannot operate without, notes Nicholas Vardy, editor of The Global Guru.

To close out the worst quarter for stocks since 2022…stocks had the best one-day session in 10 months. Asian markets rallied strongly overnight, too, and that positive tone is carrying over into the US session today. WTI crude briefly slipped back below $100 a barrel, while gold and silver are rallying and the dollar is falling.

It’s an odd time in markets. Volatility is through the roof and stocks just suffered the worst quarter in almost four years. Yet global DEAL volume is surging given a full pipeline of mergers and acquisitions. What happens next will say a lot about this market’s health.