News Bulletin
Thursday, April 09, 2026
Evening Edition

Economic Numbers:

Time	Event	Actual	Forecast	Previous
Thursday, April 9, 2026
8:30	Core PCE Price Index (MoM) (Feb)	0.40%	0.40%	0.40%
8:30	Core PCE Price Index (YoY) (Feb)	3.00%	0.03	0.03
8:30	GDP (QoQ) (Q4)	0.50%	0.70%	4.40%
8:30	Initial Jobless Claims	219K	210K	203K
13:00	30-Year Bond Auction	4.88%		4.87%

Indices

	CLOSE	50 DMA	200 DMA
DJIA	47,185.80	48,021.45	46,818.03
NASDAQ	22,822.42	22,520.40	22,396.15
S&P 500	6,824.66	6,757.31	6,661.45

Earnings Calendar:

(EPS: Earning Per Share / Rev: Revenue / Mkt Cap: market Capital/ BMO: Before Market Opening /AMC: After Market Close)

COMPANY	EPS Act	EPS Fore	Rev Act	Rev Fore	Mkt Cap	Time
Progressive PGR:US		4.67		23.08B	$116.47B	PM
WD-40 WDFC:US		1.4		154.9M	$2.97B	PM
Washington Federal WAFD:US		0.73		193.49M	$2.69B	PM
Neogen NEOG:US	0.09	0.06	211.2M	204.49M	$2.24B	PM

Market News:

U.S. stocks notched a seven-day win streak on Thursday, after Israel said it would start negotiations with Lebanon, removing a key point of contention in what had been an uneasy ceasefire in the Middle East. Oil prices retreated from session highs.

President Donald Trump earlier said U.S. troops would "remain in place" until a "real agreement" was reached and complied with.

The benchmark S&P 500 added 0.6% to end at 6,823.94 points, erasing a loss of as much as 0.3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6% to close at 48,185.80 points, turning around a fall of as much as 0.5%. The blue-chip gauge turned positive for the year.

The NASDAQ Composite climbed 0.8% to settle at 22,822.42 points, reversing a decline of as much as 0.5%. The tech-heavy index was pressured by a slide in software stocks, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (NYSE:IGV) concluding 3.9% lower.

"While the broader equity market is rallying on peace progress hopes in the Middle East, the big story today is the return of the AI disruption trade," Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading, told Investing.com.

"Software stocks are down...because Anthropic’s Claude Mythos is deemed too powerful for widespread release. Mythos reportedly excels at identifying software flaws and vulnerabilities. Therefore, Anthropic is only releasing it to major tech companies for the time being so that they can identify and repair their own vulnerabilities first. It raises serious doubts about the quality and longevity of legacy software," he added.

Key inflation gauge remains significantly above Fed’s target

While the developments in the Middle East continued to dominate headlines, and the AI disruption trade also grabbed some eyeballs, market participants were also focused on a busy economic calendar on Thursday.

The highlight was the February personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index. Widely seen as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the index ticked up 0.4% M/M, in-line with the consensus estimate and the prior month’s reading. On a Y/Y basis, the index rose 3%, also in-line with the consensus and lower than January’s 3.1% increase.

Still, the Y/Y metric remained well above the Fed’s target of 2%. Crucially, the data does not include the impact of surging oil prices from the Iran war, suggesting that U.S. inflation was already running hot ahead of the conflict.

"Even before the war in Iran, the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge was already at 3% -- well above the 2% target. It’s likely to go higher this spring. This will keep the Fed on hold for the foreseeable future," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal, said on X.

A more telling reading on inflation will arrive on Friday in the form of the March consumer price index (CPI). Though not the Fed’s favored gauge, the data will include any impact from the war and could be the first indication of how bad the oil shock might be.

"While PCE inflation is widely regarded as the Fed’s favorite measure, the bigger inflation focus this week will be on tomorrow’s CPI data, as PCE covers February and not March," Mohamed El-Erian, former CEO of PIMCO, said on X.

Also on Thursday’s docket, U.S. consumers’ personal income fell 0.1% M/M in February. Separately, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said U.S. real GDP grew at an annual rate of 0.5% in Q4 2025, a revised figure from an earlier estimate of 0.7% and an initial estimate of 1.4%.

Finally, the number of Americans filing for initial jobless claims in the past week increased to 219k, higher than the expected figure of 209k. Continuing claims fell to 1.794 million, the lowest level since May 2024.

Israel agrees to negotiations with Lebanon

Turning to the Middle East conflict, Wall Street saw a stellar session on Wednesday, where the Dow clocked its best day in a year after Washington and Tehran signaled they had agreed to cease hostilities for two weeks.

But Lebanon’s inclusion in the ceasefire remained a point of contention, with Iran alleging ceasefire violations over Israel’s continued attacks on the country.

"In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed at the Government meeting yesterday to open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X.

"The negotiations will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishing of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. Israel appreciates the call made today by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarize Beirut," Netanyahu said.

Attention will now be on Iranian negotiators arriving in Islamabad tonight for "serious talks" with the U.S., which are tentatively scheduled for Saturday morning. The main agenda remains unclear, and Tehran has largely denied Washington’s demands that it cease its nuclear enrichment activities and hand over all its uranium.

Adding to uncertainty over the ceasefire, Trump said on Wednesday evening that U.S. military forces will remain around Iran until a "real agreement" was reached, and repeated his calls for Iran to cease its nuclear activities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

While the U.S. and Iran initially signaled openness to a two-week ceasefire, Tehran on Wednesday accused the U.S. and Israel of violating several clauses in its10-point peace proposal.

Key among the violations was Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, which Iran said was included in the ceasefire deal. But the White House signaled that Lebanon was not part of the agreement, while Israel said it will continue attacking Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

Iranian officials said it would be “unreasonable” to proceed with U.S. peace talks without including Lebanon in the deal. Media reports also showed Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s attacks, after earlier signaling that it would allow safe passage through the channel during the two-week ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was planning on punishing some North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members who he thought were unhelpful in the war, citing administration officials.

Oil prices tumbled well below $100 a barrel on Wednesday on the news of the ceasefire, with Brent futures expiring in June, the global benchmark, slumping 13.3% and WTI crude futures cratering 16.4%. The contracts bounced back on Thursday, though they had retreated from session highs after Israel’s move, with Brent last up 2.6% to $97.17 a barrel and WTI up 5% to $99.08 a barrel.

Software stocks down, Corona-parent rises

Turning to stock movers, software stocks fell after Meta Platforms unveiled a new artificial intelligence model and Anthropic launched Claude tools for building agents. Ongoing fears about Anthropic’s powerful new Mythos model also impacted the sector.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) shed 7.3% and was among the top percentage losers on the S&P 500, after comments from famed short seller Michael Burry about competitive threats added to the gloom.

Conversely, Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) added 8.5%, reversing premarket losses. The Corona-parent posted a significant quarterly earnings beat as its beer segment, led by Modelo Especial, drove strong revenue growth.

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