Stocks Pause After Impressive Three Weeks; Oil's Rise Contrary to Recent Trends; Trump, Tech Titans Making Strides in Middle East

As trading began on Wednesday, the most noticeable change was in gold, sent lower by more than $60 in the hour before the bell ($3,180).

Stocks, after a split decision on Tuesday, opened trading with a marginally positive bias. There was not much for traders to digest heading into the middle of the week. Thursday will be more impactful with earnings releases for Cisco (CSCO) after the close Wednesday and John Deere (DE), Walmart (WMT), Gambling.com (GAMB), Alibaba (BABA), and Birkenstock (BIRK) reporting Thursday morning.

Also on Thursday, April PPI, reports on regional economic activity from the New York and Philadelphia Feds, April capacity utilization, industrial production, retail sales, and the weekly unemployment report of initial and continuing claims.

With President Trump in the Middle East and the highly-anticipated possible/not probable meeting between Russian President Putin and Ukraine proxy Zelensky or their respective representatives in Turkey, even the geo-political scene is on hold for the day.

Stocks are showing a slight negative trend in Europe.

Stocks have put together a fairly impressive rally over the past three weeks, erasing year-to-date losses on all the major indices. The NASDAQ has gained massively, up 20% since April 21. With Trump and his entourage of tech moguls hobnobbing in Saudi Arabia, Mag7 and chip stocks have been moving higher.

Wednesday offers a solid opportunity for traders to stake out new positions at somewhat lower prices. Sector rotation has developed out of defensives into more speculative stocks. Coinbase (COIN), after the Tuesday announcement that the company was being added to the S&P 500 on May 19, has responded with a nearly 30-point rise. The cryptocurrency exchange will replace Discover Financial (DFS), which is being acquired by Capital One (COF), the deal expected to close within the next two to four months.

Bitcoin, of which Coinbase holds a significant amount in its treasury, has not responded in any noticeable manner, stuck in a range between $102,000 and $105,000.

WTI crude oil, which has gained more than $5 - from $58 to above $63 - in just the past week, may be in a technical phase. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly report (due at 10:30 am ET, could shed more light on the wheres and whys of oil's recent advance. In the main, consideration that the U.S. - and possibly Europe - is not headed for a recession could be fueling the recent positive bias.

Stocks are not exactly in "limbo" today, but there does not seem to be much in the way of actionable news or data.

At the Close, Tuesday, May 13, 2025:
Dow: 42,140.43, -269.67 (-0.64%)
NASDAQ: 19,010.08, +301.74 (+1.61%)
S&P 500: 5,886.55, +42.36 (+0.72%)
NYSE Composite: 19,723.38, +11.83 (+0.06%)