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The initiative to deliver aid comes as a total Israeli blockade of aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave approaches its third month, and after US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month that “we’ve got to be good to Gaza.”

Axios initially reported on Saturday that the US, Israel and representatives of a new international foundation are close to an agreement on how to resume the delivery of aid, citing two anonymous Israeli and US sources

For two months, Israel has carried out a total siege of Gaza, refusing to allow in a single truck of humanitarian aid or commercial goods – the longest period Israel has imposed such a total blockade.

Israel says it cut off the entry of humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages. But international organizations say its actions violate international law, with some accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war – a war crime.

While taking questions from reporters late last month, Trump was asked whether the topic of aid for Gaza came up during his recent conversation with Netanyahu.

“Gaza came up,” Trump responded. “And I said: ‘We’ve got to be good to Gaza’ because people are – those people are suffering.”

“There’s a very big need for medicine, food and medicine. We’re taking care of it,” he said.

Late last year, ahead of the total Israeli blockade of Gaza, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that the risk of famine persists across the entire territory, projecting that 16% of the population would be in famine by April.

‘A massive wave of deaths’

Dr. Ahmad Al-Farra, the head of the pediatric department at Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza warned on Saturday that “a looming health catastrophe is threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands” in the enclave.

The World Food Programme says it is ready to surge enough aid into Gaza to feed the entire population of about two million for up to two months. UNRWA, the main UN agency supporting Palestinians, said it has nearly 3,000 trucks filled with aid waiting to cross into Gaza. Both need Israel to lift its blockade to get that aid in.

Netanyahu is under intense pressure from far-right members of his fragile governing coalition to continue fighting in Gaza and withhold aid as a means of pressure against Hamas.

Last month, Defense Minister Israel Katz said his government is working on a mechanism “through civilian companies” to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza at a “later” stage, prompting a severe backlash from extremist politicians.

“As long as our hostages are languishing in tunnels, there is absolutely no reason for even a single gram of food or any aid to enter Gaza,” Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said at the time.

Katz later clarified that “no humanitarian aid is set to enter Gaza.”

In early April, COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip, announced a “new authorization mechanism” designed to “prevent Hamas infiltration into humanitarian organizations.”

“The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas,” it said, without giving any details as to when it would be implemented.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has cut short a visit to the United States and returned to Serbia after feeling sudden chest pain apparently caused by high blood pressure, doctors said on Saturday.

Vucic, 55, suddenly fell ill during a meeting in the US on Friday and decided to return home against the advice of US doctors, said cardiologist Dragan Dincic, from Belgrade’s Military Hospital, where Vucic was treated upon arrival.

Dincic said Vucic took additional therapy after the incident and was now in “stable and satisfactory condition.” Dincic added that Vucic won’t be hospitalized but “cannot be expected to return to his regular activities for several days.”

Vucic was previously in Miami, Florida, where he had met with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. Vucic had said he also was hoping to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Richard Grenell, US presidential envoy for special missions, expressed hope that Vucic would recover. “Sorry to miss you but hope all is ok,” Grenell wrote on X.

Serbia’s populist leader also has said he would travel to Russia later this month to attend a Victory Day parade in Moscow, despite warnings from European Union officials that this could affect Serbia’s bid to join the bloc.

Vucic has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. He also has been under pressure at home following six months of persistent anti-corruption protests triggered by the collapse of a roof at a train station in the country’s north that killed 16 people.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Data center demand is not slowing down in the world’s largest market centered in northern Virginia, executives at Dominion Energy said Thursday.

Dominion provides electricity in Loudoun County, nicknamed “Data Center Alley” because it hosts the largest cluster of data centers in the world. The utility works closely with the Big Tech companies that are investing tens of billions of dollars in data centers as they train artificial intelligence models.

“We have not observed any evidence of slowing demand from data center customers across our service area,” Dominion’s chief financial officer, Steven Ridge, told analysts on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Wall Street has speculated that the tech sector might pull back investment in data centers as President Donald Trump’s tariffs make it more difficult to source parts and raise the risk of a recession. The emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI lab sparked a sell-off of power stocks earlier this year as investors worried that its model is more energy efficient.

Dominion has 40 gigawatts of data center capacity in various stages of contracting, Ridge said. Data center customers have not paused spending on new projects in Dominion’s service area and they have not shown any concerns about economic uncertainty, Dominion CEO Robert Blue said.

“We’re seeing continued appetite for additional data center capacity in our service territory,” Blue said. “They want to go fast, they always want to go fast. That’s their business, that’s always been their business. We’ve been effective at serving them thus far. I don’t see any reason why that’s going to change in the future,” he said.

Executives with Amazon and Nvidia said last week at an energy conference in Oklahoma City that data center demand is not slowing. Dominion shares rose about 1% in Thursday trading as the utility maintained its full-year operating earnings guidance of $3.28 to $3.52 per share.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Shares of Tesla were flat in premarket trading Thursday after the EV maker denied a Wall Street Journal report that its board was searching for a replacement for chief executive Elon Musk.

The report, citing comments from sources familiar with the discussions, said that Tesla’s board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding the company’s next CEO. Shares of Tesla fell as much as 3% in overnight trading on trading platform Robinhood following the news, before paring losses.

Tesla chair Robyn Denholm wrote on the social media platform X that the report was “absolutely false.”

“Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company,” she wrote.

Elon Musk during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday.Evan Vucci / AP

“This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published). The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”

It comes after a sharp drop in the electric vehicle giant’s sales and profits, with its top and bottom lines missing estimates in the first quarter. Musk has admitted that his involvement with the Trump administration could be hurting the automaker’s stock price.

The mega-billionaire said on a Tesla earnings call last week that he plans to spend just a “day or two per week” running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency beginning in May.

Tesla’s total revenue slipped 9% year-on-year to hit $19.34 billion in the January-March quarter. This falls short of the $21.11 billion forecast by analysts, LSEG data shows.

Revenue from its automotive segment declined 20% year-on-year to $14 billion, as the company needed to update lines at its four vehicle factories to start making a refreshed version of its popular Model Y SUV. Tesla also attributed the decline to lower average selling prices and sales incentives as a drag on revenue and profit.

Its net income plunged 71% to $409 million, or 12 cents a share, from $1.39 billion or 41 cents a year ago.

Since the start of the year, its shares have plunged over 30%.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.

Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.

The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.

The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.

Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.

Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Netflix is on a winning streak.

The streaming giant’s stock has traded for 11 straight days without a decline, the company’s longest positive run ever.

Its previous record was a nine-day stretch in late 2018 and early 2019 when the stock traded up for four days, was unchanged for a day and then traded positively for another four days.

The stock is also trading at all-time high levels since it went public in May 2002.

This new streak comes on the heels of Netflix’s most recent earnings report on April 17, in which it revealed that revenue grew 13% during the first quarter of 2025 on higher-than-forecast subscription and advertising dollars.

Netflix has been one of the top performing stocks during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term, with shares up more than 30% since mid-January. The company has been largely unaffected by Trump’s tariffs and trade war with China and is a service that consumers are unlikely to cut during a recession.

Meanwhile, traditional media stocks have been slammed by a tumultuous market prompted by Trump’s trade policy. Warner Bros. Discovery has lost nearly 10% since Trump took office, while Disney is down 13% in that same period.

Netflix continues to forecast full-year revenue of between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion.

“There’s been no material change to our overall business outlook,” the company said in a statement last month.

As investors worry about the potential impact of tariffs on consumer spending and confidence, Netflix’s co-CEO Greg Peters said on the company’s earnings call, “Based on what we are seeing by actually operating the business right now, there’s nothing really significant to note.”

“We also take some comfort that entertainment historically has been pretty resilient in tougher economic times,” Peters said. “Netflix, specifically, also, has been generally quite resilient. We haven’t seen any major impacts during those tougher times, albeit over a much shorter history.”

JPMorgan said Thursday that it sees more upside for shares.

“NFLX has established itself as the clear leader in global streaming & is on the pathway to becoming global TV…Advertising Upfronts in May should serve as a positive catalyst to shares,” analysts wrote.

While Netflix has hiked its subscription prices — its standard plan now costs $17.99, its ad-supported plan is $7.99 and premium is $24.99 — it appears to have retained its value proposition for customers. But it’s unclear if the subscriber base is growing or shrinking because the company recently stopped sharing details on its membership numbers, instead focusing on revenue growth.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

I feel like the short-term risk is turning once again and I’ll explain why in my analysis below. Please don’t misunderstand. I suggested a bottom was in place a few weeks ago and I LOVE what has been happening in terms of manipulation/accumulation and I LOVE the fact that we were able to quickly regain both the 20-day EMA and 50-day SMA on our major indices.

However, here are the four major indices and where they’re at currently on their respective charts and their next key overhead resistance levels:

Dow Jones

We did manage to close just above the 50-day SMA here, but the Dow Jones still appears vulnerable to me. Given the fact that the S&P 500 has room to run up to what is now major price resistance at 5782, I could see the Dow Jones moving a bit higher to challenge the late-March high at approximately 42750. That could serve as a neckline.

S&P 500

20-day EMA resistance? No problem, went right through. Gap resistance 5500? Ditto. 50-day SMA resistance. Ditto. This rally has been impressive. Key levels of price resistance have failed and this tells me that we’re not going to violate the low at 4835. It’s set in stone, in my opinion. There are still a couple of key resistance levels on the S&P 500 that we’ll have to deal with next week. The first will be the early-April rebound attempt that failed near 5700. Today’s intraday high was 5700. The next one, however, will be the biggest on the chart and that’s where we last failed in late March – at 5782.

NASDAQ 100:

Looks similar to the S&P 500, but I did add the RSI to this chart. During downtrends, RSI 60 tends to be rather big resistance. We see many rallies fail at or near that level. The NDX just crossed RSI 60….barely. At our Friday intraday high, the NASDAQ 100 pulled within 100 points (less than 0.5%) of the late-March high near 20250. I don’t know if we turn here or not, but I do know the risks are elevated.

Russell 2000:

The 197 level offered great price support on multiple occasions, so when we see a heavy-volume breakdown like we saw in early April, we should recognize how important it is to clear that same price resistance on the way back up. We did so on Friday with gusto. I absolutely LOVE the sudden accumulation that’s taken place in the IWM. I believe that will result in a much larger move at some point later this year. But are we due for another round of selling first, perhaps at upcoming price resistance levels marked above? We’ll soon find out.

Be careful ahead, especially if a rising-volume, reversing candle prints on our major indices sometime next week.

Sentiment

Check out this 5-day SMA of the equity only put call ratio ($CPCE):

We just hit 0.55, showing the most complacency we’ve seen in the past 5 weeks or so. Extreme low readings have previously marked corrections and/or cyclical bear markets and that was one key topping indicator that I discussed back in January/February. Other prior moves down to 0.55 have also resulted in short-term tops. I thought the current .55 reading was worth pointing out for this reason.

Seasonality could also play a role. Early May (through the 5th) tends to provide historical tailwinds, but the middle part of May (6th through 25th) has a history of being rather challenging. The 5th is Monday, so given everything I’ve discussed above and knowing that our bullish seasonal window could soon be closing, watch for a potential reversing candle as a sign to think about reducing risk (covered calls, S&P 500 puts for insurance, moving to cash, etc.).

I’m not ready to definitively call a short-term top here, but I do want to point out that the SHORT-TERM risks of being long right now are growing. Do with that what you may.

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Happy trading!

Tom

We just wrapped up a busy week jam-packed with key economic data and big tech earnings. And we have some positive news: the market held up pretty well. May is off to a good start.

Strong earnings from META Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) gave the stock market a boost. Together, their strong performance helped the Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) break above its 50-day simple moving average (SMA).

On Friday, the rally got an extra shot in the arm from a better-than-expected jobs report—177,000 jobs added vs. 135,000 expected. That helped fuel a market-wide rally, with all the major indexes ending the week in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) closed up 1.46%, the S&P 500 ($SPX) up 1.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) up 1.41%.

A quick glance at the Equities panel (US Indexes tab) in the Market Summary page shows that the S&P 500, Dow Industrials, Russell 1000, and the Wilshire 5000 had nine consecutive up days. This is quite the reversal after trade war outcomes spooked investors. The weekly streak isn’t too shabby either, with many indexes displaying four consecutive up streaks. More indexes are now trading above their 50-day moving averages compared to a few days ago.

What Does This Mean Going Forward?

After a negative statistic in the Q1 GDP growth, the strong jobs report put recessionary fears in the rearview mirror. However, this also lowers the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in the May FOMC meeting. And looking at the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a rate cut in June has dropped to 36.4%, so it may be July before we see a rate cut. But this scenario could change between now and June.

Does this week’s price action mean the equity market is reversing? One thing is clear: The situation is much more positive than it was three weeks ago. But to get an objective view, it’s best to focus on the charts.

The Technical PoV

The daily chart of $SPX below shows that Friday’s close basically wipes out the “post Liberation Day” losses. Essentially, all the volatile action that took place in the last month was an emotional reaction to the uncertainty that investors were battling against. It was an emotional roller coaster. Now that the S&P 500 is back to the high of April 2, does it mean things have returned to business as usual?

FIGURE 1. DAILY CHART OF S&P 500. The index closed at around the same level it did on Liberation Day. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Seasonally, May is a good month in the stock market, as are June and July. You can see this in the seasonality chart of the S&P 500. The data supports some of the price action we’re seeing, especially among sectors and industry groups.

Sector Snapshot

All 11 S&P sectors closed in the green on Friday. For the week, Industrials, Technology, and Financials were the leading sectors. It’s interesting to note that Friday’s leading sector, Financials, is showing signs of recovery after the April fall. The daily chart of the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) shows the ETF trading above its 50- and 200-day SMAs. Its relative strength index (RSI) is also rising.

FIGURE 2. DAILY CHART OF XLF. The ETF broke above its 50-day moving average and its relative strength is also rising. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Of the three, the Technology sector is technically the weakest. It’s trading below its 200-day SMA, and its 50-day SMA is below its 200-day SMA. To see strength return to the broader market, the Technology sector needs show technical strength.

The Nasdaq Composite Bullish Percent Index ($BPCOMP) is at 46.52. It showed a reversal from a level just above 20 and crossed above 30, indicating a bull alert. A cross above 50 would be a favorable bull signal.

FIGURE 3. NASDAQ COMPOSITE BULLISH PERCENT INDEX. After a sharp reversal from above 20, $BPCOMPQ crossed above the 30 level and is approaching the 50 level. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Keep an eye on this chart, since a break above 50 could be an early signal of improving breadth in the Nasdaq Composite.

At the Close

While the stock market’s price action seems to have regained some of its momentum, there needs to be more confirmation to suggest a trend reversal. Keep an eye on the charts of the broader indexes, sectors, and the BPIs. Look for technical indicators to confirm the rally’s strength and keep an eye on interest rate expectations.


End-of-Week Wrap-Up

  • S&P 500 up 2.92% on the week, at 5686.67, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 3.0% on the week at 41,317.43; Nasdaq Composite up 3.42% on the week at 17,977.73.
  • $VIX down 8.86% on the week, closing at 22.64.
  • Best performing sector for the week: Industrials
  • Worst performing sector for the week: Energy
  • Top 5 Large Cap SCTR stocks: Palantir Technologies, Inc. (PLTR); Duolingo Inc. (DUOL); Summit Therapeutics PLC (SMMT); MicroStrategy (MSTR); Roblox Corp (RBLX)

On the Radar Next Week

  • Earnings season continues with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO), Ford (F), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and several others reporting.
  • ISM Services PMI
  • Fed Interest Rate Decision/Press Conference
  • Fed speeches from Kugler, Goolsbee, Waller, Williams, and others on Friday

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

With the major averages logging a strong up week across the board, and with the Nasdaq 100 finally retesting its 200-day moving average from below, it can feel like a challenging time to take a shot at winning charts. You may ask yourself, “Do I really want to be betting on further upside after an incredibly strong April?”

When the macro environment feels less certain, I find it’s helpful to go back to tried-and-true technical analysis approaches. By identifying stocks with constructive chart patterns, we can hopefully focus our attention on names that could do well regardless of the overall market movements in the coming weeks.

With that bottom-up investing justification in mind, let’s review three recent earnings names that are showing strong technical profiles going into next week.

Visa Inc. (V)

Both Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) reported earnings, and both stocks experienced an upside follow-through after their quarterly report. Visa has been pounding out a consistent pattern of lower lows and lower highs since the end of February, but this week appears to have broken that downtrend pattern.

After Tuesday’s earnings release, Visa completed a move out of the downtrend phase by breaking trendline resistance using the major peaks from February and March. Wednesday’s up day pushed V back above the 50-day moving average, a level which had repelled a previous breakout attempt in mid-April. MA has now broken above its late March high, and a similar move next week would suggest a retest of all-time highs for Visa.

Coca Cola Co. (KO)

The Consumer Staples sector pulled back this week, and leading names in the sector, such as Coca-Cola (KO), experienced a brief drop post-earnings. KO is demonstrating a cup-and-handle pattern, although we’ve not seen the breakout that would serve to confirm a bullish outlook.

We’ve used the Annotations tool to draw a rectangle marking the resistance zone from the September 2024 peak. Subsequent peaks in March and April 2025 have retested this same range, forming the cup-and-handle pattern which often precedes a strong upthrust. The trigger for this pattern is a confirmed break above the rim of the cup, and, with this week’s pullback, investors will have to wait for this bullish confirmation.

We’ve noted the bearish momentum divergence in recent months, with the higher price highs in March and April marked by weaker RSI peaks. With this bearish divergence clearly signalling a weaker momentum profile, we would need to see a valid break above $74 on stronger RSI readings to negate the divergence and confirm an upside breakout.

CME Group Inc. (CME)

Since I discussed the exchanges with Jay Woods on my Market Misbehavior podcast back in February, I’ve been following the resilient uptrend of higher highs and higher lows. The daily chart features a series of consolidation patterns followed by upside breakouts that have led to further gains.

This is the kind of chart that I think about when someone asks, “But if you’re buying the new highs list, isn’t that too late?” The chart of CME shows that new highs often lead to even more new highs. And when a stock like CME Group keeps pulling back to an ascending 50-day moving average, I’m reminded the essence of trend-following is to remain invested in charts that continue to work.

In the immortal words of legendary technical analyst Paul Montgomery, “The most bullish thing the market can do is go up!”


I had the pleasure of heading back into the StockCharts TV studio this week to shoot the “Top Ten Stocks for May 2025” video with Grayson Roze. Visa was one of the five stocks I contributed. Check out the other nine in this week’s video!

RR#6,

Dave

P.S. Ready to upgrade your investment process? Check out my free behavioral investing course!


David Keller, CMT

President and Chief Strategist

Sierra Alpha Research LLC


Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

The author does not have a position in mentioned securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.

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