As one-time pop sleaze Rebecca Black used to sing, "It's Friday, Friday." But today, stocks are not getting down, even though investors are indeed looking forward to the weekend. Why? Because Friday, for better or for worse, is a snoozefest. Today, there are just 92 earnings reports slated; a far cry from the hundreds we saw mid-week.
Maybe the only real curveball coming out of today is a report that the Trump administration is going to take the government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public later this year. The story is still developing, but has been pushed for by Pershing Square's Bill Ackman, a long-time HODLer of the two mortgage giants.
Friday Reading:
Aside from that, today gives investors a breather after a stacked week of data. And, for the moment, they seem to be toasting to that. The Nasdaq is up again today, +0.68% as of this writing. Following single-file behind the tech-heavy index is the S&P 500 (+0.54%), Dow (+0.20%), and Russell 2000 (+0.18%). We'll have to see if the indexes can hold onto their gains today, as three of the four indexes walked back from the green side yesterday.
Gold is also up today, +1% intraday, amid tariff angst. Per FT, the most popular forms of gold bars will not be exempted from the 39% tariffs on Switzerland, causing some jitters and uncertainty in the precious metal market. Silver is also up, +0.46% intraday. Joining them on tariff turbulence, crude oil is also up on new of the India tariffs, +0.36% for the moment.
-- Noah Weidner, markets reporter
