The IPO markets continue to be exciting with a host of brand names working their way to pricing. While there are many smaller offerings this week, the larger, "headline" IPO's in addition to the beginnings of earnings season will make it difficult for those names to get investors' attention.Uber (NYSE: UBER) officially filed their paperwork to raise $10 billion last week but at a lower valuation than previously planned. Investors expect a launch in early May.
The markets continue to hint at making new record highs but so far have not been able to get it done. The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) is sitting about 1% away from hitting those highs but mixed earnings results continues to hold it back.
Semiconductors (NYSE: SMH) popped back to new highs already this week thanks to strong moves in China and trade optimism as Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin says the trade deal is in its final stages. The sector got a strong boost late in the day thanks to a report that Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) have settled their disputes and all pending litigation would cease. Qualcomm makes up about 5% of the SMH. Semiconductors, which are a major pillar of the S&P 500 are now higher by over 30% on the year and remain in a clean, steady uptrend.
The tech sector (NYSE: XLK) also has enjoyed a move back to highs and is one of just a few sectors in the S&P 500 that have moved back to record levels. Last week tech was one of three sectors that broke to record highs thanks to a consistent push by the bulls to move into large cap tech stocks. For the year the XLK is nearing 30% gains.
It's a big week for bank stocks (NYSE: XLF) which are slowly reporting their earnings for the first quarter. So far it has been a mixed bag with mostly beats on earnings but misses on revenue thanks to slowing areas of the sector. Wells Fargo (NYS...
