• 📈 Market Indices Update

• 📢 Top 3 Market Stories

• 🔎 Rich & Powerful Are Buying

• 🔥 Underrated & Overrated Stocks

• 📊 One Chart

• 🚀 Biggest Market Movers

• 📅 Upcoming Economic Events

• 💡 Creator of the Week

• 🗳 Quick Poll

📈 Market Indices Update

• S&P 500: ↓ 1.5% to 5,282.70 – Declined amid weak earnings and tariff concerns. ​

• Dow Jones: ↓ 2.7% to 39,142.23 – Dragged down by UnitedHealth's 22% plunge. ​

• Nasdaq: ↓ 2.6% to 16,286.45 – Fell as tech stocks faced profit-taking. ​

• Gold (Spot $/Oz): ↑ 3.7% to $3,328.27/oz – Reached new highs amid safe-haven demand.

• 10-Yr Treasury Yield: ↓ 0.05% to 4.34% – Yields fell as investors sought safety in bonds. ​

• EUR/USD: 1.1372 (+0.2%) – Euro strengthened slightly against the dollar. ​

• USD/JPY: ¥142.39 (-0.5%) – Yen appreciated as investors moved towards safe-haven currencies. ​

• Bitcoin: ↑ 0.6% to $84,106 – Continued upward trend driven by institutional interest. ​

Markets faced volatility due to trade tensions and slowdown fears, with investors shifting to bonds and safe-haven assets.​

^{_{Data as of market close, 4:00pm ET}}

📢 Top 3 Market Stories You Should Care About

1️⃣ China Shipping Volume Plummets Amid Escalating Trade War (Source)

• 🚢 Chinese freight exports to US have dropped by 23% in the last month

• 📉 New orders for Chinese manufacturing have fallen to a 14-month low

• 🏭 Several major container ships now sitting idle in Chinese ports

• Market Reaction: Chinese logistics stocks down 8-12%; US importers with heavy China exposure seeing 5-7% declines

💡 Why It Matters: The trade war escalation is creating significant supply chain disruptions and could accelerate the "de-risking" trend of companies diversifying away from China manufacturing

2️⃣ Fed Chair Powell Warns Tariffs Could Complicate Inflation Outlook (Source)

• Powell expressed concern that new tariffs could "put upward pressure on prices"

• Fed still expects inflation to trend back toward 2% target but timeline now uncertain

• Markets now pricing in only one possible rate cut this year, down from previous expectations

• Market Reaction: Treasury yields jumped; market probability of May rate cut fell from 65% to 38%

💡 Key Question: Will the Fed delay expected rate cuts if tariff-driven inflation persists?

3️⃣ Netflix Shares Surge on Strong Earnings and Subscriber Growth (Source)

• 📈 Revenue up 14.8% year-over-year, beating Wall Street estimates

• 👥 Added 5.9 million net new subscribers, exceeding the 5.1 million forecast

• 💵 Raised subscription prices in major markets without significant churn

• Market Reaction: $NFLX ( ▼ 0.37% ) Shares jumped 8.3% in after-hours trading

💡 Takeaway: Netflix shows strong pricing power and growth in a saturated market, suggesting consumer spending remains resilient despite economic challenges.

🔎 What 5 Rich & Powerful Are Buying

📢 Eli Lilly $LLY ( ▼ 2.25% ) – $3.35M in Q1 Lobbying Disclosed
→ Focused on drug pricing, global trade negotiations, and AI in healthcare.
→ Touched on IRA implementation, intellectual property, and Medicaid coverage.
→ Reinforces Lilly’s aggressive stance on shaping global pharma policy.

🛰️ Palantir $PLTR ( ▼ 1.55% ) – $1.57M in Lobbying, 9 Congressional Buys
→ No lobbying specifics disclosed—but that's a big spend for “none.”
→ 9 of 11 Congressional trades in past 6 months were buys.
→ Notables include Marjorie Taylor Greene (3 buys) and Gil Cisneros (2 buys).

📈 Fred Julius III Smith – CEO, Construction Partners $ROAD ( ▲ 3.55% ) 
→ Bought 6,000 shares on April 14 for $443K.
→ First reported insider buy; signals confidence in company outlook.

💰 Wolters Kluwer $WTKWY ( ▼ 1.61% ) – Share Buyback
→ Repurchased 116,492 shares for €17.1M last week.
→ Part of a massive €1B buyback plan.

🚀 Greenlight Capital – Gold Bullish Bet Pays Off
→ Gained 8.2% in Q1, beating the S&P.
→ Profited from physical gold and call options.

🔥 Underrated Stock of the Week:

🔥 Underrated Stock of the Week: $GOOG ( ▼ 0.88% ) 

📚 Company Overview: Alphabet is the parent company of Google, YouTube, and a portfolio of AI and tech-driven ventures. While often viewed as a mega-cap mainstay, Alphabet is increasingly underappreciated by the market given its AI leadership, cloud growth, and improving capital efficiency through aggressive buybacks and cost controls.

📊 Key Financials & Metrics:

• Stock Price: $153.36

• P/E Ratio: 19x

• Market Cap: $1.88T

• EV/EBITDA: 13.2x

• Quarterly Revenue Growth: +11.8% YoY

• EPS Growth: +28.3% YoY

• Net Profit Margin: 28.6%

• Debt-to-Equity (D/E): 0.08x

• ROE (Return on Equity): 33%

• Beta (Volatility): 1.03

• Analysts’ 12-Month Target: $202.3 (+32%)

• 30-Day Change: -8% | YTD Change: -19.5%

💪 Pros:

✔️ AI dominance with Gemini and DeepMind fueling next-gen search and enterprise tools
✔️ Cloud business scaling profitably, now a real margin driver
✔️ Massive buyback program and near-zero debt enhance shareholder value

💩 Cons:

❌ Regulatory pressure in U.S. and Europe over antitrust and data use
❌ Slower growth in core ad business as competition and saturation increase

📊 One Chart That Explains Everything

📉 U.S. Consumer Credit Card Debt (2015–2025)

🧐 Takeaway: Credit card debt has surged past $1.2T (!!!) — raising red flags about consumer strength and the impact of high interest rates.

🚀 Biggest Market Movers

📈 Top 3 Winners

• $LLY +6.2% – Jumped on strong trial results for its new weight-loss drug.

• $NFLX +4.8% – Rose ahead of earnings on bullish analyst sentiment.

• $GOOG +3.4% – Lifted by strong AI-fueled ad revenue.

📉 Top 3 Losers

• $UNH -7.5% – Dropped after slashing its forecast on rising costs.

• $NVDA -5.3% – Fell on new chip export restrictions to China.

• $AMD -4.9% – Hit by similar China-related fears.

💹 Next Week in Review (April 21–25, 2025)

🌎 Key Economic Events

• Mon, Apr 21: 📉 CB Leading Index (Mar)

• Wed, Apr 23: 🏠 New Home Sales (Mar)

• Thu, Apr 24: 🏗️ Durable Goods Orders (Mar) & 🏘️ Existing Home Sales (Mar)

• Fri, Apr 25: 📊 Univ. of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Apr, Final)

📊 Earnings to Watch

• Mon, Apr 21:
  🏦 Comerica ( $CMA ( ▼ 0.11% )), Bank of Hawaii ( $BOH ( ▼ 0.5% ))

• Tue, Apr 22:
  💳 Visa ($V ( ▲ 0.36% )), 🔧 Texas Instruments ($TXN ( ▲ 4.0% )), ✈️ Lockheed Martin ($LMT ( ▼ 0.21% ))

• Wed, Apr 23:
  🚗 Tesla ($TSLA ( ▲ 4.72% )), 🖥️ IBM ($IBM ( ▼ 1.29% )), ☁️ ServiceNow ($NOW ( ▲ 0.57% ))

• Thu, Apr 24:
  🧪 3M ($MMM ( ▲ 1.05% )), ✈️ Boeing ($BA ( ▲ 1.64% )), ⚙️ GE Aerospace ($GE ( ▲ 0.22% ))

💡 Creator of the Week - @couch_investor

Follow him on X - https://x.com/Couch_Investor 

🗳 Quick Poll