It turns out there continues to be huge money in making your phone hot as hell. Saudi Arabia-owned mobile games maker Scopely is paying $3.5 billion to buy “Pokemon Go” maker Niantic labs. The acquisition isn’t just about catching all the money the massive mobile hit generates, but also the shiny location data that it’s been gathering for the past eight years. 

Yesterday, a tech-driven rally powered the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq 100 1.1% higher.

As was the case on Tuesday, investors dumped safe stocks that had been doing well while beaten-down parts of the market caught a bid. Tech was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, while consumer staples was at the bottom of the leaderboard with a sharp retreat.

Interestingly, one technical indicator delivered its first “buy” signal on the S&P 500 since October 2023.

Sure, the near 10% sell-off of the S&P 500 came right around the time that Washington began making swift and significant moves on tariffs, but there’s a bit of a pickle you get into when trying to chalk up the sell-off to tariff talk alone. In short: if this is actually about tariffs, why are some of the most tariff-vulnerable stocks in the market doing just dandy, all things considered? 

Instead what we’re seeing is AI-linked momentum stocks tumbling, financials falling, credit spreads widening, cyclicals falling off the axel, and crypto in a rut. Meanwhile, GM and Ford — two companies that would be categorically screwed by tariffs — are both up since the February 19 market close. You’re going to have a hard time arguing that the market is in freefall over tariffs, except naturally for the stocks actually affected by tariffs, which are holding steady, because what, they and only they were pricing in tariffs? That’s a bit of a stretch, yeah?

So, what gives?

Think about all this tariff talk and its impact on the market as just the inverse of quantitative easing, argues Sherwood News Markets Editor Luke Kawa. Let’s hear the guy out:

“What quantitative easing accomplishes is that it offers a signal to the market that monetary policy is locking in to a prolonged period of providing support for the economy and financial system. Simply, if the Federal Reserve is buying bonds, it’s a helluva long way from raising rates. 

To compare this to tariffs, every minute US President Donald Trump spends musing about tariffs is a minute he isn’t talking about deregulation or tax cuts. It’s a revealed preference on where his priorities lie. It’s a signal that policy is not pointed in a pro-growth direction. And he is talking about tariffs. A lot.”

For the past several decades, the policy of the US president has been economic growth. We’ve had direct statements from leadership indicating that this is not the case, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent straight up saying the stock market is not the administration’s report card, for now. 

Rather, things that would work counter to growth — among them, reduced government spending — are the policy, and if you’re a US stock bull listening really hard for words like “deregulation” or “tax cuts” and instead you’re hearing “tariffs” and “tariffs” and “tariffs” and then “tariffs” once more for good measure, well, maybe that’s what’s at the core of the sell-off. 

At least now it sure looks like the unwinding is unwinding.

As the U.S. economy continues to evolve, companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia have been at the forefront, shaping the future of key industries. These innovators have accelerated advancements that rippled through the economy, influencing job markets, technological progress and long-term market growth.

The 20 largest U.S. stocks represent $24 trillion in market cap¹ — close to the total of the 480 other stocks in the S&P 500 ($29.8T) as well as the entire U.S. economy, measured at $27T in GDP in 2023.²

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¹ FactSet, S&P Dow Jones Indices for market cap as of Nov. 26 2024.  

² S&P Dow Jones Indices for market cap as of September 23, 2024; Bureau of Economic Analysis for U.S. GDP as of September 26, 2024.

It’s not the cost. It’s not the lines. This year, kids coming through the turnstiles of Disney World might find the swampland filled with disappointment. Exclusive data provided to Sherwood shows why.

What software does nearly 43% of all websites on the internet run on? (Answer below.)

Answer here.

With US tariffs expected to impact Chinese-made drones, the demand for American-built alternatives will increase. 

Hylio is ahead of the curve, manufacturing ag-tech drones right here in Texas. With over $30M in lifetime revenue³ and a new US facility that will produce 5,000+ drones annually, they’re scaling quickly.

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³ Lifetime revenues are for 9 years.