US Stocks traded higher last Friday after a stellar jobs report but were flat on the week.
 
Stocks are set to open sharply lower this morning after President Donald Trump threatened Beijing with increased tariffs.  Trump said in a Sunday afternoon Twitter post that the current 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will rise to 25% on Friday. He also threatened to impose 25% levies on an additional $325 billion of Chinese goods “shortly.”  In response the premier of China said they may back out of trade talks scheduled for this week with U.S. officials.
 
In just two weeks, “Avengers: Endgame”  has garnered more than $2.2 billion worldwide.  This is the fastest a film has ever surpassed the $2 billion mark at the box office.  As of Sunday, “Endgame” is the second-highest grossing film of all time, just behind “Avatar.”

We are now 2/3 of the way through 1st quarter earnings season and of the companies that have reported so far 77% have beaten expectations.  The stand outs so far have been the heath care and consumer staple companies with energy being the laggard.

This one goes in the genius file.  MIT research scientist Fei Yan was arrested on federal charges of insider trading.  Prosecutors caught Yan because he Googled “how sec detect unusual trade” before he bought numerous stocks and options that netted him around $120,000 in illicit profits.  Federal prosecutors allege that Yan’s profits came from confidential information he obtained from his wife.

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, I'm Tyler Simones.