Paid Subscriber – S&P500 rallies again – All Quant Portfolios above 50% – Update 04/20/26

Update 4/20/26 - The Quant 30 and Quant Weekly Model Portfolios had a great week with all three Portfolios making all time highs! The Quant Weekly and Quant 30 are now up 50% from the 6/27/26 start

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• Quant Weekly – Up over 50% since June 2025

• Quant 30 – Up over 50% since June 2025

• Legacy – Up over 280% since April 2023

• Changes to the Quant Portfolios

• Top Quant Stocks – Top Semiconductor and chip manufacturers

• Education – What would be the impact to the US economy if the Strait of Hormuz was closed for three months?

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USA Stock market week ending 04/17/26

Major Index Performance (Weekly)

• S&P 500:+4.5% – Closed above 7,100 for the first time ever

• Nasdaq Composite:+6.8% – Best performer, extended winning streak to 13 days

• Dow Jones Industrial Average:+3.2% – Strong gains, but lagged tech-heavy indexes

• Russell 2000:+5.6% – Small caps surged on improving economic outlook

Takeaways

• Growth and small caps led, signaling a broadening rally beyond mega-cap tech.

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Market Drivers Next Week (04/20/26 – 04/24/26)

• Monday, April 21:

  • Iran ceasefire deadline hits—this is the whole ballgame. If talks fall apart, oil rips higher and stocks get smoked. If they extend it, you’re looking at a straight-up relief rally.

  • Housing starts at 8:30 AM—quick read on how the homebuilders are feeling. Soft number means caution, strong print gives cyclicals a little juice.

• Tuesday, April 22:

  • Tesla earnings after the bell—main event, no question. Deliveries already missed, so now it’s all about margins, Robotaxi talk, and that massive AI factory spend. Stock’s gonna move, guaranteed.

  • ServiceNow earnings—big test for the software space. Stock’s been crushed this year, so a beat could wake the whole sector up. Miss it, and forget about it—more downside.

  • Google Cloud Next kicks off (3 days)—AI, chips, cloud deals, all that good stuff. Anything big here moves Alphabet and the whole cloud trade.

• Wednesday, April 23:

  • Jobless claims at 8:30—labor market check. If claims start jumping, recession chatter gets loud real quick.

  • Core PCE inflation—this is the Fed’s favorite number. If it comes in hot, rate cuts get pushed out and growth stocks feel the heat. Biggest macro datapoint of the week.

• Thursday, April 24:

  • Final GDP read for Q4—backward-looking, yeah, but it sets the tone. If it gets revised down, stagflation talk starts creeping in.

  • Michigan consumer sentiment at 10—people feeling squeezed from gas prices. Weak read hits consumer stocks and raises more questions about the economy.

• All Week (Big Picture):

  • Earnings flood—150+ S&P companies reporting. This is what decides if the market keeps pushing highs or starts rolling over. Focus is shifting to big tech and industrials now.

  • Oil and the Strait of Hormuz—this is the backdrop to everything. Oil’s still elevated, and any headline—ships moving or tensions flaring—moves markets instantly. This is the driver behind inflation, Fed policy, and overall risk mood.

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The CNN Fear and Greed Index ends the week at Greed 68. The Index went from Fear 38 to Greed 68 since last Friday. This massive turnaround mirrors the huge rally in the stock market as risk-on took over from risk-off based on optimism about a peace deal in the middle east war.

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The Quant 30 and Quant Weekly Model Portfolios had a great week with all three Portfolios making all time highs! The Quant Weekly and Quant 30 are now up 50% from the 6/27/26 start date and Quant Legacy up 348% from the April 2023 start date. All three Portfolios are packed with quality momentum stocks and when the market enters a risk-on phase, these stocks lead the way up.