Market Update: TFC, BK, FAST, MAN, PEP, USB, CFG, DOW

Summary

Stock are solidly higher at midday on Friday, with the S&P 500 up about 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up about 2%, and the Nasdaq Composite up about 1.5%. Earnings season has managed to grab the attention of investors, as should be the case at this point on the calendar, as the ongoing war in Iran is becoming less of a worry, at least for Wall Street. Iran has announced that the Strait of Hormuz is ‘completely open’ and there are expectations that diplomatic talks will start up again over the coming weekend. Meanwhile, a ceasefire is in place between Israel and Lebanon and appears to be holding. Turning back to stocks and with a focus on sectors, Consumer Discretionary is atop the leader board today, up over 3% as of this writing, followed by Industrials (+2.15%), and Information Technology (+1.81%)