S&P 500 and Nasdaq close at record highs despite hot PPI
Tech carried the tape. Nasdaq +1.2% to 26,402, S&P +0.5% to 7,444, Dow slipped 0.14% to 49,693. Our macro read still calls the late-stage top, so a record print on hot inflation data is exactly the kind of counter-trend stretch the thesis allows for, not a rejection of it.

April PPI prints +1.4% MoM, +6% YoY
Biggest jump since 2022, well above the 0.5% consensus. Trade and energy costs from the Iran war doing most of the work. This is the tightening backdrop our charts have been signaling: financial conditions getting harder, not softer.

Kevin Warsh confirmed as next Fed Chair
Senate vote was divisive. Powell's last day is tomorrow, then he stays on the Board until early 2028. Warsh inherits a hot CPI/PPI tape and a market pricing in cuts. The base case for the dollar trade strengthens here.

Cerebras IPO opens 68% above price, market cap hits $95B
Priced at $185 last night, raised $5.55 billion, traded around $350 at the open. Founders mint billions. AI infrastructure euphoria is alive even with rates this sticky. OpenAI's $20B multi-year deal with Cerebras is the structural anchor.

Trump and Xi open two-day summit in Beijing
Trump arrived with Musk, Cook, Fink and Ortberg. First session ran 2 hours 15 minutes. Tariffs, rare earths, Iran and Taiwan all on the table. Xi warned on Taiwan handling. Beijing's readout calls for strategic stability as the guiding frame.

CLARITY Act clears Senate Banking 15-9
Two Democrats crossed over: Gallego (AZ) and Alsobrooks (MD). Next is reconciliation with Senate Agriculture before the floor. Bitcoin priced this in fast.

Bitcoin recovers to $82,000 after PPI flush
BTC dipped to $79,400 on the PPI release, bid back through the day. ETH at $2,298, SOL at $92. Still inside the larger correction structure we've been tracking, but a B-wave bounce is exactly what the thesis allowed for.

Charles Schwab launches spot BTC and ETH for retail
Direct competition for Coinbase and Fidelity in the retail rails. The institutional plumbing keeps getting built out while prices correct. That divergence is the most underappreciated story of this cycle.

Oil near $107, gold below $4,700, silver around $87
Brent stays elevated on the Iran war. Gold slid two sessions in a row as yields back up. Silver holding. Our view here is unchanged: gold and silver still the structural longs once this correction finishes, oil higher but unreliable.

Takeaway: A risk-on tape against a tightening backdrop, with AI euphoria papering over the cracks in inflation and rates.