1. The major stock indexes are trading slightly lower to start the week. Last week was another wild roller coaster ride that ended basically flat by the close on Friday. This week we continue to get more earnings rolling in and some big economic reports.

Apple reported earnings Friday and stock reacted well. Good sign.
On Wednesday, the CPI report will be released and then on Thursday we get the PPI report. These reports have been market movers in the past and could be again this time around.

2. President Biden is expected to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Congressional leaders on May 9 to discuss the debt ceiling. Obviously, they need to change the name debt ceiling to debt raising.
Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned of "economic chaos" if debt ceiling is not raised. What a shock!

3. The bank stocks rallied late last week to help the markets. Today, they are basically flat, but not spooking the markets. Either way, I'm personally avoiding this industry group as the risk/reward is not there.

4. Gold is snapping back today after having a sharp sell-off this past Friday. Remember, gold has been trading higher on fear. so if fear subsides we should see gold pullback further.

5. Bitcoin is sinking today on news that Binance briefly halted withdrawals due to congestion. There always seems to be something when it comes to these crypto exchanges. today, the popular crypto is trading lower by more than 4.0%.