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Posted April 22, 2026 at 1:04 pm
In this IBKR Midweek Podcast, Jeff Praissman sits down with Scott Bauer to break down this week’s market rally, from ceasefire-driven gains to the continued strength in AI. They also dig into earnings season, key economic data ahead and what it all means for where markets could be headed next.
The following is a summary of a live audio recording and may contain errors in spelling or grammar. Although IBKR has edited for clarity no material changes have been made.
Hey everyone, this is Jeff Praissman from Interactive Brokers. It’s my pleasure to welcome back to the podcast studio, Scott Bauer from Prosper Trading Academy. Hey Scott, how are you?
Jeff, I am great. Thank you. Hope you are as well.
I am. Love having you come in here on these Wednesdays to kind of have our, you know, quick chat about the markets. And, you know, as usual, there’s no lack of excitement in the news.
No, for sure.
I mean, last week we saw a rally, you know, obviously driven by the temporary ceasefire. You know, market reached a fifty-two-week high before coming off. But Scott, aside from the geopolitical developments, you know, which sectors were key drivers of this, you know, market movement?
I mean, you go back to AI, tech, software. I mean, these things have been on fire, especially the software stocks. And what I think is actually really healthy for the market is with, you know… I’m not gonna say the AI and tech boom recovery, but it hasn’t just been those stocks, right? It’s—we’ve seen a broadening out, which I think is really healthy for the market. But certainly, over the last several weeks or so, that area right there has been on fire again.
You know, to paraphrase Jan Brady, “earnings, earnings.” You know, earnings season’s heating up, right? And, you know, you kind of maybe gave away a little bit, but, you know, is AI still the market’s favorite, or are they shifting to, you know, other industries for leadership?
So there has been shifting, like we said. We have seen this broadening out, but I think that a lot of the Street feels like, “Oh man, maybe we missed out on the big, you know, AI pullback, the big tech pullback that we saw,” because there was so much fear out there about the bubble, blah, blah, blah. So with earnings coming up here, I think, you know, these are going to be the leaders. You know, we’ve got IBM later today, not that they’re the end-all, be-all AI stock, but I think you’re gonna see some surprises.
There is just so much going on right now, you know, between earnings and geopolitical, and, you know, also like Kevin Warsh’s, you know, potential confirmation. You know, how is that impacting the market? Or is it just overshadowed by everything else going on with the Iran Conflict?
I think it really… Yeah, I think it is really overshadowed at this point, because I’m not sure anybody expects a confirmation or anything to really happen in the near future. Near future meaning weeks, maybe a month or so. So I think that’s down the road, and I have not really seen much of an impact to the rate cycle, to banking stocks, which could be affected by that. So I think with everything else going on right now, it is taking a back seat.
So it’s really kind of a wait and see for this. Like, this isn’t a now issue, it’s a later issue, and the markets will react as appropriate, you know, whether or not it comes through.
I agree with that.
And, you know, of course, we always have data coming out, right? Like, you know, we just had the jobless claims released, you know, or I guess it’s coming up, I’m sorry…
Yeah, we’re gonna get next Friday. Yep.
Yeah, consumer sentiment, you know, Case-Shiller home prices, you know, all three of them are coming up. What insights is the market hoping to gain from, you know, these economic indicators and other ones that are on the, you know, the very near horizon?
I think the bottom line is the market is looking to get some confirmation that the uptick in inflation that we have seen has been really related to what’s going on with Iran, and that, you know, if we were able to put that aside, that inflation is moderating somewhat. Now, in addition, we’ve seen those job numbers, those monthly job numbers kind of all over the place. So are we gonna get more stability with the April report that comes out in a week or so? I think the market will be focused on that. I will tell you, Jeff, with consumer sentiment the lowest it has ever been, you look to what the retail sales report was earlier in the week, and it was still really strong. So there’s a little bit of a disconnect there.
Yeah, it’s almost like a paradox in some ways that people…
It is. Yep.
And Scott, maybe the most important question of the day: Who are the Bears taking at twenty-five?
Well, let’s see. I would love for them to get Kayden McDonald out of OSU because they need defensive line help. He’s gonna be long gone. He does have a teammate, though, another Kayden Curry, who is really highly rated. If somehow he slips down there, I would love to see it. But they definitely need help on the defensive line, so I’m hoping that’s where they go.
Yeah, and being an Eagles fan myself, I have to kind of just rub a little salt in the wound. Like, are you guys leaving Chicago?
Nope. Nope. I mean, they may move to the suburbs. They’re not going to Indiana.
Gotcha. All right. All right. Well, Scott, as always, this has been great. For our listeners, you can find more from Scott Bauer on our website, as well as at prospertrading.com. Tons of podcasts, articles, webinars, a lot of collaboration with him, so it’s always a pleasure to have you come in the studio.
Thanks so much, Jeff. Have a great one.
You too.
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