Market at a standstill, but not for long

Briefing.com Summary:

*Iran has reportedly provided a proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but it comes with a caveat.

*Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Apple headline a huge week of earnings reports.

*The FOMC is getting set to release its interest rate decision on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended last week at record highs and went into the weekend with a modicum of hope that the U.S. and Iran would be engaging in direct talks again over the weekend in Pakistan. That direct contact did not happen.

Instead, the big news item over the weekend was an attempted attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where President Trump and high-ranking administration officials were in attendance, which was fortunately thwarted.

There are reports, though, suggesting the Iran situation remains open for discussion, albeit in a less direct manner. According to Axios, the president will hold a Situation Room meeting today to review a reported proposal by Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, with the caveat that nuclear talks are postponed to a later date.

The oil market isn’t content to wait. It is restless. WTI crude futures are up 1.8% to $96.08/bbl.

That move is being cited as a headwind for buying interest in the equity futures market this morning. Currently, the S&P 500 futures are down five points and are trading 0.1% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 15 points and are trading 0.1% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 65 points and are trading 0.1% below fair value.

The biggest headwind, though, may just be a sense that the market has gone basically straight up since the end of March and is seemingly due for a pullback. The countervailing force is that many market participants are hoping for a pullback so that they can buy in at lower prices.

The result is a market at a bit of a standstill, cognizant that there will be an FOMC decision (and press conference) on Wednesday, earnings reports from Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META) after the close on Wednesday, the release of the Advance Q1 GDP report on Thursday, and Apple’s (AAPL) report after the close on Thursday.

For good measure, there will be $183 billion in Treasury debt auctioned off this week, beginning with the $69 billion 2-yr note auction at 11:30 a.m. ET today, followed by a $70 billion 5-yr note auction at 1:00 p.m. ET.

There is—and will be—a lot to consider, including corporate news this morning that includes disappointing earnings results from Domino’s Pizza (DPZ); better-than-expected earnings results from Verizon (VZ); Shell (SHEL) acquiring ARC Resources for $13.6 billion in cash and stock; Sun Pharma acquiring Organon (OGN) for $11.75 billion, or $14.00 per share, in cash; chatter that Qualcomm (QCOM) is working with OpenAI to develop smartphone processors; and United (UAL) confirming that it had approached American Airlines (AAL) about a possible merger.

A lot is going to get packed into this week. The question is, will it be buyers or sellers who are sent packing by the end of it?

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Originally Posted April 27, 2026 – Market at a standstill, but not for long