The United States economy is full of innovation. It has to be. Manufacturing industries that dominated the economy decades ago - textiles, televisions, even automobiles to a large degree - have moved overseas, where labor and materials costs are lower. Yet the U.S. economy, even during the pandemic and the current period of high inflation, has expanded to record levels. If U.S. corporations weren't innovating, creating new products (such as vaccines and AI) and services (such as Zoom calls) and moving into new markets, the domestic economy would not be growing, and capital would not be flooding into the country. The current high level of the U.S. dollar relative to currencies around the world attests to the confidence that global investors have in the durable and innovative U.S. economy.

Overnight events in the Middle East notwithstanding, WTI closed yesterday at $82.05/barrel, down slightly and below its recent high on April 5 and April 12 near $88. Crude oil traced out a bearish throwback, as its breakout over the top of the bullish channel that has been in place for about four months failed miserably. Generally, failed breakouts and failed breakdowns lead to decent-sized moves in the other direction. Almost the entire rally from the high $60s was labored and failed to generate much enthusiasm among market participants.

Eli Lilly is a drug firm with a focus on neuroscience, cardiometabolic, cancer, and immunology. Lilly's key products include Verzenio for cancer; Mounjaro, Zepbound, Jardiance, Trulicity, Humalog, and Humulin for diabetes; and Taltz and Olumiant for immunology.

It was another week of all-time highs, with the weekly winning streak for the S&P 500 (SPX) continuing. The SPX has moved higher in 17 out of 21 weeks, with a 27% gain during that period. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and the Nasdaq are also 17 out of 21, soaring 30%. The S&P 400 prints the same story, with a 29% pop. Index price volatility is almost undetectable, although there has been some decent volatility, both up and down, among individual stocks. We saw one day of strong breadth on Wednesday and one weak day on Friday.