The US market: review and forecast for April 27. In search of new landmarks

Our expectations

The situation around Iran remains the main source of uncertainty for markets. Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have been paused. Over the weekend, the White House canceled a planned trip by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Islamabad to meet with the Iranian delegation. President Donald Trump said Tehran had improved its proposal, but it is still “not good enough.” Key points of tension remain control over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the terms for lifting the naval blockade, leaving no visible progress on the nuclear agenda. Pressure on Iranian exports also persists. Only one tanker carrying petroleum products entered the Persian Gulf recently, reinforcing concerns about energy shortages. Against this backdrop, Brent is up about 1.3% and WTI about 1%. Goldman Sachs raised its Q4 oil price forecasts to $90 per barrel for Brent and $83 for WTI. The main risk for markets is that prolonged negotiations and restrictions in Hormuz could sustain elevated hydrocarbon prices, increasing inflationary pressure and limiting demand for risk assets. Macroeconomic data is expected to have limited impact on upcoming trading. Focus will be on the Dallas Fed manufacturing activity index for April (consensus: +0.5, March: -0.2). Before the market opens, earnings will be reported by Verizon, Domino’s Pizza, Fulcrum Therapeutics, Business First Bancshares, ACM Research, Bank of Marin, and HBT Financial. After the close, results will be released by Nucor, Celestica, Cadence Design Systems, Public Storage, Ventas, Brown & Brown, and Rambus. U.S. index futures are showing near-flat performance after the S&P 500 reached a new all-time high. We assess the risk balance for the upcoming session as neutral with moderate volatility. ближайшее сопротивление для S&P 500 — around 7200, with support near 7100.

Premarket highlights

· Oracle may gain support after Related Digital raised $16 billion for a Michigan data center project.
· Noble Corporation reported higher revenue and EBITDA, with strong free cash flow.
· Frontier Group Holdings may benefit from potential government support, though with dilution risks.
· Sirius XM and iHeartMedia are in early-stage merger talks.
· Alphabet is narrowing the gap with Microsoft and Amazon in cloud services.

Previous session

On April 24, U.S. markets mostly closed higher: S&P 500 (+0.8%) and NASDAQ 100 (+1.95%) hit new highs, while Dow Jones slipped (-0.16%). Geopolitical tensions faded into the background, while strong earnings — especially in tech — drove the market. NVIDIA and Amazon led gains, and the semiconductor sector extended its rally to 18 consecutive sessions. Macroeconomic data was moderately positive, with improved consumer sentiment and slightly lower inflation expectations. U.S. Treasuries mostly rose. WTI declined 1.5% on de-escalation news but gained 14.3% over the week.

Corporate news

· Sun Pharma is preparing a ~$13B bid for Organon.
· AppFolio beat expectations and raised guidance.
· Edwards Lifesciences improved outlook and continues buybacks.
· Meta plans large-scale use of AWS Graviton chips.
· Procter & Gamble exceeded expectations.
· Alphabet may invest up to $40B in Anthropic.
· Charter declined on capex concerns.
· HCA Healthcare missed expectations.
· Eli Lilly faced pressure from early sales data.