BAC

Alphabet is planning its first yen-denominated bond sale across up to eight maturities (3 to 40 years), expected to total several hundred billion yen, to help fund $190 billion in AI capital expenditure guided for 2025. The deal, managed by Mizuho, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley, is part of a broader currency diversification strategy alongside existing euro, sterling, and other non-dollar issuances. Amazon is separately preparing its first Swiss franc bond offering, reflecting a sector-wide shift toward overseas debt markets to finance surging AI infrastructure costs.

Kevin Warsh, Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, told his Senate confirmation hearing he wants to replace the core PCE inflation gauge with trimmed-mean and median PCE measures, which would show inflation closer to the 2% target. He also proposed eliminating forward guidance and accelerating balance sheet reduction. Analysts are split on whether the shift implies a dovish or hawkish policy stance.

Q1 2026 earnings season is tracking 13.2% S&P 500 earnings growth, marking a sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit expansion. Major banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo reported solid results with investment banking rebounds. Semiconductor names TSM and ASML posted record revenues on AI infrastructure demand, while TSLA, INTC, IBM, and UNH are among other notable reporters this season.

Fervo Energy has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the SEC for a proposed IPO, intending to list Class A common stock on Nasdaq under the ticker "FRVO." J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, RBC Capital Markets, and Barclays are acting as joint lead bookrunning managers. No pricing terms or share counts have been disclosed at this stage.

The S&P 500 recovered to record highs following a U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement on April 8, after a 9% plunge driven by Middle East tensions and oil supply disruptions. Strong March jobs data (178,000 new jobs) and better-than-expected Q1 earnings from major banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America supported the rebound. Risks persist as oil prices remain elevated, the PPI hit a 3-year high of 4%, and potential inflation may pressure the Federal Reserve to raise rates later in 2026.

U.S. equity markets were mixed on April 15, 2026, with the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 posting modest mid-day gains while the Dow Jones fell 0.5%. Tesla rose 6.1% on bullish analyst commentary and custom chip developments, while Bank of America beat Q1 earnings expectations with muted price reaction. Goldman Sachs experienced a significant price swing that weighed on the Dow due to its heavy index weighting.

JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Citigroup (C) are set to report earnings with projected sales growth of 7.9%, 9.5%, and unspecified respectively. BAC leads on earnings growth at 12.4%, while C projects the highest at 33.9% but carries elevated credit risk from third-party credit card exposure. Key watch points across all three include credit loss trends, loan loss reserves, and forward guidance.