Yesterday the New York Knicks dismantled the Philadelphia 76ers to move to the Eastern Conference Finals. There was no need to watch the second half of the game and that gave mothers a wonderful Mother’s Day gift: undivided attention. While the Knicks extended their playoff winning streak to seven games, the S&P 500 began this week aspiring to extend its winning streak to seven weeks.

As we head into the afternoon the S&P is near its best level, up ~0.4%. The equal-weight is flat, however, and small caps are seeing some interesting divergence as the Russell 2000 is outperforming the 500 while the S&P 600 is down 0.3%. Banks are under some pressure following some regional bank credit disclosures. The small cap indexes are more heavily weighted to Financials, but strength in thematic/high beta areas (Quantum, Space, Rare Earths, etc) are boosting the Russell versus the 600.

Most sectors are trading around flat-to-higher. Energy is the clear leader on oil and nat gas strength. Materials (Chemicals, Miners), Industrials (Aerospace, electrical equipment), Utilities and Tech (Semis up again, software lower) are also up ~1%. The DRAM memory ETF is up 5% today, NYSE Semis +2% and NYSE 100 up 1%. Comm Services is lower with GOOG pulling back a bit after an extended run and META down as well. DIS is also pulling back after rallying last week on earnings. Staples are weak across the board, especially the large retailers.

Treasury yields are up ~5bps across the curve with the move higher in commodities and global yields, moving to the day's highs following a soft 3yr auction. The USD index is slightly higher though off its best levels of the day, with yen strength weighing on the dollar. Treasury Secretary is heading to Japan to meet PM Takaichi and Minster of Finance Katayama starting today. The Senate will hold a procedural vote this evening to move Kevin Warsh's Fed Chair nomination forward.