Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving.
Small-cap stocks have been outrunning the S&P five hundred this year, but Wells Fargo is urging investors not to chase that trade. The bank points to a troubling deterioration in earnings estimates beneath the Russell two thousand's surface gains, arguing the rally is a selling opportunity, not an entry point.
Shifting to Europe, French equities are under modest pressure with the CAC forty off nearly four tenths of a percent as renewed Middle East tensions push crude prices higher. Investors across the continent are moving cautiously, and the oil bid is adding an unwelcome inflation dimension to an already fragile macro backdrop.
Meanwhile, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is moving to buy back up to thirty million common shares on the open market at prevailing prices. The normal course issuer bid signals management confidence in the stock's valuation and reflects a broader trend among major banks returning capital to shareholders when organic deployment opportunities look limited.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
