Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Michael Hartnett at Bank of America is telling clients to reposition heading into May, arguing that a cyclical uptick in economic activity — led by the semiconductor boom — should rotate money out of defensive crowded trades and back into beaten-down cyclicals. Watch for sector reversals as that thesis gets tested.
Shifting to software, Atlassian is the standout earnings story of the session, with shares surging twenty-eight percent after the company posted stronger-than-expected growth in both its cloud and data center segments. That's a meaningful signal in a market that has been punishing SaaS names on fears that artificial intelligence will erode their business models. Atlassian just pushed back hard on that narrative.
And speaking of artificial intelligence, a veteran software engineer makes a compelling case that AI-generated code isn't just a tool for developers — it's quietly turning ordinary workers into de facto software builders. The implication for labor markets and enterprise productivity is significant and still largely unpriced by the street.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
