Morning Market Notes 08-13-26

Market Calendar

$SPX & $QQQ

PPI morning and the tape barely blinked. SPY up 0.18% premarket, QQQ dead flat, VIX drifting lower at 14.5. The bid is showing up in the Dow and small caps instead, both up around 0.3%. That's rotation, not risk-off.

Yesterday's in-line CPI took the inflation scare off the table and this morning's wholesale numbers didn't put it back. The Street wanted 0.2% on headline PPI with the annual rate cooling from 5.5%, and the muted premarket reaction says nothing in the print spooked anyone. SPX closed at 7748.50, parked between the 7700 Put Wall and the 7800 Call Wall with an implied move of just 0.93%. Low vol and tight walls, that's a fade-the-edges tape until something forces a break.

Macro day is already mostly behind us, claims and PPI both hit at 8:30. Fed speakers fill out the rest of the session.

Let's have a sesh.

This old Soldier is at $82K and counting

You read the morning analysis. Blu reads the same notes, then he watches the real-time flow confirm the setups and stacks payouts toward a $100K month. That's the difference between reading about the move and being in it.