West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rallied 2.5% on Thursday and was back to $93.60/barrel. Chart resistance is difficult to identify and might be useless in this headline-driven market. Our best guestimate is that resistance runs from current levels up to the rally highs at $120. Support is a bit easier to identify and comes in between $84 and $90, the range where buyers have stepped in twice during recent pullbacks. There is also a cluster of Fibonacci retracements, depending on how one measures the start of the major move higher (between $85 and $88). WTI has been elevated for over a month. While we don't know how long the move higher will last, we still believe some normalcy ultimately will prevail. As we have said before, crude is trading in backwardation, with the June contract at $91.50, July $87.20, August $83.60, and September $80.80. So market expectations are based on the assumption of lower prices.

Despite bursts of outperformance, small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID) have underperformed large-caps year to date -- as they have over the past six years. But they may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the trade and tariff debate, fallout from unrest in the Middle East, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, issues in China, or other geopolitical developments. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps, with the P/E ratio on the Russell 2000 SmallCap Index at 20, compared to a trailing P/E of 29 for the S&P 500. Finally, there are long stretches in the record books when SMID stocks have outperformed large-caps. SMID risks do carry risk, but diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is an information technology vendor that provides hardware and software to enterprises. Its primary product lines are compute servers, storage arrays, and networking equipment; it also has a high-performance computing business. HPE's stated goal is to be a complete edge-to-cloud company. Its portfolio enables hybrid clouds and hyperconverged infrastructure.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise was spun out of Hewlett Packard Inc. (now known as HP Inc.) in November 2015. Hewlett Packard Enterprise provides core IT gear including high-performance computing and mission critical servers; industry standard servers; storage and networking gear; and financing services. In 2017, HPE spun off its IT outsourcing, BPO, and applications services unit and its noncore software business. Niche acquisitions include Nimble (all-flash storage), SimpliVity (converged infrastructure), and Cray (super-computing). In 2025, HPE completed the acquisition of Juniper Networks.