Weekly Market Commentary: Stocks Hit All-Time Highs as Middle East Tensions Ease

Sunflower Bank Weekly Market Commentary: April 20, 2026

Each week, our Wealth Management team analyzes the U.S. stock market and bond market activity and news of the previous week, summarizing their findings into a weekly market update report. The key points of this week's commentary, "Stocks Hit All-Time Highs As Middle East Tensions Ease," include:

• Equities reached fresh all-time highs last week as diplomacy in the Middle East showed signs of progress. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 both had their best weeks of the year, rising +4.5% and +6.2%, respectively.
• The driver of recent equity market returns is the decline in crude oil prices. Oil prices have fallen significantly from recent highs. The price of front-month WTI Crude futures ended the week at $84 per barrel, down more than -25% from the closing high of $113 per barrel hit earlier this month.
• Bond yields have also come down substantially as traders see a reduced risk of a sustained energy-price shock. The yield on the 10-year Treasury Bond ended the week at 4.25%, down almost 20 basis points from its recent closing high. The yield on 2-year Treasurys has dropped almost 30 basis points from its high.
• Turning to corporate fundamentals, the 1Q26 earnings season kicked off last week. According analysts surveyed by Factset, combined earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to have grown at a +13% year-over-year rate in the first quarter. If earnings grow as expected, this would be the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth for the Index.

  
  

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