**__ Diplomatt’s Daily Digest – April 18, 2022__**
Good morning and happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice and relaxing weekend. Stock futures declined early Monday morning as a week of major first-quarter earnings reports kick-off. Several big names report earnings this week, including IBM, Procter and Gamble, Travelers, Dow Inc, Johnson and Johnson, American Express, Tesla, Snap, and Verizon. Earnings season is off to a decent start with 77% of S&P 500 companies reporting earnings per share above expectations. Seven percent of the benchmark has reported results so far. Despite some better-than-expected results, investors sold stocks last week as they feared higher rates and inflation could darken the outlook for earnings. The S&P 500 fell 2.13% for its second negative week in a row. The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.63%, and the Dow fell 0.8% in that period. U.S. stocks did not trade Friday due to the holiday weekend. The 10-year Treasury yield reached on Monday its highest level since late 2018, trading at around 2.86%.

Quote of the week: „Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.“ – Bill Bradley.

**General News:**
• Remaining Ukrainian forces in the southern port of Mariupol continue to fight their Russian invaders. Moscow said on Saturday its troops had seized the urban area of Mariupol. Only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters remained inside a steelworks complex in the besieged southern port. Meanwhile, at least five people were dead and 20 were injured in Kharkiv after a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s second-biggest city.
• Twitter adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, often called a “poison pill,” a day after billionaire Elon Musk offered to buy the company for $43 billion with the board voting unanimously to adopt the plan. Under the new structure, if any person or group acquires beneficial ownership of at least 15% of Twitter’s outstanding common stock without the board’s approval, other shareholders will be allowed to purchase additional shares at a discount.
• Bank of America reported quarterly results Monday before the bell that showed a 13% year-over-year drop in earnings per share. The stock traded slightly higher in the premarket.
• American Airlines‘ new CEO vows reliability as massive peak travel season kicks off.

**StockTwits Top 10 Trending Tickers of the Day:**
1. BTC
2. INDO
3. BAC
4. ATER
5. NFLX
6. ETH
7. KOLD
8. SYF
9. BK
10. BLNK