It was another chaotic week with NVIDIA (NVDA) first rallying and then dropping hard after its pivotal earnings report on Wednesday.

And today, the market initially reacted well to the in-line PCE Price Index report.

But the Trump-Zelenskyy showdown at the White House sent markets reeling, with SPY $6 off the morning highs now.

The action below the surface remains tricky.

Many point out that the indices are only a few percentage points off the highs, but things are not so simple in the real world.

The average SPX/SPY stock is down 17% from 52-week highs.

I remain defensive, though we're not at "Blood in the Streets" territory just yet.

I'd like to see NVDA stay back over $120. And I'm watching Palantir (PLTR), Tesla (TSLA), Amazon (AMZN), and Bitcoin (IBIT).

If those names can show some strength, the market can make a comeback.

For now we'll take a "wait and see" approach.

Our remaining position -- Nio (NIO) -- is not a "market stock" so it can perform well even if the indices don't cooperate. It surged as high as $5.13 on Thursday before coming back down on Friday. Still, I think this name has big rally potential in the coming weeks.

Take Care,

Scott