The major indices were mixed on the eve of earnings season’s unofficial start, but we still got a new high as investors remain hopeful about first-quarter reports and the economy’s eventual re-opening. The S&P snapped three straight sessions of record highs yesterday, but was back to making history on Tuesday with a rise of 0.33% to 4141.59. However, the best performance by far was the NASDAQ, which soared 1.05% (or about 146 points) to 13,996.10. Unfortunately, the Dow was left out in the cold with a slip of 0.20% (or around 68 points) to 33,677.27, marking its second straight session in the red. The index had closed at a record last Friday. Stocks had a couple challenges to overcome today, especially the FDA and CDC recommending a pause in the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) covid vaccine to study a few blood-clotting cases. The market doesn’t want to hear about any hiccups in the rollout, but this issue could be cleared up in a matter of days and shouldn’t really slowdown the country’s vaccination pace. Meanwhile, the CPI rose 2.6% in March year-over-year, which was more than expected but only by 0.1%. Core CPI, which removes food and energy costs, was up 1.6% from last year. While these inflation numbers are concerning for skittish investors, we should remember that Fed Chair Jerome Powell has taken every opportunity recently to reiterate that rising inflation doesn’t signal a change in monetary policy. In fact, he doesn’t expect a hike for the foreseeable future. For today though, the market is most interested with the beginning of earnings season tomorrow. The Big 3 that go to the plate on Wednesday are JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Those stocks were all down by more than 1% today as nerves are beginning to take hold. We’re expecting a strong first-quarter earnings season for stocks, but the market’s reaction to the numbers is a different matter. Let’s see what happens tomorrow... Today's Portfolio Highlights: Options Trader: The May 155.00 Call in Vulcan Materials (VMC) doubled its premium... so you know what Kevin’s next move was. He got out of that option and repositioned into a new, further out one with the original dollars committed. Specifically, the editor sold to close the May call for a 106.8% return, and then immediately bought to open an August 180.00 Call in VMC. The portfolio will continue making money if it keeps going up (which is what Kevin expects), but won’t lose the principal if it goes down. Read the full write-up for more on today’s signal. Healthcare Innovators: This service absolutely dominated the scoreboard on Tuesday with the top three winners among all ZU portfolios, which included two double-digit gains. Those noteworthy performances came from Novavax (NVAX, +10.8%), Axcella Health (AXLA, +10.2%) and Twist Bioscience (TWST, +9.15%). Some of these advances are likely linked to the FDA recommending a pause in Johnson & Johnson's covid vaccine. Zacks Short Sell List: The portfolio cashed in a big, double-digit winner in this week's adjustment, which included three changes in all. The stocks that were short-covered included: • TAL Education Group (TAL, +33.1%) • Illumina (ILMN, +3.2%) • NeoGenomics (NEO) The new additions that filled these open spots were: • China Lodging Group (HTHT) • Las Vegas Sands (LVS) • Teradata (TDC) Learn more about this emotion-free portfolio that takes advantage of falling and volatile markets by reading the Short Sell List Trader Guide. Headline Trader: “JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Goldman Sachs (GS) all report their Q1 earnings before the bell tomorrow, and expectations are sky high with the yield curve steepening rapidly. These three stocks all saw a sizable sell-off on open today as investors get the pre-earnings jitters. JPM and GS marginally rebounded as the day went on. I'm not sure if this downward move is a sign of more pain to come or just softening the price before some robust reports. “JPM and GS are both trading up near all-time highs with rallies of 52% and 55%, respectively, over the past 6 months. Both stocks are seeing record EPS estimates for Q1, with Goldman analysts pushing their EPS estimates up on a seemingly daily basis. “None of these banks are currently sitting at overbought technical levels, so that alleviates some of the profit-pulling potential to come tomorrow. However, I still wouldn't be surprised if we had an initial downside reaction to anything less than exceptional in tomorrow's reports.” – Dan Laboe All the Best, Jim Giaquinto Recommendations from Zacks' Private Portfolios: Believe it or not, this article is not available on the Zacks.com website. The commentary is a partial overview of the daily activity from Zacks' private recommendation services. If you would like to follow our Buy and Sell signals in real time, we've made a special arrangement for readers of this website. Starting today you can see all the recommendations from all of Zacks' portfolios absolutely free for 7 days. Our services cover everything from value stocks and momentum trades to insider buying and positive earnings surprises (which we've predicted with an astonishing 80%+ accuracy). Click here to "test drive" Zacks Ultimate for FREE >> Zacks Investment Research