WTI Crude Oil Rises Above $108 for Third Consecutive Day
Energy was once again the best-performing sector on Wednesday amid the ongoing Middle East tensions, with reports that President Trump is planning to maintain the naval blockade on Iran boosting WTI crude oil for the third consecutive day above $108 per barrel. Geopolitically driven risk-off bias was compounded by a Fed decision that featured multiple FOMC members dissenting with a majority not to include an easing bias in the statement, sending Treasuries sharply lower. The 10-year note yield jumped above 4.4% and the 30-year yield briefly touched 5% for the first time in months. Following the decision, Fed funds futures are once again pricing in a slight possibility of a rate hike by the end of 2026 at over 10%, and the slight possibility of a 25 basis point easing before year-end priced in pre-decision has now been erased.For the second day in a row however, earnings from the tech sector are helping to restore more constructive sentiment. Four Mag-7 companies reported results afterhours; Alphabet is the best performer with a 7% after-hours jump in stock price to record highs above $370 per share despite raising its FY26 CapEx view to $180B-$190B from $175B-$185B. Amazon's post-earnings price action saw a slight decline, but the stock flipped back into positive territory as CEO Jassy expressed confidence in the ROI of the company's accelerated CapEx and also touted the rapid growth of the company's chips business. Microsoft shares initially jumped to $445 on Q3 earnings beat but paired those gains to trade little changed as the company's Q4 revenue outlook midpoint came in shy of consensus. Meta fared the worst out of the mega-caps, falling over 6% with investors remaining skeptical that the company's investments may not pay off given that its AI initiatives are relatively earlier-stage. Outside the Mag-7, quarterly results from semiconductors remain impressive as Qualcommbeat estimates, with a surge of afterhours buying also driven by comments that the company would begin shipping data center chips to a large hyperscaler within a year.Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.HIGHER AFTER EARNINGS -Viavi Solutionsup 22.7%Impinjup 16.6%TTM Technologiesup 16.6%Qualcommup 13.3%FormFactorup 12.9%PROCEPT BioRoboticsup 12.4%Carvanaup 8.7%FMC Corporationup 7.4%Alphabetup 6.5%O'Reilly Automotiveup 4.2%Chipotleup 3.9%Amazonup 3.1%Cheesecake Factoryup 2.4%DOWN AFTER EARNINGS -Teladocdown 10.9%KLA Corp.down 7.6%Acadia Healthcaredown 6.6%Metadown 6.5%Waystardown 6.1%Equinixdown 5.7%Tenable Holdingsdown 5.7%Forddown 1.4%Matteldown 0.5%Microsoftdown 0.1%
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Share Sale Announcement: Oleg Khaykin intends to sell 104.55K shares of Via Vii Solutions (VIAV.US) on May 5, with a total market value of approximately $5.71 million.
Reduction in Holdings: Khaykin has reduced his shareholding in Via Vii Solutions by 206.58K shares since February 6, 2026, with a total value of around $5.5 million.
- Industry-Leading Performance: VIAVI's launch of the CyberFlood CF1000 appliance enables native 400G security testing, facilitating OSI Layer 4-7 validation under real-world encrypted and dynamic mixed traffic conditions, significantly enhancing data center security and application performance.
- Quantum-Safe Validation: The platform integrates quantum-safe cryptography validation and AI inference traffic emulation, addressing validation gaps inherent in traditional testing systems, thereby ensuring performance limits are met before deployment for network equipment vendors and service providers.
- Market Growth Potential: According to Dell'Oro Group, the global network security market is projected to exceed $30 billion by 2026, driven by Zero Trust initiatives, AI workloads, and cloud expansion, making the CF1000's launch timely and relevant to this market trend.
- Efficient Infrastructure Decisions: The CF1000 supports four 400G OSFP ports and eight 100G QSFP28 ports in a compact 2RU form factor, enabling up to 1.2Tbps of real-world application traffic testing, assisting customers in optimizing infrastructure decisions and accelerating deployments.
- Product Launch: VIAVI Solutions has introduced the CyberFlood CF1000 Appliance, a native 400G security and application performance testing platform designed to support up to 1.2Tbps of real-world application traffic testing, thereby meeting the high-performance and security demands of modern data centers.
- Market Outlook: According to Dell'Oro Group, the global network security market is projected to exceed $30 billion by 2026, driven primarily by Zero Trust initiatives and AI workloads, indicating that VIAVI's products are positioned within a rapidly growing market.
- Technical Advantages: The CF1000 supports over 500Gbps of encrypted throughput and up to 800,000 TLS v1.3 connections per second, significantly enhancing the testing capabilities for encrypted traffic, helping customers validate their infrastructure performance limits before deployment.
- Strategic Implications: By integrating quantum security, AI inference workloads, and dynamic mixed traffic testing, the CF1000 not only fills the validation gaps inherent in traditional testing systems but also provides customers with the ability to accelerate deployments and optimize infrastructure decisions, aligning with future network development trends.
- Small-Cap Outlook: State Street forecasts a 7.6% annual return for the S&P Small-Cap 600 index over the next three to five years, indicating a potential outperformance of small-cap stocks in the current market environment, which may attract investor interest.
- Emerging Markets Potential: The MSCI Emerging Markets index is projected to return 7.5% annually, primarily driven by U.S. dollar devaluation and strong earnings growth, providing investors with opportunities through the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.
- Expense Ratio Analysis: The Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 ETF has an expense ratio of 0.07%, which, while below the average for U.S. index funds, is still higher than the 0.03% expense ratio of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, prompting investors to consider the impact of fees on long-term returns.
- Performance Comparison: Over the past decade, the Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 ETF returned 180% (10.8% annually), while the S&P 500 posted a total return of 315% (15.2% annually), highlighting the relative disadvantage of small-cap stocks in a high-interest-rate environment, with future performance dependent on interest rate fluctuations.
- Strong Earnings Report: Viavi Solutions reported nearly $407 million in net revenue for Q3 FY2026, representing a 43% year-over-year increase, significantly surpassing the analyst consensus of $394 million, highlighting the company's robust performance in the data center and aerospace sectors.
- Surge in Operating Income: The company's operating income soared by 79% to $85.5 million, or $0.27 per share, which exceeded market expectations of $0.23, indicating a substantial improvement in profitability.
- Optimistic Guidance: Viavi's guidance for Q4 projects revenue between $427 million and $437 million, with non-GAAP net income expected at $0.29 to $0.31, both exceeding analyst estimates, reflecting the company's confidence in future market conditions.
- Promising Industry Outlook: With a solid customer base in the data center and aerospace industries, Viavi anticipates continued growth in these sectors, further solidifying its market position and investment appeal.
- Earnings Beat: Viavi Solutions reported nearly $407 million in net revenue for Q3 FY2026, representing a 43% year-over-year increase and surpassing analyst expectations of approximately $394 million, highlighting the company's robust performance in the tech equipment sector.
- Significant Operational Income Growth: The company's income from operations surged by 79% to $85.5 million, or $0.27 per share, exceeding market forecasts of $0.23, reflecting strong demand in the data center and aerospace industries.
- Positive Future Guidance: Viavi provided optimistic guidance for Q4, projecting revenue between $427 million and $437 million, with non-GAAP net income expected at $0.29 to $0.31, both above analyst estimates, indicating strong confidence in future market conditions.
- Favorable Industry Outlook: With a solid customer base in the data center and aerospace sectors, Viavi anticipates continued growth in these industries, further solidifying its market position and investment appeal.










