While the S&P 500 remains very close to all-time highs, the Nasdaq and QQQs remain skittish as the trend in 5- to 30-year Treasury yields is firmly to the upside. While the level of rates is historically low, the slope of the yield advance is steep.

This edition features e-commerce after the pandemic; opportunity in salt; trucking demand; and notes from Curaleaf and new coverage Hexcel and AUB Group.

Hexcel designs and manufactures high-performance composites, including carbon fibers, for use in commercial aerospace, defense, and other industrial markets. Generally, around 70% of revenue is from the commercial aerospace end market, 17% of revenue is from the defense end market and 13% of revenue is from other industrial end markets. The company operates under two segments: composite materials and engineered products.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

In early January, we wrote the following. "Don't look now, but interest rates at the long end of the curve are moving higher. With the whole curve historically low, does it really matter? Could it actually be bullish for certain sections of the stock market? Certainly not high-yield plays, but for those stocks that benefit from a faster growing economy? Remember those days? There are lots of questions but no definitive answers -- so watch price action to give us a clue.