What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 300 points and briefly touched a fresh all-time high above 50,700 as market sentiment improved amid falling yields.
Business services revenue moves with corporate confidence: when CFOs feel good, they greenlight the consulting, staffing, and outsourcing contracts they had been sitting on. Cooling Treasury yields also reduce financing costs for the mid-sized clients these firms serve, which usually translates into faster contract awards.
Furthermore, the Iran peace deal progress removed a major geopolitical overhang, encouraging corporations to release the project backlogs they had paused during the conflict. Business services companies recognize revenue over multi-quarter project timelines, so today's macro relief shows up in tomorrow's earnings.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- IT Distribution & Solutions company ePlus (NASDAQ: PLUS) jumped 2.9%. Is now the time to buy ePlus? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Electronic Components & Manufacturing company Plexus (NASDAQ: PLXS) jumped 2.7%. Is now the time to buy Plexus? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- IT Distribution & Solutions company Connection (NASDAQ: CNXN) jumped 2.7%. Is now the time to buy Connection? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On ePlus (PLUS)
ePlus’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 3 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 3.4% on the news that 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.46% following a preliminary agreement between President Trump and President Xi to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
Cisco Systems further energized the sector surging 14% after raising its AI infrastructure guidance, signaling a massive new wave of technical consulting demand. Business services companies, consulting firms, advisors, and IT service providers, earn revenue from corporate operating budgets and M&A activity. The easing of yields lowers the cost of the debt used to finance the enterprise projects that drive consulting revenue.
Also, Cisco's 'networking supercycle' narrative confirms that the AI boom is moving beyond the experimental phase and into the large-scale deployment phase, which requires significant advisory and integration services.
ePlus is down 1.9% since the beginning of the year, but at $85.01 per share, it is still trading close to its 52-week high of $93.08 from December 2025. Despite the year-to-date decline, investors who bought $1,000 worth of ePlus’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,790.
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