The AI trade dominated the market once again this week, upstaging an impressive start to the second-quarter earnings season. Cooler-than-expected June reports on consumer and producer prices offered encouraging signs that inflation continued to ease, while earnings from the nation’s largest banks reinforced the strength of capital markets. At the same time, investors kept one…
When a man in a black Air Jordan T-shirt walked up to a self-checkout kiosk at a Louisiana Lowe’s last spring, he looked like any other customer. Over the course of about seven minutes, he methodically rang up different gift cards for $95 each, using his phone to tap-to-pay for each card as a red-vested…
The common thread linking this week’s biggest market events is the state of the U.S. economy. The biggest day is Tuesday, when the nation’s largest banks — JPMorgan , Bank of America and Citigroup , along with Club names Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs — mark the start of second-quarter earnings season. As if that…
Wall Street’s record-setting start to the week ran into two familiar sources of volatility: the artificial intelligence trade and oil. The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday closed above 53,000 for the first time ever before renewed U.S.-Iran tensions erased those gains, leaving the blue-chip index down 0.5% for the week. Chip stocks — once…
Wall Street spent the week debating who the biggest winners and losers of the artificial intelligence boom will ultimately be. Memory chipmaker Micron’s blockbuster earnings reinforced the fervent demand for computing resources, but it also led investors to question whether the AI buildout is becoming too expensive for the hyperscalers funding it. The tech-heavy Nasdaq…
LGBTQ+ consumers are shifting their brand loyalties based on companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion policies, according to new research from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The findings released Wednesday found that nearly 72% of LGBTQ+ consumers say they buy fewer products from companies they perceive as “reducing diversity and inclusion commitments.” Nearly 70% also said…
Stock market bulls are eating well to kick off a new week of trading. Oil is nosediving Monday on news of a memorandum of understanding to end the U.S.-Iran war and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz. That’s improving the inflation outlook and sending bond yields lower — just in time for Federal Reserve Chairman…
The SpaceX IPO is behind us. The earnings calendar is mostly quiet. Taking center stage is the state of play between the U.S. and Iran and the first Federal Reserve meeting with Chairman Kevin Warsh in charge. Here’s a closer look at what we’re watching in the holiday-shortened trading week ahead. 1. Iran war: Are…
It may be a holiday-shortened week of trading on Wall Street. But the four days are filled with updates on some of the market’s biggest debates: Is AI eating software? Is the American consumer OK? And what’s happening with inflation? Let’s get into it. 1. Earnings: Salesforce reports on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the stock has…
President Donald Trump suggested last month he would look out for companies that didn’t seek tariff refunds after the Supreme Court struck down his wide-ranging global duties. At first, some major firms like Amazon appeared to be holding off on asking for money back over concerns they’d offend the often transactional president and end up…
