Baltic
Dry Index. 2030 +124 Brent Crude 69.89
Spot Gold 3335 US 2 Year Yield 3.91 +0.03
US Federal Debt. 37.117 trillion
US GDP 30.142 trillion.
I made my money the old-fashioned way. I was very nice to a wealthy relative right before he died.
Malcolm Forbes
In the stock casinos, more July 1929. What
could possibly go wrong? This time it’s different, right?
Stock futures are little changed after earnings,
economic data lift S&P 500 to records: Live updates
Updated Fri, Jul 18 2025 7:40 PM EDT
Stock futures were little changed on
Thursday evening after a batch of earnings and economic reports pushed the
S&P 500 to a record
close.
S&P 500 futures added
0.08%, while Nasdaq 100
futures inched up 0.07%. Futures linked to the Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 49 points, or 0.1%.
Shares of streaming giant Netflix fell more than 1% in
extended trading following its latest
quarterly results. The company posted an earnings and revenue beat for the
second quarter and raised its full-year revenue forecast.
The moves come after Wall Street saw a
winning day. The S&P 500 finished
0.5% higher, closing at a new record after hitting an all-time high during the
session. The Nasdaq Composite gained
about 0.7%, also reaching fresh intraday and closing records. The Dow climbed 0.5%.
The broad market, along with the other two
major averages, is currently on pace for a positive week, bolstered by optimism
surrounding the latest earnings results. On Thursday, PepsiCo and United Airlines shares both
popped after the respective companies beat
analyst estimates on earnings. Those follow solid results from big banks
like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs earlier in the
week.
The index also moved higher on notable
economic data, which signaled that the U.S. economy was holding up. Initial
jobless claims for the week ending July 12 decreased from the prior week, and
June’s retail sales reading surpassed expectations.
“I think this market deserves the benefit
of the doubt, and what got you here is still the growth sectors,” Keith Lerner,
co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Truist, said on
CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “You
put that together with also today the economic data showing the economy may be
cooling, but it’s certainly not collapsing.”
“We would stick with the underlying trend,
which still seems positive in our world,” he continued.
Investors are looking ahead to more
earnings reports due out Friday. That includes 3M and American Express, both slated for
release before market open.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, the
Street is eyeing the preliminary reading for July consumer sentiment data.
Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting that to show a reading of 61.8, up
from the prior reading of 60.7.
The major averages are on pace for
positive weeks, with the S&P 500 up 0.6% through Thursday’s close and the
30-stock Dow on track for a 0.3% advance. The Nasdaq is the outperformer,
heading for a 1.5% gain.
Stock
market today: Live updates
CNBC Daily Open: The U.S. economy is not built on
rock and roll
Published Thu, Jul 17 2025 9:42 PM EDT
Despite the noise around tariffs and
inflation fears, the U.S. economy seems to be holding its ground — for now.
June retail sales came in stronger than
expected, and weekly jobless claims dropped below forecasts.
Add to that a solid start to earnings
season, and you’ve got a recipe for record highs: both the S&P 500 and
Nasdaq notched fresh peaks.
So, is the economy truly resilient in the
face of the Trump administration’s shifting trade winds? Or are we simply in
the eye of the storm, with August 1 — the Trump tariff deadline — looming on
the horizon?
Remember, economic data is always a step
behind. The real impact of tariffs may not show up for months, especially if
businesses and consumers are stockpiling ahead of time and foreign
exporters are cutting their prices.
Even when the new tariffs hit, the effects
might be muted at first as inventories clear.
Still, for now, investors can take comfort in the fact that markets are being
lifted by fundamentals — not just fear or speculation.
And yes, to borrow a line from Starship:
the U.S. economy is still built on rock-solid data… not on rock and roll.
— Lim Hui Jie
What you need to know today
Netflix posts earnings beat. Revenue
for the streaming giant grew 16% during the second quarter of 2025.
The company also updated its full-year revenue forecast, noting that it expects
revenue to be between $44.8 billion and $45.2 billion, up from a range of $43.5
billion to $44.5 billion, reflecting the weakening of the U.S. dollar,
“healthy” member growth and ad sales, it said in a statement.
S&P and Nasdaq storm to new
records. U.S.
stocks climbed Thursday due to solid earnings and economic data, with
the S&P 500 up
0.54% for a record close of 6,297.36 — its ninth this year. The
tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced
0.75% for its tenth record close of 2025, ending at 20,885.65. The
pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.96%
after a raft of earnings reports.
Trump takes aim at solar and wind
projects. U.S.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will
now have the final say on whether those projects can proceed on
U.S.-owned lands, as a way of “levelling the playing field” for coal and
natural gas “after years of assault” by Biden administration, according to an
Interior Department’s internal memo Thursday.
Layoffs at Amazon continue. The
company confirmed layoffs in its cloud computing division Thursday.
The company declined to say which units within Amazon Web Services were
impacted, or how many employees will be let go as a result of the job cuts, but
AWS’ training and certification unit was one of the groups to see cuts,
according to a memo viewed by CNBC.
[PRO] The U.S. consumer pushes back on
recession fears. U.S.
consumers appear to prove economic pessimists wrong this summer as
they flex their spending muscle, according to June’s retail sales report. But
some alternative data suggests that the consumer is hanging in there.
CNBC
Daily Open: The U.S. economy is not built on rock and roll
In other news.
Market watchers warn Trump might not ‘chicken out’
of 30% tariffs on the EU
Published Wed, Jul 16 20259 :07 AM EDT
Global investors may be underestimating
U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to follow through on his latest tariff
threats, some market watchers have warned.
In his latest trade policy update,
Trump announced that he
would be slapping 30% tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. from the European
Union and Mexico from Aug. 1.
European markets had a muted reaction to
the news, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index ending
Monday’s session — the first after Trump sent his letter to
the EU —
0.06% lower. Tuesday’s session saw a slightly deeper
sell-off,
with the index shedding 0.4%, but sentiment was largely dampened by economic
growth concerns after U.S. inflation rose.
Compared with the rout seen in the
immediate aftermath of the so-called “liberation day” announcement earlier this
year, this week’s market moves mark a stark contrast in sentiment – even though
the looming EU tariff rate is higher than the one drawn up back in April.
On April 3 – the day after Trump unveiled
his reciprocal tariffs list that included a 20% blanket rate on EU goods – the
Stoxx 600 lost 2.7%. The subsequent two sessions saw the index plummet 5% and
4.5%, respectively.
Part of the reason for the less severe
reaction from markets might be due to investors doubling down on the so-called TACO
– Trump Always Chickens Out – trade, in which market participants are trading
assets with a firm belief that the White House’s tariff threats are merely a
negotiating tactic that are unlikely to come to fruition.
Indeed, there appears to be a strong
belief among many that a deal between the EU and the U.S. will be struck before
Trump’s looming Aug. 1 deadline.
“When it comes to the most recent tariff
threats, investors just aren’t getting worried,” Michael Field, European market
strategist, at Morningstar, told CNBC in an email on Wednesday.
“Of course, you could put this down to
complacency … but their experience of the last few months has shown that, so
far, tariff threats have simply been a way of getting people to the negotiation
table, and haven’t yet translated into a working policy.”
Others, however, have warned that this
approach could see some investors getting burned by the expectation of deals
being reached.
“I do believe these tariffs will
ultimately be implemented. I don’t think the EU is going to give in as easily
as Trump might hope,” Anthony Esposito, founder and CEO of Australian
investment advisory AscalonVI Capital, told CNBC.
“This scenario likely contributes to lower
global GDP growth, and it’s coming at a time when many of the EU’s largest
economies are burdened with historically high sovereign debt levels.”
European officials have expressed
optimism that
Washington and Brussels are edging closer to the framework of a trade
agreement, but it has also been made
clear that
the EU is ready to retaliate with countermeasures if its economic interests are
damaged by tariffs.
Kevin Yin, VP of investment at Phoenix,
Arizona-based Asterozoa Capital, argued that this time around, Trump has a
greater incentive to follow through on his tariff threats.
“The TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)
narrative has held so far, but now with domestic stock markets near all-time
highs and largely complacent to continued tariff threats, Trump has additional
leverage to continue his push which increases the chance of the 30% tariff rate
coming to fruition,” he said in an email. “On the other hand, Trump and
[Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent have shown more sensitivity to the bond
market, and the recent rise in yields may pressure the President and his team
to back off.”
More
TACO trade: Trump might not ‘chicken out’ of 30% tariffs on EU
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,
inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
17
July 2025
The
Bank of England has an interest rate headache as the spectre of stagflation
hangs over Britain.
Bleak
figures from the Office for National Statistics yesterday showed unemployment
at a four-year high of 4.7 per cent as Labour’s tax hikes cost jobs.
Borrowers
will hope that the jobs bloodbath, combined with two months in a row of
declining economic output, convinces the Bank to cut rates next month.
But
the central bank is also grappling with surging inflation at a 17-month high of 3.6 per cent.
While
a rate cut next month is expected, analysts warned it is far from certain.
Charlie McCurdy, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: ‘The jobs
data presents a clear case for lowering rates.
But
higher-than-expected inflation muddies the picture. The decision next month is
far from straightforward.’
Central
banks typically raise interest rates to control inflation and cut them when
it is no longer a problem and the economy needs a lift.
The
Bank has cut rates four times since last August – from 5.25 per cent to
4.25 per cent – and investors now think there will be fewer cuts for the
rest of this year.
Simon
French, economist at Panmure Liberum, expects two, having pencilled in four.
Matthew
Ryan, at global financial services firm Ebury, said: ‘Things are going from bad
to worse.
'This
week’s data puts the Bank in an extremely tough spot… an August rate reduction
remains on the cards.’
Stagflation fears fuel interest rate conundrum at the Bank of England amid jobs bloodbath
Covid-19
Corner
This
section will continue only occasionally when something of interest occurs.
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported.
Bororphene, the next graphene? Approx.
6 minutes.
Is graphene in the past?! Found a new miracle material! | Watch
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Another
weekend and another weekend closer to August 1, and the start of a new trade
war disaster or giant TACO number two with the EU, after TACO number one with
China? Have a great weekend everyone.
It’s
not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It’s the
customer who pays the wages.
Henry Ford
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