Stocks have been marching mostly higher this week, and this morning is no exception. Meanwhile, crude oil, gold, and silver are trading around the flatline along with Treasuries.
The dollar is up a smidge. And while it’s not doing much of anything today so far, Bitcoin is quietly having a strong week and strong year. The cryptocurrency was recently up 87% YTD.
On the news front…
It’s “Big Bank” earnings day, and a couple of the biggest had good news to share with shareholders. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) beat revenue and profit targets, reporting $14.45 billion, or $4.75 per share, in profit against an average forecast of $3.97 per share. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) turned in $4.94 billion, or $1.25 per share, in earnings, beating the $1.16 per share expected by Wall Street.
Citigroup (C) was the outlier, reporting a 36% drop in profit amid weaker activity in its investment banking and markets divisions. Net income came in at $2.92 billion, or $1.33 per share, roughly in line with forecasts, while revenue inched down 1% to $19.4 billion.
In the cryptocurrency world, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suffered a setback in its efforts to more tightly regulate markets. A federal judge ruled yesterday that the firm Ripple didn’t violate securities laws by creating a digital asset called XRP and allowing it to be traded on public exchanges. But other lawsuits and regulatory actions are still pending against the beleaguered industry.
Meanwhile, we got even MORE good news on the inflation front. Import prices dropped a greater-than-expected 0.2% in June, while export prices fell a greater-than-expected 0.9%. From a year ago, the cost of imported goods dropped 6.1%. That was the biggest drop going all the way back to May 2020.
That said, the Wall Street Journal’s “Fed Whisperer” Nick Timiraos reported that most Federal Reserve policymakers want to raise interest rates again at the July 25-26 meeting. But the article from a reporter who has an uncanny knack for delivering accurate analysis of Fed thinking also noted that this could be the last hike in the cycle. Depending on how the data shakes out, the Fed may raise rates no higher than the 5.25%-5.5% range they would hit with an additional 25 basis point hike this month.