Stocks are embracing in-line inflation figures. Ditto for gold and silver. Crude oil is hugging the flatline along with Treasuries, while the dollar is a bit lower.
Wall Street was holding its breath ahead of this morning’s inflation report. But the Consumer Price Index (CPI) didn’t feature much in the way of surprises. The headline CPI rose 0.1% in July, matching forecasts, while the core CPI rose 0.2%, also matching forecasts. The year-over-year core CPI rate dipped to 2.5% from 2.6% a month earlier, continuing a general downward trend that could be interrupted by pricing pressures tied to the Middle East conflict.
Source: Trading Economics
So, will the Federal Reserve hike interest rates at the meeting that concludes Sept. 16...or not? It’s still a tossup based on rate futures market pricing. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh will have an opportunity to shape expectations in late August at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Wyoming (IF he chooses to do so, that is).
In the ETF space, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said it would buy Neos Investments for $2.25 billion to add the firm’s lineup of funds to its offerings. Privately held Neos is a big sponsor of options income ETFs, which investors have gravitated toward for their high yields. The firm has amassed $32 billion in assets under management despite only being founded in 2022. Goldman stock is up 13.3% year-to-date.
Finally, eToro Group Ltd. (ETOR) agreed to purchase TradeZero for $231 million to expand its active trader offerings in the US. TradeZero is a brokerage operation founded in 2015 with tools and features that appeal to high-volume traders. eToro CEO Yoni Assia said the acquisition was “an important step in building our US business.” eToro stock is down 17.8% YTD.
