- Asia Sees Cautious Open; US Stocks Buoyed by Trump: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia were muted in early Tuesday trading, following gains on Wall Street fuelled by optimism surrounding a second Donald Trump term as the former US president chose his running mate. Equity benchmarks rose in Japan and Korea, while those in Australia were steady. - Match Shares Jump After Activist Starboard Builds 6.6% Stake
(Bloomberg) — Shares of Match Group Inc. jumped as much as 11% after hedge fund Starboard Value took a stake in the owner of dating apps such as Tinder and Hinge. Starboard has built a stake of more than 6.6% in Match, according to a letter reviewed by Bloomberg News. - Hurricane Beryl’s Cascade of Crises Was Sign of Storms to Come
(Bloomberg) — For most of us, disaster damage brings to mind the immediate impacts of a violent storm, like houses with their roofs torn off. For insurance and reinsurance companies, that’s just the beginning of their worries. They’re increasingly concerned about cascading damages: the down-the-road disruptions to productivity, health and supply chains. - Trump Taps Vance as Running Mate, Picking Populist Protege
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump tapped JD Vance as his running mate, elevating to the Republican presidential ticket a venture capitalist-turned-senator whose embrace of populist politics garnered national attention and made him a rising star in the party. - Biden Defends Rhetoric, Criticizes Trump After Shooting
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden defended his suggestion that Donald Trump should be “put in the bullseye” in an NBC News interview Monday following the assassination attempt on his Republican opponent. it was a mistake to use the word I didn’t meet I didn’t say crosshairs, I said bullseye, I meant focus on him, focus on what he’s doing. - Powell Says Recent Data Raise Confidence Inflation on Path to 2%
(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said second-quarter economic data has provided policymakers greater confidence that inflation is heading down to the central bank’s 2% goal, possibly paving the way for near-term interest-rate cuts. - Xi’s Great Economic Rewiring Is Cushioning China’s Slowdown
(Bloomberg) — China’s twin-track economy is generating doom-and-gloom headlines about domestic woes one moment and growing fears around the world about the dominance of its manufacturers the next. Those conflicting signals on Monday showed ongoing strength in industrial production more than offset by tepid consumption as the property slump continues. - Trump Trade Jumpstarts Bond Bet That Needs Fed for Next Boost
(Bloomberg) — Politics has helped breathe new life into one of bond traders’ most beleaguered bets, but only the Federal Reserve can give it a real turbo boost. The momentum behind Donald Trump’s presidential bid has pressured long-term Treasury bonds, sending their yields higher. - Pro-Trump Super PAC Backed by Elon Musk Raises $8.8 Million
(Bloomberg) — Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale and crypto billionaires Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss are among the big donors to the super political action committee backing Donald Trump that’s also getting support from Elon Musk. America PAC raised $8.8 million in the second quarter, spent $7.8 million and started July with a little less than $1 million cash on hand. - Elon Musk Has Said He Is Committing Around $45 Million a Month to a New Pro-Trump Super PAC — WSJ
Elon Musk has said he plans to commit around $45 million a month to a new super political action committee backing former President Donald Trump’s presidential run, according to people familiar with the matter. Other backers of the group, called America PAC, include Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, the Winklevoss twins, former U.S. ambassador. - Banxico’s Mejia Says Rate Cut Could Come in August: Expansion
(Bloomberg) — Banco de Mexico’s Deputy Governor Omar Mejia said there could be an adjustment in the benchmark interest rate in August, but any cuts would have to be gradual and an initial one would not signal a monetary easing cycle, according to remarks made in an interview with Expansion. Mejia, the only board member to vote for a rate cut in June. - Migrant Influx to Keep Cooling US Job Market, SF Fed Study Says
(Bloomberg) — A slowing in the US labour market that started last year is set to continue amid an ongoing wave of undocumented immigration, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco study. “My estimates suggest that around one-fifth of the easing of labour market tightness in 2023 can be attributed to the spike in immigration,” San Francisco Fed economist Evgeniya. - Stocks Up as Trump Picks VP in Generational Shift: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rose as wild volatility calls failed to materialize after Donald Trump’s assassination attempt bolstered his chances of taking over the White House. He tapped JD Vance as his running mate. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time high. Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. soared 31%. Conservative video-sharing platform Rumble Inc. jumped. - Goldman Profit Surges as Traders Top Analysts’ Estimates
(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s trading unit powered a surge in earnings in the second quarter. Both fixed-income and equity traders outpaced analysts’ estimates, while a rebounding capital-markets business helped drive better-than-expected results across much of the company’s Wall Street operations. - BlackRock Hits $10.6 Trillion Asset Record, Cites ETF Boost
(Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc. hauled in $51 billion of client cash to its long-term investment funds in the second quarter, pushing the world’s largest money manager to a record $10.6 trillion of assets. Investors added $83 billion to ETFs and $35 billion to fixed-income overall, New York-based BlackRock said Monday in a statement. - Hedge Funds Continue to Ditch Brazil as Bearish Bets Pay Off
(Bloomberg) — Brazilian hedge funds are trimming exposure to local markets amid risks over the country’s mounting debt and upcoming changes at the central bank. Local powerhouses such as JGP Asset Management and Verde Asset Management rose last month as bets on rising swap rates and a weaker Brazilian real paid off. - Macy’s Sinks Most in Four Years After Ending Buyout Talks
(Bloomberg) — Macy’s Inc.’s shares tumbled on Monday after it ended discussions with two investors to buy out the department store chain, pledging to execute a turnaround plan on its own. Shares sunk as much as 16%, their biggest decline in four years, after the company said a buyout offer from Ark house Management Co. and Brigade Capital Management wasn’t an “actionable. - KKR-Backed OneStream, Shareholders Seek $466 Million in US IPO
(Bloomberg) — OneStream Inc. and a group of shareholders including KKR & Co. are seeking to raise $465.5 million in a US initial public offering. The company, which offers a cloud-based platform with more than 90 applications including accounting and budgeting, and the shareholders are offering 24.5 million shares for $17 to $19 each, according to a filing Monday. - Market Chatter: Paramount Global Asked for Details by Gabelli on National Amusements’ Valuation
Paramount Global (PARA) is being asked for details about the valuation of National Amusements assets by Mario Gabelli’s investment firm, Reuters reported Friday, citing the investor. The request comes shortly after Sky dance Media and Paramount Global agreed to merge in a deal under which Sky dance will acquire. - Fed’s Powell Is Taking the Stage Again. Expect Talk of Rates, Inflation.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will take part in a moderated question-and-answer session on Monday, giving him a chance to discuss the outlook for the U.S. economy and interest rates days after a promising June inflation report. - Market Chatter: Lundin Eyes Joint Bid with BHP for Copper Miner Filo
Canada’s Lundin Mining (LUMI.ST) commenced talks with BHP Group (BHP.L, BHG.JO) for a joint bid for copper miner Filo Corp. (FIL.ST), Bloomberg News reported July 12, citing people familiar with the matter. The Lundin family already owns a 32% stake in Filo, while BHP’s stake in the miner is 6%. - Swatch shares dropped 9.8% after the Swiss watchmaker reported disappointing 1H results on weak China demand and FX effects.
FIRST HALF RESULTS: Operating profit CHF204 million, -70% y/y, estimate CHF500.2 million. Operating margin 5.9%, estimate 13.4%. Net sales CHF3.45 billion, estimate CHF3.77 billion. Sales at constant exchange rates -10.7%, estimate +1.86%. Net income CHF147 million, estimate CHF383 million. COMMENTARY AND CONTEXT: Group expects situation to improve strongly in the second half of the year. Decline in sales triggered by the sharp drop in demand for luxury goods in China. “In June, the Group’s operating margin already rose again to over 15%, which is a positive sign for the second half of the year 2024.” Further strong growth is expected in Japan and the USA in the second half of 2024. Full positive impact of cost-cutting program introduced at the start of the year will be felt in the second half of the year. Group expects the Chinese market to remain challenging for the entire luxury goods industry until the end of the year. - Burberry shares dropped 16.1% after the British luxury label said its first-quarter performance for 2025 was “disappointing” and suspended its dividend. The group also replaced CEO Jonathan Akeroyd after less than two-and-a-half years with Joshua Schulman, a former CEO of Michael Kors, Coach and Jimmy Choo.
FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS: Retail sales GBP458 million, estimate GBP491.1 million. Retail revenue CER -20%, estimate -14.3%. COMMENTARY AND CONTEXT: Burberry CEO Jonathan Akeroyd is stepping down and leaving with immediate effect by mutual agreement with the board. Names Joshua Schulman as CEO. Company says slowdown in trading it experienced in 1Q FY25 continued into July. If the trend were to continue through the current quarter, company would expect to report a 1H FY25 operating loss and FY25 operating profit to be below current consensus. - Apple rose 1.7% after the tech giant was named a top pick at Morgan Stanley, with the broker seeing the launch of the company’s artificial intelligence platform triggering a record rush among users to upgrade their smartphones, tablets and computers.
Analyst Erik Woodring boosted his price target on the tech giant’s shares to $273, the third-highest among analysts, saying Apple Intelligence has potential to drive a record number of device upgrades. The feature is a “clear catalyst” for a multi-year upgrade cycle, he wrote Monday. The highest price target for Apple shares comes from Loop Capital, which on Monday raised the stock to buy from hold and boosted its objective to $300 from $170. Apple is in a position to become the generative AI “base camp” of choice for consumers, “just as it has done for digital content (iPod) and social media (iPhone),” analyst Ananda Baruah wrote. - Netflix shares rise 1.4% after both Morgan Stanley and Bank of America raised their price target on the streaming service ahead of its July 18 earnings announcement.
Morgan Stanley (overweight, PT to $780 from $700): Analyst Benjamin Swinburne said the streaming service was “in a league of its own” in both the strength of its international content and depth of consumption. “We see a path to our $950 bull case now by YE25,” Swinburne write. Bank of America (buy, PT to $740 from $700): Analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich writes that the company is “well suited for healthy subscriber growth”. She anticipates a “significant advertising ramp” in 2025 and 2026. - Goldman Sachs’s trading unit powered a surge in earnings in the second quarter.
Both fixed-income and equity traders outpaced estimates, while a rebounding capital-markets business helped drive better-than-expected results. Still, in a surprise reversal, the company pocketed less in fees from arranging mergers than JPMorgan. Goldman tends to lead the industry in that business and rarely falls behind its rival. Earnings in the second quarter were 2.5 times higher than what Goldman posted a year ago, when it was plagued by losses in real estate investments and the consumer-banking unit in the middle of an industrywide dealmaking slowdown. Net income was $3.04 billion on $12.7 billion in revenue in the three months through June 30. Shares rose 2.6%. - The next front in U.S.-China tech battle? Underwater cables that power the global internet
With tech tensions between the U.S. and China rising, vast networks of underwater cables are becoming a new source of strain in international relations. Subsea cables are the backbone of the global internet, carrying 99% of the world’s data traffic. The U.S. government reportedly warned tech firms including Google and Meta that undersea cables in the Pacific could be vulnerable to spying by China. - Stock futures rise slightly following a record-setting session for the Dow
U.S. stock futures were slightly higher on Tuesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high. Futures rose by 65 points, or about 0.16%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures respectively climbed 0.19% and 0.31%. Earlier in the day, the Dow advanced 0.53% to a record close. The 30-stock index also hit an all-time high during the session. The S&P 500 added 0.28%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4%. - Gold drifts higher as U.S. rate cut optimism boosts appeal
Gold prices nudged higher on Tuesday as comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell bolstered the case for a September rate cut, while investors awaited more U.S. economic data for further monetary policy cues. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,423.89 per ounce by 0140 GMT. On Monday, prices hit their highest level since May 20, when bullion scaled a record peak of $2,449.89.
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