🧠 Earnings szn kicks-off: Banks tops estimates, Netflix raises revenue guidance but shares fall

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🏛️ Financial News

• US Tariffs 🗽 Trump pushes for 15-20% minimum tariff on all EU goods, Financial Times reports – Yahoo! Finance: Even if a deal with the European Union is reached, the Trump administration is now looking at a reciprocal tariff rate that exceeds 10%.

• Inflation 💸 Fed's inflation fears start to be realized with June CPI increase – Reuters: Rising prices across an array of goods from coffee to audio equipment to home furnishings pulled inflation higher in June in what economists see as evidence of the Trump administration's increasing import taxes passing through to consumers.

  • CNBC: Inflation outlook tumbles to pre-tariff levels in latest University of Michigan survey

• Federal Reserve 💵 Trump says he's not planning to fire Fed's Powell – Reuters: President Trump kept the door open to the possibility and renewed his criticism of the central bank chief for not lowering interest rates.

  • Axios: Trump's possible Fed pick who might succeed Powell

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🌎 Global Markets

• S&P 500 $SPY ( ▼ 0.03% ) 📊 S&P, Nasdaq ease after report of Trump mulling tariffs against Europe – Rueters: The two major US indices pushed to repeated record highs in recent weeks, as investors showed increased ambivalence to Trump's tariff threats, and confidence these policies may not damage the US economy as severely as once feared. 

  • etf.com via Yahoo! Finance: SPY attracts $1.8B as S&P 500 hits new closing record 

• Exchange-Traded Funds 🌍 US equity funds see weekly outflows on tariff worries, inflation pressure – Rueters: US equity funds again came under selling pressure through the week to July 16, dampened by worries over President Trump's tariff rhetoric and the buildup in inflationary pressure, potentially keeping the Federal Reserve cautious about a premature rate cut. 

• Europe Markets $STOXX ( 0.0% ) 🏰 ‘30% is untenable’: From Irish whiskey to Italian cheese, Trump’s tariff threat rattles EU exporters – CNBC: European exporters say a 30% US import tariff would drive prices unsustainably high and hammer their sales. While some manufacturers are shifting their supply chains stateside or elsewhere, not all businesses have the same flexibility or easily replace the developed US market.

• China Markets $MCHI ( ▼ 0.39% ) 🐉 China's second-quarter GDP growth tops forecast even as US tariff risks mount – Rueters: The world's No. 2 economy slowed in Q2 even as it topped market forecast in a show of resilience against US tariffs, though analysts warn of underlying weakness and rising risks that will ramp up pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus.

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🏦 Banks, Private Equity & Crypto

• Banks $GS ( ▼ 0.73% ) 🏦 CNBC: Goldman Sachs tops Q2 estimates, as traders generate $840M more revenue than expected

• Banks $BAC ( ▼ 0.45% ) 🏦 CNBC: Bank of America puts up mixed results as net interest income misses analysts’ expectations

• Banks : FinTech $XYZ ( ▼ 0.21% )  💱 CNBC: Block shares soar 10% on entry into S&P 500, replacing Hess

• Private Markets : 401k 💱 Trump order to help open up retirement plans to private markets, WSJ reports – CNBC: The Wall Street Journal reported President Trump is expected to sign an executive order designed to help make private-market investments more available to US 401k retirement plans. 

• Private Equity $BX ( ▼ 0.65% )  💼 Why Blackstone is buying rental homes in the US ... again. – CNBC: In recent years, the alternative asset manager spent billions acquiring rental housing portfolio contains apartment complexes, student housing, mobile home parks, and single-family rental properties in New York and Sun Belt states, including Texas, Georgia and Florida.

• Administration 🏛️ Trump signs stablecoin GENIUS Act, cementing first major crypto framework in US law – TheBlock: President Donald Trump signed a bill that would create a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, marking the first significant crypto-related legislation to be signed into law.

• Stablecoins 🏦 Big US banks plan to launch stablecoins, expecting crypto-friendly regulations – CNBC: Some large U.S. lenders, including Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab and Citibank (C.N), opens new tab, are working on launching stablecoins at a time when the country is looking to adopt more crypto-friendly regulations.

  • TheBlock: Charles Schwab sees spot bitcoin and ETH trading as 'growth' area, will introduce 'sometime soon'

  • CNBC: Coinbase steps into consumer market with stablecoin-powered ‘everything app’ that goes beyond trading

📊 Stock Market

• Media : Studios $NFLX ( ▼ 0.5% )▶️ Netflix tops Q2 estimates, citing “healthy” member growth and ad sales, as revenue jumps 16% – Variety: The global streaming giant raised its full-year revenue guidance after reporting Q2 revenue of $11.08B, higher than analyst estimates of $11.07B.

• Consumer : Transports $UBER ( ▼ 0.76% ) 🚖 Uber inks six-year robotaxi deal with Lucid, invests $300M in EV company – CNBC: Uber announced a partnership with Lucid to deploy more than 20,000 robotaxis over the next six years as demand for driverless cars kicks into high gear.

• Energy : Oil & Gas $CVX ( ▲ 0.93% )🛢️ CNBC: Chevron completes Hess acquisition after defeating Exxon in dispute over Guyana oil assets

• Staples : Beverages $PEP ( ▼ 1.31% ) 🧃 CNBC: PepsiCo beat Q2 earnings estimates and reiterated its full-year outlook, even as US demand falls

  • Reuters: PepsiCo to rebrand Lay's, Tostitos without artificial dyes, flavors

• Staples : Beverages $SBUX ( ▼ 0.79% )☕ Delish: You Can Now Order Starbucks' Secret Menu On The App with 4 new custom drink options

• Agriculture $ADM ( ▼ 1.07% ) 🚜 CNBC: Shares of high fructose syrup producer ADM tumble after Trump says Coca-Cola agrees to use real cane sugar

• Airlines $UAL ( ▲ 1.45% )✈️ CNBC: United Airlines issues new 2025 forecast as CEO says ‘world is less uncertain’

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🌐 Magnificent 7 & Technology

• Communications $META ( ▲ 0.7% )  👥 Meta hires two Apple AI researchers for Superintelligence push – CNBC: Bloomberg reported that Meta Platforms has hired Apple AI researchers Mark Lee and Tom Gunter for its Superintelligence Labs team, as it intensifies its pursuit for top AI talent.

• Semi-conductors $NVDA ( ▲ 1.87% ) 🧇 Nvidia says it will resume H20 AI chip sales to China ‘soon,’ following U.S. government assurances – CNBC: Nvidia is filing license applications with the US government to resume sales of its previously restricted H20 GPU to clients in China.

• Semi-conductors : Foundry $TSM ( ▼ 1.16% )  ⚡ Taiwan Semiconductor Q2 profit surges 60%, reaches historic high – CNBC: The world's largest contract chipmaker, posted a 60.7% jump in second-quarter net profit, beating market forecasts and hitting a historic high as it benefited from surging demand for semiconductors used in AI applications.

• Semi-conductors : Manufacturing $ASML ( ▲ 2.64% )⚒️ ASML shares drop 11% after the chip giant says it can’t confirm that it will grow in 2026 – CNBC: ASML reported net sales of 7.7 billion euros ($8.95 billion) in the second quarter, ahead of estimates. However, the company said it cannot confirm that it will grow in 2026. ASML is one of the most critical semiconductor supply chain companies in the world.

• Administration 🏛️ Reuters: Trump to unveil $70B in AI and energy investments in new data centers and power grid upgrades and expansion

  • CNBC: Westinghouse plans to build 10 large nuclear reactors in U.S., interim CEO tells Trump

  • CNBC: Coreweave stock pops after company announces $6B AI data center in Pennsylvania

• Private Equity $BLK ( ▼ 0.49% ) 💼 Blackstone to invest $25B in Pennsylvania data centers and natural gas plants, COO says – CNBC: The PE firm has identified several sites to build the energy-intensive centers with plans to partner with an electric utility to build multiple natural gas power generation facilities to fuel the data centers in Pennsylvania.

• Technology $GOOG ( ▼ 0.34% )🔍 Google to invest $25B on data centers and AI infrastructure across largest US electric grid – CNBC: Google will spend $25B in the PJM electric grid region, covering 13 states across the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest and South, over the next two years.

• Communications $META ( ▲ 0.7% ) 👥 Meta's Zuckerberg pledges hundreds of billions for AI data centers in superintelligence push – CNBC: Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta Platforms would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers for superintelligence, intensifying his pursuit of a technology he has chased with a talent war for top engineers.

• Frontier LLMs 🤖 OpenAI says it will use Google’s cloud for ChatGPT – CNBC: OpenAI will rely on Google Cloud Platform (as well as Microsoft, CoreWeave and Oracle) for ChatGPT and its application programming interface in several countries.

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🦾 AI Job Report

• Technology $AMZN🛒 Amazon cuts some jobs in cloud computing unit as layoffs continue – CNBC: Amazon is laying off an unspecified number of employees in its cloud computing division. The company has continued to lay off groups of employees this year after cutting more than 27,000 jobs since 2022. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has predicted its corporate workforce could shrink as a result of the company embracing generative artificial intelligence.

• Data Management 💱 Scale AI cuts 14% of workforce after Meta’s $14.3B investment, hiring of founder as it’s chief AI officer – CNBC: In a company memo, interim CEO Jason Droege said Scale AI ramped up its gen AI capacity “too quickly” and created too many layers of “excessive bureaucracy.”

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• US Travel 🧳 Travelers to the US must pay a new $250 ‘visa integrity fee’ – CNBC: The “visa integrity fee” is on top of other visa fees and but may be reimbursable. However, when the fee starts, and how to get a refund, remain unclear.

• Student Loans 🏫 Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ caps student loans, here’s what it means for borrowers – CNBC: Starting in mid-2026, President Trump’s massive tax and spending package will set new limits on student loan borrowing. Experts predict this new policy could have lasting consequences for higher education.

• Inflation 💸 Inflation Calculator: See How Much Inflation Is Costing You – US News: While inflation has cooled since 2022, the CPI rose 2.9% from Dec. 2023 to Dec. 2024. Individual households will experience inflation differently depending on their personal spending patterns.

• Retirement Planning 🏖️ Just 30% of workers expect to save $1M or more for retirement. Here’s how to boost retirement savings – CNBC: To live comfortably, workers who are investing in retirement plans expect to need a seven-figure sum, yet many say they will fall short of that goal.

  • Investment News: Great Wealth Transfer: Why advisors better get ready for more women with money

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We’ll be back next Saturday to recap the week’s financial news that keeps you informed on your personal wealth journey.

Thanks to Empower Personal Wealth for sponsoring. ← This is honestly a great tool I personally use through my work’s 401k provider.

✨ Happy Unprompting,

Rawee
[email protected]

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