CLOSING BELL
Save Your Pennies
The market did not change much on Tuesday, though policy decisions continued to send specific names and industries into all-time highs. Copper flew after President Trump said sector-specific tariffs were on the way at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, including a surprise 50% levy on copper imports— hope you saved your pennies. Copper futures hit an all-time high, and had their best day since at least 1988.
According to Jonathan Morgan, our Litepaper writer and resident coin expert, pennies minted before 1982 are 100% copper, worth about 3C a coin. Makes cents to me. 👀
Today's issue covers they tariff copper right after cutting penny production, regulatory snoozefest moved industries and more.
With the final numbers for indexes and the ETFs that track them, 4 of 11 sectors closed green, with energy $XLE ( ▲ 2.69% )leading and utilities $XLU ( ▼ 1.06% )lagging.
S&P 500 $SPY ( ▼ 0.06% ) 6,225
Nasdaq 100 $QQQ ( ▲ 0.06% ) 22,702
Russell 2000 $IWM ( ▲ 0.69% ) 2,228
Dow Jones $DIA ( ▼ 0.37% ) 42,240
STOCKS
Of All Times To Turn Up Penniless, It’s Today
The White House put on another wonderful edition of ‘House Husbands Of Pennsylvania Ave” on Tuesday, this edition filled with more trade and war talk.
First, copper levies were raised to match taxes on steel and other metals.
September futures on copper hit $5.89 a pound shortly after the news. The U.S. imports half of all its copper from Chile, and it’s the third most consumed metal in the country, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Then, there was talk of other sector tariffs. Trump said to expect a major tax on foreign pharmaceuticals coming soon, somewhere “like 200%.”
The news sent $MRNA ( ▲ 8.83% ) and other pharma names higher, though Moderna climbed alongside news that the firm would sue RFK Jr. for allegedly unlawful vaccine rollbacks.
After a Monday comment that suggested the new trade letters were merely an extension, Trump reaffirmed that all tariffs will take effect on August 1 with no concessions, declaring all dues “payable.” And pay they will; Trump said he expects the new taxes to pull in $300B by the end of the year.
The president also said he was close to an EU deal, coming sometime this week. Germany warned on Tuesday that the EU will retaliate if a fair trade deal isn’t reached with Trump, having reviewed the 14 social media letters sent to nations on Monday, and likely getting nervous.
COMPANY NEWS
Tuesday’s Regulatory Snoozfest Moved Stocks
There was more regulatory news that helped push along stock Tuesday, and yes, in an aside, I look forward to earnings season news for more variety. I promise we’ll return to non-political topics next week with the fresh start of Q2s reports.
Fair Isaac’s ticker $FICO ( ▼ 8.91% ) fell after the FHFA approved VantageScore 4.0 for mortgages, ending its longtime dominance in GSE credit scoring.
Fair Isaac sells the FICO score, and any boost to competitors, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s VantageScore, hurts its dominance in the credit world. FICO is the choice for 90% of the top lenders in the U.S.
Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said on Tuesday that $FMCC ( ▼ 0.52% ) will allow mortgage lenders to use the 4.0 model to evaluate creditworthiness.
Albemarle $ALB ( ▲ 7.21% ) and other major chemical producers climbed after positive news of deregulation within their industry. The Fed said it was withdrawing rules that limited 18 chemical substances, first proposed in 2023.
Finally, the solar industry fell after some harsh words from the president. $FSLR ( ▼ 6.54% ) and $RUN ( ▼ 11.43% ) led the way. The president not only helped push through legislation that removed green energy financing tax breaks, but Monday he signed an Executive order to cut any 'preferential treatments’ green tech has received. He called solar power “stupid” and “ugly.” It’s like he was bullied by a solar panel in middle school.
POPS & DROPS
Top Stocks News Stories
Shein confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO to accelerate listing plans and pressure U.K. regulators after its London push stalled over Xinjiang supply chain disputes. Read more
BigBear.ai saw a 260% three-month surge, but declining sentiment and message volume suggest retail enthusiasm may be waning. Read more
GE Vernova rose 2.6% to near record highs after UBS gave it a “Buy” rating with a street-high $614 target, citing AI-driven electricity demand and 70% projected earnings growth. Read more
Hershey appointed Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner to lead the company as part of a broader succession strategy amid evolving food market dynamics. Read more
IBM launched its Power11 servers to support AI, hybrid cloud, and critical workloads across banking, healthcare, and retail, with quantum-resistant security and on-chip AI arriving in Q4. Read more
Honeywell is exploring strategic alternatives for its Productivity and Warehouse divisions ahead of a corporate split into three independent companies. Read more
AppLovin received an “Outperform” rating and $430 price target from Scotiabank, which cited strong EBITDA margins and revenue growth but noted retail sentiment remains cautious. Read more
Novo Nordisk submitted an application to the EMA for a 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy after trials showed 21% average weight loss and a well-tolerated safety profile. Read more
Medtronic named Chad Spooner CFO of MiniMed, its new diabetes unit slated for spin-off and IPO, with the move expected to be accretive to earnings. Read more
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev defended offering OpenAI and SpaceX tokens, saying equity status is “not entirely relevant” to giving retail investors access. Read more
Dan Ives urged Tesla’s board to anchor Elon Musk’s focus on the EV business with new incentives and political guardrails, calling it “a tipping point” in the company’s story. Musk told him to “Shut up, Dan.” Read more
WHAT’S ON DECK
Tomorrow’s Top Things
Economic data: Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 AM), Cushing Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 AM), 10-Year Note Auction (1:00 PM), Atlanta Fed GDPNow (Q2) (1:00 PM), FOMC Meeting Minutes (2:00 PM).