The Weekend Rip
Happy Weekend!
I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend and enjoyed the day off, at the beach, barbecuing, or watching fireworks, or however you chose to celebrate in the U.S.
This morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed the end of the tariff pause on Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News. Alongside chirping Elon Musk, (who may or may not have filed to start a new political party), Bessent said the White House would send tariff instructions to 100 countries that did not even try to reach out to the U.S. Like a SoundCloud rapper saying “big things coming soon,” selling beats on the subway, Bessent said they are still close to some major deals soon. Still, after no deals for all but two nations during the 90-day pause, April 2 Lib day tariffs will come back in August for everyone else.
Let's recap and prep you for the week ahead.
◀️ On Monday, the market closed at a record high, ending Q2 with a 10% gain in the S&P 500. Robinhood launched tokenized stock trading in the EU and added crypto staking in the U.S., while BitMine surged after raising $250M to build an Ethereum-focused treasury. Apple is reportedly considering using ChatGPT or Claude to power Siri after internal models underperformed. Meta launched a new AI division led by Alexandr Wang and Nat Friedman to unify its research efforts. Oracle jumped on news of a $30B cloud deal, Snap faced a lawsuit from Utah over teen safety concerns, and INmune Bio plunged after its Alzheimer’s drug failed trial expectations.
🌏️ On Tuesday, markets cooled slightly after a multi-session rally, with traders booking profits off recent highs. Fed Chair Powell noted rate cuts are on hold due to lingering tariffs, while the Senate passed a major GOP tax and spending bill. Figma filed for IPO, and Republic added Anthropic and Epic Games to its pre-IPO offerings. Car sales data showed strong Q2 demand, with Ford, GM, and Toyota posting gains, but Tesla continued to lag in EU registrations. Musk reignited a public feud with Trump, sparking further political drama over subsidies and tax policy. Analyst upgrades lifted Nike, Disney, and Magnite, while Luckin Coffee surged on its U.S. store launch.
⚡️ On Wednesday, markets hit fresh highs as investors shook off bad Q2 delivery data from Tesla, which rose 5% despite a 14% YoY decline. Health insurers plunged, led by a 40% drop in Centene, following GOP proposals to cut Medicaid coverage and an expiration of COVID-era plan flexibility. The White House secured a tariff-reducing trade deal* with Vietnam, boosting retail names like Nike and VF Corp, while warning that several key global partners have yet to finalize agreements before the July 9 deadline. In macro news, ADP reported a 33,000-job loss in June, and the U.S. Dollar posted its worst first-half performance since 1973 amid tariff pressure and deficit concerns.
🐂 On Thursday, Markets hit new records as traders kicked off the long weekend with bullish momentum. Datadog jumped 15% on news that it’s joining the S&P 500. Robinhood fell after OpenAI stated that it had never approved tokenized equity sales, telling users to ‘be careful.’ BitMine soared 130% after raising funds for an ETH treasury strategy. Unemployment held steady at 4.1%, and June payrolls beat expectations. Nvidia rallied to fresh highs, and Bitcoin approached its record. Meanwhile, *the White House still has to agree with Vietnam trade terms as the July 9 tariff deadline approaches.
🎆 On Friday, it was the Fourth of July! Let Freedom Ring! and give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy.
🤩 This week's Stocks Top 25 showed outperformance vs. the indexes.
Here are the closing prices:
S&P 500 | 6,279 | +2.25% |
Nasdaq | 22,866 | +1.87% |
Russell 2000 | 2,249 | +0.39% |
Dow Jones | 44,828 | +2.30% |
THE BRIEF
Need a concise summary of what's going on this week? Look no further. Here’s a rundown of this week’s earnings and economic data.
Earnings This Week
It’s still in between earnings season, with just 34 stocks reporting this week. But a week after next, the real season starts!
Above is a quick summary. Check out the full Stocks earnings calendar for the other names reporting this week.
Economic Calendar
It’s a light week of economic data, with investors focused on FOMC meeting minutes if you’re a nerd like me.
In addition to the above, check out this week's complete list of economic releases.