Three Things to Watch
- Trade and geopolitics will be closely watched this week. On Friday, Presidents Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska to attempt to find a truce in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains opposed to any swapping or ceding of territory, and the oil markets in particular will watch the headlines closely.
- The earnings season is almost complete, with earnings generally coming in better than expected. Some high-profile names still have to report, with Cisco, Applied Materials, and Alibaba on the tapes this week.
- The economic calendar will be highlighted by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Tuesday. Inflation is expected to creep higher as retailers raised prices on objects subject to higher import prices. Core CPI is expected up 3% year over year, with overall inflation accelerating to 2.8%. Friday will bring July retail sales, which are forecast to be solid as they include Amazon’s Prime Day and car buying incentives.
Three Things to Know
- The five best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 so far this year are Palantir (software), GE Vernova (electrical equipment), Newmont (metals and mining), Seagate (technology hardware, storage and peripherals) and NRG Energy (electric utilities). (Source: Creative Planning)
- It’s not talked about much, but mortgage debt is now less than one-third the value of the U.S. housing market, the lowest level since the 1950s. (Source: Bespoke)
- With 90% of S&P 500 members having reported earnings, 366 (81.2%) posted positive earnings surprises, with an aggregate surprise of 8.42%. (Source: Bloomberg)