Wall Street Today | Brainard Sees Potential for Near-2% US Inflation by November 2024

US gross domestic product was revised up notably to a 2% annualized advance in the first quarter, data showed Thursday.

The government's third estimate of GDP for the period reflected upward revisions to exports and consumer spending. Household spending, the engine of the US economy, rose at a 4.2% pace — the strongest in nearly two years — as services outlays were adjusted higher.

US unemployment benefits applications fell last week by the most since October 2021 in a week that included the Juneteenth holiday.

Initial jobless claims decreased by 26,000 to 239,000 in the week ended June 24, according to the Labor Department's Thursday report. The figure was lower than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

President Joe Biden's chief economic adviser said that inflation numbers should improve through the second half of the year and that there's a reasonable chance the pace could get down around 2% by the time of the November 2024 election.

No interest rate cuts needed until 2025, Atlanta Fed president says.

The Federal Reserve does not need to raise its benchmark interest rate again this cycle unless the economic conditions change in an unexpected way, said Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, on Thursday.

Shares of banks dominated the stock-market leaderboard Thursday after the biggest lenders in the U.S. performed well in the Federal Reserve's annual stress tests.

The U.S. travel industry has recovered from the impact of Covid-19. Its stock-price recovery is still a work in progress.

Americans are once again boarding flights in numbers similar to prepandemic levels. About 2.3 million passengers, on average, have passed through U.S. airports each day this year, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration. That is on par with the daily average in 2019.

Second-quarter delivery results are coming for many auto makers. None will be watched more closely than the numbers from Tesla, the leader in electric vehicles.

The second-quarter numbers are expected on Sunday, Wall Street is looking for deliveries of about 445,000 cars, according to FactSet . That would be a quarterly record, up from about 423,000 delivered in the first quarter of 2023, and about 255,000 in the second quarter of 2022.