All-Time Highs Are Getting Old While Market Awaits Q2 Earnings

Morning traders Jerome Powell is speaking in front of the Senate today, and the moomoo team arrived at our new office, overlooking all of Manhattan and the Hudson River!

My name is Kevin Travers, and here are stories from the moomoo herd on Wall Street today.

Crude oil futures climbed 0.74%. Bitcoin fell 0.47%, resting at $57k/coin. Gold and Silver climbed, while the U.S. 2-year and U.S. 10 year treasury note yeilds traded flat.

As a general recap, the market was advancing overall while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit all-time highs yet again.

Overall 6400 equities climbed, while 3700 fell.

In macroeconomics this week, investors can watch for CPI data on Thursday, expected at 3.1%, and Core at 3.4%. PPI comes out Friday, expected at 0.2% core. Investors watched Powell speak in front of yet another Capitol Hill committee, where he said the Fed was waiting for a consensus before acting on interest rate changes, but they were ready to go.

Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he would like more data supporting rate cuts, but the Fed keeps its options open.

"We know that reducing policy restraint too soon or too much could stall or even reverse the progress we have seen on inflation," Powell said. "In light of the progress made both in lowering inflation and in cooling the labor market over the past two years, elevated inflation is not the only risk we face."

Powell pointed to rising unemployment numbers over the past three months as an example of a cooling market. The unemployment rate most recently peaked at 4.1% in June, he said, while payrolls have shown an increase of 222,000 a month for the past six months. He attributed the job-to-workers gap fall to increased labor participation and strong immigration numbers.

He said that, compared to two years ago, the labor market had cooled significantly to just above where it sat in 2019 and that inflation was not the Fed's only concern.

He also said the Fed does not need inflation below 2% before cutting rates, just evidence inflation is on its way there.

"Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment," Powell said.