Dow Jones - 44,502.44 (+0.40%) 

Nasdaq - 20,892.69 (-0.39%) 

S&P 500 - 6,309.62 (+0.064%) 

• Mixed again. U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday following a strong start to the week that saw fresh record highs. Investors sifted through a new round of corporate earnings. 
• Bessent thinks Powell should finish his term. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is calling for increased scrutiny of the Federal Reserve’s operations, while stopping short of joining calls for Chair Jerome Powell’s immediate resignation—a demand President Trump has made repeatedly.
• Kohl’s stock jumped. Shares moved up nearly 30% Tuesday morning, with trading temporarily halted after shares briefly surged 105%.
• Amazon got an upgrade. Analysts are raising their price targets on Amazon (AMZN) ahead of the company’s upcoming second-quarter earnings report on July 31.
• Trump Media (DJT) stock jumped. The gains followed the company’s announcement that it purchased $2 billion worth of bitcoin (BTC-USD) and related securities.
• Microsoft scrambled to stop a global cyber attack. Hackers have exploited a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.’s widely used SharePoint software to infiltrate governments, businesses, and organizations worldwide, stealing sensitive data, according to officials and cybersecurity experts.
• Music lost a legend. Ozzy Osbourne, the trailblazing voice behind Black Sabbath and a defining figure in the evolution of heavy metal, has died at age 76. 
• Gold moved higher. The metal hit a 5-week high this week. Spot gold rose 1% to $3,428.84 per ounce by 2:10 p.m. ET (1810 GMT), hitting its highest since June 16.
• The U.S. dollar remains steady. The dollar is looking strong against a trade-weighted basket of currencies.
• Oil prices dipped. Brent, WTI fall about $1/bbl as trade talks deadline looms. Brent crude futures were down 82 cents, or 1.2%, to $68.39 a barrel by 1:59 p.m. EDT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for August delivery, set to expire on Tuesday, fell $1.05, or 1.6%, to $66.15 per barrel.
• The tariff deadline isn't stressing Trump out. Treasury Secretary Bessant emphasized that the U.S. is not rushing to finalize trade agreements before the self-imposed August 1 deadline.
• Bitcoin stalls under $120,000. Profit taking hit a 7-month high.
• Fed cut probability. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the likelihood of a Fed rate cut next week is under 5%, while the chances of at least one cut by September hover around 57%, though September odds have fallen recently.
• The end of capital gain taxes on home sales? President Donald Trump said he is considering a proposal to end capital gains taxes on home sales in a bid to boost the housing market.
• General Motors shares dropped. Shares lagged despite the company beating earnings and revenue estimates. CFO highlighted a $1.1 billion tariff-related hit in the quarter during an interview with CNBC. GM reaffirmed its May guidance, which accounted for a potential $4 billion to $5 billion tariff impact.
• Philip Morris went lower. The stock slipped after reporting earnings per share that beat expectations but revenue that missed consensus. The company also lowered its third-quarter and full-year guidance, forecasting 12% to 14% growth in smoke-free products but a 2% decline in cigarette volumes.
• Coca-Cola shares edged lower. The move followed earnings that slightly beat estimates on the bottom line but matched revenue expectations. The company issued fiscal 2025 EPS guidance below consensus and its prior outlook, citing a 1% to 2% currency headwind and a 1% impact from acquisitions, divestitures, and structural charges. Coca-Cola also announced that it will introduce beverages made with real cane sugar to its U.S. lineup this fall, while continuing to offer its signature products sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.
• Northrop Grumman gained. The company reported an earnings beat.
• Homebuilding stocks went higher. PulteGroup jumped 10%, while D.R. Horton surged 15%, as both homebuilders surprised investors with robust quarterly results.
• Mag 7 stocks Google and Tesla are on high watch. Google and Tesla edged higher ahead of their earnings reports today. The “Magnificent Seven” stocks have risen 27% over the past three months, outperforming the 11% gain in the rest of the S&P 500, according to Barron’s.
• Coinbase struck a big deal. The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, announced a strategic partnership with Pittsburgh-based PNC bank on Tuesday.
• Circle dragged even lower. The stock extended a 3.4% decline on Tuesday from the previous day.
• Apple hit two-week highs. Bloomberg reported plans for a foldable phone next year. Still, shares are down about 15% year to date.
• Lockheed Martin’s stock plunged. Earnings and revenue missed estimates, hurt by significant losses in a classified Aeronautics program. The company lowered fiscal 2025 earnings guidance below consensus.
• Sarepta Therapeutics slid. The FDA ordered the company to stop shipments of its bestselling drug.
• Cleveland-Cliffs shares surged. The steelmaker posted second-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations, despite year-over-year declines in both earnings and revenue.
• NXP Semiconductors declined. The company issued a Q3 outlook that forecasted lower earnings per share compared to last year, despite beating earnings and matching revenue estimates.
• Opendoor soared again. The stock is up 300% since July 11; Barron’s labeled it “a classic example of a meme stock.”
• Shares of Domino’s Pizza rose. The company reported its second-quarter results, as Wall Street weighed strong sales performance against weaker-than-expected earnings per share.
• Tax software company Avalara filed for an IPO. The company, which went private in 2022, disclosed on Monday it had confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering.
• Big Three automaker Stellantis cautioned on Monday that it anticipates a net loss of 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for the first half of 2025. This is driven by restructuring expenses, declining sales, and initial impacts from U.S. tariffs.
• Target dropped. Barclays downgraded the retailer from Equal Weight to Underweight, citing expectations that Target’s sales will continue to lag. Starting on July 28th, the retailer is altering its “price match” policy, which allowed customers to request and receive a refund for the difference of a product if the shopper found the identical item cheaper at Amazon, Walmart or Target itself within 14 days of purchase.
• Solana (SOL-USD) moved higher. A Florida-based real estate data firm revealed it had purchased nearly 1 million units of the world’s sixth-largest cryptocurrency.

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"There’s nothing that tells me that he should step down right now," Bessent said in an interview about Jerome Powell with Fox Business on Tuesday. "His term ends in May. If he wants to see that through, I think he should. If he wants to leave early, I think he should."

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Notable Stocks

• Tesla (TSLA)
• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Alphabet (GOOGL)
• General Motors (GM)
• Amazon (AMZN)

Weekly Notables

Ozzy Osbourne, Heavy Metal Legend Dies at 76

Ozzy Osbourne, the trailblazing voice behind Black Sabbath and a defining figure in the evolution of heavy metal, has died at age 76. The British icon, who also found fame as a solo artist and reality TV personality, passed away Tuesday following a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease, according to the BBC. Osbourne revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in January 2020 and formally stepped away from touring in February 2023, citing ongoing complications from a serious 2018 spinal injury. 

Amazon Receives Price Target Hike Ahead of Earnings

Analysts are raising their price targets on Amazon (AMZN) ahead of the company’s upcoming second-quarter earnings report on July 31.

Needham’s Laura Martin increased her target to $265 from $220, citing a combination of strong revenue growth from Amazon Web Services (AWS), record-setting Prime Day performance, easing tariff pressures, and reduced logistics costs driven by generative AI. "AMZN is reporting strong improvement in its labor productivity, which we believe is a lead indicator to upside share price performance," Martin noted.

Earnings Spotlight: Alphabet (GOOGL)

Google parent Alphabet will report its second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday as the company continues to ride the artificial intelligence wave. For the quarter, Google is expected to post adjusted earnings per share of $2.17 on revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC) of $79.6 billion, an 11.6% jump versus the same period last year, when the company posted revenue of $71.3 billion, according to analyst consensus data from Bloomberg. In the previous quarter, Alphabet narrowly beat Wall Street expectations but missed on YouTube revenue. The company’s chief business officer flagged trade uncertainty as a “slight headwind” for ad sales, specifically pointing to global retail partners impacted by shifting trade dynamics.