Weekly Recap

• The major indexes all closed slightly in the green on Friday to wrap up the trading week. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones hit record highs on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 had suffered its biggest drop of the year on Thursday while the small-cap Russell 2000 had its best day of 2024. 
• Global market performance showed Asia's markets mixed. China was up on better-than-expected imports while Japan's Nikkei index fell lower after hitting record highs earlier in the week. 
• Bond yields closed down modestly with the 10-year Treasury yield at nearly 4.18%.
• The U.S. dollar dropped compared to major currencies after data showed headline consumer prices unexpectedly fell in June. 
• Oil snapped a four-week winning streak. Brent crude futures settled 37 cents lower to $85.03 per barrel. For the week, Brent futures fell more than 1.7 per cent after four weeks of gains. WTI futures posted 1.1 per cent weekly decline.
• Gold topped $2,400 as easing inflation bolstered optimism for Fed rate cuts.
• Wholesale inflation came in higher than expected. The producer price index (PPI) inflation was 2.6% annualized in June. This was higher than the 2.4% seen in May and the 2.3% that was expected. The Core PPI rose 3% YOY compared with the 2.6% prior reading.
• The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment dropped to an eight-month low of 66.0, down from 68.2 in June and the 68.5 economists had expected. 
• Initial jobless claims came in lower at 222K. This was well below the 236K estimate and at the lowest levels since late May.

Most Active Stocks

• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Lucid Group, Inc. (LCID)
• Tesla (TSLA)
• SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN)
• Ford Motor Company (F)

Biggest Gainers

• Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (MARA) +9.20%
• IG Group Holdings (IGGRF) +25.86%
• SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) +15.46%
• QuantumScape Corporation (QS) +16.86%
• Iris Energy Limited (IREN) +9.91%

Biggest Losers

• Arbor Realty Trust Inc. (ABR) -17%
• BW LPG Limited (BWLP) -8.88%
• Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) -6.02%
• Align Technology, Inc. (ALGN) -5.33%
• Bibibili, Inc. (BILI) -5.16%

Weekly Notables

Apple Hits 7th Straight Record Close

Apple achieved a record market capitalization of $3.56 trillion last week as it approaches the $4 trillion milestone. The iPhone maker recently received a pair of price target hikes. An analyst at Piper Sandler raised its target to $225 per share from $190, while an analyst at Needham took a more aggressive view and raised the target to $260.

Jamie Dimon Believes Inflation and Interest Rates May Stay Higher

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon issued another warning last Friday about inflation despite recent signs of easing in price pressures.“There has been some progress bringing inflation down, but there are still multiple inflationary forces in front of us: large fiscal deficits, infrastructure needs, restructuring of trade and remilitarization of the world,” Dimon said in a statement along with the bank’s second-quarter results. “Therefore, inflation and interest rates may stay higher than the market expects.”

The Crypto Market Could Rebound in August 

Crypto liquidations should abate this month and the market is expected to rebound from August onward said JPMorgan (JPM) in a research report on Wednesday. The bank lowered its year-to-date crypto net flow estimate to $8 billion from $12 billion previously. The Wall Street firm is skeptical that the prior estimate of $12 billion would continue for the rest of the year given how high bitcoin (BTC) was relative to its production cost or relative to the price of gold, according to the report. 

The Week Ahead

• Corporate earnings season begins this week. Companies will begin to report their second quarter results this week.  Year-over-year earnings growth is estimated to be 8.8%, which would be the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2022. 
• Key earnings to pay attention to: Netflix, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are some of the big names reporting earnings this week. Netflix reported impressive first-quarter results back in April, beating analysts' top- and bottom-line estimates and reporting a bigger increase in subscriber growth than Wall Street anticipated. Can it do it again?
• Several economic reports are on schedule for the week. Tuesday (July 16): Business Inventories, Export Prices, Import Prices, NAHB Housing Market Index, Retail Sales. Wednesday (July 17): Building Permits, Capacity Utilization, EIA Crude Oil Inventories, Housing Starts, Industrial Production, MBA Mortgage Applications Index. Thursday (July 18): Continuing Claims, EIA Natural Gas Inventories, Initial Claims, Leading Indicators, Net Long-Term TIC Flows.