Weekly News Summary for June 30 to July 06
Friday: June 30: US Consumer Spending Went Down
Consumer spending in America weakened as households held back from purchasing new light trucks and other manufactured goods due to higher borrowing costs. The data hinted that the economy slowed down in the second quarter. The low consumer spending steered the spotlight away from the positive data on the labor and housing markets that showed economic resilience.
According to economists, the recent information reported and slightly better inflation news allow the Federal Reserve to skip a meeting for the month. However, ongoing issues in core prices would likely hit the brakes in July.
Monday: July 03: Wall Street Indexes Rose in Shortened Session
Wall Street’s main indexes closed slightly higher on Monday in a holiday-shortened session. Tesla contributed to its gains and bank shares strength in the year’s second half on a muted note. Tesla’s shares went up by 6.90% since it delivered an impressive record number of electric vehicles in the second quarter.
Dividends of central banks increased after the firm’s gains rose as they glided through the yearly health check on the Federal Reserve. Moreover, Wells Fargo shares jumped by 1.70%, Citigroup climbed by 1.50%, and the S&P 500 banks index closed at 1.50%.
Tuesday: July 04: Oil Prices Jumped due to Supply Cuts
Oil prices went up by 2.00% on Tuesday when markets considered August supply cuts by significant exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia to combat a weak global economic outlook. Saudi reported it would voluntarily cut outputs to one million barrels per day until August as Russia and Algeria want to lower August volumes and delivery levels to 500,000 bpd and 200,000 bpd, accordingly.
Brent crude and US West Texas Intermediate crude contracts settled up $1.60 at $76.25 a barrel and $1.44 to $71.23 per barrel, respectively. Saudi Arabia is exerting efforts to stabilize oil prices and have it reach $80.00 per barrel to maintain its domestic budget.
Wednesday: July 05: Meta Releases Threads Application
On Wednesday, Meta officially released an application called Threads, which is a text-based rival to Twitter. However, its rollout in Europe was delayed due to data privacy issues. It is Twitter’s most significant competitor yet. The Elon Musk-owned company has seen several potential rivals but was still not dethroned as one of social media’s most famous companies despite struggles.
The application was considered a spin-off of Instagram, which has a built-in audience of over two billion users, eliminating the challenge of starting from scratch. Mark Zuckerberg is said to be taking advantage of Musk’s struggling status in owning Twitter. Meta hopes Threads will be a go-to communication platform for celebrities, firms and politicians.
Thursday: July 06: BlackRock CEO Praises Bitcoin
Previously, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink called Bitcoin an index of money laundering. Now, he stated that the most prominent cryptocurrency was digitalizing gold. The entity contributed to encouraging a Bitcoin run with its application. As a result, it led investors to put money into the space, boosting the asset to a 12-month high.
Despite Fink’s negative comments about the cryptocurrency in the past, after some years, he admitted that Bitcoin was a great asset and even earned money from investing in it. He added that the asset would keep on growing.
