“Magnificent Seven” Stocks Down while Bitcoin Up

STATE OF THE UNION EVENING

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  • Markets: Stocks rose yesterday as investors watched Jerome Powell tell lawmakers that he still expects to cut interest rates this year, just not right away.
  • Stock spotlight: Troubled regional lender New York Community Bancorp, which fell 40% before soaring back up after announcing it’s getting $1 billion from investors, including ex-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s firm.

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Meanwhile, Stocks tumbled on Tuesday as several of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants shed some of their gains from earlier this year, dragging the entire market with them. One of those companies was Apple, which fell about 3% after a report suggested that iPhone sales in China have plunged in the first six weeks of 2024.

And, Bitcoin set a new record yesterday, briefly jumping past $69k before falling back down to ~$62k. The rally highlighted the crypto’s seemingly rapid recovery from the nail-in-the-coffin that was FTX’s demise in 2022.

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DAILY UPDATE: American Express Breached as Stock Markets Come Back

By Staff Reporters

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American Express Co. has told an undisclosed number of cardholders that their account information may have been breached in a recent hacking of a merchant processor. Current and previously issued American Express Card account numbers, expiration dates and customer names may have been compromised, AmEx stated in a notice filed last week with Massachusetts regulators. 

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500® index (SPX) rose 26.11 points (0.5%) to 5,104.76; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) gained 75.86 points (0.2%) to 38,661.05; the NASDAQ Composite® (COMP) added 91.95 points (0.6%) to 16,031.54.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) dropped about 3 basis points to 4.108%, near a four-week low.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 0.04 to 14.50

Semiconductor shares were among the market’s strongest performers Wednesday, and utilities and consumer staples were also firm. Banks shares took pressure despite further declines in Treasury yields. In other markets, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) fell near a five-week low and Gold (/GC) futures extended a rally to a record above $2,160 per ounce, reflecting expectations for lower U.S. interest rates. 

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