The U.S. financial system shouldn’t be constructed on rock and roll

Regardless of the noise round tariffs and inflation fears, the U.S. financial system appears to be holding its floor — for now. June retail gross sales got here in stronger than anticipated, and weekly jobless claims dropped under forecasts.

Add to {that a} stable begin to earnings season, and you have got a recipe for report highs: each the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched recent peaks.

So, is the financial system really resilient within the face of the Trump administration’s shifting commerce winds? Or are we merely within the eye of the storm, with August 1 — the Trump tariff deadline — looming on the horizon?

Keep in mind, financial information is at all times a step behind. The actual influence of tariffs might not present up for months, particularly if companies and shoppers are stockpiling forward of time and international exporters are chopping their costs.

Even when the brand new tariffs hit, the results is likely to be muted at first as inventories clear.

Nonetheless, for now, buyers can take consolation in the truth that markets are being lifted by fundamentals — not simply worry or hypothesis.

And sure, to borrow a line from Starship: the U.S. financial system remains to be constructed on rock-solid information… not on rock and roll.

— Lim Hui Jie

Netflix posts earnings beat. Income for the streaming big grew 16% through the second quarter of 2025. The corporate additionally up to date its full-year income forecast, noting that it expects income to be between $44.8 billion and $45.2 billion, up from a variety of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion, reflecting the weakening of the U.S. greenback, “wholesome” member development and advert gross sales, it mentioned in an announcement.

S&P and Nasdaq storm to new information. U.S. shares climbed Thursday resulting from stable earnings and financial information, with the S&P 500 up 0.54% for a report shut of 6,297.36 — its ninth this 12 months. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite superior 0.75% for its tenth report shut of 2025, ending at 20,885.65. The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.96% after a raft of earnings experiences.

Trump takes goal at photo voltaic and wind initiatives. U.S. Inside Secretary Doug Burgum will now have the ultimate say on whether or not these initiatives can proceed on U.S.-owned lands, as a method of “levelling the enjoying area” for coal and pure gasoline “after years of assault” by Biden administration, in line with an Inside Division’s inner memo Thursday.

Layoffs at Amazon proceed. The corporate confirmed layoffs in its cloud computing division Thursday. The corporate declined to say which models inside Amazon Internet Companies have been impacted, or what number of workers might be let go on account of the job cuts, however AWS’ coaching and certification unit was one of many teams to see cuts, in line with a memo considered by CNBC.

[PRO] The U.S. client pushes again on recession fears. U.S. shoppers seem to show financial pessimists incorrect this summer season as they flex their spending muscle, in line with June’s retail gross sales report. However some different information means that the buyer is hanging in there. 

AI-generated music goes viral. Ought to the music trade be frightened?

With greater than 1 million month-to-month listeners on Spotify, psychedelic rock band The Velvet Sunset is raking in hundreds of {dollars}. 

Nonetheless, the “band” was just lately confirmed to primarily be the work of generative synthetic intelligence 一 one thing that had been closely suspected and has the music trade asking itself questions.

— Dylan Butts

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