The US major equity index mixed and drifted the lower part on Friday amid a continuing pressure campaign for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and central bank independence. However, emotions are changing and revenues remain strong.
An active Friday in the Economic Calendar featured preliminary results for July from the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Survey and key home builder data.
People are feeling better, but they continue to worry about the economy and inflation, and construction is still fair to slander.
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The consumer sentiment headline index has now reached 61.8 from 60.7 in June to the highest level in five months, up to 61.8. “It was well below 16% in December 2024,” said Joanne HSU, research director.
Inflation expectations fell for the second year in a row, from 5.0% in June to 4.4% in July. Five-year inflation forecasts have fallen from 4.0% to 3.6% for the third consecutive month.
Both short-term and long-term inflation expectations are the lowest since February, but above December levels.
And the Census Bureau said housing has begun to increase at 1.321 million cases per year, 4.6%, over a period of several months in June. The start date fell 0.5% from the previous year.
Building permits rose 0.2% a month, but fell 4.4% from the previous year.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3% to close the week at 44,342.
The S&P 500 had under 6,296 points, while the Nasdaq Composite scored 10 points gains at 20,895. Both indices remain at or near the new high.
Waller says it’s time to cut the fees
Meanwhile, feelings about interest rate reductions have also changed. President Trump’s Fire Department Governor Christopher Waller, whose potential successor, has been identified as a potential successor, said in a statement prepared for delivery on Thursday that central banks should cut their target range for federal funding rates at the next Fed meeting.
“The advantage is that inflation is near the target and limited inflation limits are available, Waller said. Waller concluded that it would make sense to trim the Fed’s funding rate at 25 basis points “two weeks later.”
The quiet period for the next Fed meeting begins tomorrow and ends on Thursday, July 31st. Federal Reserve staff and Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants will generally refrain from speaking publicly during this period.
The next FOMC meeting is scheduled for July 29th-30th.
FOD Fund’s futures reflect a 95.3% chance that FOMC will maintain its target range of 4.25% to 4.50% from 95.9% on Thursday. The probability of a cut in September increased from 53.9% on Thursday to 60.6% on Friday.
Crypto is also a $4 trillion market
Nvidia (NVDA) has not only become the first public company to surpass its $4 trillion market capitalization this week.
The total amount of the cryptocurrency market has also exceeded $4 trillion. Bitcoin traded at $120,689 at a 24-hour high. The world’s number one cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high of Monday, exceeding $123,000.
Cryptocurrency Exchange Operator Coinbase Global (Coin) is the best new hit of all time, closing at 2.2%.
Coin is the top holding of some of the best Bitcoin ETFs to buy for efficient exposure to a rapidly expanding but relatively small asset class.
The AI revolution’s leader fell 0.3% over the day, but still managed to create a new midday high. NVDA stocks have now grown 27.9% since their first quarter of fiscal year 2026 revenue report.
Netflix and 3M beat, rise and gap down
Netflix (NFLX) reported late Thursday and 3M (MMM) reported early Friday defeated their respective quarter expectations, raising full-year guidance and gapped the opening bell.
NFLX – perhaps one of the next stocks will be split – reduced the day by 5.1%. MMM was ranked 30th among 30 Dow Jones stocks after sliding 3.6%.
“Our business continues to be on track,” Netflix said in a second quarter letter to shareholders, focusing on 16% revenue growth and operating profit margin expansion from 27% to 34%.
Revenue and operating profit slightly outperformed guidance, with management increasing its annual revenue forecast from $44.8 billion to $45.2 billion, with operating profit margin forecasts forecast from 29% to 29.5%.
3M reported 1.4% sales growth, increasing its full-year revenue guidance from $7.75 to $8.00 from $7.60 to $7.90. In particular, the updated guidance reflects the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
“We had strong results in the second quarter, recording positive organic sales growth and double-digit EPS growth,” CEO William Brown said, citing healthy trends, “All three business groups are growing organically over the third quarter.”
