$2.5 billion fraud

BEFORE THE OPEN

Markets:

• Overnight stock futures see slight rise as Q2 and H1 2023 draw to a close with promising gains.

• Dow Jones futures up by 70 points, S&P 500 futures rise 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures climb 0.3%.

• Micron Technology stocks up 2% after strong Q2 earnings, driven by high industry demand.

• JPMorgan and BoA stocks rise over 1% after passing the Fed’s stress test.

• S&P 500 shows 14% YTD gain; tech-heavy Nasdaq skyrockets nearly 30%, marking best first half since 1983. The Dow sees more modest 2% YTD gain.

• S&P 500 closed steady amid investor digestion of Fed Chair Powell's comments on a continuing tightening cycle and potential consecutive interest rate hikes.

• Attention shifts to Powell's upcoming speech at Madrid conference, followed by discussion with Bank of Spain Governor Pablo Hernández de Cos.

• Weekly jobless claims data release awaited to assess labor market health.

• S&P 500 sees 4.7% rise in June, its best monthly performance since January, and 6.5% gain in Q2, marking its third consecutive positive quarter.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching this week:

• Today: Acuity Brands (AYI), McCormick (MKC), Nike (NKE), Rite Aid (RAD)

• Friday: Constellation Brands (STZ)

• Full calendar here

DEALFLOW

• Bed Bath & Beyond splits auction, doubt grows over Buy Buy Baby sale process (more)

• Brookfield trumps buyout titans with $50 billion deal spree (more)

• Savers Value, Kodiak, Fidelis near $1 billion IPO day in US (more)

• Arcline makes bid for Circor, upending $1.7 billion KKR deal (more)

• TSG Is Exploring Sale of Outdoor, Ski Gear Retailer Backcountry (more)

• France's Orange enters exclusive talks with BNP Paribas to exit retail banking (more)

CRYPTO

• CFTC issues $54M default judgment against trader in crypto fraud scheme (more)

• Wood’s Ark adds possible ‘silver bullet’ to Bitcoin filing (more)

• Sony Network Communications invests $3.5M in Singapore Web3 company Startale Labs (more)

• EU publishes digital Euro bill featuring privacy controls, offline guarantee (more)

• EU finalizes controversial smart contract kill switch rules under Data Act (more)

SHARES

Hope you enjoyed today’s briefing (…it’s almost the wknd!) -mb