Go woke, go broke?

BEFORE THE OPEN

Markets:

U.S. equity futures were little changed on Thursday evening as investors awaited the latest data on personal consumption expenditures, the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge.

• Dow Jones futures down by 26 points (0.08%); S&P 500 futures lower by 0.03%; Nasdaq 100 futures slightly above flat.

• Dow rose approx. 270 points (0.8%) in Thursday's regular trading, boosted by major banks; S&P 500 added around 0.5%; Nasdaq ended flat.

• Friday marks the end of June, Q2, and the first half of the year.

  • June Performance: S&P 500 up 5.18% (best since January); Nasdaq up 5.07% (fourth consecutive positive month); Dow up 3.69% (best since November).

  • Q2 Performance: S&P 500 up 6.99% (third consecutive positive quarter); Nasdaq up 11.2% (two straight positive quarters); Dow up 2.55% (third consecutive winning quarter).

  • Year to Date (First Half) Performance: S&P 500 up 14.51% (best since 2018); Nasdaq surged nearly 30% (best since 1983); Dow up a modest 2.94%.

• The three major averages (S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq) are tracking for winning weeks, with gains of over 1%, 1%, and 0.7% respectively.

• Investor’s attention is on May PCE data - release expected at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Core PCE price index predicted to rise by 0.3%, down from April's 0.4%. Annual growth rate of PCE index estimated at 4.7%, same as the previous month.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching:

• Friday: Constellation Brands (STZ)

• Next week’s calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

• US regulators asks lenders to help firms with commercial real estate stress (more)

• FDA uncovers fresh faults at India’s second-biggest drugmaker (more)

• Virgin Galactic completes first commercial flight in major step for space tourism company (more)

• Ex-Pfizer employee charged with illegal trading based on unreleased Covid pill trial data (more)

• Google will remove Canadian news from search over new law (more)

• 10 years and 5 billion orders later, DoorDash expands to more on-demand categories (more)

• Twitter's new CEO told staffers to use 'hand-to-hand combat' to convince advertisers to come back (more)

• Cheaper than water? Retailers try to unload Bud Light. (more)

• Bud Light boycotters decimating sales over Mulvaney promotion should think about employees, Anheuser-Busch CEO says (more)

• PlayStation wants Roblox on platform, despite initial wariness (more)

• Irrigreen sprinkler "prints" water on your lawn (more)

• Bankrupt Prime Trust blocked rrom accessing $45 million worth of digital assets (more)

• Women interviewing for Bill Gates's private office were asked sexually explicit questions (more)

• How Mattel reinvented the iconic 'Barbie' brand from its lowest point in 2014 to Hollywood superstardom (more)

DEALFLOW

• Inflection AI raises $1.3 billion From Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates and Nvidia (more)

• Visa to acquire core banking platform Pismo for $1 billion (more)

• Silver Lake secures 63% stake in Software AG after months-long pursuit (more)

• Eli Lilly to buy Sigilon Therapeutics to expand diabetes treatments (more)

• Chevron offers to sell oil and gas properties in New Mexico, Texas (more)

• Typeface, building generative AI for brands, raises $100M at a $1B valuation (more)

CRYPTO

• Fidelity joins the crush to launch a Bitcoin ETF (more)

• Gary Gensler crypto litigation tactics challenged by ex-SEC Chair (more)

• Coinbase asks court to dismiss SEC complaint (more)

• Bitcoin prices settle into narrow range as ETF-inspired euphoria dissipates (more)

• Introducing the Chief Lightning Officers, dedicated to Bitcoin adoption through education (more)

• Decentralized exchange PancakeSwap goes live on Polygon zkEVM blockchain (more)

• Binance crypto custody license application denied by German regulator BaFin (more)

• New deBridge feature lets Solana users easily access any Ethereum-based blockchain (more)

SHARES

That’s a wrap! Stay safe out there and see you tomorrow… -mb