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Market Moves Yesterday

S&P 500 @ 5,576.98 ( ⬆️ 0.074%)

Nasdaq Composite @ 18,429.29 ( ⬆️ 0.14%)

Bitcoin @ $58,967.34 ( ⬆️ 1.58%)

Hey Scoopers,

Fasten your seatbelts. Here’s Wednesday’s breakdown:

👉 Lower lithium prices dent Albemarle

👉 Consumer spending ticks lower

👉 Bitcoin ETFs continue to attract funds

So, let’s go 🚀

Market Wrap 📉

Equity indices such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed to a fresh record yesterday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned about the dangers of keeping interest rates elevated for long.

According to Powell, higher interest rates could risk economic growth and hinted that the central bank would soon consider a less restrictive stance.

Powell explained, “Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment. More good data would strengthen our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”

Powell’s remarks came ahead of key inflation data arriving later this week, with the consumer price index for June due tomorrow.

Trending Stocks 🔥

Nvidia- Shares of market bellwether popped 2.5% after KeyBanc hiked its stock price target to $180 on strong demand for Nvidia’s H100 chip and the upcoming launch of Blackwell.

Helen of Troy - Shares of the housewares stock plunged 28% after it posted an earnings miss in fiscal Q1 of 2025 and slashed guidance for fiscal 2025.

UiPath - The software stock fell 7% after it announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 10% and lower operating expenses.

Analysts Downgrade Albemarle

Shares of mining giant Albemarle fell 8% yesterday as analysts fear weak lithium prices could threaten the company’s guidance.

Investment firm Baird slashed its price target for the stock by $43 to $127 per share, while Oppenheimer cut its price target by $10 to $188. The stock ended trading at $90.47 yesterday.

Shares of mining companies are tied to the commodity they mine, in this case, lithium.

Prices of the elemental metal moved higher in the past decade due to the worldwide transition towards electric vehicles.

Between October 2015 and October 2022, Albemarle stock rose over 500%. Today, it trades 72% below all-time highs.

However, the investment banks argued that Albermarle’s long-term opportunity is solid due to its dominant position in lithium mining.

Priced at 11.6x forward earnings, the mining stock is quite cheap, given its earnings potential in the upcoming decade.

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Consumer Spending is Falling

While the overall consumer discretionary environment is resilient, year-to-date spending through the end of June was 7% lower compared to the year-ago period, according to Barclays.

In a research note, Barclays analyst Josh Grasso wrote, “There are signs of trading down to more value-conscious options being seen broadly across consumer sectors.”

Grasso highlighted weakness in swimming pool spending, which grew 40% year over year in 2021 but fell by more than 5% in the last 12 months.

While consumer spending has declined in the last two years, overall spending on pools is higher than pre-COVID levels, Grasso added.

Bitcoin ETF Inflows Gain Pace

The 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw net inflows of $216.33 million on Tuesday, extending the positive streak to a third consecutive day.

BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest spot BTC fund in terms of assets under management, led the pack with inflows of $121 million, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $91 million and Ark Invest at $43 million.

Alternatively, Grayscale’s GBTC, the second-largest BTC ETF, reported outflows of $37.5 million.

Around $1.2 billion of value was traded on these ETFs on Tuesday. Since launching in January 2024, these funds have accumulated a total net inflow of $15.27 billion.

Headlines You Can't Miss!

China leads the world in GenAI experimentation 

Microsoft drops observer seat on OpenAI board

China’s inflation numbers miss estimates in June

Japan’s equity markets surge to new highs

Bitcoin sees a surge in new addresses amid pullback

Chart of The Day

Baby Boomers account for 20% of the U.S. population but owned 52% of the nation’s wealth at the end of 2023.

Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are often considered one of the luckier generations. They did not experience wars and benefitted from strong economic growth, a roaring stock market, and global monetary expansion.

Thus, baby boomers have grown their wealth from $4.5 trillion in 1990 to $76.2 trillion in 2023.

Meme of the Day

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. The newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.