Hello, nil! Hope you’re hungry—because this weekend’s Market Munchies is layered, loaded, and lightly torched with global tension. 🥘💣 On the plate? Trade threats spiced to 70%, AI headhunts straight out of Silicon Valley’s sous-chef wars, and quantum tech plated with a side of superhero encryption. Tesla’s back off the grill, China’s swapped silicon for photons, and Bitcoin? Still bubbling just under the boiling point at ~$109K. Meanwhile, Congress wants its tariff cookbook back, the BoE says millions of UK mortgages are about to simmer, and MicroStrategy quietly shuts the BTC oven—for now. The flavours? Bold. The risks? Medium-high. The chefs? Still arguing. - Dan
|
|
|
From Spreadsheets to Steak Tips: This Week’s Financial Feast |
|
|
Fresh from the skillet—tariffs flambéed, quantum tech plated, and AI poaching now part of the global fusion recipe. The kitchen’s crowded, the flames are high, and the market’s got a mild burn. 🍳 ✉️ Tariff Letters Sent to 14+ Countries – Quietly posted, heavily seasoned. The U.S. spiced global trade with notices threatening duties up to 70%. Supply chains are sweating. 🧾 U.S. Trade Review Act Hits the Oven – Congress wants the recipe back. S.1272 aims to reclaim tariff powers—no more surprise spice blends from the executive kitchen. 📉 Markets Get Scorched on July 7 – The week opened with a drop: S&P down -0.9%, Dow lost over 500 pts. One tariff headline and the risk appetite went raw. 🏠 BoE Warns: Millions of UK Mortgages at Risk – Over 3.6M UK households bracing for higher payments as fixed rates expire. The housing pot’s been left unattended—and it’s starting to boil. 🧠 Meta Raids Apple’s AI Pantry – Zuck nabbed Apple’s AI lead, Ruoming Pang, to fire up Meta’s superintelligence kitchen. One more AGI chef in the house. 🚗 Tesla Bounces Back Off the Grill – After a smoky political detour, shares climbed modestly on delivery buzz. Still medium-rare, but off the cold plate. 🔬 China Debuts Optical Computing Chip – A 100-wavelength AI marvel from Beijing. Silicon’s passé—light is now on the menu. 🛰️ India Cracks the Quantum Code – “Unhackable” quantum-secure comms unveiled by DRDO and IIT-Delhi. National cybersecurity just got a futuristic upgrade. 🧮 Wall Street’s H2 Outlook Gets Served – JPMorgan eyes 6,000 on the S&P; Morgan Stanley less hungry. All eyes on tariffs—too much salt could ruin the dish. ₿ Bitcoin Nears $109K – ETFs, whales, and macro nerves kept BTC hovering just under $111K. Still hot—just don’t poke it too hard. 🧊 MicroStrategy Pauses Bitcoin Buying – No new scoops of BTC this week. With 597K coins on the shelf, Saylor’s just cooling the oven, not closing the kitchen. |
|
|
This Week’s Ticker Menu: The Juiciest Moves of July 7–13 |
A curated bite of the week’s boldest tickers. Served hot, flipped fast, and sprinkled with alpha. 🍟 NVIDIA (NVDA) – $163.22 (↑0.2%) Still the AI flagship. A quiet climb as demand for Blackwell infrastructure remains high, even while market focus drifts to margins. 🍴 Takeaway: AI appetite’s still there—but subsidy seasoning is thinning. A wobble in margins could cause the soufflé to collapse. 🚗 Tesla (TSLA) – $294.79 (↓1.0%) Elon’s political teasing added extra spice, but not everyone’s hungry. Shares cooled as the robotaxi rollout remained vaporware. 🍴 Takeaway: A strong brand aroma, but until deliveries or autonomy are added to the plate, it's still mostly garnish. ⛽ ExxonMobil (XOM) – $113.51 (↓0.6%) Oil lost a bit of heat mid-week, trimming Exxon’s recent gains, still hovering near the top end of its 12-month price range. 🍴 Takeaway: Global tensions are a reliable flame. But this week’s cooldown showed even Big Oil needs airflow. 🛢 Chevron (CVX) – $152.73 (↓0.3%) Quiet week, but still cooking well. Efficiency tweaks and Permian output kept it on Wall Street’s radar. 🍴 Takeaway: Not flashy—but dependable. The kind of meat-and-potatoes stock that keeps simmering. 🛢 Valero (VLO) – $148.82 (↑0.1%) WTI cooled slightly, but refining margins stayed warm. Valero maintained its clean summer burn. 🍴 Takeaway: Lean ops, good heat retention. Refiners like Valero are holding their sear. 💥 Core Scientific (CORZ) – $13.79 (↓1.7%) Tumbled after CoreWeave’s $9B all-stock acquisition surprise. The valuation gap left a bitter aftertaste. 🍴 Takeaway: Big miner, bigger question marks. The market’s not convinced it’s a sweet deal. 🔁 Bit Digital (BTBT) – $3.62 (↓3.2%) The ETH pivot powered an early rally, but late-week selloff trimmed it back. Still holding its Ethereum-heavy posture. 🍴 Takeaway: A fresh play, but the early heat cooled quickly. Eyes are now on how ETH performs through Q3. 🪙 Bitcoin (BTC) – $109,274 (↑0.8%) Still bubbling near $109K as ETF inflows continue to marinate. The $111K resistance is fork-tender—but not carved yet. 🍴 Takeaway: Institutional hunger is strong. A breakout could bring a full‑course rally into $120K territory. |
|
|
Presented by Golden Portfolio |
How Buffett Is Quietly Preparing for a “Golden Decade.”
|
For decades, Warren Buffett has been the master of simplicity: Find value.Avoid bubbles.Let the math win. Today, Buffett faces a serious challenge: The “Buffett Indicator”—the same gauge that warned him before the 2000 tech crash and the 2008 collapse—just hit an all-time high. Stocks are at record extremes. Meanwhile… Cash is being destroyed by inflation. Buffett knows he can’t sit still. He needs an asset that protects real value — and generates real profits. There’s only one option that meets both criteria: gold. And there’s only one major gold miner big enough to absorb Buffett’s capital—the same company President Trump just tapped to lead the revival of U.S. mining. The full story has been uncovered—and the four tiny gold miners poised to soar as Buffett’s move becomes public. You must act before August 15th if you want to get ahead of the next gold mania. Go here to discover Garrett’s Top Four Gold Picks—and the name of the company Buffett will almost certainly buy before August 15.* |
|
|
MAIN COURSE: The Macro Broth – Simmered Risks, Spiced Realities |
Global bites, tech twists, and tariff tantrums—all flash-fried for the macro menu. 🍳 📦 Tariff Letters Trigger Global Gut Check The U.S. quietly dispatched tariff warning letters to over 14 nations this week, with some countries reportedly facing import duties as high as 70%. It’s a full-court economic press—and the global trade recipe just got far spicier. 🍴 Investor Note: Supply chains are bracing. Export-heavy sectors? Time to hedge like your margins depend on it—because they probably do. 🧾 U.S. Trade Review Act (S.1272) Gains Traction A new bill (S. 1272) aims to reassert congressional authority over tariffs, requiring the executive to provide notification and approval within 60 days. It’s a political move aimed at tempering impulsive economic volatility 🍴 Investor Note: If passed, this act could cap future trade risk—but until then, it’s all hot oil and shaky hands. 📉 July 7 Selloff: Markets Spooked by Tariff Heat Markets kicked off the week with a red-hot recoil. The S&P 500 dropped -0.9%, the Dow fell 1.2% (~526 pts), and the Nasdaq slipped 1% as tariff escalation headlines rattled investor confidence 🍴 Investor Note: It’s not a full panic, but expect more menu rebalancing in portfolios sensitive to global revenue. 🏠 BoE Says 3.6M Mortgages Are About to Boil Over The BoE issued a warning that over 3.6 million households (40% of UK mortgage borrowers) will face significant payment increases in the next three years as rate hikes trickle through the system. 🍴 Investor Note: Higher fixed-rate resets = lower spending power. UK real estate, retailers, and rate-sensitive equities just got a splash of vinegar. 🧠 Meta Snags Apple’s AI Architect Ruoming Pang In a bold kitchen raid, Meta poached AI head Ruoming Pang from Apple to bolster its ambitions in superintelligence. This follows a wave of high-profile AI moves in Silicon Valley 🍴 Investor Note: Meta’s making big preps in the AI pantry—watch for infrastructure spend and potential integration boosts in Meta AI products. 🚗 Tesla Share Price Rewarms (Modestly) After a previous dip tied to Elon Musk’s political distractions, Tesla stock regained modest ground, buoyed by improving delivery outlooks and quiet regulatory progress on autonomy 🍴 Investor Note: The grill is still hot, but investors are demanding more meat, less showmanship. 🔬 China Serves Up Optical Computing Chip Beijing revealed a cutting-edge optical computing chip with 100-wavelength multiplexing—a major leap toward scalable, light-powered AI processing 🍴 Investor Note: This is more than a flex—it’s a global signal that China is angling to lead the AI hardware race. Semi stocks? Watch closely. 🛰️ India Claims “Unhackable” Quantum Communication Tech India’s DRDO and IIT-Delhi announced breakthroughs in quantum entanglement-based secure communication, calling it a milestone toward “unhackable” networks 🍴 Investor Note: National security, fintech, and telecom sectors are watching—quantum is no longer theoretical seasoning; it's entering the recipe. 📈 Wall Street’s H2 2025 Menu Is Split Strategists at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and BofA shared mixed views on the back half of 2025: JPMorgan targets S&P 6,000Morgan Stanley sees limited upside (~5%)
All warn: tariffs + inflation = spoilers. 🍴 Investor Note: Expect a tug-of-war between tech tailwinds and macro mischief.
₿ Bitcoin Nears the $111K Boil Point Bitcoin flirted with $109,000 this week as ETF inflows held strong and whales stirred dormant wallets. Resistance at $111K remains the key 🍴 Investor Note: Volatility is baked into the crust—but institutional appetite is still ordering the main course. 🧊 MicroStrategy Pauses Buying the BTC Feast For the first time since March, MicroStrategy paused its Bitcoin purchases, holding 597,000 BTC ($42 billion)—the firm plans to raise $4.2B via preferred stock 🍴 Investor Note: Saylor’s cooling the oven—but don’t mistake that for a bearish pivot. Its funding strategy, not to surrender. |
|
|
Market Kitchen Command – Who Seasoned the Sentiment & Torched the Trends? |
From central bank flame control to billion-dollar data broth—here’s who turned up the heat in the macro kitchen this week: 🇺🇸 Jerome Powell – The Fed’s Reluctant Roastmaster Unleashed a slow-burn remark that tariffs are reheating inflation, and without them? Rate cuts might’ve already been served. Minutes reveal a kitchen divided—some chefs want to flip now, while others say the batter isn't ready. 🔥 Flavour Profile: Smoky patience with tariff tang. The dish is half-cooked, but Powell’s not plating it cold. 🧠 Ruoming Pang – Meta’s New AGI Grillmaster
Formerly Apple’s AI brains, Pang just got poached by Zuck to stir the AGI pot at Meta’s Superintelligence Lab. The pay? Spicy. The ambition? Michelin-level. 🍳 Talent Glaze: When the chef jumps kitchens, you know the menu’s about to change. Meta is now preparing a full AI tasting menu. 🔌 CoreWeave–Core Scientific – Infrastructure Sous-Chefs
CoreWeave snapped up Core Scientific for $9B—serving up AI power capacity like it’s truffle season. Critics say the plating is risky, but the dish could scale if the execution holds. ⚡ Kitchen Risk Rating: Vertical integration flambé. It’s bold, rich, and just a bit combustible. 👨🍳 Chef’s Note: This week’s leaders didn’t just stir the pot—they rewrote the recipes. Expect more headhunting, hardware heat, and monetary mise en place in next week’s serving. |
|
|
The Best Hoka Shoe Deals This Summer |
Summer is here, and it’s the perfect time to keep your feet cool and comfortable with Hoka shoes. Whether you’re hiking, running, or simply enjoying the outdoors, Hoka’s lightweight design and superior cushioning offer unmatched comfort. And thanks to Brad’s Deals, we’ve found the top discounts so you can enjoy all of the benefits without breaking the bank. Shop the Best Hoka Deals Today |
|
|
Market Mise en Place: What’s Cooking in the Macro Kitchen, July 14–20 |
Your tasting menu of what’s about to boil, simmer, or flambé investor sentiment across the macro kitchen. 🏛️ All Week – Washington Hosts ‘Crypto Week’
The U.S. House kicks off its first-ever Crypto Week—a five-day dish featuring debates on the CLARITY Act, stablecoin frameworks, and anti-CBDC policy. Think of it as policy fondue with a side of DeFi drizzle 📌 Regulation Flavor: Watch for legislative sparks, ETF volatility seasoning, and new digital asset recipes hitting the stove. 🇫🇷 Monday, July 14 – France Votes on Its Budget
Bastille Day isn’t just fireworks. France’s budget vote could determine EU trade positioning, energy subsidies, and fiscal seasoning for H2 📌 Eurozone Dish: A shaky vote could send spreads rising. A stable one? Risk assets may regain their appetite. 📉 Wednesday, July 16 – CPI, PPI, and Retail Sales on a Triple Platter
Markets get a full course of inflation and spending data in one sitting: CPI, PPI, and retail sales all drop midweek. 📌 Macro Main: A cooler CPI could finally pop the lid off Fed rate cut talk. A hotter print? Back to boil-watch on borrowing costs. 📊 Thursday, July 17 – Q2 Earnings Heat Up
Corporate kitchens begin serving second-quarter results. Expect focus on tariff pass-through, supply chain inflation, and thin margins. Goldman is already warning that up to 70% of tariff costs may be passed on to consumers 📌 Earnings Entrée: Retailers, semis, and global manufacturers are the plates to watch. Margins could come out medium-well or burned. 🧾 Midweek – Fed Minutes Get Plated
The latest Fed meeting notes are due. With sticky inflation, soft labor, and tariffs still simmering, investors are looking for any hint of dovish seasoning 📌 Rate Watch: If the Fed’s still hawkish, expect defensive dishes to stay on the menu. If there's cooling, talk—tech and growth might be reheated. ⚠️ All Week – Deutsche Bank Says ‘Volatility Is in Season’
Strategists flagged summer’s thin liquidity and trade risk as perfect fuel for volatility. With tariffs brewing and bond yields rising, even small surprises could cause spills 📌 Risk Radar: Pack a napkin. Summer markets have a habit of flipping the tray. 💰 All Week – Crypto ETF & Token Flows Still Simmering
ETF activity stayed hot in early July, and Crypto Week could refuel altcoin appetite. Analysts are also eyeing fresh spot ETH filings 📌 Digital Dessert: If Washington’s tone sweetens, expect BTC and ETH to keep rising—and smaller tokens to get flambéed. 🧠 Bonus Bite – AI Hype Rolls into Earnings Season
Meta, Nvidia, and even consulting giants are hinting at superintelligence spending on the rise. Expect early Q2 reports to include mentions of AI, such as the use of truffle oil. 📌 Investor Nibble: SaaS, semis, and cloud infra may all get sprinkled with AGI buzz. |
|
|
Crunch Time: Where Market Myths Meet Sugar-Coated Mayhem |
Overcooked headlines. Underbaked peace. And ambition? Torched to caramel. 🧠 Meta poached Apple’s AI chef—Ruoming Pang’s now stirring Zuck’s AGI fondue with a blowtorch. 📩 14+ nations got a quiet tariff love letter—no flowers, just a threat of 70% spice.
📉 Markets tripped on Monday—one trade whiff and the S&P got flambéed.
🔬 China swapped silicon for photons—optical chips just changed the recipe.
🛰️ India claims “unhackable” quantum comms. Encryption’s now wearing a cape.
🪙 Bitcoin held at $109K—fork-tender, but still not sliced.
🧊 MicroStrategy paused its BTC binge. Not cold feet—just cooling the oven. |
|
|
The Final Pour: Risk On Ice, Sentiment Stirred |
🥡 America's Safest Stocks? They sell to 152 million "addicted" customers, are legally mandated to profit, and offer massive, potentially triple-digit dividend yields—Check out Robert Rapier's portfolio here!
📉 Markets jittered on headline heat. 🧠 AI’s recruitment wars went Michelin-level.
📩 Trade policy snuck back into the kitchen.
🛰️ Quantum just made cybersecurity haute cuisine.
🪙 Crypto stayed warm, not wild.
|
|
|
And that’s the week—served fresh from the Market Munchies kitchen. Meta’s stirring AGI with borrowed spice, the S&P tripped on tariff smoke, and MicroStrategy hit pause on its BTC buffet. Meanwhile, CPI, Fed minutes, and earnings are all preheating for next week’s macro feast. The big flavor? Markets are lightly roasted, AI’s running hot, and policymakers are seasoning with a heavy hand. It’s a risky recipe—but the kind that keeps investors coming back for seconds. Until the next course—
Stay curious. Stay crispy. And don’t forget: even the hottest trends need cooling time. 🍷🧠 |
|
|
* This is a paid advertisement for Golden Portfolio. *** When you buy through this link, Mode may earn a commission. |
Designed with ♥ in the USA |
Market Munchies and Mode Mobile communications are for informational purposes only, and are not a recommendation, solicitation, or research report relating to any investment strategy, security, or digital asset. All investments involve risk including the loss of principal and past performance does not guarantee future results. Any information contained in this commentary does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. There is no guarantee that any statements or opinions provided herein will prove to be correct. Unsubscribe: Email Preference Center |
© Mode Mobile 2025 One East Erie St., Suite 525, Chicago, IL 60611 |
|
|
|