Fed Is Set for Contentious Debate as Investors Eye Fall Rate Cut
Save
Federal Reserve officials are determined to hold interest rates steady a little while longer, though an increasingly contentious debate at this week's policy meeting may bolster expectations for rate cuts in the fall.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is under intense pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies to reduce borrowing costs, and may face multiple dissents this week from officials who want to provide support to a slowing labor market.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
a minute ago
- New York Post
Good riddance to UNESCO — a hate-America shouting gallery
President Donald Trump is pulling America out of UNESCO for the third time. Maybe this time it'll be for good. Once lauded for its work in preserving important cultural sites, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations became a platform for miseducation by every tinpot tyrant trying to score points by defaming America and its allies. It also adopted a full-on woke agenda, backing divisive DEI and social-justice causes that, as a Team Trump aide explained, conflicted with American values. Advertisement 'Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,' the State Department declared. The agency's focus on the UN's 'Sustainable Development Goals,' for example, follows the Paris Climate Accords program of deindustrializing the developed world, while paying the Third World to help it catch up. It admitted the 'State of Palestine' as a full member, though the United States does not recognize such a state, believing the Palestinian issue should be decided by Israel and Palestinian Arabs, not the striped-pants brigade from third-party nations. Advertisement UNESCO has also politicized Jewish holy sites, calling Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem a 'mosque,' which it never was. And it's been China's running dog, promoting Beijing's domination of Tibetan and Uyghur culture — arguably genocidal — as perfectly fine. UNESCO's odious record goes back decades. Washington first withdrew from the group in 1984, under Ronald Reagan, when it sought to have US media companies submit to the control of a 'New World Information Order.' Advertisement Trump's withdrawal from UNESCO follows his exit from the UN's equally vile Human Rights Council, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's sanctioning of its 'special rapporteur' on Palestinian issues, Francesca Albanese, who was obsessed with falsely depicting Israel as a perpetrator of genocide. Those moves were well deserved. Call it a Turtle Bay trifecta.
CNN
a minute ago
- CNN
‘Tesla Takedown' protestors have a new target: Elon Musk's Tesla Diner
For months, protesters have gathered outside Tesla showrooms in response to Elon Musk's role in reducing US government spending as part of the Department of Government Efficiency. This weekend, protesters in Los Angeles found a new destination: Musk's new 24-hour Tesla Diner in the Hollywood area. Musk had touted the concept of an 'old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant' in 2018. Since opening on Monday, the retro-futuristic diner with electric vehicle-charging stations has had long lines of customers who are served burgers in Cybertruck-designed boxes. One customer posted to YouTube that he waited 11 hours for the restaurant to open. But Joel Lava, who has helped organize 'Tesla Takedown' demonstrations and has spearheaded protests at the diner, believes that protests could continue throughout the summer and that the buzz around the new restaurant will soon die down. '(Customers are) waiting 11 hours so they can have Tesla-brand burgers and fries,' Lava told CNN. 'This is the world's most renowned anti-trans advocate who just opened a diner in West Hollywood. The community is not very supportive of Elon.' Lava estimates as many as 75 demonstrators joined the diner protest on Saturday. He said organizers began planning protests for this weekend after the diner abruptly opened on Monday. 'Our main message is Tesla funds fascism. Elon Musk, via DOGE, has destroyed our government agencies and people's jobs, and people are dying around the world because of him,' Lava said. Tesla did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Lava said protest attendance for Tesla Takedown events peaked at the end of March, but has 'been going strong.' Protests outside of Tesla showrooms across the United States have remained a weekly staple in many cities, with 40 protests planned on the 'Tesla Takedown' website for the weekend. 'We've already been successful in tarnishing the Tesla brand,' he said. During last week's second-quarter earnings call, Musk highlighted Tesla's future — not its gloomy present-day — by reaffirming ambitious plans for the company's robotaxi service and mass production of its humanoid robot, Optimus, which was serving popcorn at Musk's diner. Tesla's auto revenue fell 16% from April to June and overall revenue was down 12%, according to its earnings report. Sales of its best-selling Model Y and Model 3 fell 12% compared with a year ago, while sales of its more expensive models, including the Cybertruck, plunged 52%. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were down more than 4% last week, closing at $316.06 on Friday, after falling 9% on Thursday. Since peaking at $479.86 on December 17, Tesla shares have plunged 34%. CNN's Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
CNBC
2 minutes ago
- CNBC
Stock futures rise as U.S.-EU trade deal kicks off a hectic week for markets: Live updates
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 25, 2025. Jeenah Moon | Reuters U.S. equity futures rose on Sunday evening as Wall Street prepared for an especially busy week that'll bring earnings from several major tech companies, a key Federal Reserve meeting, President Donald Trump's Aug. 1 tariff deadline and key inflation data. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 161 points, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures were also higher by 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.5%. The move comes after Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. has reached an agreement with the European Union to lower tariffs to 15%. The president had previously threatened 30% tariffs on most imported goods from the U.S.'s largest trading partner. Wall Street is also coming off a winning week fueled by strong earnings and recent deals between the U.S. and other trading partners, including Japan and Indonesia. On Friday, all three of the major averages finished the day and week with gains. The blue-chip Dow climbed 208.01 points, or 0.47%, to settle at 44,901.92. The broad market S&P 500 gained 0.40% to close at 6,388.64, marking its fifth consecutive day of closing records and 14th record close of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.24% to 21,108.32 for its 15th record close of the year. "A healthy plethora of earnings beats, positive developments in U.S.-Japan trade relations, strong capex commentary, and a bullish "AI Action Plan" kept the enthusiasm of weeks' past stronger than ever," Nick Savone of Morgan Stanley's Institutional Equity Division said in a note over the weekend. "As we push through the bulk of S&P 500 companies still due to report, the lower bar heading into this season has admittedly kept spirits high, but stock reactions still look most principally rooted in forward guidance — especially as investors brace, time and again, for the impact of these trade headlines to flow through." The market is gearing up for the busiest week of earnings season. More than 150 companies in the S&P 500 are due to post their quarterly results, including "Magnificent Seven" names Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday. Investors will be listening for companies' comments on AI spending for direction on whether big investments in hyperscalers this year are justified. This week, the Fed will also hold its two-day policy meeting, concluding on Wednesday. Although the central bank is expected to keep interest rates at their current target range of 4.25% to 4.5%, investors will be looking for clues about whether a rate cut could be on the table at the September meeting. Tariffs and their effect on inflation will remain in focus on Thursday as traders get the June personal consumption expenditures price (PCE) index, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation. The report is expected to show inflation rising to 2.4% from 2.3% year-over-year, according to FactSet, and to 0.31% from 0.14% on a monthly basis. Investors will also get a batch of jobs-related data this week, including the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, on Tuesday, ADP's private payrolls report on Wednesday, initial jobless claims Thursday and, on Friday, the critical July jobs report. Economists polled by FactSet anticipate the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in July, down from 147,000 in June. The unemployment rate is expected to show a slight bump to 4.2% from 4.1%.
