Stocks: Still Happening. Mostly. 🤷

So, the stock market. It’s… there. Still. On Tuesday, it sort of wobbled about, paying attention to things like “corporate earnings” (whatever those are) and the latest in the endlessly fascinating saga of tariffs. Apparently, grown adults base multi-billion dollar decisions on this stuff. Go figure. 🙄

The Dow Jones Industrial Average did a little jig, up 25 points, which is approximately the price of a decent sandwich these days. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, however, mostly just… existed. 0.03% and -0.13% respectively. They were hugging the flatline. Apparently, that’s a thing. Tech stocks had *tried* to go up yesterday, making it six days in a row, but today they clearly decided six was enough. Ambition is exhausting, you know.

The general lack of enthusiasm seems to stem from General Motors, who announced their profits had taken a rather substantial tumble – 32%, to be precise. A full $1.1 billion vanished, allegedly due to tariffs. It’s all very cyclical, like a particularly depressing washing machine. They revealed this before anyone was properly awake, which feels appropriate. 😴

Naturally, GM’s stock went down. Investors, those delicate flowers, don’t like it when companies announce they’re making less money. Who knew? Everyone’s now breathlessly awaiting news from Alphabet and Tesla tomorrow. Perhaps they’ll have invented a device that makes tariffs disappear. One can dream. ✨

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, that digital… thing… is back above $119k after people briefly remembered they owned it and decided to sell. Oil and gold? They’re also just sort of… there. Flat. Like a pancake that’s lost its will to live. 🥞

And the U.S. Treasury yields are doing yieldy things. The 10-year is at 4.36%, the 2-year at 3.84%, and the 30-year crept up a basis point to 4.93%. These numbers are probably very important to someone. Possibly a statistician.

U.S.-China trade agreement

Stocks have been reacting to tariffs with all the grace of a startled wombat ever since the initial panic earlier in the year. It’s a delicate dance of economic anxiety, really. 💃

Now, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is hinting that the U.S.-China trade agreement might get extended. Apparently, they’re meeting in Sweden. Sweden! It’s always Sweden, isn’t it? It’s a very neutral place to discuss things that aren’t neutral at all. The original agreement paused the tariff wars in May, which gave stocks a temporary burst of optimism. But the clock is ticking. Tick, tock, economic doom… or not.

Eyes on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell

The Treasury yield situation is, to put it mildly, “delicately poised” awaiting the pronouncements of Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve. He’s under increasing pressure to… well, to go away, actually. A lot of people seem to think he’s not doing a brilliant job. 😬

Scott Bessent (who seems to be very busy) says Powell doesn’t *need* to step down, but suggests he could use a legacy boost. Apparently, there’s a $2.5 billion issue. Numbers are involved. It’s all very complicated. Trump, predictably, has threatened not to fire him, which is… a gesture? A threat? It’s difficult to tell these days.

Everyone’s waiting for Powell to say something vaguely reassuring about tariffs and the economy before the Fed meeting on July 29. Whether he will or not remains to be seen. The universe, as always, remains stubbornly unpredictable. 🤷‍♀️

2025-07-22 17:43

U.S.-China trade agreement

Eyes on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell

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