Powell expects more Fed rate hikes ahead as inflation fight ‘has a long way to go’ (3 min read)
​
Fed Chair Jerome Powell affirmed that more interest rate increases are likely ahead until additional progress is made on bringing down inflation. The Fed holding interest rate steady last week was meant to assess additional information. Nearly all FOMC participants expect that it will be appropriate to raise interest rates somewhat further by the end of the year. Although Powell acknowledged that inflation has cooled, it still remains well above the Fed’s 2% target. After his remarks, the market priced in a nearly 80% chance of a rate hike in July.

UK's stubborn inflation fails to fall, turning up heat on BoE (4 min read)
​
British inflation remained at 8.7% in May, defying predictions of a slowdown and increasing pressure on the Bank of England (BoE) to raise interest rates for the 13th consecutive time. The figures indicate that British inflation is the highest among major advanced economies. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who aimed to halve inflation this year, is facing pressure, and mortgage costs for homeowners are expected to rise. Economists suggest that the BoE will continue to increase borrowing costs, with some predicting the peak interest rate to be 5.25%.

Rivian is the latest EV maker to adopt Tesla’s charging standard (2 min read)
​
Rivian has announced that it will adopt Tesla's electric vehicle charging standard for its future vehicles. This partnership further established Tesla as the dominant EV charging standard in the US. Rivian will provide adapters to its customers starting in 2024, enabling them to use Tesla Superchargers, and will manufacture its vehicles with Tesla's charging port by 2025. The move is similar to the recent announcements from Ford and General Motors which gives Tesla an advantage over the current charging standard.

FedEx’s Profit Outlook Falls Short as Job Cuts Reach 29,000 (3 min read)
​
FedEx said it has cut 29,000 jobs in the US over the past year as a part of cost-reducing measures due to declines in package delivery demand following a surge in online shopping. The company aims to save $2 billion through network integration and other cost-cutting initiatives. The slowing sales also led FedEx to issue a 2024 profit outlook that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Shares of FedEx dropped 4% after the news on Wednesday but recovered about half of the losses before the market closed.

ETF Investors Bet Against Sizzling Chip Stock Rally (2 min read)
​
Despite the rally in chip stocks, ETF flows have shown limited interest and even bet against the industry. While $1.2 billion has flowed into semiconductor ETFs this year, a significant portion of that went into the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X Shares (SOXS), a leveraged, inverse fund that gains when semiconductor stocks decline. On the other hand, most ETFs that provide long exposure to the industry saw relatively neutral inflows, and some even lost assets despite the industry more than doubled this year.

Inflows Into Stock ETFs Pick Up Steam (2 min read)
​
The majority of the US-listed ETF flows last week were in US equity funds as investors chased the market rally. On a year-to-date basis, US equity ETFs attracted $59.8 billion, which represents about 29% of the total inflows this year. This month in particular saw a significant jump from the previous months. The reason behind the strong inflows is mostly tied to the remarkable rally in US stocks, with the S&P 500 up 5% so far in June, bringing its 2023 gains to roughly 15%. More on the total ETF flows last week is available in this article.

That's it for today! You can reply to this email if you have any comments or feedback.

If you are interested in reaching an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, and financial professionals, you may want to advertise with us.

Thanks,
Thomas

No longer want to receive these emails? Click here to unsubscribe.