Good Monday morning from your Hometown Lender,

I hope you had a fantastic 4th, and you were able to escape some of the heat. I don’t believe we are seeing 117-degree days.

Who signed up for this?

Markets are calm today with no economic data. We do have some political drama from elections in France, Iran, and Tokyo. Markets seem taking a wait and see attitude so far. On top of that, we have a lot of noise form Washington on whether President Biden stays in the race. I’ll leave that preference to your opinion but from the economic side, markets are jittery over it. I can see a path where if President Biden were to withdraw, rates could improve.

We do have some news out this week.

First, Chairman Powell testifies at Congress on Wednesday and is expected to say yet again that more confirmation inflation is moderating is needed before the Fed will cut. Then Thursday we get CPI, Friday is PPI. Both CPI and PPI are poised to tick a little higher but still be seen as moderating. Maybe Mr. Powell will get an early look at the CPI report and be able to include some of that in his testimony.

Americans are playing the stock market in record numbers, with almost three in five investing in stocks, according to a Charles Schwab survey released in June. Members of Generation Z start investing when they’re 19, on average, compared with 32 for Gen X and 35 for Baby Boomers, according to the survey. Sports betting has also exploded, with Americans wagering more than $220 billion in the past five years, according to the American Gaming Association.

Stay safe, make today great!