Bank of America, Barclays and Jefferies said they now see a 75-basis points interest rate hike. Before Barclays had said it could be a 50- or 75-basis point increase, while Bank of America and Jefferies were betting on a 50-basis point rise.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is "strongly committed" to bringing inflation down and needs to keep going until it gets the job done.Chicago Fed President Charles Evans joined his fellow policymakers in saying that reining in inflation is "job one."Investors are also awaiting the U.S. August inflation report next week for fresh clues on whether the Federal Reserve will hike rates by half or three-quarters of a percentage point at the next policy meeting due Sept. 20-21.Worries over aggressive monetary tightening across the glo

Cathie Wood is finding it hard to catch 2020 in a bottle again. The growth investor who became a market icon as the co-founder and CEO of the popular Ark Invest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has been losing more than winning these days. Her investing style seemed to be marching back into fancy earlier this summer, but her most popular ETF has surrendered 22% of its value just over the last three weeks.She's not one to shy away from fire sales, so it's not a surprise to see her adding to her positions in DraftKings, Zoom Video, and Twilio on Tuesday. Let's see why she's building up her stakes in these three names.DraftKingsThe NFL season kicks off -- literally and figuratively -- this week, so let's talk about DraftKings. The online gambling and fantasy sports specialist is driving down the

Wall Street futures are wavering after Wall Street suffered its worst day in more than two years.The producer price index, a gauge of prices received at the wholesale level, declined 0.1%, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Wednesday. Excluding food, energy and trade services, core PPI increased 0.2%.Market SnapshotAt 8:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 52 points, or 0.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 11 points, or 0.28%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 46.75 points, or 0.39%.Pre-Market MoversStarbucks– Shares of Starbucks gained nearly 1% after the companyboosted its long-term forecast and said it expects double-digit growthfor revenue and earnings per share over the next three years.Palo Alto Networks– Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks rose slightly following a three-fo

The Federal Reserve isn’t trying to slam the stock market as it rapidly raises interest rates in its bid to slow inflation still running red hot — but investors need to be prepared for more pain and volatility because policy makers aren’t going to be cowed by a deepening selloff, investors and strategists said.“I don’t think they’re necessarily trying to drive inflation down by destroying stock prices or bond prices, but it is having that effect.” said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer at Exencial Wealth Advisors, in an interview.U.S. stocks fell sharply in the past week after hopes for a pronounced cooling in inflation were dashed by a hotter-than-expected August inflation reading. The data cemented expectations among fed-funds futures traders for a rate hike of at least 75 basis poi

Rates are rising to new cycle highs.The dollar is rising to new cycle lows.Which means the QQQ ETF may soon be sinking to a new low.The economic data of the last couple of trading sessions has confirmed no recession here in the US. Has growth slowed? Sure, but slowing growth is not the same as a recession. Yes, we have had two quarters of negative GDP, but that's primarily due to the higher prices and the adverse effects on the calculations.Today's ISM service data was solid and suggested the US economy is growing at a healthy2.5% annualized rate. This growth seems very strong, especially given the high prices in the economy and the aggressive tightening of financial conditions.The strong data is sending yields and the dollar sharply higher. The dollar index is now at its highest point sin

National BeverageThe company behind La Croix hasn't been as fizzy as its signature sparkling water. Revenue growth has slowed dramatically lately, clocking in at a 4% compounded annual growth rate over the past three years. Analysts see single-digit top-line growth continuing in the near future. La Croix had its moment in the sun, but it's canned laughter these days with several companies diving into the flavored sparkling beverage niche.National Beverage is expected to post quarterly results on Wednesday. The report may be more flat than fizz. It's not just the slowdown in revenue over the past few years. National Beverage has also fallen short of Wall Street's profit targets in each of the past four quarters.

Rates are rising to new cycle highs.The dollar is rising to new cycle lows.Which means the QQQ ETF may soon be sinking to a new low.The economic data of the last couple of trading sessions has confirmed no recession here in the US. Has growth slowed? Sure, but slowing growth is not the same as a recession. Yes, we have had two quarters of negative GDP, but that's primarily due to the higher prices and the adverse effects on the calculations.Today's ISM service data was solid and suggested the US economy is growing at a healthy2.5% annualized rate. This growth seems very strong, especially given the high prices in the economy and the aggressive tightening of financial conditions.The strong data is sending yields and the dollar sharply higher. The dollar index is now at its highest point sin

Last week, it was confirmed that the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 8.3% year-on-year. Given that July's CPI of 8.5% was a little less than the previous month's 9.1%, a continued downtrend would have been an indicator that US recession was showing signs of recovery. August's number - in slight excess of forecasted estimates - this indicator doesn't hold water. Since the announcement, the S&P 500 dropped 4.32% over the day. In Bank of America's Fund Manager Survey edition in July (which was discussed in an earlier article), it was estimated by the survey organizer that CPI month-on-month pivots has no means for reducing inflation rises by the end of the year.One means of combating inflation would be for the US Federal Reserve raising rates to mop up the money supply. However, as per

StarbucksStarbucks is a global coffee chain with more than 34,000 stores around the world. The company reported an encouraging set of earnings for its fiscal 2022's third quarter, with net revenue up 9% year over year to a record $8.2 billion. Comparable-store sales were up 3% globally, with the U.S. registering a 9% increase, and active Starbucks reward members climbed 13% year over year in the U.S. to 27.4 million members.During its recent biennial Investor Day, Starbucks unveiled an ambitious three-year financial roadmap to deliver annual comparable store sales growth of 7% to 9%, revenue growth of 10% to 12%, and earnings-per-share (EPS) growth of 15% to 20%. Founder and interim CEO Howard Shultz also introduced incoming CEO Laxman Narasimhan, who will assume his new role on April 1 ne

These stocks should weather the storm if rates continue rising.Albemarle(ALB): Raised its 2022 guidance for the third time, driven by significant pricing increases from renegotiated lithium contracts.Bank of America (BAC): Q2 net interest income jumped 22% year-over-year to $12.4 billion.Charles Schwab (SCHW): Added 1 million new accounts during the second quarter.CME(CME): The derivatives exchange is expected to benefit from rising interest rates due to increased hedging against market volatility.Equinix(EQIX): The data center REIT reported record bookings, fueled by strong capacity demand.Marathon Petroleum (MPC): Operating income from the Refining & Marketing segment skyrocketed to $7.1 billion.T-Mobile (TMUS): Postpaid subscriber additions in Q2 surpassed the combined subscriber ad

S&P 500 to face another bout of turbulence if history repeatsKey technical level for the index is 200-day moving averageThe S&P 500 Index is on a roll, posting its best four-day rally since early July partly on the back of hopes that inflation data due Tuesday morning will show some cooling off ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.The index just snapped three weeks of losses and is now bouncing around 4,110 points, within sight of its 200-day moving average around 4,270. Failure to break -- and then stay -- above the key technical support level in the aftermath of the inflation report may indicate the market is poised for another leg lower.That’s what happened last month.After CPI data on Aug. 10 showed US inflation decelerated by more than expected, the S&P 500 briefly

Elon Musk is far from done achieving his future reality, so he will continue to reinvest in his goals and vision until they are reached.Tesla has a completely different level of brand and financial strength than it did 10 years ago.The full operating margin capabilities of Tesla Gigafactories have not been reached yet.Elon is completely focused and aligned with the customer experience for Tesla owners, employees, and shareholders.The innovation and new revenue streams for Tesla is just getting started.Thesis:It is my opinion that there are five foundational areas of strength that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) maintains that its competition cannot match. It is these areas of strength that have drawn me into becoming a long-term investor in Tesla. These areas of strength very rarely get examined in my

Consumer prices rose 0.1% from July, defying estimate for dropShelter, food and medical care were among largest contributorsUS consumer prices were resurgent last month, dashing hopes of a nascent slowdown and likely assuring another historically large interest-rate hike from the Federal Reserve.The consumer price index increased 0.1% from July, after no change in the prior month, Labor Department data showed Tuesday. From a year earlier, prices climbed 8.3%, a slight deceleration, largely due to recent declines in gasoline prices.So-called core CPI, which strips out the more volatile food and energy components, advanced 0.6% from July and 6.3% from a year ago. All measures came in above forecasts. Shelter, food and medical care were among the largest contributors to price growth.The accel

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is betting the social-media giant's near-term future on Instagram Reels, the short-video feature he is touting as the company's answer to TikTok.The company's internal research shows that Meta has a lot of catching up to do.Instagram users cumulatively are spending 17.6 million hours a day watching Reels, less than one-tenth of the 197.8 million hours TikTok users spend each day on that platform, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that summarizes internal Meta research.The document, titled "Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022," was published internally in August. It said that Reels engagement had been falling -- down 13.6% over the previous four weeks -- and that "most Reels users have no engagement whatsoeve

The S&P 500 opened flat on Thursday after the major averages came off a day of steep losses following another large rate hike from the Federal Reserve.Stocks were mostly lower in early morning trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average last down 30 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 traded 0.1% lower. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.2%.Stocks closed lower on Wednesday, continuing the recent sell-off trend as investors evaluated the Fed’s latest comments. The Dow slumped 522 points. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite shedding more than 1.7% each, putting both averages at their lowest levels since June 30 and July 1, respectively. The big drop in equities came in a volatile period after the Fed’s third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate increase.“Yesterday’s FOMC meeting was a

U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday for Labor Day. It's a quiet week on the earnings calendar once investors return from the long weekend, but a few major economic-data releases should grab plenty of attention.Results this week will come from GameStop and NIO on Wednesday, DocuSign and Zscaler on Thursday, and Kroger on Friday. Apple will also host a product launch event on Wednesday, when it is expected to unveil a new lineup of iPhones and Apple Watches.Economic data releases next week include the Institute for Supply Management's Services Purchasing Managers' Index for August on Tuesday. The consensus estimate is for the index to decline by about three points, to 54.Other data for investors and economists to watch next week will be the Federal Reserve's sixth beige book

This has been one of the most difficult years on record for Wall Street and the investing community. The U.S. economy has delivered back-to-back quarters of gross domestic product declines, the U.S. inflation rate is hitting a more than four-decade high, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine throws an even bigger monkey wrench into an already-damaged global energy supply chain. Perhaps it's no surprise that the benchmark S&P 500 and growth-driven Nasdaq Composite entered bear market territory.However, the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average has avoided this fate. The Dow Jones, which is comprised of 30 multinational companies, has likely outperformed the other major indexes because it's packed with profitable, time-tested businesses. In other words, sometimes it pays to invest in mature sto