Heavy-Duty Earnings Week Commences

Earnings Reports - Q2 earnings season is ramping up with major companies like Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, and Amazon set to report earnings this week [2][3] - A total of 164 companies in the S&P 500 are expected to release their earnings results by August 1st [3] Federal Reserve Outlook - The Federal Reserve is unlikely to lower interest rates in the upcoming FOMC meeting, maintaining the current rate of +4.25-4.50% [4] - There is only a 2% chance that the Fed will cut rates at this meeting, with a 67% probability of a 25 basis-point cut in September [5] Labor Market Insights - Initial Jobless Claims have decreased to 217K, but the labor market may be weakening as ADP reported a negative -33K jobs filled in June, the first decline in over two years [7] - The BLS report indicated +147K new jobs in June, but only about 70K were outside government hires, which may not be sufficient to offset the retiring workforce [8]