A Big Week: Powell Testimony, Inflation Data, Earnings Season Kick-Off

Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Monday, July 8. The Bottom Line segment of today’s podcast starts at (3:41) for listeners who want to skip ahead.

State of Play

This weekend saw elections in France and cryptos enter a bear market. As we eye our board of indicators for signs of direction at 0645, there is not much in the way of clues:

• Stock index futures are unchanged with only small caps moving from the break-even point. The Russell 2000 is up 0.2%, others flat;

• If you’re curious about how the election results are being greeted in France, the CAC 40 Index in Paris is up 0.2%;

• Commodities are dropping a bit, despite news of that hurricane reaching land in Texas. WTI crude oil is down 1% to trade around $82/barrel. Copper is unchanged;

• Cryptos are catching their breath after a tumultuous couple of days. Bitcoin is unchanged trading at $57,400;

• Bonds are dropping a bit, with the 2-year yield up 3 basis points to 4.63% whilst the 10-year is up 4bps to 4.30% (yields move inversely to prices).