Powell Testimony, Day 1

Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Tuesday, July 9. The Bottom Line segment of today’s podcast starts at (1:55) for listeners who want to skip ahead. Check out the brand new ‘stocks on the contrarian radar’ section at the bottom of this page.

State of Play

Stocks did very little yesterday as anticipated, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs again. As we eye our board of indicators for signs of direction at 0645, there is very little to go by:

• Stock index futures are gaining a bit of ground, led by tech. The Nasdaq is up 0.4% with S&P futures up 0.2%;

• Commodities are flat. WTI crude oil is unchanged at $82/barrel. Copper is unchanged;

• Cryptos aren’t doing anything either. Bitcoin sitting on $57,400;

• All is quiet in bond land as well. The 2-year yields 4.63% whilst the 10-year yields 4.29%.

Today’s Known Events

Just one, which is Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill at 1000. It’s the first day of a two-day testimony with today’s being in front of the Senate Banking Committee. Tomorrow is likely to just repeat what was said today, though some of the questions tomorrow may be even more idiotic than the ones posed today. This because the House of Representatives, where tomorrow’s hearing takes place, are even less educated on these matters than their senatorial colleagues.

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