The Trump administration released an AI action plan, focusing on easing regulations and increasing investment. The ECB paused interest rate cuts. At 9:45 AM, services and manufacturing PMI will be released. Stock index futures remain volatile at high levels. Individual stocks are mixed.

Treasury Secretary Bessent said talks with China will be held next week in Stockholm. The market stayed near recent highs with slight moves. Yesterday, the index hit a new high at the open but then pulled back, closing above 6300 for the first time.

Date: Friday, July 18

June PPI and Core PPI were both flat, better than the expected 0.2% increase. Yields on 10-year and 20-year Treasury bonds pulled back from the 4.5% and 5% levels. The S&P 500 has been moving sideways near its highs for nine trading days. SPY rose again in pre-market from around $620, with resistance still in the $626–628 range.

Nvidia said it received approval to export its customized H20 chips to China. Its stock jumped 5% to a new all-time high, making it the first company to reach a $4 trillion market cap. AMD also rose 5%, likely following Nvidia’s lead. (It looks like both companies have now moved the $5.5 billion and $1.5 billion in inventory they had written down last quarter.)

Initial jobless claims continued to fall last week and came in better than expected. Trump announced new tariffs on multiple countries again, including a 50% rate on Brazil. However, the market has mostly ignored this kind of news recently.

After reaching new highs, ES and NQ pulled back as expected. TCS shorted ES near 6305 and NQ near 23025, both trades were profitable. More importantly, these short positions helped hedge long ETF and stock holdings.