The Daily

Key Points

• The Dow fell about 200 points while the Nasdaq Composite held roughly flat and the S&P 500 slipped 0.17%.

• Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has nearly stopped again, with three vessels crossing Sunday against roughly 130 daily before the war.

• Earnings from major retailers this week will show whether July’s drop in consumer spending was a blip or a trend.

 » Read more about: Dow Falls 0.3% While Memory Chip Stocks Keep the Nasdaq Afloat  »

Key Points

• Microsoft’s stock is trading well below the earnings multiple it has averaged over the past five years.

• It has some promising opportunities ahead due to artificial intelligence, and it recently reached 30 million paid subscriptions for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has typically been a safe tech stock to own.

 » Read more about: Should You Buy Microsoft Stock Now or Wait for a Dip?  »

After ending last week near the lowest level since July 17th, mortgage rates are moving up to start the new week. Motivations are familiar. Escalation in U.S./Iran tensions is pushing fuel prices higher and bond yields continue to correlate. Bond yields correlate with consumer interest rates with near perfection.

 » Read more about: Mortgage Rates Start Week Higher  »

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% at the open,

 » Read more about: Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500 fall; Nasdaq rises as Fed, retail earnings in focus  »

 » Read more about: America’s Best Dividend Stock Has A Good Year  »

Leon Cooperman is back with another warning for investors.

The billionaire investor and former Goldman Sachs CEO laid out a troubling outlook for the US economy and markets this week, predicting the US economy could tip into a recession sometime within the next year.

Speaking to CNBC,

 » Read more about: Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman sees a recession in 2027 and a stock drop ahead  »

 » Read more about: Investing $500 a Month Into These 3 ETFs Could Retire You a Millionaire  »

Net investments in physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continued to be positive for the fourth week in a row last week, per data from the World Gold Council (WGC).

Though gold prices did not gain much in the past week, the yellow metal’s price ruling near $4,400 an ounce attracted investors. In the week ended August 7,

 » Read more about: Positive inflows into gold ETFs continue for the 4th week in a row  »

 » Read more about: These 3 Dividend ETFs Quietly Pay You Every Month and Most Investors Have No Idea  »

The natural rate of interest is the real, or inflation-adjusted, interest rate consistent with the economy operating at full capacity with maximum employment. The natural rate is thus an essential benchmark for understanding how monetary policy can best achieve the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment. When the real federal funds rate exceeds the natural rate,

 » Read more about: Assessing a Medium-Run Natural Rate of Interest  »