NEWS
Market Leaders Crack Amid Geopolitical Attack

The stock market’s time in the sun encountered inclement weather today as geopolitics and earnings weighed on a key market sector. Meanwhile, defensive stocks like healthcare’s UnitedHealth and J&J have seen increased activity as investors seek to diversify. Let’s see what else you missed. 👀

Today's issue covers what caused the semi selloff, healthcare’s new highs, and whether Beyond Meat is beyond rescuing.📰

Here's today's heat map:

6 of 11 sectors closed green. Consumer staples (+1.29%) led, & technology (-3.89%) lagged. 💚

U.S. housing starts rose 3% in June, with building permits rising 3.40%. Multi-family housing starts helped offset single-family housing starts declining for a fourth month. U.S. industrial output also posted its largest back-to-back gain since 2021, with capacity utilization rates at their highest in 10 months. 🏘️

Fed Governor Waller was the latest member to say that the central bank is “getting closer” to an interest rate cut (likely in September) as inflation and the economy continue to soften. ✂️

Tex-Mex chain Chuy’s soared 50% on news that Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants will purchase the company for $37.50 per share in cash ($605 million total). 🌮

V.F. Corporation rose 14% on news that eyewear group EssilorLuxottica will acquire its Supreme brand for $1.50 billion in cash by year-end. 😎

DevOps software company GitLab jumped 9% on a Reuters report that it was exploring a sale after receiving acquisition interest from Datadog and others. 🐕

Charles Schwab suffered its second straight down day after TD Cowen downgraded shares to hold, citing “ongoing mixed execution” and potential balance sheet shrinkage. 📉

Freight company J.B. Hunt Transportation Services fell 7% after posting second-quarter earnings and revenue that missed expectations. 🚚

Qualcomm suffered among the chip rutt due to HSBC downgrading the firm to hold, citing a “lackluster” artificial intelligence PC narrative. 👎

Steel Dynamics and Alcoa both rose marginally after the bell, following better-than-anticipated earnings and revenues. Metals and mining stocks remain a key focus area amid debates about the economy and commodity price direction. ⚒️

Other active symbols:$DJT (-1.22%), $SAVA (-29.27%), $SHIM (+52.17%), $MAXN (-3.29%), $SDST (+144.70%), and $XRP.X (+8.73%). 🔥

Here are the closing prices: 

STOCKS
Semis Smacked Down By Several Catalysts

This morning, a Bloomberg report indicated that the Biden admin is considering imposing tougher restrictions on the chip sector if firms like ASML Holding NV and Tokyo Electronic continue to provide access to critical technology to China. 😠

Former president Donald Trump’s comments on Taiwan also added pressure, with him suggesting that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense.

In addition, ASML Holdings reported second-quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates. However, management reiterated that 2024 is a transition year and offered a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2025 and beyond. ⚠️

The cocktail of news, combined with chip stocks already experiencing significant upside this year, was enough to spark profit-taking in the sector.

Meanwhile, the chart below from Stocktwits user @2KayKim sums up the technical situation pretty well. Momentum has failed to confirm the new price highs, a “divergence” that’s led to pullbacks in the past.😬

The trillion-dollar question remains whether bulls will step in to “buy the dip” as they consistently have or if this time is different and a steeper decline is ahead. Time will tell, but Stocktwits sentiment has turned decidedly bearish for many sector ETFs and stocks, signaling caution among retail.

STOCKTWITS & 11thESTATE PARTNERSHIP
Secure Your Alphabet Payout By July 25th!

$GOOG has agreed to a $350 million settlement with shareholders to resolve claims related to the security issues of Google+.  

Back in 2018, Alphabet was accused of hiding a major security flaw in its Google+ social network. This exposed users' private data to third parties between 2015 and March 2018. Following this news, $GOOG fell significantly, and Alphabet faced a lawsuit from shareholders.

Now, Alphabet has decided to pay the affected shareholders to avoid further litigation.