July PPI data, new Starbucks CEO, Trump talks to Musk: Catalysts
On today's episode of Catalysts, hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills break down some of the biggest stories impacting markets, from July's Producer Price Index to former President Donald Trump's conversation with Elon Musk on X. July's Producer Price Index (PPI) came in weaker than economists' expectations, revealing a rise of 0.1% month-over-month and 2.2% year-over-year. HSBC chief multi-asset strategist Max Kettner views the soft print as "good news" for inflation, noting that it demonstrates "growth and inflation are actually continuing to head in the right direction." While investors hope for a rate cut, concerns about achieving a soft landing persist. Kettner finds this uncertainty "quite helpful," describing it as bullish for markets that participants disagree on inflation and other tail risks. Starbucks (SBUX) stock is skyrocketing Tuesday morning after a C-suite shakeup that has CEO Laxman Narasimhan stepping down with Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) chief executive Brian Niccol to take up the new leadership mantle starting Monday, September 9. Inversely, Chipotle shares are falling on this news. Wedbush Securities managing director Nick Setyan explains that Niccol's challenge is "to basically go after a new customer." Former President Donald Trump joined X (formerly known as Twitter) owner Elon Musk for a conversation on Monday night, which was delayed due to what Musk claimed was a "massive DDoS attack" on the platform. Trump spent most of the conversation making baseless claims and reiterating talking points from previous rallies. In a post on X, Musk claimed the stream and subsequent discussions had about 1 billion views. Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Rick Newman breaks down what this means for Donald Trump and his campaign. Brookings Institution senior fellow in economic studies Wendy Edelberg gives insight into Trump's remarks on immigration and how it may impact the labor market. "Generally speaking, the US economy does not do well with abrupt changes of any kind. Let alone massive increases in outmigration. So that would have very significant negative effects for labor supply," Edelberg says. This post was written by Melanie Riehl
