Bonds & Stocks
The S&P 500 is poised to extend its record-breaking rally as mounting expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts stoked global risk-on sentiment and drove bond yields lower.
Economy
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made his most explicit call yet for the Federal Reserve to execute a cycle of interest-rate cuts, suggesting the central bank’s benchmark ought to be at least 1.5 percentage points lower than it is now. “I think we could go into a series of rate cuts here, starting with a 50 basis point rate cut in September.”
World
A key measure of lending at Chinese banks contracted for the first time in two decades in July while broad credit growth slowed, as borrowing demand languishes in an economy stuck in deflation.