Full recap
Good morning. The bull market quietly turned four years old this week, which in financial years is basically a golden retriever that survived three recessions, a regional banking crisis, and seventeen Fed pivot narratives. The S&P 500 is up nearly 120% since its October 2022 low. Investors are now debating whether year five is a stretch. Spoiler: it is always a stretch. That is the point of a wall of worry. JPMorgan, Micron, and UnitedHealth are all moving premarket, which is Wall Street's polite way of saying something either crushed expectations or quietly blew up. Check your positions before your coffee. Actually, check your coffee first. You will need it. Visa just got Beijing's green light to operate its bank card business in China after forty years of waiting. Forty years. That is longer than most geopolitical grudges, most marriages, and the entire lifespan of some altcoins. The timing is not subtle either, with U.S. and Chinese presidents reportedly set to meet next month. Nothing says diplomatic progress like letting a payment network skim two percent off a billion transactions. Meanwhile, the CEO of DBS, Southeast Asia's largest bank, is out here pitching Singapore as a global safe haven with the line 'boring is not bad.' Respect. In a world of meme coins, leveraged ETFs, and central banks cosplaying as economists, boring is genuinely underrated. Singapore: stable, clean, slightly authoritarian, and apparently proud of it. On the field, Josh Allen and the Bills beat the Rams in overtime because Josh Allen is legally required to be the main character of at least one late-season drama per month. Somewhere a Rams fan is staring at a ceiling wondering what life was like when Stafford just handed off. The Brewers went up two-nothing on the Dodgers in the NLCS, which is the sports equivalent of a mid-cap stock quietly outperforming a blue chip. Nobody saw it coming. Nobody bought the dip. Classic. In the ALCS, the Rays are trying to avoid back-to-back home losses for the first time in two months, which is a very specific stat that means they are rattled and the oddsmakers know it. Tampa Bay playing defense on their own turf is basically the Visa-China story of baseball: took longer than expected, outcome still unclear. Oregon remains a conundrum in the college football power ratings, which is the polite academic way of saying 'we have no idea how good they actually are.' Alabama, meanwhile, moved up after an admirable loss to Georgia, because in college football losing gracefully to a powerhouse still earns you points. In markets, that is called a dead cat bounce. In Tuscaloosa, it is called character.
Highlights
- Visa waited 40 years for China approval; your altcoin portfolio cannot wait 40 days without an existential crisis
- The bull market is four years old and analysts are already writing its eulogy, which is basically the most bullish signal possible
- Singapore CEO drops 'boring is not bad' and somehow it is the most refreshing take of the entire news cycle
- Josh Allen in overtime is not a sports story, it is a recurring subscription service you did not ask for but cannot cancel
- Brewers up 2-0 on the Dodgers: proof that payroll is a narrative, not a guarantee
Original source links
- CNBC: Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: JPMorgan Chase, Micron, UnitedHealth & more
- CNBC: Visa gets Beijing's green light for bank card business after 40 years of working with China
- CNBC: 'Boring is not bad': CEO of Southeast Asia's largest bank pitches Singapore as a haven amid global turmoil
- CBS Sports: Guardians vs. Rays ALCS Game 2 picks: Tampa Bay tries to avoid back-to-back home losses first time in 2 months
- CBS Sports: Tom Fornelli's College Football Power Ratings: Oregon presents a conundrum
- CBS Sports: Florida International vs. Jacksonville State CFB picks: Gamecocks own weekday Conference USA games of late