Disclaimer: this is not investment advice. Some of the content in this email is generated with the help of artificial intelligence. For the love of all things robotic, please do your own due diligence.

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GM. Exciting news on the business front - “Bull & Bear” is now “Wall Street Robot”. Why? A few reasons…

1. I received feedback that the previous format was hard to read, especially with the bright green text and borders on the grey background. I've gone for a simpler design this time.

2. I want to create a stronger brand image that's easier to share online as I include more original content.

3. I plan to use AI as a tool more extensively going forward. This newsletter will always be written by me (a human), but I have found ChatGPT very useful for drawing graphs and conducting some of the analyses used in the publication. “Robot” draws that connection.

This newsletter is still in its early days and I appreciate your support as I make improvements. As we grow together, I hope to settle on a more stable format. For now, I'll continue to make changes based on your feedback!

— Reuben

P.S. You might need to whitelist this email again and move it to your primary inbox because the sending domain has changed. It never hurts to quickly hit reply and say “hello again” - it will help your email provider recognise future publications as not junk.

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 💸 In Today’s Newsletter

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📰 What’s moving Markets?

• US Stocks had a relatively quiet end of the week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ending the day flat at -0.10% and -0.04% respectively on Friday. However, the muted performance followed a strong week overall with the two major indices gaining 2.6% and 3.6% respectively. Year-to-date performance for the S&P 500 now sits at +17% and for the Nasdaq 100 at+35%.

• European and Asian markets were also relatively flat on Friday, with the exception of India’s Nifty 50 index which was up 0.78% to close at a new record high of 19,595. 100 points of the 150 points that the index gained on Friday can be attributed to the strong performance of tech stocks TCS and Infosys. The index has posted its third straight positive weekly close.

• Consumer confidence is improving in the US, with the United States Michigan Consumer Sentiment, rising to 72.6, well above expectations of 65.5. The improvement was largely attributable to the continued slowdown in inflation along with stability in labor markets.

• JP Morgan reported earnings of $14.5 billion in the second quarter, up 67% from the same period last year, and resulting in earnings per share of $4.75 (expectations: $3.97 per share). The beat was due to strong performance in consumer banking as a result of high interest rates resulting in growing interest income for the bank.

• UnitedHealth, Wells Fargo, Blackrock, Citigroup and State Street also reported earnings on Friday, all beating EPS estimates.

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📊 Chart of the Day

Not everyone is optimistic about the US economy. Apollo argue that the current market narrative overlooks the fact that rapid inflation decline signifies a slowing economy and that lagged effects of Fed hikes may lead to a recession, rather than a soft landing, in the next 12-18 months.

US Service Sector Jobs Created

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🧠 ChatGPT tries…

Are bitcoin prices impacted by seasonality? I asked ChatGPT by sticking 3,655 lines of data (showing the daily price of Bitcoin over the past 10 years) into Code Interpreter.

In short: there aren’t any strong calendar-based trends in Bitcoin prices.

You should probably stop reading there, but in case you're interested, here are the graphs:

The average Bitcoin prices:

• Non-Holiday Days: Approximately $12,097.18

• Holiday Days: Approximately $12,051.41

There wasn’t any statistical significance in these results.

It's important to note that Bitcoin is a global asset and is traded 24/7, so it's not as influenced by these calendar-based factors as traditional assets or securities might be.

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