Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
The dollar surged to a two-week high Friday after Fed Chair Warsh delivered a pointed message to markets — inflation isn't slowing meaningfully, and the Fed isn't done. The dollar index climbed over six-tenths of a percent, hitting gold hard as rate-sensitive assets repriced for a higher-for-longer path.
Shifting to equities, PG&E dropped more than seven percent after California lawmakers blocked Governor Newsom's plan to shield utilities from insurer claims following catastrophic wildfires. With an August thirty-first deadline approaching, investors are pricing in real liability exposure, and the uncertainty is doing exactly what uncertainty does — it sells.
On the tech side, Nvidia's latest revenue forecast is so staggering that Wall Street is now asking whether SpaceX is quietly behind the demand surge. SpaceX recently committed exclusively to Nvidia chips, and with Microsoft extending its longest winning streak of the year on fading AI software fears, the market is signaling that the AI infrastructure trade still has legs.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
