Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Workday delivered a strong second quarter, posting revenue growth of nearly thirteen percent as artificial intelligence adoption accelerated across its enterprise client base. Margins widened, and management backed that confidence with one point three three billion dollars in buybacks alongside a fresh four billion dollar authorization — a signal that the balance sheet story here is far from finished.
Shifting to macro, the Federal Reserve's structural lag in reading inflation is drawing renewed scrutiny. Critics argue the Fed anchors policy to trailing twelve-month averages, meaning sharp turns in the current inflation run rate go undetected until the damage is done. That rearview-mirror problem has real consequences for rate decisions and bond markets alike.
And on the equity strategy side, Applied Materials, Progressive, and PulteGroup are drawing attention as growth-at-a-reasonable-price plays for the second half of the year. Each name balances valuation discipline against genuine earnings momentum — a combination that tends to outperform when the market gets selective and multiple expansion becomes harder to count on.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
