Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk, your closing bell briefing on the stories moving money and markets tonight.
Real wages are losing ground again. Inflation is now running faster than salary growth, reaching a gap not seen in roughly three years. For consumers already stretched thin, that squeeze on purchasing power feeds directly into softer retail spending and complicates the Fed's path forward on rate policy.
Turning to corporate capital, Jamie Dimon has joined Citadel's Ken Griffin in signaling that tax policy is starting to bite expansion plans. Dimon warned that elevated UK bank levies could jeopardize JPMorgan's proposed three-million-square-foot London headquarters, a multibillion-dollar project announced just months ago. When two of finance's most prominent figures threaten to pull back building commitments in the same week, policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic should be paying close attention.
And in the commodities pits, the dollar's renewed strength is doing real damage across soft markets. Arabica and robusta coffee both settled lower Tuesday, down roughly three quarters of a percent, while cocoa futures shed more than two and a half percent as long holders rushed for the exits. The dollar index remains the key variable traders are watching across the soft commodity complex heading into Wednesday's session.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
