Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and the broader economy.
Inflation is refusing to let go. A convergence of pressures — from El Niño weather disruptions and AI energy demand to Trump tariffs and the ongoing Ukraine war — is keeping prices stubbornly elevated. Markets are now pricing in roughly eighty-five percent odds the Federal Reserve moves on rates before year end, with policymakers increasingly frustrated after five consecutive years above their two percent target.
And there's no relief at home either. The so-called funflation trend is hitting consumers where they thought they were safe. Streaming subscriptions, gaming platforms, and at-home entertainment have all seen meaningful price increases, eroding what used to be the budget-friendly alternative to going out. Staying in is simply no longer the bargain it once was.
Shifting to equities, Zoom's chief executive sold company stock worth approximately five point one million dollars, offloading fifty-eight thousand six hundred fifty-five shares at eighty-six dollars and thirty-eight cents apiece across July eighth and ninth of two thousand twenty-six. Insider sales of this size naturally raise questions, though a single transaction doesn't confirm a directional view on the company's fundamentals.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
