Good evening, this is Markets Desk with your closing read on the day's most important stories.
The dollar found its footing Thursday as a cluster of stronger-than-expected economic data gave bulls something to work with. Weekly jobless claims dropped to a ten-week low, June retail sales came in on target, and the Philadelphia Fed survey added to the case for resilience. Treasury yields moved higher in response, and the dollar index ticked up by roughly a quarter of a percent, reinforcing the Federal Reserve's patience on rate cuts.
Turning to commodities, sugar prices extended a rough week, falling to two-and-a-half-week lows in both New York and London. The driver is India's monsoon season, which has improved meaningfully, easing concerns about cane crop damage. When India's rainfall recovers, global sugar supply expectations follow, and traders priced that in quickly, with the New York contract off nearly three percent on the session.
And on the streaming front, Netflix earnings are drawing attention to the company's advertising ambitions, with live sports emerging as the central pillar of that strategy. The logic is straightforward — live events command attention that on-demand content simply cannot replicate, and advertisers pay a premium for it. Investors are watching closely to see whether rights deals can justify the spend.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
