Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving money and markets.
The dollar is under real pressure today, with the DXY tumbling to a six-week low after a pair of softer-than-expected data points. Second quarter GDP came in below forecasts, and the June core PCE reading eased in line with estimates — both of them dovish signals for Fed policy. Meanwhile, the yen surged sharply on suspected intervention from Tokyo, adding fuel to the dollar's retreat.
That macro softness is feeding directly into the conversation around tech equities. Analysts at Evercore are staying selective in a fading software tape, flagging Microsoft, ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Samsara as names positioned to outperform through year-end. The broader view from market strategists is that July's selling looks more like a stress test than a structural break — a dip to buy, not a trend to fear.
And in payments, Mastercard's chief executive is making a pointed argument that credit cards will survive the rise of AI-driven shopping. He's calling it agentic commerce — the world where AI agents execute purchases on your behalf — and he believes Mastercard's network infrastructure puts it squarely in the flow of that transaction layer, regardless of how the interface evolves.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
