Good morning. US stock futures rose slightly in Monday morning trading as Wall Street looked set to close out the month with solid gains.

"The idea is to get in harmony with the market. It’s suicidal to fight trends. They have a higher probability of continuing than not"

Martin Zweig

Top News

Biden Admin revises US deficit forecast

WHAT: The White House just gave their fiscal 2023 budget deficit a makeover, slimming it down to $1.543 trillion — a decrease of $26 billion from its March forecast.

WHY: The fall in the deficit was largely due to a major reduction in outlays after the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan in June.

EU banks prove robust, stress tests indicate

WHAT: Europe’s banking sector is showing off its mighty resilience against economic challenges according to the European Central Bank (ECB). A survey conducted by the ECB of 98 large and medium-sized banks showed that even in the most adverse scenario banks would have enough capital to cover losses and then some.

WHY: Scrutiny of bank finances has grown globally following the failure of three US banks amid rising interest rates that led to losses on investments and mass withdrawals of deposits.

US consumers feeling more bullish

WHAT: US consumers seem to have gotten their swagger back! According to the Conference Board, the Consumer Confidence Index hit a whopping 117 in July, leaving June’s 110.1 level far behind. The gauge also beat the 110.5 economists had predicted, and was the highest since July 2021.

WHY: The US economy — the world’s largest — has proved surprisingly resilient in the face of sharply higher borrowing costs. Employers are adding a strong 278,000 jobs a month so far this year, and at 3.6% in June, the unemployment rate is not far off a half century low.

Take Your Side Hustle To The Next Level!

So you’ve got a side hustle and you wanna take it to the next level?

One thing you’re missing is a great website.

But actually finding a good web hosting provider can be overwhelming.

Luckily WPX has taken a lot of the hard work out of creating a great website. Here’s why:

Got a problem with your website? WPX will fix it for you.

Got a question? WPX is ready to answer all your questions in under 30 seconds!

Worried about speed? WPX won for 2 years in a row the fastest fully-managed WordPress hosting award

And the best part?

WPX is offering Daily Market Briefs subscribers an exclusive deal: Save 50% for the first month on all monthly hosting plans with code “VINCENT50” and a 30 day money-back guarantee. Take advantage of it!

*Thanks to our sponsors for keeping this newsletter free

In Other News

Amazon pushes further into healthcare industry with AI tool

WHAT: Doctors and nurses rejoice! Amazon is stepping up its game in the healthcare industry after revealing a new platform called AWS HealthScribe at its AWS Summit in New York City. The company said HealthScribe will allow clinicians to create transcripts, extract details and create summaries from doctor-patient discussions that can be entered into an electronic health record system.

WHY: “Documentation is a particularly time-consuming effort for healthcare professionals, which is why we’re excited to leverage the power of generative AI and reduce that burden” Bratin Saha, VP of machine learning and AI services at AWS said.

US DOJ lining up Live Nation lawsuit

WHAT: The US Department of Justice is tuning up to file an antitrust lawsuit against concert giant Live Nation and its subsidiary unit Ticketmaster according to reports from Politico. The potential lawsuit could claim that the entertainment powerhouse is abusing its power over the live music industry Politico reported.

WHY: Earlier this year, US senators slammed Live Nation’s lack of transparency and inability to block bot purchases of tickets following a major fiasco involving ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s concert tour.

That (might be) a violation…

WHAT: San Francisco is buzzing with curiosity — and a dash of concern — as a giant “X” sign was installed on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter’s headquarters. City officials however weren’t as amused and have launched an investigation into the new signage, noting that erecting a sign on top of a building requires a permit for design and safety reasons.

WHY: Musk unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous bluebird as he remakes the famous social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year.

Key Economic Events

• Monday - Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity

• Tuesday - No Major Economic News

• Wednesday - No Major Economic News

• Thursday - Initial Jobless Claims (wk end Jul-29)

• Friday - Unemployment Rate (Jul)

Notable Briefs

• You know you’re maturing as an investor if you think like this!

• Here are 5 times when taking on debt makes sense!

• These 8 signs might indicate you’re suffering from burnout

• Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.

• Want to advertise in Daily Market Briefs? Go here.