News

The Pound Sterling (GBP) clings to Tuesday’s gains near 1.3640 against the US Dollar (USD) during the European trading session on Wednesday.

Shares of ride-hailing service Lyft are the big winners in the pre-market today. They’re currently up 13% in volatile trading.

The gain comes after Waymo said it plans to launch its self-driving taxi service next year in
Nashville and it will partner with Lyft for the first time. Waymo appears to be testing different strategies as some cities use only Waymo’s app while in other cities (Atlanta and Austin) it’s partnered with Uber.

Lyft shares rose more than 20% but have given some back and is trading up 13% shortly after the open.

The market is infatuated with the robotaxi idea, putting huge multiples on the names in the space, including Tesla. The economics of the service are unproven and problems with security and cleaning are unsolved at scale.

Lyft “will provide end-to-end fleet management services including
vehicle readiness and maintenance, infrastructure, and depot operations
in Nashville,” for the Waymo fleet, the companies said.

Waymo is owned by Google, whose shares this week hit a record $250/share as they fight back for market share with ChatGPT after an impressive image app being paired with Gemini named Nano Banana.

Uber remains the ride-hailing leader with a market cap 25 times larger than Lyft.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

Newly confirmed Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran dissented from the central bank’s decision.

The market did not want to hear that today’s cut was a ‘risk management cut’ which is how Fed Chair Jerome Powell characterized it. The market is pining for another 150 bps this year a next. With Powell not offering up a dovish stance, there is some rapid profit taking hitting.

The S&P 500 is bouncing around but currently down 28 points.

We are also seeing a total reversal in the initial US dollar selling and gold buying.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

Financial pros are warming up to the idea of investing in digital assets in retirement accounts. They just recommend setting up a few guardrails first.

• Labor market changes are mostly from immigration changes
• Changes in employment are much more about immigration changes
• “I don’t think we can say” that policy no longer warrants a restrictive policy setting
• We were right to wait previously
• No widespread support for 50 bps today
• Change in balance of risks suggests need to move in direction of neutral
• You can think of this as a risk-management cut

The market hasn’t liked the lack of clear dovish signals. There is a big turn lower in the S&P 500, now down 34 points, or 0.5%.

• The risks of higher inflation are ‘a little bit less’ than they were in April
• In the labor market, we’re seeing downside risks
• We are in a meeting-by-meeting stance, we are going to be looking at the data
• Highlights that the forecasts aren’t a consensus forecast
• We have 10 participants who wrote down 2 more cuts for the rest of the year and 9 saw less than that
• Inappropriate to comment on Cook’s court cast
• The benchmark revisions to non-farm payrolls ‘were almost exactly what we expected’

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

• Slowdown largely reflects slowing consumer spending
• Business investment has accelerated
• Disinflation on services is continuing
• Job gains are running below the breakeven rate
• Labor demand has softened
• A reasonable expectation is that tariffs will be short-lived but it’s also possible that tariff effects could be more-persistent
• Our aim is to make sure that a one-time shift doesn’t become an ongoing problem
• Balance of risks have shifted with downside risks rising to employment
• We took another step towards neutral
• We remain positioned to respond in a timely way

The initial dovish moves in markets have largely faded and the US dollar is back to pre-decision levels.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

At first blush, the stock market is unimpressed with the Federal Reserve decision. The S&P 500 is trading down 2 points on the day compared to 7 points beforehand.

However it’s the smaller cap stocks that a really cheering a dot plot median forecast that shows two more cuts this year compared to one more previously. The Russell 2000 is now up 1.7% on the day.

The jump brings the Russell 2000 to the highest since November 2024 and just a shade below the all-time highs.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released its decision on interest rates and updated its economic projections.

The Fed cut interest rates by 25bps to 4.00–4.25%, in line with market expectations. The decision was not unanimous, with newly confirmed temporary Governor Stephen Miran dissenting in favor of a larger 50bps cut. However, notable doves Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman aligned with the majority, helping to anchor the outcome around the base case. […]

The post Fed cuts 25bps, projections signal two more moves this year appeared first on Action Forex.