First Pass

7 stories from 4 sources

Strong corporate profits conceal a more strained economy

Day’s Recap

Supporting Articles

12:00 PMFinancial Times

America’s biggest companies report ‘rock solid’ profits as consumers face higher costs

Summary

S&P 500 companies are on track to post their strongest earnings growth in five years. Their robust results come as consumers absorb higher costs.

Large companies are preserving strong profits despite rising prices, suggesting that pricing power and resilient

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

Corporate strength may be masking how inflation is shifting income and spending pressure onto households.

Link to Story
10:00 AMMarketWatch

S&P 500 profit growth is getting even wilder as Amazon makes its mark

Summary

Amazon reported unusually large earnings growth, helped by paper gains tied to its investments in Anthropic. The result adds another outsized boost to aggregate S&P 500 profit growth from Big Tech.

Amazon's headline earnings growth is being amplified by investment accounting rather than solely by operating

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

S&P 500 profit growth may look stronger than the business conditions experienced by most companies.

Link to Story
10:30 AMCNBC

Why people are dropping out of the workforce and not looking for new jobs: 'The market wore me down'

Summary

Some job seekers have stopped looking for work after repeated rejections and prolonged searches. Their withdrawal may be contributing to recent declines in the labor force participation rate.

Discouraged workers are reducing the number of people counted as available for work, making participation

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

A shrinking pool of active job seekers can conceal economic weakness and constrain hiring at the same time.

Link to Story
9:22 AMFortune

For the third time in history, women outnumber men in the workforce as the stay-at-home boyfriend becomes an economic trend

Summary

Women now hold more jobs than men in the United States, marking only the third time that has happened. A Federal Reserve economist says the shift may be durable rather than a temporary reversal.

The balance of the labor market is moving toward women as their employment gains persist

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

A durable female majority in employment would reshape how businesses and policymakers understand the American worker.

Link to Story

Other Developments

A curated list of other prominent stories from this day.

9:17 AMFortune

The average worker would need to save for 52 years to claw their way out of the middle class and be classified as wealthy, research reveals

Summary

Research estimates that the average worker would need 52 years of saving to move from the middle class into the top 10% by wealth. The finding underscores how difficult upward movement has become through wages and saving alone.

The central constraint is the widening gap between labor income and asset accumulation. Workers without

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

The research points to wealth inequality as a structural barrier that ordinary saving cannot easily overcome.

Link to Story
7:56 AMCNBC

AMD and Sandisk are two of the big chip stocks with earnings momentum in the new week

Summary

Around 130 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report earnings, with AMD and Sandisk among the chip stocks entering the week with strong earnings momentum.

The concentration of earnings reports will give investors a broad test of whether chip-sector strength

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

The week could reset expectations for chip demand, valuations, and the broader market's earnings outlook.

Link to Story
6:00 AMFinancial Times

Morgan Stanley’s IPO after-party: a wealth management bonanza

Summary

Morgan Stanley’s underwriting of SpaceX and other new issues helped generate $74 billion in wealth management assets during the second quarter. The gains show how investment banking relationships can translate into longer-term client assets.

The key shift is that IPO activity is feeding Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business, not

Unlock the full First Pass Analysis to get a better understanding of why this story matters

Why it matters

A strong IPO market can now boost both Morgan Stanley’s dealmaking revenue and its more durable wealth management franchise.

Link to Story

Make it yours

Build Your First Pass.

Pick your topics, set your cadence, and receive your personalized First Pass in your inbox. It’s that simple!