Markets appear immune to inflationary risks. On Tuesday, the producer price index for wholesale prices increased by 0.5%, higher than expected. Today’s CPI (consumer price index) report will indicate the inflation levels in April.
Trade the TLT ETF, whose price faces resistance (bearish) at $91 - $92.25. It needs to break out above $92, which only happens if the market expects the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
In retail news, Walmart (WMT) announced a job cut at its corporate headquarters. It will relocate most of its remote workforce to three offices. This is a reversal from the company’s pandemic-era commitment to endorse virtual work.
Other giant retailers like Costco (COST) and Target (TGT) may follow Walmart. This effectively helps the ailing commercial real estate market. Vacancies are high and rent collection rates are falling.
In the artificial intelligence segment, Google’s parent Alphabet (GOOG) announced updates to Gemini. The firm is in no rush to release a half-baked product. However, Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI launched AI first. Alphabet must respond. It added Flash to Gemini 1.5 which is faster and less expensive to run. Project Astra will process data captured from a smartphone camera in real-time. It will then output search results.
Markets are impressed with Gemini’s updates. GOOG stock hovers near a 52-week high.
