TLDR

MARKET RECAP → Stocks crept upwards on Monday despite President Trump threatening high tariffs on a larger list of countries over the weekend. The threat was negated by investors bets that the tariffs will be negotiated down and second-quarter earnings season rolling around. In the Crypto world Bitcoin (BTC) boomed hitting a record high of $120,000. $BTC.X ( ▲ 0.55% ) 

POWELL CALLS FOR FED AUDIT → Facing $2.5B HQ backlash, Fed Chair Jerome Powell asks for an internal review to counter Trump’s claims of fiscal mismanagement and restore confidence in the central bank.

DEFENSE DOLLARS FUEL AI RACE → The Pentagon awarded up to $200M each to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google (GOOG), and xAI to test their AI models for national security. The move brings cutting-edge generative AI into military use, with war games, cybersecurity, and federal innovation on the line.

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MARKETS

Market Snapshot

Today’s S&P 500 Heatmap

Notable Earnings This Week

POLL OF THE DAY

Politics

Powell Calls for Fed Audit

Fed Chair Pushes Back: Jerome Powell requested the Fed’s inspector general review a contentious $2.5 billion headquarters renovation after criticism from lawmakers over ballooning costs and transparency issues. Powell defended the project but acknowledged concerns about oversight.

Political Crossfire Intensifies: The move comes after sharp attacks from the Trump administration, which accused Powell of “mismanagement” and using taxpayer dollars irresponsibly. The scrutiny adds to an already tense relationship between the White House and the Fed.

Implications for Independence: Analysts warn the controversy risks politicizing the central bank further as Powell tries to preserve credibility while managing public and political backlash over the high-profile project.

Tech

Defense Dollars Fuel AI Race

The Pentagon is backing big models: The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded up to $200 million each to four top AI labs, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google (GOOG), and xAI, through its Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. These performance-based contracts are part of Task Force Lima’s push to integrate generative AI into defense applications, ranging from logistics to cybersecurity.

🤖 From text to tactical: Each company will provide access to its proprietary large language models, Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Gemini, and xAI’s Grok, for experimental use in secure federal environments. The Pentagon is testing these models for tasks like war-gaming, intelligence analysis, and software development in a structured, sandboxed setting.

🚀 xAI joins the defense club: Elon Musk’s xAI, which recently launched "Grok for Government," is now a formal contender for federal AI deployment. The deal comes just weeks after xAI faced backlash for offensive content generated by its models, an issue it claims to have resolved. This marks the most direct government engagement yet for xAI and solidifies all four firms as key players in national security tech.

BULL VS. BEAR

KEEP READING

Bitcoin hits new high above $120,000 as U.S. lawmakers begin ‘Crypto Week’ (CNBC)

Trump threatens 100% tariffs on Russian export buyers unless Ukraine peace deal is reached by September (CNBC)

Musk’s xAI faces European scrutiny over Grok’s ‘horrific’ antisemitic posts (CNBC)

Nearly one-third of major U.S. housing markets now see falling home prices (CNBC)

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is building a 5GW AI data center (TechCrunch)

How to Change Your Money Mindset: 9 Tips for Abundance Thinking (ML)

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• Generated Assets — Turn any idea into an investable index

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• Quiver Quantitative — Quiver allows retail investors to tap into the power of big data with insights into things like congressional trades as they are disclosed

• Perplexity — Perplexity AI is an AI-chatbot-powered research and conversational search engine

• The Market Ear — Live news, analysis and commentary on what moves markets and trading

• Coinmarketcap.com — Crypto market data

• Finviz — Financial visualizations

• Trading Economics — Economic calendar

• CME FedWatch Tool — Market-implied probabilities of future levels of interest rates 

• Dataroma — Track stock picks and portfolios of legendary value investors such as Warren Buffett

• ChatGPT — Large language model-based chatbot powered by generative AI

• Vimcal — Lightning-fast calendar and AI scheduling assistant

• AltIndex — Alternative datasets to uncover unique insights

• GFR Smart Stock Selector — Filters stocks to help investor choices

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