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Markets shook off a midday ditch to ramp back up into the green as of today’s close. A report that President Trump intended on firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell sent all major indexes into the loss column, but it was a temporary condition. Reports are currently that there is a letter drafted with which to relieve Powell of his duties as head of the Fed, but the president has since said he does not intend to send it.

To make a long story short, the Dow closed up +231 points this Hump Day, +0.53%, while the S&P 500 grew +19 points, +0.32%. The Nasdaq was up a similarly modest +52 points, +0.25%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 gained +21 points, +0.99% on the session. Bond yields were drifting in opposite directions today: the 10-year moved back up to +4.45% while the 2-year slid down to +3.89%. Also, the 30-year yield has crept back up over +5% once again: +5.01%.

United Airlines Misses Estimates in Q2
 

Major airline United (UAL - Free Report) reported Q2 earnings after today’s closing bell, missing on both top and bottom lines — its first earnings miss since 2022. Earnings of $2.97 per share came up short of the $3.86 in the Zacks consensus (and the $4.14 per share reported in the year-ago quarter). Revenues of $15.2 billion was shy of the $15.36 billion analysts had been expecting.

It wasn’t all bad for United in the quarter: both cabin and cargo revenues were up, by +5.6% and +3.8%, respectively, while its loyalty program grew +8.7%. Yet next-quarter earnings guidance was taken down on the low end, and shares are trading down -2% in late trading. Shares had already been down -8.9% year to date.

Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization Improve
 

Minutes before today’s opening bell, we got a new print on Industrial Production for June. Much like the Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers which had come out earlier that hour, both metrics came in healthier than expected. Industrial Production matched the prior month’s upwardly revised +0.7% for the 7th-straight up-month. Manufacturing grew +0.8% and Mining was up +1.6%.

Capacity Utilization, the sister report for Industrial Production on a monthly basis, came in at 77.6% — above the 77.4% expected and upwardly revised 77.5% reported a month ago. Mining levels remain above the historical norm, even if they did pull back -0.3% month over month. It was Manufacturing which saw lower levels of utilization for June.

What to Expect from the Stock Market Thursday
 

Another busy day awaits us tomorrow, with Weekly Jobless Claims once again hitting the tape, along with Retail Sales, Import/Exports, the Philly Fed survey, Business Inventories, and the July Homebuilder Confidence Index. In terms of pure numbers, this will be the busiest day for economic data of the entire week.

In addition, we’ll see Q2 earnings reports Thursday morning for GE Aerospace (GE - Free Report), PepsiCo (PEP - Free Report), Abbott Labs (ABT - Free Report), and Dow insurance component, The Travelers (TRV - Free Report), to name but a few. Earnings season continues to ramp up, and will begin to hit its stride when Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) reports after the closing bell. 

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