News Bulletin
Wednesday, July 08, 2026
Evening Edition

Economic Numbers:

Time	Event	Actual	Forecast	Previous
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
10:30	Crude Oil Inventories	2.998M	-1.900M	-3.775M
10:30	Cushing Crude Oil Inventories	-0.052M		0.709M
13:00	10-Year Note Auction	4.58%		4.54%
14:00	FOMC Meeting Minutes
15:00	Consumer Credit (May)	-0.18B	16.90B	20.82B

Indices

	CLOSE	50 DMA	200 DMA
DJIA	52,348.39	50,760.75	48,544.58
NASDAQ	25,870.65	25,988.53	23,756.01
S&P 500	7,482.71	7,430.25	6,964.05

Earnings Calendar:

(EPS: Earning Per Share / Rev: Revenue / Mkt Cap: market Capital/ BMO: Before Market Opening /AMC: After Market Close)

COMPANY	EPS Act	EPS Fore	Rev Act	Rev Fore	Mkt Cap	Time
PriceSmartPSMT:US		1.32		1.42B	$4.78B	PM
AZZAZZ:US		1.82		442.23M	$4.03B	PM

Market News:

Wall Street on Wednesday pared some losses in the final hour of trading to eke out a mixed finish. The geopolitical risk premium was squarely back in the spotlight following fresh strikes between the U.S. and Iran and President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric against Tehran.

But the mood was lifted by a combination of Trump saying he didn’t think the war with Iran would resume, a rebound in chip stocks and the technology sector, and Federal Reserve minutes that showed an evenly divided debate over monetary policy outlook.

The benchmark S&P 500 index slipped 0.3% to end at 7,481.46 points, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.1% to close at 52,348.09 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite added 0.2% to settle at 25,870.65 points, reversing a slide of as much as 1.1%.

U.S. will ’probably’ hit Iran again, Tehran says will close Hormuz strait

The U.S. and Iran inked an interim peace deal last month as per which fighting was to be stopped on all fronts, the critical Strait of Hormuz was to be reopened, and sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil was to be dropped. However, the agreement has been threatened by the biggest escalation between the two sides since its signing.

Following reports of attacks on three oil tankers in and around the critical Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military on Tuesday hit over 80 targets in Iran in retaliation. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it struck Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) small boats in and near the strait.

The strikes were in response to Iran’s attacks on the commercial ships M/T Al Rekayyat, M/T Wedyan, and M/T Cyprus Prosperity, CENTCOM said. Qatar and Saudi Arabia had on Tuesday identified the first two ships.

While Iran did not publicly claim the attacks, the country responded swiftly to the U.S. strikes. As per state media, 85 military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain were targeted, and an American drone was shot down.

Trump ramped up his rhetoric against Iran at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara, Türkiye. When asked about the status of the ceasefire with Iran, the U.S. president told reporters: "To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore."

"We hit them very hard last night — very, very hard — and we’ll probably hit them hard again tonight," Trump said. "They’ll never build a nuclear weapon under our deal. But I don’t know if we’re going to have a deal. We may just do it without a deal, because you know what, it’s easier," he added.

Trump also said that the U.S. may reimpose a naval blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline that was removed as part of the interim peace deal.

Additionally, the U.S. president said that Iran had still not been attacked "at the highest level."

"The highest level are the bridges...their electric plants, where they make their electricity. If we have to, we’ll take them out. I don’t want to do that, but if we have to, we’ll take them out...We attacked Kharg Island last night—we knocked out a piece. I said, ’don’t touch the oil’ because maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island. We may take over Kharg Island," Trump said, referring to a key maritime terminal for Iran’s oil exports.

The U.S. on Tuesday revoked a general license that allowed the production and sale of Iranian oil as a response to the attacks on the ships.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, accused the U.S. of violating the interim peace agreement. Iran’s Press TV, citing an informed source, said the country would shut the Strait of Hormuz in response to any more U.S. attacks and wouldn’t allow any new transit route through the vital waterway other than those it established.

Against this backdrop, oil prices soared on Wednesday, with Brent crude futures expiring in September, the global benchmark, briefly topping $80 a barrel for the first time since June 22.

Sentiment was slightly lifted when Trump, at another press conference later at the NATO summit, said he didn’t think the Iran war would restart. Oil pared some of its climb after the remark.

"The ceasefire and ongoing peace negotiations were always going to be shaky, but this is a worrying escalation," Yerbol Orynbayev, former World Bank governor of Kazakhstan, told Investing.com.

"Prolonging the conflict and, in turn, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz risks heaping further pressure on a U.S. economy which, whilst having proven itself resilient, has been starting to show cracks. Inflation is already at a three-year high, and consumers are feeling the squeeze with household debt sitting at a record level," he said.

"So, following this escalation, investors as well as the Fed will need to brace for impact. The central bank is already under pressure after holding rates steady in June, and with the November midterms approaching, pressure on the administration’s economic performance will likely intensify," Orynbayev added.

Fed minutes show healthy debate

Speaking of the Fed, the minutes from the central bank’s June 16-17 meeting showed that a few policymakers made a case for raising interest rates right away. The broader debate about rates appeared to be equally divided, with "most" participants pointing to scenarios where inflation would start coming back towards the Fed’s 2% target on its own, and "most" also seeing situations were inflation would remain elevated due to "strong AI-related demand, the conflict in the Middle East, or the effects of tariffs."

This is the first minutes under the leadership of new chair Kevin Warsh, who last month unveiled a significantly shorter Federal Open Market Committee statement, committed to solely focus on combating inflation, decided to drop forward guidance, and announced a sweeping review of several Fed operations.

The Fed in June had held its key policy rate steady, while its updated dot plot had showed a decidedly hawkish tilt, with half of the policymakers that contribute to the projections anticipating rate hikes this year. But, on the same day as the Fed’s rate decision, the U.S. and Iran inked their interim peace deal. Oil prices rapidly declined to pre-war levels soon after that, easing inflationary concerns.

Tuesday’s strikes and Wednesday’s comments from Trump have rapidly shifted the inflation dynamic once again. With the renewed spike in oil prices, the CME FedWatch tool showed that traders had dialed up their expectations for interest rate hikes this year.

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