Rover’s Weekly Market Brief – 08/01/2025

Reviewing Financial Statements in Stock Rover

We have created a help section called How To ^[1] which provides concise, direct recipes for performing common tasks in Stock Rover.

The How To posts can quickly show how you accomplish things and help you use Stock Rover more productively. Today we want to highlight Reviewing Financial Statements in Stock Rover ^[2].

Economy

The Commerce Department’s first estimate on the second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth reported ^[3] the economy expanded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.0%, reversing the 0.5% decline recorded in the previous quarter. The improvement was largely driven by a 30.3% drop in imports, which added to GDP, and consumer spending which grew by 1.4%. These gains were partly offset by a steep 15.6% contraction in gross private domestic investment and a 1.8% decline in exports. Consumer spending on services and nondurable goods led the increase, with notable strength in health care, food services, and pharmaceuticals. Inflationary pressures eased, with the price index for gross domestic purchases rising 1.9%, down from 3.4% in Q1. The PCE price index climbed 2.1%, while the core PCE, which excludes food and energy, rose 2.5%. Despite the sharp increase in headline GDP, “real final sales to private domestic purchasers” — a key measure of underlying demand — advanced just 1.2%, down from 1.9% in the prior quarter.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced ^[4] that it will leave the federal funds rate within a range of 4.25% to 4.50%. The FOMC statements from June and July 2025 show a subtle shift in the assessment of economic activity, moving from “continued to expand at a solid pace” in June to “growth moderated in the first half of the year” in July. A key difference also lies in the voting, with the June statement showing unanimous support for maintaining the federal funds rate, while the July statement included two dissenting votes favoring a rate reduction. Fed Chair Powell indicated ^[5] that no decision has been made for the September meeting, which has tempered expectations for a quick rate cut. He emphasized that while the unemployment rate remains low and labor market conditions are solid, inflation remains somewhat elevated. Powell also stressed the need to assess the impact of tariffs on inflation, explaining that the current “modestly restrictive policy” is appropriate for managing inflation risks and allows the Fed to evaluate further economic data.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported ^[6] an increase of 73,000 jobs in July as the unemployment rate edged up slightly to 4.2%, with the number of unemployed increasing to 7.2 million. A year earlier the jobless rate was 4.5%, and unemployment totaled approximately 7.6 million. Job gains continued to trend upward in health care, which added 55,000 jobs, and social assistance, which saw an increase of 18,000 positions, while the federal government continued to shed jobs, declining by 12,000. The labor force participation rate edged down to 62.2%. Average hourly earnings grew by 0.3% to $36.44, marking a 3.9% increase over the past year. Meanwhile, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless 27 weeks or more) rose to 1.8 million – 24.9% of the total unemployed, up from 1.6 million (23.3%) in June. Revisions to May and June were unusually large, showing that 258,000 fewer jobs were added than initially reported.

Upcoming Economic Reports:

Monday August 4 – Factory Orders (MoM) (June)

Thursday August 7 – Consumer Credit (June)

Earnings Calendar:

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Palantir Technologies (PLTR)	Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)	Airbnb (ABNB)	Motorola Solutions (MSI)	Under Armour (UAA)
Wayfair (W)	Caterpillar (CAT)	Walt Disney (DIS)	Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)	Wendy’s (WEN)