The weekend that went past had its fair share of action, with Washington lawmakers keeping companies and investors on tenterhooks regarding the Senate clearance of the climate bill before finally approving it. With earnings still on the radar and key inflation data due in the unfolding week, here's a recap of a few major headlines that hit the wire over the weekend:
Elon Challenges Twitter CEO For Public Debate: Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk got chirpy on Twitter during the weekend. When one of his followers discussed Twitter, Inc.’s (NYSE:TWTR) monetizable daily active users metric and criticized the methodology the platform uses for calculating spam accounts, Musk chimed in. He challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a public debate about the bot count.
Musk also ran a poll, soliciting answers on what his followers think is the accurate percentage of the bot count.
Senate Passes Climate Bill: The U.S. Senate finally got around to approving the Inflation Reduction Act, albeit by a slim majority. The proposals under the bill aim to make healthcare costs affordable, lower deficits, and further clean energy in a bid to tackle climate change. The House will vote on the proposals on Friday, as representatives return following the summer recess.
Trump A Favorite For 2024 Rerun: The results of the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll showed that a majority of respondents picked former President Donald Trump as their choice for the 2024 presidential election. While Trump received 69% of the vote, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was a distant second, garnering 24% of the votes. The straw poll also found that Trump’s approval rating was as high as 99%.
Berkshire Hathaway Posts Steep Q2 Investment Losses: Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) reported a higher operating profit for the second quarter. The company reversed into the red, as it incurred huge investment losses, primarily tied to its equity investments. The company noted that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) accounted for about 69% of its equity portfolio.
Fed’s Bowman Calls For Aggressive Rate Hikes: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman on Saturday called for additional 75-basis-point increases in Fed rates until inflation declines in a “consistent, meaningful and lasting way.” Friday’s non-payrolls report showed a robust clip of job gains, and ever since, the market has begun pricing in additional similarly-sized rate increases.
What Else: The upcoming week is likely to see earnings reports from more blue-chip companies, with notable among them being Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS).
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman explained in his weekly Power-on newsletter why Apple could be delaying the release of the newest iteration of the iPadOS.
Block, Inc.’s (NYSE:SQ) Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to express his displeasure over China’s zero COVID policy and called for an end to the Chinese communist regime.
