Transcript:
Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
A tame inflation report gives Wall Street the green light to move higher. The Personal Consumption Expenditures Index for July rose just 0.2 percent, as expected. Over the past 12 months, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge is up 2.5 percent. Couple that modest rise in inflation with data showing a resilient consumer and an orderly slowdown in the labor market, and investors believe the stage is set for the Fed to start cutting rates in September.
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In other business headlines: new worries are emerging about Elon Musk’s ability to handle all the battles he’s facing.
The latest threat comes from Brazil, where X is facing a government ordered shutdown. Musk has been locked in a war of words with South America’s most populous nation. The billionaire has refused to employ a coordinator to handle required removal of posts, deemed political misinformation by the government ahead of municipal elections.
A shutdown in Brazil would compound revenue trouble for X with 171 million active social media users knocked off the social network, according to local estimates. Musk can hardly afford that with global revenues in free-fall since he took over in 2022.
Meanwhile, the spat has spread to Starlink, the satellite internet service powered by Musk’s other company - SpaceX. The Brazilian Supreme Court has frozen Starlink’s domestic bank accounts, putting service in one of Starlink’s major markets in jeopardy.
And if that’s not enough, in another part of the world, Musk is fighting the European Union. Regulators there say X violated its Digital Services Act aimed at putting guardrails on misinformation and harmful speech. In that case, Musk could be hit with a fine of up to 6 percent of X’s global sales.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
Related: Elon Musk’s strange new rule for X employees could cause trouble
