U.S. Stocks Soar to $63.8 Trillion—Double Their 2020 Peak

Wall Street's bull run defies gravity—again. The U.S. stock market just notched a staggering $63.8 trillion valuation, eclipsing its 2020 levels by 100%. Talk about printing money while Main Street picks up the scraps.

The Numbers Don't Lie

No fancy footwork here—just cold, hard doubling. Even crypto maximalists can't ignore traditional markets when they pull off a two-x in five years.

What's Driving the Frenzy?

Algorithmic trading? Fed liquidity? Pure speculative greed? Take your pick. Meanwhile, your local hedge fund manager just upgraded his yacht—again.

Markets climb. Wealth gaps widen. The cycle continues. But hey—at least your 401(k) statement looks prettier, right?

Trump hits pause on Canada trade talks after tax rollback

On the policy side, movement between Washington and Ottawa created tension early this week. Canada reversed its digital services tax in an effort to ease trade talks with the U.S. That came days after President Donald TRUMP said on Friday he would be “terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada.”

The Canadian government made the decision to pull back on the levy to keep talks from collapsing entirely. Trump’s 90-day tariff reprieve is running out next week, and traders are watching closely for any sign of what comes next.

Markets are still recovering from April, when Trump’s sweeping tariffs knocked the S&P 500 close to bear market territory. Since then, the rebound has been aggressive. The broad market index posted a 10.6% gain for the second quarter, while the Nasdaq jumped nearly 18% in the same period.

Despite the pullback in futures, many traders believe momentum could carry into the second half of the year. Mike Wilson, the chief U.S. equity strategist and CIO at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Monday, “We think this is going to be a broader recovery.”

He added, “I think with the Fed cutting in the second half of this year or next year, we can see a rolling recovery – because now there’s quite a bit of pent-up demand, particularly in those interest rate sensitive parts of the market.” Wilson pointed to manufacturing and housing as the sectors that could benefit the most from a potential Fed pivot.

Goldman expects rate cuts to come earlier

Goldman Sachs now expects the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates in September, moving up its forecast from December.

David Mericle, the firm’s chief U.S. economist, wrote in a note Monday that “the very early evidence suggests that the tariff effects look a bit smaller than we expected, other disinflationary forces have been stronger, and we suspect that the Fed leadership shares our view that tariffs will only have a one-time price level effect.”

Even with inflation looking tamer, Mericle said it’s now harder for people to find jobs. He wrote, “Both residual seasonality and immigration policy changes pose near-term downside risk to payrolls.”

Goldman is now predicting three rate cuts this year—September, October, and December—each by 25 basis points. That WOULD push the Fed’s target range down to 3%–3.25%, from the earlier prediction of 3.5%–3.75%. The bank is also projecting two more cuts in 2026.

For now, the Fed’s target range stands at 4.25% to 4.5%. Traders are closely watching the upcoming reports for hints on how the economy is holding up. That includes the S&P Global PMI at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by the ISM manufacturing report at 10 a.m.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is also set to release Tuesday morning. All three reports are expected to influence market expectations around hiring and production.

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