Warsh makes his first public remarks as Fed chair, and offers no rate hints

Good morning. Wall Street caught its breath on the first day of the second half. The Dow touched a record intraday before chip stocks sold off and dragged it back, and the Nasdaq took the worst of it. Banks rose while semiconductors fell.

All eyes were on new Fed chair Kevin Warsh, speaking in public for the first time since his debut press conference. He said inflation risks have eased, but wouldn’t say whether rates are headed up. The minutes of the Fed’s June meeting, due later this week, are the next place to look for clues.

The AI bubble debate heated up again. Michael Burry, the investor made famous by The Big Short, reportedly opened fresh short bets against AI beneficiaries, and Meta’s admission that it has more computing capacity than it needs fed worries about overbuilding. The bulls pushed back, arguing that big-tech capital spending is still what powers this market.

The jobs picture was soft. Private payrolls from ADP rose by just 98,000 in June, short of forecasts, so traders are treating the official jobs report as a check-up to come.