MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks rose for the session but major indexes lost ground on the week amid concerns about rising oil prices and Treasury yields.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields rose ahead of inflation data and the Jackson Hole, Wyo., central-banking conference next week.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked down amid concerns about Treasury Department interventions in the bond market.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose slightly, completing a 6.9% gain for the week as efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz stalled.
HEADLINES
GM Faces Safety Probe Over Engine-Failure Concerns in Nearly One Million
Vehicles
Federal auto-safety regulators are opening an investigation into
nearly one million General Motors pickup trucks and sport-utility
vehicles after receiving hundreds of reports of engine failures.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it was
launching the probe into vehicles equipped with a particular GM V-8
engine that had already been the subject of an earlier recall. The
regulator has received nearly 500 complaints alleging engine failure in
vehicles that had already been serviced under recall, including nearly
two dozen that required complete engine replacements.
The regulator's newest probe covers nearly 998,000 vehicles, including
model years 2021 to 2026 of the Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet
Silverado, two of GM's most profitable models.
Fannie Mae Hit by Turmoil in Senior Ranks as Roughly 12 Executives Are
Let Go
Roughly a dozen high-ranking officials were let go at Fannie Mae this
week, raising concerns about more turmoil at one of the firms that back
major portions of the mortgage market, according to people familiar with
the matter.
Word of the senior departures spread across the industry Friday,
creating worries that Fannie's ability to provide stability to prices and
activity could be hampered.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a pivotal role by buying up mortgages
and packaging them to sell to investors, guaranteeing the investors
payments even if borrowers default. This empowers U.S. lenders to make
more 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.
BJ's Wholesale Wins Value-Seeking Shoppers With Deals on Gas and
Groceries
BJ's Wholesale Club raised its full-year profit outlook, as lower gas
prices and deals on groceries drew more customers to its warehouses in
the latest quarter.
"Gas prices are about as visible as it gets for consumers," Chief
Executive Bob Eddy said on a call with analysts Friday. "There's a price
on every street corner, and our members know that we offer great value."
Including fuel, comparable-club sales grew nearly 12% in the recent
quarter. Stripping out fuel, comparable sales were up 3.1%, ahead of the
2.6% increase that analysts polled by FactSet expected.
Nvidia in Talks to Invest in Data-Center Power Developer Cloverleaf
Infrastructure
Nvidia is in advanced discussions to make an investment in Cloverleaf
Infrastructure, a company that arranges power for data-center projects,
according to people familiar with the deal.
The transaction could be announced as soon as Friday morning, the
people said. The exact terms of the deal couldn't be immediately learned,
but Nvidia is expected to invest several hundred million dollars, one of
the people said.
In recent months, Cloverleaf had been working with JPMorgan Chase on
strategic options, including a potential sale of the business, according
to people familiar with the deal. Cloverleaf raised $300 million in 2024,
the year it was founded, from energy investors NGP and Sandbrook Capital.
U.S. to Boost Beef Imports to Address High Prices, Trump Says
President Trump announced a plan to temporarily allow more foreign
beef imports into the U.S. without paying higher tariffs, his latest move
aimed at easing a run-up in beef prices for American shoppers.
Trump, in a social-media post on Friday, said the Trump
administration, for the next 90 days, will allow up to 300,000 metric
tons of ground beef to be imported into the U.S. without triggering
higher tariff rates. "We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at
25 percent below current market prices," Trump said.
Reducing beef prices has been a priority for the Trump administration,
which is feeling pressure to convince Americans that it is taking steps
to tame food inflation. Record-high beef prices have been among the most
stubborn sources of food inflation for U.S. consumers over the past year
and a half.
Alfalfa Sprouts Linked to E. Coli, Salmonella Outbreak Across 15 States
An outbreak of E. coli and salmonella linked to alfalfa sprouts has
sickened dozens of people across 15 states, public-health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday urged
consumers not to eat alfalfa sprouts grown by Everything Sprouts and sold
under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands. Fifty-five people have
been infected with E. coli or salmonella in connection with the outbreak,
the health agency said, including two people who contracted both
pathogens.
No one has died in the outbreak, the CDC said. Four people have been
hospitalized.
ABC Local Station Move Draws FCC Scrutiny
When major broadcast networks decide to move their programming from
one local TV station to another, it rarely attracts the attention of the
federal government.
But ABC's decision to switch stations in St. Louis next month is
getting scrutiny from Federal Communications Chairman Brendan Carr, who
is already engaged in multiple legal battles with the Disney-owned
network.
Carr has made inquiries about the affiliation change from KDNL, the
network's home for more than 30 years, to KMOV, according to people
familiar with the matter. The former is owned by broadcaster Sinclair,
while the latter is operated by rival Gray Media.
TALKING POINT When Your Bumper 401(k) Is a Tax Problem Waiting to Happen
Here's a good question for mid- and late-career workers: Do your traditional 401(k) or IRA accounts hold a large portion of your retirement savings?
If the answer is yes, consider changes.
While these accounts have advantages, they also have drawbacks that could limit flexibility and raise taxes later on. Smart planning now could reduce future trouble, as long as you're careful.
A lot of affluent workers have outsize traditional IRAs and 401(k)s because they had no access to other tax-favored accounts, like Roth 401 (k)s, when they were younger. Meanwhile, contributions to traditional accounts were often tax-deductible and came with a company match. So these accounts seemed-and often were-a better way to save for retirement than a taxable brokerage account.
For such reasons, the dollars in traditional IRAs now far surpass those in Roth IRAs. At the end of 2025, traditional IRAs held about $15 trillion while Roth IRAs held about $2 trillion, according to IRS data and estimates by the Investment Company Institute. (Traditional and Roth IRAs often hold savings rolled over from 401(k) plans.)
Advisers see the imbalance frequently. "When people seek retirement advice, it's often because their traditional IRAs are disproportionately large," says Ed Slott, a CPA who specializes in retirement tax planning.
--Laura Saunders, The Wall Street Journal
Expected Major Events for Monday 10:00/FRA: 2Q OECD Quarterly National Accounts: GDP growth
12:30/US: Jul Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)
12:30/CAN: 2Q Quarterly financial statistics for enterprises
17:59/UK: Jul Adzuna UK Job Market Report
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Expected Earnings for Monday NAPCO Security Technologies Inc (NSSC) is expected to report $0.38 for 4Q.
VOC Energy Trust $(VOC)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.