🚀 "One Big Beautiful Bill" passes in narrow House vote

Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. In a razor-thin 218-214 vote, the House passed President Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending package, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, cementing a major legislative victory for Republicans just in time for July 4. The bill delivers trillions in permanent tax cuts and expanded immigration enforcement, while slashing Medicaid and other safety net programs, sparking fierce opposition from Democrats, all of whom voted no. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries set a record with an 8-hour, 45-minute floor speech denouncing the bill’s impact on low-income Americans. The package barely cleared the Senate earlier this week, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Despite internal GOP resistance over deficit concerns and a late-night scramble by Speaker Mike Johnson to corral votes, the legislation now heads to Trump’s desk amid growing economic unease and the looming threat of new tariffs, which together could reshape the country’s fiscal and social landscape.

2. Elon Musk’s xAI has secured a controversial permit to power its Memphis-based Grok supercomputer using 15 natural gas-burning turbines, triggering backlash from residents and environmental groups concerned about air quality and Clean Air Act violations. Issued on July 2 by the Shelby County Health Department—just one day after a leadership change—the permit allows the emission of pollutants like nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde, despite ongoing protests and a pending NAACP lawsuit. Satellite images suggest xAI may be operating more turbines than permitted, though the company claims its setup is outfitted with state-of-the-art controls and will be the cleanest of its kind. The supercomputer, which supports the Grok chatbot integrated into Musk’s social platform X, has become a cornerstone of Musk’s push to challenge OpenAI and Google in the AI arms race. xAI recently raised $10 billion in funding and is already planning an expansion of the Memphis facility, further entangling Musk’s ventures—including Tesla, which has supplied nearly $230 million in energy storage tech—in a high-stakes clash between innovation and environmental impact.

3. Wall Street ended the week on a high note as a surprisingly strong June jobs report sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh record highs, easing recession fears and overshadowing earlier concerns raised by weak private payroll data. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 147,000—well above expectations—while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, dousing hopes for a near-term Fed rate cut and sending Treasury yields higher. Despite growing unease over Trump’s trade policy shifts and looming tariff deadlines, investors remained upbeat, buoyed further by the passage of Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending bill and anticipation of more trade deals following his Vietnam agreement. All three major indexes posted solid weekly gains, with the Dow up 2.3%, the S&P rising 1.7%, and the Nasdaq gaining 1.6%, capping a holiday-shortened week with optimism that the U.S. economy remains resilient in the face of fast-moving political and economic crosswinds.

   Headlines

   1. US payrolls increased by 147,000 jobs in June, above estimates of a 110,000 job increase, with a significant amount of those jobs (73,000) coming from government employment.

   2. Circle surged 500% after its IPO, creating optimism for more tech IPOs in the coming months, ending the prolonged IPO drought.

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Liam Gill