Bet_Noire
Seeking Alpha’s daily roundup of remarks and statements that could impact markets, sectors or individual stocks.
- Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated in testimony before a U.S. House subcommittee on Tuesday that it was still too early for the Fed to implement an interest rate cut.
“If it turns out that inflation pressures do remain contained, then we will get to a place where we cut rates, sooner rather than later,” Powell said in response to a question about a possible rate cut in July, according to Bloomberg. “But I wouldn’t want to point to a particular meeting. I don’t think we need to be in any rush because the economy is still strong.”
Powell also noted that while recent data appeared to support a rate cut, the economic outlook was still unclear.
“At this time, all forecasters are expecting pretty soon that some significant inflation will show up from tariffs,” Powell said. “We can’t just ignore that.”
- Meanwhile, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Beth Hammack, said the Fed has “some distance to go” before it reaches its inflation target, adding that current rates were only “modestly restrictive.”
“It may well be the case that policy remains on hold for quite some time before the committee initiates very modest cuts to return policy to a neutral setting,” Hammack said at a conference in London on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
- President Trump said early Tuesday in a post on Truth Social that China can continue to buy oil from Iran.
“Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the U.S., also. It was my Great Honor to make this happen!,” Trump added in the post.
- Institutional Shareholder Services has advised Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA) shareholders not to reelect four directors, including key shareholder Shari Redstone, over concerns that they have allowed a “problematic capital structure” to persist at the company.
The Redstone family owns a majority of the company’s voting stock. Paramount’s annual meeting is slated for July 2, according to Bloomberg.
- Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ:DNUT) and McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) are ending their partnership to sell Krispy Kreme donuts at McDonald’s restaurants.
“Ultimately, efforts to bring our costs in line with unit demand were unsuccessful, making the partnership unsustainable for us,” said Krispy Kreme CEO Josh Charlesworth, in a statement.
“We had strong collaboration with Krispy Kreme and they delivered a great, high-quality product for us, and while the partnership met our expectations for McDonald’s and Owner/Operators, this needed to be a profitable business model for Krispy Kreme as well,” added Alyssa Buetikofer, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) USA’s chief marketing and customer experience officer.