Crypto insurance explained, Walmart is coming out on top, and Trump Media stock took a dive: Weekend money markets roundup

In the past month, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group have plunged nearly 33% as the former president’s campaign falls into disarray.

Shares of Trump Media, the company behind Former President Donald Trump’s right-wing social media platform Truth Social, closed down 10% Wednesday — one of its largest slides to date — on the heels of his first debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Warren Buffett’s investment success has grown Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A) cash pile to a record $276.9 billion in the second quarter of 2024, and (briefly) gave the Omaha-based conglomerate a $1 trillion market capitalization.

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Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Former President Donald Trump’s right-wing social media platform Truth Social, plunged 16% in pre-market trading Wednesday, following his first debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

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The Federal Reserve has revealed changes to a proposed set of regulations for U.S. banks that would slash roughly half of the additional capital that some of the largest institutions will be forced to hold onto.

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Christine Short, Head of Research at Wall Street Horizon, spoke with Quartz for the latest installment of our “Smart Investing” video series.

Watch the interview above and check out the transcript below. The transcript of this conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

ANDY MILLS (AM): Looking ahead to Q4, are you seeing any weakness anywhere in the economy?

CHRISTINE SHORT (CS): Yeah, it’s funny, it’s a really mixed picture right now. Both on the labor front, the consumer front. We’re waiting to hear from the Fed. I mean it sounds like we’re getting a cut, right? I don’t think anyone’s expecting no cut, but is it 25 basis points? Is it 50 basis points? There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. We track this proprietary metric called the late earnings report index, and it shows that right now CEOs are feeling a little bit uncertain. It’s not necessarily a bearish metric, but it just shows they’re not quite sure about their prospects for short term growth. You do have those rate cuts that are gonna come into play. You have a US presidential election that’s gonna come into play. We’re still positive and feeling bullish around a soft landing, but we’re not quite there yet. If you ask about certain economic indicators, labor has flip-flopped every other month. Last month we came in at 142 non-farm payrolls, the expectation was 160. Okay, so we’re down a little, but unemployment ticked down from 4.3 to 4.2. Wage growth was up. So there’s always something. It’s softening for sure, but historically speaking, the jobs picture is still intact. The consumer on the other end, again, every other month it seems we’re getting, you know, there’s a down month in sentiment retail sales are down. This most recent reading of retail sales was actually quite positive. For July, they’re up 1%. It was the highest uptick since January of 2023, people are still out there spending. Then you look at the other end, what are they spending? Well, credit card delinquencies, 30-plus days have gone up, savings have gone down. So we do have a consumer that’s active, but perhaps at the behest of their savings or their credit card debt. And then there’s also the dichotomy in what kind of consumer we are talking about. On the lower end, we just had the Dollar General (DG) CEO say the lower end consumer, lower income is suffering. They’re not shopping as much as they were. And so we’re seeing kind of a divergence in what type of consumer is spending. So all in all, I think the soft landing picture is intact. I think not all of the data is going one way, but for the most part in historical terms, consumer labor inflation is moving in the right direction. Everything seems to be going in the right direction, at least.

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Job applications were more than quadruple the pace of employer hiring in the first half of 2024, as the labor market continues to show signs of cooling.

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Vice President Kamala Harris’ strong performance in Tuesday night’s debate with Former President Donald Trump seems to have won her support from some voters, and sent cryptocurrency stocks down.  

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Cryptocurrency is recognized as a high-risk investment, and unlike assets held in banks or brokerage accounts, your crypto holdings aren’t federally insured. With the increasing prevalence of crypto theft and scams, it’s no surprise that investors seek ways to safeguard their assets and avoid financial loss. A key point to note is that there is no federal protection for cryptocurrency, and the decentralized and complex nature of crypto also poses significant challenges for underwriters, leaving investors with limited insurance options.

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Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group have plunged almost 33% in a month

Christine Short from Wall Street Horizon breaks down why Walmart has continued to thrive as spending amongst lower-end consumers has slowed.