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Bullish S&P 500 calls, weak China industrial output: Morning Brief

On today's episode of Morning Brief, Yahoo Finance's Seana Smith and Madison Mills cover some of the biggest stories as the holiday-shortened trading week gets underway. The major US indexes (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) started Monday's trading session mixed, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hold near their record highs achieved last week. As the tech sector continues to push the market to new heights, Evercore ISI has raised its year-end target of the S&P 500 to 6,000, while Goldman Sachs has raised it to 5,600. Miller Tabak Managing Director and Chief Market Strategist Matt Maley says that the market rally signals that "investors aren't all that confident about anything outside of the AI phenomenon. And we haven't seen the big broadening out of earnings outside of the AI phenomenon." Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari has indicated optimism about potential interest rate cuts, stating that one cut in December is "reasonable." However, Wells Fargo Global Investment Strategist Veronica Willis believes that two rate cuts in 2024 are still possible, noting that more economic data showing disinflation would give the Federal Reserve enough "confidence" to enact more than one cut. China's housing market continues to struggle as industrial output growth slowed to 5.6% in May, a decline of over 1% from the previous month's figure. Crude oil prices (CL=F, BZ=F) are climbing higher after China also reported weakening demand and oil refinery outputs. Energy Aspects Oil Analyst Christopher Haines explains that China is "transitioning to more of a consumer-based economy rather than an industrial-based economy... it's trying to decrease energy intensity. So actually, I think you can read [that] demand, or... some of that data that came out today is relatively constructive." This post was written by Melanie Riehl