Stock Market Today: Stocks Slip Ahead of Big Earnings, Inflation Week

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Two of the main U.S. equity indexes are trading near all-time highs, with the third and oldest only a big rally away from its own new record. The world's first $4 trillion company looks dead set for $5 trillion. And uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariffs and global trade seems as rampant as ever.

The world's first cryptocurrency is also hitting new all-time highs. So, of course, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon predicts imminent doom – or at least higher interest rates – ahead of next week's release of inflation data for June.

Tuesday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data highlights the economic calendar. And Dimon's JPMorgan Chase is among a host of large-cap and other financial stocks on the first full earnings calendar of the new reporting season.

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As stock market columnist and TKer founder Sam Ro writes, "Everyone will be watching Q2 earnings season extra closely as the three months ending June 30 were riddled with uncertainty." Ro cites "the threat of massive tariffs" as well as "the crackdown on immigration" as "bad news for most industries."

At the same time, the Chartered Financial Analyst notes solid earnings reports this week from industrial stock Delta Air Lines (DAL) and consumer discretionary stock Levi Strauss (LEVI).

"Economic uncertainty was supposed to cause businesses and consumers to rein in spending. Higher costs were supposed to hit margins. Rising anti-American sentiment was supposed to be bad for international travel and American brands," Ro observes.

Yet revenue for both Delta and Levi's is up. And management of the airline and the apparel outfit offered full-year guidance that exceeded expectations.

"Will this be a trend this earnings season?" Ro wonders.

By Friday's closing bell, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2% at 20,585, the S&P 500 had lost 0.3% to 6,259, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.6% at 44,371.

Nvidia is both revolutionary and widely held

Nvidia (NVDA) added 0.5% Friday after crossing the $4 trillion market capitalization threshold earlier this week, the AI stock extending a run since its fiscal 2026 first-quarter earnings report to 22.4%.

Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland recently reiterated his Positive (or "Buy") rating and his $180 12-month target price for the AI stock. Rolland's price target represents 9.1% upside from NVDA's Friday closing price and is just above an average of $175.31 across the 67 Wall Street analysts who cover the leader of the AI revolution.

"AI adoption continues to be a compelling investment theme," according to Daniel Skelly, who leads wealth management market research and strategy for Morgan Stanley.

Skelly noted in early June that Nvidia's recent earnings report "showed the global thirst for computing power hasn't been quenched, and it has implications far beyond the tech sector." Increased AI adoption will drive energy demand and provide tailwinds for industrial stocks as infrastructure build-out ramps up as well as "further down the road," according to Skelly, financials and health care stocks.

Portfolio managers are supportive in a more specific way.

"I am proud that Nvidia is by far my largest holding in managed accounts (Nvidia is up to a 16% allocation in some of my portfolios)," writes Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates, "and have no intention of selling the company, since it remains a monopoly dominating the AI revolution."

As Chief Investment Officer Robert Ruggirello of Brave Eagle Wealth Management explains, Nvidia is hitting new highs – and revenue and earnings estimates are growing too.

Rugirello is cautious about NVDA stock "with forward PEs north of 30 again," but he warns not owning Nvidia "is also painful given its extremely large index weighting."

Bitcoin is getting bigger too

The price of Bitcoin topped $118,000 for the first time ever Friday, the world's first cryptocurrency and still largest by market cap, reaching a 24-hour high of $118,740. The best Bitcoin ETFs to buy provide efficient exposure to this rapidly expanding asset class.

Perceived by some investors, traders and speculators as an alternative "store of value" vehicle to gold, Bitcoin's recent surge has been powered by rising expectations of a rate cut in September by the Federal Reserve, ETF in-flows and an increasingly favorable regulatory climate.

"If legislative momentum remains strong, ETF inflows persist, and the Fed signals dovish intent, Bitcoin retesting the $120,000 mark before August would not be far-fetched," Pepperstone strategist Dilin Wu forecast in a Friday research note.

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David Dittman is the former managing editor and chief investment strategist of Utility Forecaster, which was named one of "10 investment newsletters to read besides Buffett's" in 2015. A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and the Villanova University School of Law, and a former stockbroker, David has been working in financial media for more than 20 years.