5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day: Americas

Good morning. Markets are drifting, there’s another slew of Fed officials speaking and Ether is taking the crypto spotlight. Here’s what’s m [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Good morning. Markets are drifting, there’s another slew of Fed officials speaking and Ether is taking the crypto spotlight. Here’s what’s moving markets. — [Sam Unsted]( Want to receive this newsletter in Spanish? [Sign up to get the Five Things: Spanish Edition newsletter](. Drifting markets Markets are hunting for catalysts and drifting as they wait, with US stock futures pretty flat and [declines in European and Asian stocks](. Investors’ minds are turning to the big events of the week like the Federal Reserve minutes and Nvidia’s results, with Goldman Sachs strategists saying traders are [bracing for volatility](. Treasuries are pretty flat too, having [slipped for a third day]( in the previous session. [Oil prices]( are a little lower, while copper and gold prices have slipped a little from the records they notched up. Fed flood Before the minutes from the Fed arrive, there are still plenty of speakers from the central bank to come. Yesterday, Loretta Mester said that three interest rate cuts in 2024 is no longer appropriate and reiterated that policymakers need more data before making a decision, even adding she’d be [open to a rate hike]( if warranted. Raphael Bostic, Thomas Barkin, John Williams and Christopher Waller continue the run of speakers on Tuesday. In the ether Crypto prices [have surged again](, with Bitcoin topping the $70,000 mark again amid signs of momentum for more exchange-traded fund approvals. The new ETFs would invest directly into Ether, the second-biggest digital coin, and the enthusiasm around the potential approvals echoes what was seen prior to Bitcoin vehicles being signed off earlier in the year. Still a bear The last of the prominent bears on stocks [is sticking to his guns](. JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic said he sees no reason to turn more positive on stocks, a day after Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson’s bullish [conversion](. Kolanovic acknowledged his view has hurt the bank’s model portfolio allocation in the past year as stock markets hit new records. Coming up… Home improvement retailer Lowe’s tops a quiet agenda for corporate reports, alongside housebuilder Toll Brothers and car retailer AutoZone. Investors will also be watching fallout from cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks’ [disappointing forecast](. Keep an eye on Chinese internet giant Tencent [suspending a marquee game launch]( after server glitches. What We’ve Been Reading This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - FDIC chief to leave after [toxic workplace report](. - Google’s [moonshot factory]( comes down to Earth. - The fear among voters of [“Trump forever.”]( - [“Groundhog Day”]( trading at Archegos. - [Robot investors]( are gaining ground in credit. And finally, here's what Joe’s interested in this morning Yesterday on the Odd Lots podcast we talked to [Giuseppe Paleologo](, a longtime fund industry veteran who has done stints at various institutions such as Millennium, Citadel, and Hudson River Trading. We covered a lot of ground in terms of how multi-strategy hedge funds ("pod shops") make money, manage risk, hire and fire traders, and why this area has grown a lot. When I talk to people one thing I always like to ask is some version of "what type of person succeeds in your field?". Or "How would I know if I would make it in your field?” Anyway, to him, a big part is being curious and obsessed. Find the full episode on [Apple](, [Spotify](, or elsewhere, but this is [from the transcript](, edited for clarity: I mean, how to be happy in the industry? I think that, I ask a lot the question of what makes a good analyst or a good quantitative researcher to people? And I get very often the same answer, which is, people who are curious do well and seem to be happy. So, as usual, you need to have passion. You need to get into the weekend and not be able to not think about a problem. So I think obsession helps. I think the world belongs to the obsessed, for good or worse, in the future. If you want to have a more stable job and less absorbing, I think being a dentist is a better career path. But having some level of obsession into this stuff is good. Just speaking from personal experience, now that I've been in the media industry 15 years or so, I've been getting asked for more career advice. And mostly the above rings true to me. What I typically say is some version of this: Find one thing you're really interested in in the world, and fine one or two public sources of data related to the topic. And then just start tracking it and posting about it (could be on Twitter, LinkedIn, a Substack, wherever). Keep following the numbers. Keep writing up how they change. And then slowly you'll notice related data to watch, and then eventually you'll start seeing patterns and stories in the data you track. And then you'll have some interesting to say or observe and people will pay attention to it. "The world belongs to the obsessed." Good thing to keep in mind probably in just about any field. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on X [@TheStalwart]( [Bloomberg Markets Wrap: The latest on what's moving global markets. Tap to read.]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things to Start Your Day: Americas Edition newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](