JD DURKIN: Good morning, members, one and all. Chris Versace and I are back once again to get ready for the week ahead. But before all of that, Chris, of course, as you know, my friend, I was away last week. So if you can, please give me the 60-second breakdown of what I missed and your top takeaways from the busy week that was.
CHRIS VERSACE: Wow. So we got a bunch of economic data that showed the economy is faring better than expected. However, inflation pressures continue to persist. We also heard from the Fed that after boosting interest rates one more time, they're now adopting a meeting-to-meeting approach. But as we shared with members, JD, the big wild card that we'll be watching will be tightening credit. And we'll have some data out today that tells us how tight it may be.
JD DURKIN: Since it's the first day of the week, it's time for my favorite question. If you could go back, is there anything you wish you could change or would have done differently, Chris?
CHRIS VERSACE: So we did a bunch of things last week. We exited UPS while you were away. We also closed out our position in AMN. We picked up some shares of Lockheed. But the one position that I wish that I had tapped myself on the shoulder and said, hey, pick up some shares here, that would be for the Cyber ETF.
As we're seeing today, several of its constituents are reporting really good numbers. And that's going to lift the shares, but we'll see where we can pick them up.
JD DURKIN: It's hard to imagine, but earnings palooza continues. We're not quite out of the woods yet as it pertains to earnings season, Chris. Talk to me about what is on your radar this week when it comes to the holdings within the club.
CHRIS VERSACE: Sure. So we have really three portfolio holdings reporting. First is going to be Coty. The second is going to be Axon. And then Clear Secure. They all come at us on Tuesday. So it's going to be a busy day. The setups for each of them have been rather favorable. Estée Lauder had great comments about their North American European business. That'll be good for Coty, like I said.
We've seen very strong travel data from credit card companies, airlines, hotels. That should be very good for Clear Secure, as well. And then last week, Motorola Solutions reported. That was the company, you may remember, that got us off the bench and upgraded our views on Axon a few months ago. That was a good report, so I'm expecting another good one out of Axon, as well.
JD DURKIN: Chris, are there any earnings outside of the portfolio you think are worth paying attention to this week?
CHRIS VERSACE: Yeah. There's a number of them. So many that I've got them written down right here. Some examples will be Veeco Instruments. They'll give us an update on the semiconductor capital equipment market, tell us what they're seeing on chip spending. We've got Utz, which is another snacking company. That will give us some insight to PepsiCo and its snacking business.
We've also got GlobalFoundries and Skyworks. Comments from those two companies will shed another perspective, if you will, on the smartphone market, which Qualcomm warned about last week. And then we've also got Blink Charging and EVgo.
And again, given our positions in ChargePoint, we're going to want to be digging into what they have to say, not only about how many charging stations they put in play during the quarter, but the medium-to-longer term outfit and, of course, what they're seeing in terms of Biden infrastructure law spending.
JD DURKIN: We've got a bit of data this week as well we'll be following closely. CPI, Consumer Price Index, we get those numbers on Wednesday. Chris, talk to us a bit about your expectations there or any other key pieces of data that you're following that you think members might want to tune into as well.
CHRIS VERSACE: Sure. So there's about three key data points coming out this week. I think the consumer price index is going to be one of the central stars, particularly what the core consumer price index has to say. As I alluded to a few minutes ago, the data we got last week really points to inflation being sticky, persistent if you will. Odds are that's going to come through in the core CPI and core PPI.
Remember, the headline numbers don't exclude energy or food. And we've seen oil prices come down. So we might see a headline CPI, headline PPI do a little bit better. But remember, the Fed is focused on what the core data is telling us.
And then also later today, we're going to have sleuths report. That's the credit tightening report that I alluded to. And Fed Powell tipped his hand last week when he was giving some comments about watching the degree to which credit is tightening as a result of the recent bank failures.
Remember, there's a lot of speculation. Will this tighter credit be the equivalent of 1, 2, 3 rate hikes? We'll start to get some answers with this latest edition of the SLOOS report this afternoon.
JD DURKIN: So let's talk a bit about that intersection of the central bank with the banking crisis. I know in your conversation at the end of last week with Bob Lang, Chris, you mentioned that that banking crisis is one of the ongoing market concerns on the horizon. What are you watching going forward? And what do you think members white might want to pay attention to as that story continues?
CHRIS VERSACE: So it's really twofold. One is, what's the response that we're seeing? Are there greater requirements hoisted on regional banks? Are we going to see tighter credit emerge far more or far less? Again, that that's the really big wild card as it relates not just to the economy but to what the Fed is likely to do in the back half of the year.
From a portfolio perspective, the last two or three bank failures that we've had really just solidify our reason for adding Bank of America shares to the portfolio. We see that flight to quality unfolding, and Bank of America shares are ones that are on our shopping list.
JD DURKIN: You and I have talked about the debt ceiling several times before. I know you largely expect a deal will ultimately be reached. You're not alone.
That is certainly-- at least, seems to be the consensus for many people. Exactly when or how we get there might be a bit of a different question. But I wonder if there's anything in particular, Chris, you are paying attention to in that conversation, especially considering the fact that congressional leadership is set to meet with the White House this week.
CHRIS VERSACE: Yeah. So it's really if I could sum it up in one word-- details, details, details. And as it relates to the portfolio, is there any clawback in the spending programs, the Biden infrastructure law, for example, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act, or even defense spending? Those will be-- again, from a portfolio perspective-- the four areas that we'll be watching most closely.
But I do hope that we get it. I hope it removes the overhang and we can move forward.
JD DURKIN: The great Chris Versace. Thank you as always.
CHRIS VERSACE: Sure thing, JD. All right, folks. That's going to do it for today. Have a great week, members. We'll see you again soon.