Witnessing History

There's a lot to discuss this week, given yesterday's assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump. You can read Reuters coverage in the wake of the attack here: 2024 election news. This weekend, I was our business editor on duty, and I am in awe of how my colleagues snapped into action to cover this historic moment.

Let's get to work:

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, publicly endorsed Donald Trump for the first time in the U.S. presidential race, calling the Republican former president "tough." Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman also formally endorsed Trump.

Saturday's shooting at Trump's election rally raises his odds of winning back the White House, and trades betting on his victory will increase this coming week, investors said. Here's a roundup of investor and analyst reactions.

JPMorgan Chase beat estimates for second-quarter profit as a resurgence in dealmaking and strong capital markets fueled record results. The biggest U.S. bank wants to get even bigger, setting an ambitious goal of attracting 15% of the country's consumer deposits, Marianne Lake, its CEO of consumer and community banking, told Reuters in an interview.

A Goldman Sachs bet put in place in 2021 on lending to private funds has helped drive record revenues in fixed-income financing. Now, the Wall Street bank is pushing even deeper into the growing but risky market.

Citigroup's profit exceeded Wall Street expectations, boosted by higher revenue in investment banking, markets and services. But its stock fell 2% on Friday on investor concerns about expenses and dividends. Two days earlier, U.S. regulators fined Citi $136 million for making "insufficient progress" in fixing data management problems.

Wells Fargo's profit declined, and it missed analysts' estimates for interest income on higher deposit costs amid intense competition for customers' money. Shares slumped more than 6%.

Wall Street banks generally reported healthier deal pipelines and better prospects for investment banking. But they also cited some headwinds and reasons for caution.

In this week's field report, here's a photo from Reuters photographer Brendan McDermid at the rally:

Coming up this week, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley will report earnings.

All the best,

Lananh