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Orders for heavy equipment and other durable goods increased for the fourth consecutive month in May.

Durable goods orders moved higher by 0.1%, bucking economist forecasts of a decline of a full percentage point. However, new orders for manufactured durable goods in May came in weaker than revised April results, Census Bureau data showed.

Orders for aircraft, motor vehicles and computer equipment led the growth in durable goods orders. However, economists said the moderate increase showed the economy could be slowing. 

While durable goods orders were higher, BMO Capital Markets Senior Economist Sal Guatieri noted a surge in defense orders helped carry the results, as non-defense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, fell by 0.6%, the most in four months. Weak primary metals and machinery orders also dragged down the results, he said. 

“Soft orders for U.S. durable goods in May confirm the economy is getting bogged down under the weight of high interest rates and a strong dollar,” Guatieri said. 

The Federal Reserve's fight against inflation is dragging on companies' spending and that's by design. The Fed has raised its interest rate to a 23-year high and held it there for nearly a year in an effort to discourage borrowing and spending—in turn, slowing the economy and tame inflation.

That has put a dent in companies' capital expenditures (also known as Capex), as evidenced in Thursday's report, and aren't expected to get better in the second half of the year, Wells Fargo economists wrote.

"Capex conditions are unfavorable, and even if the Fed is able to lower rates later this year, we're unlikely to see a reprieve in terms of borrowing costs until next year," wrote Wells Fargo's Shannon Seery Grein and Tim Quinlan. "Some further clarity in the post-presidential election environment will likely also be more supportive of demand come 2025."

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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Thursday, curbing the regulator's ability to penalize those accused of fraud without a jury trial.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court upheld the ruling of a Fifth Circuit court that said the SEC did not have the power to use in-house judges to decide on penalties for fraud cases. This ruling could have far-reaching consequences for other agencies that also enforce laws using in-house rulings.

The case brought in front of the Supreme Court, SEC v. Jaresky, began in 2013, when George R. Jarkesy Jr. and hishedge fund were penalized by the SEC for fraud. The regulator claimed Jarskey and his company misled investors by lying to them about the value of its funds' assets, and the identity of its auditor and prime broker.

The regulator eventually levied a $300,000 civil penalty on Jarkesy and asked his company to pay back $685,000 in illicit profits.

Jarkesy contested this order by suing the regulator, and a Fifth Circuit court ruled in his favor. The lower court said by deciding the matter in-house, the SEC's process violated Jarkesy's Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in a federal court.

The regulator appealed this decision before the country's highest court, which only ruled on the constitutionality of in-house adjudication proceedings.

"A defendant facing a fraud suit has the right to be tried by a jury of his peers before a neutral adjudicator," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in delivering opinion of the Court.

Even though the SEC was established in 1934 for investor protection in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash, for a majority of its existence the regulator could not impose civil penalties for fraud cases through its in-house adjudication process. Congress gave that power to the SEC via the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

And the SEC is not the only regulatory or federal agency with such powers. This ruling may set a precedent that may disrupt in-house adjudication processes for more than two dozen federal and regulatory agencies.

Talking about such agencies, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that "the constitutionality of hundreds of statutes may now be in peril, and dozens of agencies could be stripped of their power to enforce laws enacted by Congress." 

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Music producer Samuel Oguachuba aka Samklef has attacked controversial critic, Verydarkman.

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After Micron Technology (MU) reported fiscal third-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates and offered soft revenue guidance, Micron executives joined the company's earnings call Wednesday, where they discussed their expectations for record revenue in 2024 and 2025, Micron's position to gain in the artificial intelligence (AI) era, and more.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Micron's "mix of data center revenue is on track to reach record levels in fiscal 2024 and to grow significantly from there in fiscal 2025."

"Robust AI-driven demand for data center products is causing tightness on our leading-edge nodes," Mehrotra reported, adding that the company expects "continued price increases throughout calendar 2024 despite only steady near-term demand in PCs and smartphones."

As a computer memory and data storage solution maker, Micron is positioned to gain given AI technology data centers' memory and storage needs.

"We are in the early innings of a multi-year race to enable artificial general intelligence," Mehrotra said, adding that AI "will drive significant growth in the demand" for Micron's memory products.

"Micron will be one of the biggest beneficiaries in the semiconductor industry of the multi-year growth opportunity driven by AI," the CEO said, telling investors that the company is "well positioned" with its portfolio of memory offerings.

Micron said it expects "industry supply to be below demand for both DRAM and NAND," some of its memory products.

The company also makes high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are more capable of meeting the advanced computing needs of AI workloads but are more expensive and intensive to make. "The ramp of HBM production will constrain industry supply growth in non-HBM products," Micron explained.

Micron reported it is "gaining share in high-margin products," like HBM and data center storage offerings, "demonstrating the strength of our AI product portfolio."

The company indicated it expects "record revenue and significantly improved profitability in fiscal 2025 will help support average quarterly capex in fiscal 2025," which is projected to be higher than previous quarters.

The increased spending "will support HBM assembly and test equipment, fab and back-end facility construction, as well as technology transition investment to support demand growth."

Micron notably provides AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) with memory solutions for its AI chips, with Micron's HBM chips used in Nvidia’s AI graphic processing units (GPUs). The partnership positions Micron to share in the AI darling's gains.

The company also said that in the "2025 timeframe, we expect to be broadening, diversifying our customer base" due to AI-driven memory demand.

Micron said the company is "seeing increased interest from many customers across market segments to secure 2025 long-term agreements ahead of their typical schedule," given supply constraints and increased demand from AI PCs and AI smartphones.

Micron shares were down 6% at $133.74 as of 11 a.m. ET Thursday, a day after the company's earnings call. Despite Thursday's losses, the stock has gained nearly 57% since the start of the year.

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Micron (MU) shares fell sharply in premarket trading Thursday after the chipmaker posted quarterly results and revenue guidance that came in below Wall Street’s lofty expectations. The Idaho-based company has seen its share price surge 67% since the start of the year, fueled by accelerating demand for chips to power memory-hungry artificial intelligence (AI) servers.

Below, we use technical analysis to locate key levels on the Micron chart to watch out for amid further post-earnings weakness.

Micron shares have trended steadily higher throughout the first half of 2024, with only one retracement below the closely watched 50-day moving average (MA) in late February. 

However, more recently, several technical indicators point to waning upward momentum. Following the price climbing to a new record high last Tuesday, it promptly reversed course on above-average volume to form a bearish wide-ranging day, a particularly volatile trading session that can warn of a major trend reversal.

Moreover, as the stock registered a higher high last week, the relative strength index (RSI) made a shallower high, creating a bearish divergence between the price and indicator, also suggesting a weakening of the longer-term uptrend.

Amid the stock’s projected post earnings sell-off, we can use prior price action and a Fibonacci grid stretched from the April low to last week’s high to help identify areas where the price may encounter support. 

Firstly, the shares may see buying interest near the key 50% Fibonacci retracement level at $131.63, an area on the chart that also sits in close proximity to a price peak in May.

The 61.8% Fib level may attract buyers at $125.52, a region that roughly aligns with the rising 50-day MA to provide a confluence of support.

Meanwhile, a move lower to the 78.6% Fib level sitting near a series of price action between April and May could offer support at $116.81.

Finally, a significantly deeper correction below the Fibonacci grid could see the stock fill its second-quarter earnings gap at $96.25, which sits 32% below Wednesday’s closing price of $142.36.

Micron shares were down 5.7% at $134.24 in premarket trading.

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A businesswoman has recounted how her new driver who had just started his job with her stole her car on his first day at work.

According to her he took the car to a church and testified that God has blessed him with a new car. She was able to track him down while utilizing the laptop’s tracking abilities with the help of the police. He has since been apprehended.

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