0729 | Dollar sinks as Brent jumps, Ford lifts outlook

Mia: From Bri, this is After Market, your daily podcast on the money stories that matter most.

Milo: I'm Milo.

Mia: And I'm Mia. The dollar sinks after the Fed holds rates steady. Brent crude jumps back above $90 as Middle East tensions flare. Ford raises its outlook again. And Apple hits a $5 trillion market cap for the very first time.

Milo: Let's get into it.

Milo: The dollar posted its biggest drop in two weeks after the Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged.

Mia: The Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-to-3 to leave the federal funds rate in a range between 3.5 percent and 3.75 percent. That was despite what was described as increasing support for a rate increase.

Milo: And traders took notice. They pared back bets that the central bank would raise borrowing costs at its next meeting in September.

Mia: Fed Chair Kevin Warsh made a point of addressing that dynamic head-on. He said during his news conference that markets can be a good source of information, but not a determinative or perfect source.

Milo: That kind of language matters. Apollo's Torsten Slok says the Fed's new silence is fueling what he calls a yo-yo bond market. He attributed a Treasury selloff specifically to Warsh's silence.

Mia: And so now, Fed watchers are preparing for a lesson in reading Chairman Warsh. The signals aren't just in what he says, but what he chooses not to say.

Mia: Now to oil markets, where Brent crude jumped back above $90 a barrel.

Milo: The trigger: President Trump threatened to hit Iran hard, and that followed a sharp rally already underway from renewed Middle East tensions.

Mia: Centcom posted on X that Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack on U.S. forces. The statement said the attack originated from Iran, but all missiles were intercepted.

Milo: And in that same window, Trump said the U.S. will give Iran a, quote, beating, after the surprise attack.

Mia: Against that backdrop, the Dow fell during the session. Live coverage highlighted that Iran hostilities had ignited again, and SK Hynix shares slid as well.

Milo: Ford raised its profit forecast for the second time this year, and shares moved higher on the news.

Mia: Bloomberg's Keith Naughton, reporting on Bloomberg Open Interest, says the upgrade is driven by robust consumer demand for high-margin SUVs.

Milo: That's a theme we've been watching. Buyers continue to gravitate toward bigger, more profitable vehicles, and Ford is capitalizing on that shift.

Mia: Two forecast raises in one year is not something you see every day from a legacy automaker. It suggests the product mix is really working in Ford's favor right now.

Mia: Shares of Hims and Hers fell about 10 percent after the Federal Trade Commission sued the company.

Milo: The FTC suit alleges that the telehealth platform shared sensitive health data with Meta and Snap. The complaint also targets billing practices and how the company handles subscription cancellations.

Mia: This raises real regulatory risk for direct-to-consumer health platforms that rely on advertising technology and recurring revenue models.

Milo: And there are more shoes that could drop here. We're watching for a company response, possible discovery disclosures about data flows to ad platforms, and any parallel inquiries from state-level consumer protection authorities.

Milo: Let's run through a few earnings highlights. Visa beat fiscal third-quarter profit estimates but also announced roughly 2,600 job cuts, taking a $563 million restructuring charge. That's per Bloomberg.

Mia: Procter and Gamble topped earnings-per-share expectations, but revenue missed forecasts as volume was unchanged.

Milo: And Humana exceeded quarterly estimates. The company kept its 2026 adjusted-profit outlook at a floor of $9 per share and said medical costs were in line. Though some analysts called that guidance a disappointment.

Mia: Apple shares hit a new all-time high and reached a $5 trillion market cap for the first time.

Milo: Trader Mike Khouw is playing that move. Meanwhile, CEO Tim Cook's final earnings call arrives with the stock at a record, and he still has plenty of concerns to address.

Mia: Elsewhere, investors are watching whether Microsoft follows Alphabet in raising its capital spending plans when it reports earnings after the bell.

Milo: And Meta reports second-quarter results after the close. Investors are selling Meta heading into that report.

Mia: In credit markets, CDS activity is surging as Wall Street picks AI's winners and losers.

Milo: That's After Market for today. I'm Milo.

Mia: And I'm Mia. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.