Hey there! Happy Monday from The Street Sheet. Ready to start a new week of trading off strong? Here’s everything you might have missed last week on Wall Street, and everything to watch in the week ahead.

All three major indices gained this week, with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 notching fresh records on Thursday. On Friday, the Nasdaq topped its new record once more, albeit in a photofinish gain of 0.05% for the day.

The new highs came amid strong economic news. Initial jobless claims declined for a fifth straight week. Census Bureau data showed headline retail sales rising by 0.6% in June. And the Labor Department reported that the Producer Price Index (PPI) remained unchanged despite fears of tariff-induced inflation.

The S&P 500 finished the week up 0.59%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5% over last Friday’s close. However, the Dow 30 finished the week down by 0.07%.

Much of the Dow’s underperformance is explained by its price-weighted nature, with struggling, higher-priced blue-chips like UnithedHealth $UNH ( ▲ 1.06% ) falling more than 7% for the week as it continues to face fallout from a potential $1.6 billion cyberattack, and an investigation by the Justice Department. As recently as last spring, UnitedHealth shares exerted the biggest influence on the Dow, despite the company’s market capitalization ranking eighth out of the index’s 30 members.

In a trade war salvo aimed at China, the Commerce Department announced plans to levy a 93.5% tariff on refined graphite, a rare earth mineral crucial for electric vehicles. China supplies almost all of the world’s refined graphite, but US automakers are in the line of fire, too. Shares of Tesla $TSLA ( ▲ 1.1% ) dipped on the news.

On the other hand, it’s (more) great news for MP Materials $MP ( ▲ 1.81% ) , the American rare earths miner that secured a major contract with the US government last week. On Thursday, MP Materials announced a $500 million deal with Apple $AAPL ( ▲ 0.9% ) to supply rare earth magnets for its Fort Worth, Texas facility. Eventually, the miner will “ramp up to support hundreds of millions of Apple devices.”

Shares of MP Materials are up nearly 200% over the last month — proof that some US companies are benefitting from the tariff uncertainty. And with headline retail sales ticking up in June, weekly jobless claims falling for five straight weeks, and 86% of S&P 500 companies beating earnings estimates (so far) this quarter, tariffs’ economic impact remains muted to date.

Gains were broad-based across the sector, with North American graphite producers such as Alabama-based Westwater Resources $WWR ( ▼ 8.26% ) seeing shares surge by over 19% on the news. Lithium Americas $LAC gained 8.2%, while American Battery Technology Company $ABML rose by over 10%.

The June producer price index, which measures the prices that businesses pay, didn’t rise at all compared to May’s numbers.

That said, it’s still up 2.3% year-over-year. The Consumer Price Index, which captures a basket of goods and services typically bought by consumers, rose by 0.3% month-over-month.

On an annual basis, it’s up 2.7%. And looking under the hood at so-called “core inflation” which excludes more volatile elements such as food and energy, the Consumer Price Index was up 2.9% year-over-year.

Food prices are up 3% on an annualized basis, with eggs (+27.3%) and beef (+10.3%) seeing some of the biggest price increases. On the plus side, gas prices are down by over 10% from this time last year.

The new market highs suggest optimism that the trade disputes may be resolved in short order. But we’ll be watching closely for the impact of the latest round of tariff negotiations, and the August 1 deadline for which Trump vowed there would be no more extensions.

Major indexes:

Other key data:

The new market highs suggest that Wall Street remains sanguine about President Trump’s August 1 deadline and the chances of reaching deals with our trading partners before then.

EU officials are reportedly “very eager” to work out a deal to avoid the 30% tariff Trump has planned for the bloc, and are working on a four-part strategy to avoid them, including a 72-billion-euro countermeasure aimed at the US should talks fall through. They have their work cut out for them; on Friday, Trump increased his demands to a minimum tariff of 15%-20% on EU imports, citing the bloc’s 198-billion-euro trade surplus with America.

On Monday, the Conference Board will publish the latest numbers for the US Leading Economic Index. The index is designed to provide a snapshot of the health and direction of the US economy, combining 10 indicators to give a sense of its outlook 6-12 months from now.

Some indicators, such as its measurement of stock prices, will likely flash green. Others, such as consumer expectations for business conditions, which have sagged recently, may warn of a slowdown.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors will release its report on existing home sales for June. Home sales have risen significantly over the last six months, from 240,000 in January 2025 to 389,000 in May. A continuation of this surge could signal rising consumer confidence; a reversal could suggest families are suddenly holding off on big purchases amid higher uncertainty.

On Thursday, the Labor Department will report on initial jobless claims, and we’ll see if they decline for a sixth straight week. The Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released that same morning will offer a glimpse into the health of US manufacturers, which rose to 52.3 in May (anything above 50 is considered a healthy reading).

On Tuesday, Fed Chair Powell will open remarks at a banking conference in Washington, DC. Held just over a month after a press conference in which he said the economy “in a solid position”, the market will be watching for any signs he may be changing his tune.

We don’t have a crystal ball, but these economic reports alone may not amount to market catalysts in the coming week. Fed Chair Powell has repeatedly demonstrated a reluctance to surprise markets, so his remarks on Tuesday might not change the calculus for financial advisors or Wall Street.

But taken together, these indicators will be among the last that the Federal Open Market Committee considers before its next decision on interest rates, to be announced on Wednesday, July 30.