Hope you are all doing well. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ fell around 1% to 2%, snapping a three-week string of gains as an unusually strong quarterly earnings season neared an end. The S&P 500 ended the week 1.6% below the record high that it set the previous week. The NASDAQ was 3.4% shy of the historic peak it reached in early June. Decorated swimmer Katie Ledecky lost this week in the 800m for the first time in 14 years. I have broken down this week’s update using unbreakable sports records.
Cal Ripken, Jr. – 2632nd game (hat tip) Poster by Unknown at FramedArt.com
Cal Ripken Jr.’s 2,632 consecutive MLB games played
Cal’s iron man streak lasted decades, as has exceeding low long-term bond interest rates. The run of ultra-low bond interest rates is over. Treasury bond yields rose slightly again this week when the U.S. government’s gross debt total climbed above the $40 trillion threshold for the first time. The 30-year yield ended the week at 5.27%, near its highest level in almost two decades. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought to ease longer-term borrowing costs, announcing that the U.S. Treasury would double the size of a bond buyback program starting next month to $4 billion per session, up from $2 billion. The move targets the 10-, 20-, and 30-year Treasuries. Rates are getting high on their own supply; elevated issuance of U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds is likely driving the rise in yields. U.S. corporate bond year-to-date issuance through July was 27.1% higher than during the same period in 2025.
Wayne Gretzky’s 2,857 career NHL points
Thankfully for NHL fans, there was no tariff on hockey fans’ favorite Canadian export. United States has imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods following the collapse of trade negotiations, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to pledge dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs. President Trump enacted the tariffs on a broad range of Canadian exports, including, you guessed it, hockey equipment.
Michael Phelps: 23 Olympic Gold Medals
Gold is regaining its luster. The price of gold climbed for the third week in a row and on Friday reached the highest level in more than three months, with gold futures trading around $4,670 per ounce in the afternoon. As recently as mid-July, the precious metal had been trading as low as $4,000. The move comes as famed investor Ray Dalio advises dumping bonds and buying gold. If the U.S. does not get its soaring deficits under control, then gold will continue to perform well, and maybe even crypto.
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