The Open Bell — Ep. 019 — 18 Jul 2026

Today on The Open Bell: America's biggest banks just had their best quarter on record, and the fact that JPMorgan making $21 billion in three months barely led the news cycle tells you everything about how much else happened this week. Inflation fell harder than almost anyone expected in June, which would normally be cause for a proper celebration, but oil is creeping back above $80 and the Strait of Hormuz is suddenly a geopolitical flashpoint, so the Fed's job just got complicated again before it even had a chance to feel good about the progress. Chip stocks have lost a fifth of their value in under a month, and the whole story of whether AI spending is real and durable or a build-up looking for a correction is basically going to be answered in the next two weeks of earnings. TSMC, the Taiwanese company that physically manufactures the chips inside almost every AI system on the planet, just posted its fifth straight quarterly record and pledged another hundred billion dollars into Arizona, which tells a very different story from the one the selloff is telling. And the Trump administration's new "protection tax" on oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical shipping lanes on Earth, is doing exactly what you'd expect to fuel prices just as inflation was starting to ease. If this week made more sense by the end of this episode, a five-star rating helps the next person find the show. Hosted by Alex Monroe. New episodes every weekday morning at theopenbell.co Not investment advice. For informational purposes only. --- Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:27 Big Five Banks Sweep Q2 Estimates; JPMorgan Posts Record Pro 02:06 June CPI Falls to 3.5%, Coolest Reading Since April 2023 03:32 Chip Stocks Tumble; SOX Index on Track for 20% Pullback 05:05 TSMC Posts Record Q2 Profit, Adds $100B Arizona Investment 06:29 Hormuz Tensions Lift Oil Above $80 as U.S.–Iran Conflict Wid 07:42 Closing thoughts