Last weekend, Hurricane Barry made landfall in Louisiana, but fears of flooding and economic damages quickly subsided as the storm turned out to be less severe than forecasted. The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to gradually increase the national minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025; however, the bill is unlikely to become law as it has been publicly opposed by Senate Majority Leader McConnell and President Trump. Tensions in the Middle East continued this week as Iran said it seized a small foreign oil tanker that was smuggling fuel. In an apparently unrelated incident, a U.S. warship claimed that it downed an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz Thursday.

Interest rates on U.S. Treasuries declined this week as the NY Fed President and Fed Vice Chairman made comments that increased expectations for a rate cut at the July FOMC meeting. This news caused domestic large cap stocks to rebound slightly later in the week after gradual declines, but the rebound was not enough. A mediocre kickoff to the corporate earnings season sustained prevailing concerns about a weakening economy contributing to domestic equities lower close from a week ago. International stocks followed a similar pattern of decline throughout the week but had a strong bounce late to finish roughly flat.

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