Chapter 1: What new tariffs is Trump imposing on Iran's trading partners?
Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Thanks so much for joining me on this Tuesday, January 13th. I'm Julie Morgan. A major new tariff threat tied to Iran. A Fed official is signaling rates may stay right where they are. And a grocery giant is expanding fast.
President Trump said he is imposing a 25% tariff on goods from any country doing business with Iran. He said in a post on Truth Social that effective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran would
Chapter 2: What did the New York Fed's Williams say about interest rates?
will pay a tariff of 25 percent on any and all business being done with the United States of America. The Post goes on to say that this order is final and conclusive. Some of Iran's biggest trading partners include China, the UAE, India and Turkey. China is the top global importer of Iranian crude. In the meantime, the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the legality of Trump's global tariffs.
Should SCOTUS rule against the president, it could disrupt his ability to abruptly levy tariffs on countries trading with Iran.
Chapter 3: How is Aldi expanding its presence in the U.S. market?
The next court opinion is on Wednesday, which is tomorrow. We're taking a deeper dive into this topic in the Wall Street Breakfast newsletter. A link to sign up is in the show notes section. We told you Monday here on Wall Street Breakfast that the Fed's John Williams was set to speak at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.
During that presentation yesterday, he signaled that there is no rush for what would be a fourth consecutive interest rate cut when the central bank meets again at the end of the month or in about two weeks. Williams said by reducing the target range for the federal funds rate by a cumulative 75 basis points last year,
The FOMC has moved the modestly restrictive stance of monetary policy closer to neutral.
Chapter 4: What are Aldi's plans for new store openings in 2023?
Fed funds futures traders largely anticipate the Fed to hold rates steady at the current range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent, with only a 5 percent probability of a rate cut at the FOMC meeting on January 28th. Williams said monetary policy is now well-positioned to support the stabilization of the labor market and the return of inflation to the FOMC's longer-run goal of 2%.
Aldi is celebrating its 50th year in the United States this year with plans to keep expanding. The discount grocery store is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy with plans to open more than 180 new stores across 31 states by the end of the year. That pace of growth would bring Aldi's total U.S.
store count to nearly 2,800 locations, positioning the company to reach its ambitious target of 3,200 stores, by the end of 2028.
Chapter 5: What impact could Aldi's expansion have on its competitors?
Aldi will enter Maine as its 40th state and launch a five-year plan to enter Colorado, with more than 50 stores planned for Colorado Springs and Denver. In Phoenix, Aldi will open 10 new stores this year with plans to reach 40 locations by 2030, while the Las Vegas region will see the company double its current store count by 2030.
To support the higher store count, Aldi is expanding its distribution network by 20%, with new centers planned in Florida, Arizona, and Colorado over the next three years. Aldi management has consistently signaled that it can fund its expansion plans without public equity, so analysts do not expect an IPO announcement.
But the question is, what impact will this have on Aldi's competitors that are publicly traded companies? Now for a look at a few other articles that are trending on Seeking Alpha. JP Morgan reports earnings today. We have a look at the company ahead of Q4. The Seeking Alpha quant rating says hold Wall Street is staying bullish. Nvidia says no upfront payment is needed for its H200.
And SK Hynix will invest $13 billion in a South Korean AI chip packaging plant. A couple of items of note on our Catalyst Watch for the day. The three-day Needham Growth Conference features a long list of companies presenting, including BitFarms, PagerDuty, and Surf Air Mobility.
And shareholders with Denny's will vote on the deal to be taken private by TriArtisan Capital Advisors, the owner of TGI Fridays and P.F. Chang's. And on Wall Street, at this early hour, Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq futures are unchanged. Crude oil is up 1.3% at $60 a barrel. Bitcoin is up 1% at $92,000. Gold is down 0.3% at $45.84. The FTSE 100 is unchanged and the same is true for the DAX.
And on today's economic calendar at 8.30 a.m. CPI and at 10 a.m.
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Chapter 6: What economic indicators are on the calendar today?
New Home Sales. That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. For a full offering of news, analysis, ratings, and data on stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Learn more at seekingalpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.