Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday, June 24th. I'm Julie Morgan. Is there or isn't there a ceasefire between Israel and Iran? Starbucks denies a China exit and Walmart tries to one-up Amazon in the summer sales showdown.
We begin with a developing story. Despite a ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defense Forces said Iran has continued its missile strikes on Israel. But according to media reports, Iranian officials deny that they fired on Israel. Israel's defense minister said he has instructed the military to respond forcefully to Iran's violation of the ceasefire with high-intensity strikes against targets in the heart of Tehran.
President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post published around 1.30 this morning that the ceasefire is now in effect. Please do not violate it. According to a First Post report that cites White House officials, the ceasefire was brokered by Trump through talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while his team, including Vice President J.D. Vance, held talks with Tehran.
Starbucks has denied it is considering a full sell of its China business, pushing back against a report that boosted its shares in late trading on Monday. A company spokesperson told Reuters, quote, I can confirm Starbucks is not currently considering a full sell of its China operations, end quote.
The coffee chain is currently facing intensified competition from lower-priced local rivals in its second-largest market. Earlier this month, Starbucks launched its first-ever price drop in China, lowering the price of some non-coffee ice drinks by an average of 5 yuan. Reuters reported in February that KKR, Fountainvest Partners, and PAG are among buyout firms interested in acquiring a stake in Starbucks' China business.
Instead of four, what about six? We told you last week that Amazon's next Prime event will be four days long, while Walmart announced on Monday that the Walmart Deals event will last six days. It'll start online at midnight on Tuesday, July 8th, and end stores at local opening times and run through Sunday, July 13th. The thousands of deals will run across electronics, home, fashion, toys, beauty, and back-to-school categories.
For the first time, Walmart deals will be available both in stores and online. Now for a look at a few other articles that are trending on Seeking Alpha. A former official says that China is set for more than 100 deep-seek-like AI breakthroughs in a year and a half. Tesla robo-taxis violate traffic laws and spark federal scrutiny.
And the UK's competition regulator proposes a new status for Google in search to increase control.
A few items to tell you about on our Catalyst Watch for the day. The CEO of HPE will deliver a keynote address at the HPE Discovery event in Las Vegas. The four-day event will have a strong focus on networking, AI, and hybrid cloud, with announcements expected on HPE GreenLake, NextGen Storage, and AI-native networks. CF Industries will hold an Investor Day event.
And some of the notable companies due to appear at the Northland Growth Conference include Fat Pipe, Assure Software, InVenture, and Terrorwolf.
On Wall Street today, ahead of the opening bell, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is down 3.4% at $66 a barrel. Bitcoin is down 0.1% at $105,000. Gold is down 1.3% at $3,324. The FTSE 100 is up 0.3% and the DAX is up 2.2%.
Teladoc Health is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. T-Doc is up 6% after a 14% surge on Monday. It's the stock's biggest jump since last November, after Citron Research said the market is underestimating the value of the virtual healthcare platform.
On today's economic calendar, at 9 a.m., the FHFA House Price Index. At 9.15 a.m., the Fed's Beth Hammack will speak on monetary policy before the Barclays CEPR Monetary Policy Forum 2025. At 10 a.m., the Fed's Jerome Powell will deliver his semi-annual monetary policy report testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
At 12.30 p.m., the Fed's John Williams will give keynote remarks to the Center for Economic Growth and NY Creates. And at 2.05 p.m., the Fed's Susan Collins will speak before the State of the Nation's Housing 2025 event hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
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.