Today's take for July 14, 2026
The story: It’s earnings day, and a real marathon of one, too: Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Goldman Sachs (BKK:GS) are all reporting their profits, and those profits are high. The US’s four largest banks declared a joint US$43 billion in earnings in Q2, showing that whatever else is going on in the world, all's still rosy on Wall Street. Meanwhile, worker productivity continues to climb to all-time highs – a situation that, as the New York Times points out, is due more to digitization and remote work than AI magic.
Why it matters: On the surface, the US economy looks like it's roaring along, so why doesn’t it feel that way? Inflation continues to bite, reaching 3.2% in May in Canada, and wages continue to lag well behind productivity growth on both sides of the border. It’s another sign of the K-shaped economy, where the rich benefit greatly from gains in the economy, while the rest keep losing ground. Keep that in mind when reading these numbers – a rising tide does not always, in fact, raise all boats.
What this means…
- For investors: The party continues, at least for now. Despite JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warning of “risks shifting below the surface like tectonic plates,” the stock market continues to roar along: yesterday, its total value hit 234% of the US’s nominal GDP, a record high for that indicator.
- For workers: Quick, somebody throw a pizza party! That’s probably the best you’ll get. Productivity may be at an all-time high (at least in the US), but that’s not translating into raises.
- For Canada: Another sign that the US and Canadian economies have become two solitudes. Even as productivity grew south of the border, it’s been shrinking consistently in Canada, and our own banks’ earnings have been weak.
Bottom line: We’re witnessing an increasing number of economic disconnects, both at the micro and macro scales. A rising market isn't proof that the economy's fine, and a booming US no longer guarantees good times for Canada either.
The Number
US$4.6 billion
Context: How much Warren Buffett donated to Bill Gates’s charitable foundation in 2025 as part of an annual commitment going back to 2006.
What it actually means: That’s how much the Gates Foundation now stands to lose out on, since Buffett is halting donations to the charity over Gates’s past association with Jeffrey Epstein. In June, Gates admitted to maintaining a relationship with the disgraced financier starting in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Gates said Epstein had promised him billions in donations for global health initiatives, but that money never came, and Gates's attempts to get it have cost his charity big time.
Quote of the Day:
“There can be no assurance that our fusion technology will ever be commercially viable, or generate profit in the future.”
Who said it and when: General Fusion (NASDAQ:GFUZ), the Canadian energy company pioneering fusion power that went public on Monday, in a statement to investors published last month.
Why it matters: It’s quite something when a company asks people to invest in a technology that doesn’t exist yet, but that’s effectively what General Fusion is doing. Fusion is the nuclear process that powers the sun and other stars, and harnessing it has long been considered the holy grail of nuclear physics. Figure out how to make it work, and you'll have a clean and nearly unlimited source of energy. Four years ago, decades of R&D resulted in the first successful test of an energy-producing fusion reactor, which was a major milestone for science. But putting one into commercial use is an entirely different ballgame, and General Fusion is going public on the promise that it can do so by 2035. That’s one hell of a gamble, and one that probably requires some strong language in the fine print.
