Business

• Rhetorical question of the day: Twisted Geniuses or Bumbling Ex-Academics? (WSJ)
• Markets Steady on Quarter’s Last Day (WSJ)
• Their fortunes enmeshed, Trump and Putin to hold first meeting next week (Reuters)
• Oil Is Set for Longest Rally of 2017 (BBG)
• Brightening economy sets euro up for strongest quarter since debt crisis (Reuters)
• Eurozone Inflation Falls Again in Setback for ECB (WSJ)
• Trump’s Travel Ban Takes Effect, Setting Strict Entry Limits (WSJ)
• China says HK joint declaration no longer has meaning (Reuters)

As we previewed exactly 24 hours ago, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said it will exercise warrants to swap its preferred Bank of America shares for 700 million shares of BAC common stock, making Buffett the largest shareholder, surpassing BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street . Buffett is also the top shareholder at Wells Fargo.

S&P futures rebounded shortly after the stronger than expected European CPI print, rising 0.3% to 2,426, as markets try to forget all about yesterday's brief 50% VIX surge and tech rout, which trimmed the seventh consecutive quarterly gain for the S&P 500 Index to 2.4%. Europe shares rose 0.4%, led by tech stocks, after a drop in Asian markets, as oil and the dollar gained.

From Bloomberg macro commentator Chris Anstey

Currency moves can be "brutal," as the European Central Bank well knows, since then-ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet used that memorable adjective more than a decade ago. The problem for the ECB is it may be heading down a dark alley where two well-armed peers await.

Investors have reasonable clarity about the medium-term policy outlook for the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan, with both central banks effectively anchoring long-term rates.

After this week's hawkish central banker whirlwind, traders and analysts were keenly looking forward to today's Eurozone June inflation print to see if it would validate Draghi's unexpected hawkish pivot; the data was released on Friday morning by Eurostat, and while dropping from May's 1.4% headline print to 1.3%, it beat the 1.2% consensus expectations, rising 1.3%. The core print of 1.1% excl. energy, food, alcohol and tobacco likewise beat estimates of 1.0%, and was above May's 0.9%.

Chart courtesy of Schuldensuehner