A Dividend King .. there are only a handful of companies on Earth that can make this claim.

Good morning,

Pour the coffee first. You are going to need both hands free today, because the calendar decided to stack the whole week into one morning.

Yesterday's inflation read came in soft... .

Now we get the sequel this morning, a Fed Chair on Capitol Hill for round two, oil doing its nervous thing over the Strait of Hormuz, and a parade of bank and healthcare earnings.

It is a lot. It is also, mostly, noise you do not have to trade.

Let me walk you through it.

Where Futures Sit

Dow futures are up around 0.2 percent, S&P 500 futures are nudging higher by roughly 0.1 percent, and the Nasdaq-100 is out front with a gain near 0.5 percent, carried once again by the chip names.

The VIX is loafing around 16, which tells you the market is not exactly bracing for impact. 

Macro Pulse

Tuesday's June CPI was the headline everyone wanted... consumer prices fell 0.4 percent on the month and cooled to roughly 3.5 percent annual, below the 3.8 percent the street had penciled in.

That was the biggest single-month drop in years, and traders responded by slashing the odds of a July rate hike to around 17 percent from about 42 percent the day before. 

This morning brings the follow-up act. Producer prices, the Empire State manufacturing survey, and personal consumption data all land at 8:30 Eastern.

Then Fed Chair Kevin Warsh returns to the Senate Banking Committee at 10:00 for a second helping of questioning, with the Beige Book out at 2:00 and a couple of other Fed voices sprinkled through the day. 

Tickers To Watch

Earnings season shifts into a higher gear before the bell.

Morgan Stanley (MS), BlackRock (BLK), and PNC Financial (PNC) report on the financial side, so watch fees, lending, and trading commentary for the read on the consumer.

On healthcare, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Elevance Health (ELV) step up, and Progressive (PGR) rounds out the group.

Among the movers already in motion: CrowdStrike (CRWD) is up double digits on a broad cybersecurity rally, and the chip-equipment story stays strong after ASML raised its sales outlook for the second time this year.

On the other IBM is trying to steady itself after a rough Tuesday.

Netflix (NFLX) reports after the close tomorrow, so today is the calm before that particular storm.

Stock Highlight

Today's spotlight practically nominated itself, because it reports this morning. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

JNJ has raised its dividend for 64 consecutive years... not 64 years of paying one, 64 years of raising it, through recessions, rate cycles, and every doom headline in between.

That is Dividend King territory, and there are only a handful of companies on Earth that can make the claim.

A fair-warning note, because we do not oversell around here: the current yield is modest, roughly 2.1 percent. This is not a high-yield income play, and I would not want anyone buying it expecting a fat coupon.

The case for JNJ has always been dividend growth plus durability... a fortress balance sheet, diversified healthcare revenue that does not vanish in a downturn, and a payout that compounds quietly year after year. The stock has outrun the broader market over the past year while the flashier names grabbed the headlines, which is rather the point.

Wall Street's consensus is looking for earnings around 2.85 dollars a share on roughly 25 billion in revenue this morning.

The number matters less than the guidance and the pipeline commentary that come with it.

For a capital-preservation portfolio, JNJ is the kind of holding you own so you do not have to think about it.

Boring, in the best possible sense of the word.

Have a great day

-Greg