The first court hearing in a case that tests the Federal Reserve's independence.

From Marketplace, I'm Novosafo, in for David Brancaccio.

A federal court in Washington is scheduled to hold a hearing this morning on Fed Governor Lisa Cook's lawsuit, challenging President Trump's efforts to fire her.

Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzor reports.

The judge in today's hearing will just be

deciding whether to allow Cook to stay in her job, while the court ponderes the bigger question,

whether to uphold her dismissal by President Trump earlier this week. Federal law is vague on this,

only saying a president can fire a Federal Reserve governor for cause. Cause is usually interpreted as

neglect of duty while the Fed governor. The Trump administration has accused Cook of mortgage fraud

before she was appointed to the Fed. In a lawsuit filed yesterday, Cook says the accusations

against her don't meet the cause standard. The White House says President Trump had lawful authority

to dismiss her. The Fed says it will abide by whatever the court decides. I'm Nancy Marshall

Genser for Marketplace. Also this morning, we get the latest reading of the Federal Reserve's

preferred measure of inflation. That's the Personal Cons expenditures price index, PCE for short.

The Fed uses it to guide its decision on the direction of interest rates. The index is projected

to rise 2 tenths of a percent in July. We'll find out if that pans out at 10 a.m. Eastern. When we tell you about the S&P 500 index that it moved up or down, the reality is that much of that movement is driven by just seven stocks known as the magnificent seven.

That's Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Tesla.

Combined, they make up more than a third of the S&P's value.

And a lot of that value has built up in just the last few years, and it's

tied to investors' hopes for how artificial intelligence will transform our lives and the economy.

But when values quickly balloon, there are questions about a potential bubble. For more, we turn

to Dean Smith, chief strategist at Folio Beyond.

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