What to watch today: Bank earnings, tech hearings on Capitol Hill, and alleged Tesla shortcuts
It's also a busy day for economic numbers , beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET, with retail sales and import prices for June. Industrial production figures for June are out at 9:15 a.m. ET. May business inventories and the National Association of Home Builders' monthly sentiment index for July are issued at 10 a.m. ET. (CNBC)

House votes today on whether to hold Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General in contempt for not complying with subpoenas regarding the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Democrats have issued more than two dozen subpoenas for Trump administration officials. (The Hill)

Congress begins two days of hearings today on Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra and the market power of Facebook (FB), Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google, Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL). The Treasury Department has "very serious concerns that Libra could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers." (CNBC)



* Mnuchin: White House and Congress 'getting closer' to a deal to raise the debt ceiling (Reuters)

China today rebuffed a suggestion from Trump that Beijing needs a trade deal with the U.S. because its economy is slowing, saying the U.S. president's comments were "totally misleading." Trump, in a Monday tweet, seized on slowing economic growth in China as evidence that U.S. tariffs were having "a major effect." (Reuters)

North Korea warned today that if the U.S. and South Korea continue joint military exercise it would jeopardize potential nuclear disarmament talks. "With the U.S. unilaterally reneging on its commitments, we are gradually losing our justification to follow through on the commitments we made with the U.S.," North Korea's foreign ministry said. (Washington Post)

The Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising operation between the Trump campaign and the RNC, showed they have successfully captured some business leaders who financed their previous 2016 opponents, including the Wilks brothers, who backed Ted Cruz three years ago, and new donor, Stephen Rosenberg, who previously wrote a check for Hillary Clinton. (CNBC)



Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign announced that it raised $3.6 million in the second quarter of 2019. The haul puts O'Rourke in the lower tier of 2020 contenders who have struggled to raise campaign cash to keep pace with the primary leaders, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. (CNBC)



* Trump supporter Peter Thiel: Elizabeth Warren is the most 'dangerous' 2020 Democrat (CNBC)

CBS (CBS) and Viacom (VIAB) continue to bob along with merger talks and are now circling Aug. 8 as an internal deadline to agree to a deal, according to people familiar with the matter. The price of the transaction, which will come in the form of a merger exchange ratio, hasn't been discussed and won't be addressed until all strategic and management issues are sorted out. (CNBC)

Current and former Tesla (TSLA) employees working in the company's open-air "tent" factory say they were pressured to take shortcuts to hit aggressive Model 3 production goals, including making fast fixes to parts with electrical tape, working through harsh conditions and skipping previously required vehicle tests. (CNBC)

Jeffrey Epstein has a ton of cash on hand, but the accused child sex trafficker has even more more money tied up in hedge funds, private equity plays and real estate, a newly unsealed court document reveals. (CNBC)

Budget airline Ryanair said the delays in Boeing deliveries will lower growth next summer, forcing it to close some bases and make cuts ahead of next year. Ryanair reported today it expects a 3% growth in passengers in the summer of 2020, compared to its previous estimate of 7%. (WSJ)



* Boeing seeks to reassure plane leasing firms as grounding of its 737 Max grinds on (CNBC)

Amazon's (AMZN) Prime Day continues into its second day, ending Wednesday at 2:59 a.m. ET. While competitors may match Amazon's price deals, the company's goal is more about signing up more members for Prime, which for a monthly or yearly fee includes faster delivery, streaming video and music, as well as discounts at Whole Foods. (CNBC)



* Here are tips for navigating the shopping extravaganza (CNBC)

* Amazon workers in Minnesota walk out as Prime Day orders roll in (CNBC)