美股复盘显示AI硬件与存储走强、H200少量恢复对华出货，但亚太相关股已在7月15日交易并未形成可追边际

# 美股盘后复盘 → 亚太映射输入 · 美股 2026-07-14 交易日

（这是一份**跨市场读出（read-across）**的原材料：美股当日行情事实 + 当日美股时段的市场叙事新闻。**交付物是亚洲个股的多空腿（A股 .SZ/.SH、港股 .HK、日股 .JP、韩股 .KS、台股 .TW），不是把美股指数或 ETF 当交易标的。**下方指数 / ETF / 个股涨跌是**证据**，用来推导亚太受益 / 受损链条与 price-in，不是仓位本身。）

## 一、美股当日行情事实（Futu 日线，真实收盘价）
### 大盘指数 ETF
- 标普500 ETF (SPY.US): 751.83 +0.36%
- 纳指100 ETF (QQQ.US): 719.69 +1.12%
- 道指 ETF (DIA.US): 524.69 +0.04%
- 罗素2000 ETF (IWM.US): 294.51 +0.35%

### 半导体 / AI 硬件(亚太供应链最相关)
- 费城半导体 ETF (SOXX.US): 567.92 +2.58%
- 半导体 ETF (SMH.US): 600.31 +2.51%
- 英伟达 (NVDA.US): 211.8 +4.06%
- AMD (AMD.US): 548.13 +2.57%
- 博通 (AVGO.US): 389.11 +1.32%
- 美光 (MU.US): 983.12 +4.92%
- 阿斯麦ADR (ASML.US): 1775.64 +2.87%
- 英特尔 (INTC.US): 107.76 +4.50%
- 高通 (QCOM.US): 178.1 -3.20%
- 应用材料 (AMAT.US): 595.7 +3.53%
- 泛林 (LRCX.US): 346.1 +4.90%

### 科技大盘股 / 平台
- 苹果 (AAPL.US): 314.86 -0.77%
- 微软 (MSFT.US): 384.93 -1.55%
- 谷歌 (GOOGL.US): 359.51 +1.99%
- Meta (META.US): 661.04 +0.66%
- 亚马逊 (AMZN.US): 247.49 +0.07%
- 特斯拉 (TSLA.US): 396.18 +0.36%

### 中概 / 日企 ADR(美股时段;对应亚洲本地上市的隔夜 price-in 参考)
- 阿里巴巴 (BABA.US): 112.32 -0.03%
- 拼多多 (PDD.US): 83.91 -0.77%
- 京东 (JD.US): 28.84 -0.14%
- 百度 (BIDU.US): 109.73 -3.23%
- 蔚来 (NIO.US): 5.01 +1.62%
- 索尼 (SONY.US): 20.8 +0.58%

⚠️ 数据缺口：Futu 日线只反映 09:30–16:00 ET 正式时段收盘，**不含盘后 / 隔夜**。当日盘后财报反应、次日盘前跳空在这里看不到；不要把「日线没体现」当成「没发生」——涉及盘后发财报的名字，用 stock_quote / WebSearch 补盘后动作。

## 二、当日美股时段市场叙事（news_center 语料，NY 09:30–18:00，共 307 条，全文；来源＝市场条线 Reuters/CNBC/Bloomberg/MarketWatch/WSJ/FT 等，已剔除公司通稿 PR Newswire 与 IR newsroom）

[1] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 13:31 UTC] Inflation had its biggest monthly decline in six years. What Wall Street is saying now
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/inflation-saw-biggest-monthly-decline-in-6-years-what-wall-street-is-saying.html
June's inflation report was not what many on the Street expected, in a good way. The consumer price index fell 0.4% in June, its biggest monthly decline since April 2020 . That brought the year-over-year rate to 3.5%, below a Dow Jones consensus among economists of 3.8%. The data gave equities a boost in early trading and sent Treasury yields lower. It also eased fears that persistent inflation would lead the Federal Reserve to increase its benchmark overnight lending rate. The CME Group's FedWatch tool shows expectations for a July rate hike fell to just 17% from 42% on Monday. That said, traders still expect a rate hike at the September meeting, with a 63% chance that the target rate will be a quarter or a half a percentage point higher. Tuesday's report had many on the Street breathing a sigh of relief. But some indicated they're staying on their toes despite the sanguine report: Kay Haigh, global head and CIO of Fixed Income and Liquidity Solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management: "The well-behaved CPI print likely lowers pressure on the Fed to hike soon, but the reignition of hostilities in Iran means the prospect of hikes is far from over. Concerns over energy supply through the Strait of Hormuz raises risks to the forward-looking inflation outlook, which could force the FOMC's hand eventually. Although a path remains for rates to stay unchanged this year, the reescalation of the conflict has narrowed it." Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBonds: "You can take those Fed rate hikes off the table for now as the current neutral Fed funds rate of 3.75% is perfectly balanced for the upside and downside risks to the economy and inflation. Bet on it. The markets are." Ryan Weldon, investment director at IFM Investors: "The June CPI print did not provide the anticipated clarity the market expected, despite the headline number coming in significantly below expectations. The market will be squarely focused on the stickiness of core prices and the recent hawkish commentary from Fed members, especially as the escalation of the Iran conflict has sparked another jump in oil prices." Josh Jamner, senior investment strategy analyst at ClearBridge Investments: "This print pours cold water on the case for rate hikes in the near-term and should lift risk assets including U.S. equities as rate hikes get priced out of the market and yields across the curve fall." Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital: "Tuesday's weaker-than-expected CPI print suggests the inflation surge driven by the Iran war is fading, but this may just be a temporary relief as tensions have escalated in recent days. The weaker inflation data likely keeps the Fed on hold for now and reduces any rate hike odds, but we remind investors that almost every communication that has emanated from Chair Warsh during his short tenure so far has been hawkish. Warsh is looking to get consumer prices under control and the best tool the Fed currently has is raising interest rates." Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede: "After months of watching for signs that the energy shock would seep into the rest of the [CPI inflation] basket, June offers the clearest evidence yet that it has not."

[2] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 13:33 UTC] Jamie Dimon says ‘booming’ markets and a ‘fine’ consumer fueled JPMorgan’s blowout profits
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jpmorgan-beats-profit-expectations-by-the-most-in-five-years-as-equity-markets-revenue-surges-9a0d8805?mod=mw_rss_topstories
JPMorgan blew past earnings expectations for the second quarter, as CEO Jamie Dimon said markets are booming.

[3] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 13:34 UTC] Bank earnings live updates: Jamie Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks have also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said every major business posted record revenue last quarter. He also said the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
He also said AI has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered jobs elsewhere.
JPMorgan stock fell slightly in early trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Jamie Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan Chase earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Wells Fargo earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Bank of America earnings are out. Here are the numbers.
- Goldman Sachs earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Citigroup earnings are out. Here are the numbers.
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[4] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 13:35 UTC] IBM stock craters 23% after issuing second-quarter earnings warning
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/ibm-warns-second-quarter-earnings-fell-short-of-expectations.html
International Business Machines shares slipped double digits on Tuesday after the hardware, software and consulting provider released preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of expectations.
The tech company reported adjusted earnings of $2.93 a share on revenue of $17.2 billion, below analysts' expectations for earnings of $3.01 a share and revenue of $17.86 billion, according to FactSet.
Shares sank 23% in premarket trading.
CEO Arvind Krishna blamed the shortfall on weakness in the software and infrastructure business, as clients shifted spending toward hardware purchases such as memory chips.
"In the last few weeks of June, we saw clients shift their quarterly capex spend toward servers, storage, and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases," Krishna wrote in a letter to IBM investors. "While we anticipated some supply chain related impact in our expectations, we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization."
"These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered. We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall," Krishna added.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[5] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 13:36 UTC] Sen. Tim Scott wants to hear from Warsh on data centers and artificial intelligence
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/tim-scott-kevin-warsh-data-centers-artificial-intelligence.html
Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott said Tuesday he wants to hear Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh speak about data centers and artificial intelligence.
Scott, R-S.C., will host Warsh before his committee on Wednesday for the first time as Fed chairman. He's appearing to deliver the semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. But Scott signaled he hopes the conversation will be broader when asked what he wants to hear during an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box.
"The dual mandate of the Fed is really important: price stability employment, I also think we have to drill into the artificial intelligence conversation in South Carolina," Scott said. "The real question we should ask is how do we make sure that these data centers pay their own way as it relates to electricity and water use."
Scott noted that in South Carolina, some parties want to ban the data centers that are driving AI. Data center moratoriums are gaining ground across the country as voters recoil from increased utility bills.
"When you zoom out, the most important question is who wins the future? Is it China or is it America? Artificial intelligence will be that which threads that needle," he said. "I want to make sure that we are on the right side of history, and frankly we have to solve the problems at home so that we can win the issue as a country."

[6] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 13:43 UTC] I’m juggling 3 jobs with irregular pay. How can I budget when my income varies every month?
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/im-a-bartender-yoga-teacher-and-freelance-consultant-how-can-i-budget-with-such-an-unpredictable-income-d5dce383?mod=mw_rss_topstories
‘Is there a smart way to manage irregular income without feeling like every financial decision is a gamble?’

[7] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 13:43 UTC] IEA warns EU methane law could limit bloc's oil supply options
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iea-warns-eu-methane-law-could-limit-blocs-oil-supply-options-2026-07-14/
The International Energy ​Agency has warned that the EU's methane emissions rules could limit the oil supplies available ‌to the bloc, as member states prepare to discuss calls from Germany and others to delay the measures.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the EU has introduced legislation to curb emissions. From January 2027, imported oil and gas must comply with ​emissions monitoring requirements equivalent to those in the EU or to a U.N.-backed standard known as ​OGMP 2.0.

The IEA said around 22.5 million barrels per day of global oil production ⁠is expected to comply with OGMP 2.0 in 2027 — but that not all of this would be available ​to the EU. The EU imported 9.3 million bpd of oil in 2025.

"We estimate that the pool of ​traded crudes that EU refiners can import legally will narrow by more than 50%," the IEA said in a monthly oil report.

That is because some grades of crude cannot easily be substituted, while certain producers may prefer to sell into more profitable ​markets outside Europe, the IEA said. Heavy crude used in asphalt production, for example, is supplied largely by ​countries such as Mexico and Venezuela, which do not meet the EU methane standard.

CALLS FOR A DELAY

"Limiting the pool of ‌crude for ⁠EU refiners could result in higher input costs or a shift to the use of sub-optimal crudes," the agency said, adding that this could ultimately weaken the EU's energy security.

The IEA urged the EU to clarify how the rules will be implemented, warning that uncertainty could further restrict access to oil supplies.

EU ambassadors are due ​to discuss the methane ​law in Brussels on Wednesday ⁠after more than half of the bloc's member states, including Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, called for a delay over concerns it could disrupt energy supplies.

Environmental campaigners ​have urged the EU not to abandon its clampdown on methane, which is ​the second-biggest cause ⁠of climate change after CO2 emissions, noting that the total global production of oil and gas meeting the EU and U.N. standards exceeds the amount the bloc needs to import.

Governments have also been slow to prepare for the rules. ⁠No EU ​country has established a verification body to enforce the legislation, meaning ​companies currently have no way to certify compliance.

The European Commission has drafted plans to waive penalties for companies that breach the methane rules, ​but has so far resisted calls to postpone their introduction.

[8] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 13:44 UTC] YouTube influencers talked me into getting a travel card at 20. Then I realized it wasn’t for me.
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/youtube-influencers-talked-me-into-getting-a-travel-card-at-20-then-i-realized-it-wasnt-for-me-101138b5?mod=mw_rss_topstories
How to decide whether a travel-rewards card is worth it. Plus: Protect yourself in the event that your credit-card points get devalued.

[9] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 13:44 UTC] Portugal seeks high-value data centres, not to become Europe's dumping ground
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/portugal-seeks-high-value-data-centres-not-become-europes-dumping-ground-2026-07-14/
Portugal is keen to attract data centres that generate economic benefits and boost productivity and not become a ​dumping ground for power-hungry projects with limited returns for ‌the country, Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said on Tuesday.

The country is emerging as a key European data-centre hub, with more than 2.6 ​gigawatts under development, led by the , backed by Microsoft MSFT.O AI infrastructure investments , with ⁠the pipeline expected to grow substantially.

As opposition to data centres ​grows in parts of the world, particularly in the United States , ​the minister said Portugal will only support such investments if they deliver measurable productivity gains and real benefits for the economy.

Pinto Luz said at ​a conference hosted by online outlet ECO that data centres ​consume "absolutely astronomical" amounts of energy and sometimes generate few positive spillovers. "We want to attract ‌investment, ⁠but we do not want to become Europe's dumping ground," he said.

Portugal's appeal for data-centre investors is underpinned by abundant wind , solar and hydropower, providing access to highly competitive renewable electricity to power energy-intensive ​projects.

Wholesale power prices ​in the ⁠Iberian MIBEL market it shares with Spain averaged just above 40 euros/MWh in the first quarter of ​2026, compared with more than 90 euros/MWh in ​most ⁠European markets, according to Portuguese renewable energy association APREN.

Portugal's Atlantic coastline positions it as a prime hub for subsea cables connecting ⁠Europe, Africa and ​the Americas and forming the backbone ​of the World Wide Web, helping to turn the country into a magnet ​for AI-driven data centers.

[10] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 13:47 UTC] Ukraine to buy Rafale jets, air defence systems under France deal
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-buy-rafale-jets-air-defence-systems-under-france-deal-2026-07-14/
Ukraine will use a European loan facility to buy next-generation Franco-Italian air defence systems and French Rafale fighter ​jets for the first time, while also securing ‌approval to produce key Western missiles domestically under agreements formalised by Kyiv and Paris on Tuesday.

The two countries said Ukraine would order an ​initial 16 Rafale aircraft, the first tranche of a ​planned fleet of 100 announced in November 2025, financed ⁠through the European Union's Ukraine Support Loan programme.

Training for Ukrainian ​pilots and mechanics could begin in France as early as ​2026, with the first four aircraft delivered after training is completed, the French and Ukrainian presidencies said in a joint statement, providing the first ​details of purchases outlined on Monday.

Ukraine also plans to acquire ​four next-generation SAMP/T-NG air and missile defence systems, becoming the first country ‌to ⁠deploy the Franco-Italian system in combat. Two older versions will be dispatched to Ukraine until the new systems are delivered.

The move builds on a broader air-defence initiative unveiled on Monday by Ukraine ​and several European ​allies aimed ⁠at developing a lower-cost anti-ballistic missile capability as Russia steps up attacks on Ukrainian cities.

France ​and Italy also authorised licensed production in Ukraine ​of Aster ⁠30 interceptor missiles, while France approved local production of AASM guided bombs and SCALP cruise missiles, deepening defence-industrial cooperation with Kyiv.

Russia ⁠has ​intensified missile and drone strikes across ​Ukraine in recent weeks, increasing pressure on Kyiv to strengthen air defences and ​secure additional interceptor supplies.

[11] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 13:52 UTC] Bank of America’s stock reverses premarket decline in wake of blockbuster earnings report
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-america-stock-falls-despite-earnings-beat-3d4db2b4?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Investors initially appeared to be “selling the news” after the bank handily beat Wall Street’s expectations

[12] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 13:52 UTC] Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, lawsuit claims
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/meta-used-ai-target-workers-with-medical-conditions-layoffs-former-employees-2026-07-14/
Twenty-six former employees of Meta Platforms (META.O) have filed a ​lawsuit against the tech company, accusing it ‌of using AI-powered software that disproportionately targeted people with disabilities or who took medical leave in selecting people ​for mass layoffs.

The lawsuit, filed in ​Oakland, California, federal court late Monday, says that ⁠the company relied on factors such as ​productivity and AI token usage when it began slashing thousands ​of jobs earlier this year, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions.

Meta earlier this year said it planned ​to lay off 10% of its global ​workforce, or nearly 8,000 people, beginning in May, with more ‌job ⁠cuts coming later.

The 26 plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, are accusing Meta of violating federal and state laws that ban discrimination or retaliation ​against workers ​who have ⁠disabilities, take medical leave or are pregnant. The plaintiffs come from six ​states, including California and New York plus the District ​of ⁠Columbia.

A Meta spokesperson on Tuesday said the claims lack merit.

"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and ⁠are ​made by people, not AI," ​the spokesperson said.

[13] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 13:52 UTC] S&P 500 trades higher after light inflation data, but gain held in check by IBM drop, oil jump: Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
The S&P 500 rose on Tuesday after June inflation data came in weaker than expected, though the index's gain was kept in check as traders assessed rising oil prices and a slew of corporate earnings releases.
The broad market index was up 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 76 points, or 0.2%, supported by Goldman Sachs, which popped 6% after the bank posted an earnings beat.
The consumer price index in June fell 0.4% on the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had called for a 0.2% decline last month and expected the inflation rate to come in at 3.8%.
With easing inflation, expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates this year reduced following the release. Odds that the central bank would hike rates at its July meeting dropped to 17% from 42% the day prior, per the CME's FedWatch Tool. However, traders are still expecting a hike at the meeting in September, seeing a 63% chance that the target rate will be a quarter or half point higher.
Treasury yields were well off their lows of the day as investors turned their attention back to oil and the upcoming comments from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh.
"Tuesday's weaker-than-expected CPI print suggests the inflation surge driven by the Iran war is fading, but this may just be a temporary relief as tensions have escalated in recent days," said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital. "The weaker inflation data likely keeps the Fed on hold for now and reduces any rate hike odds, but we remind investors that almost every communication that has emanated from Chair Warsh during his short tenure so far has been hawkish."
"Warsh is looking to get consumer prices under control and the best tool the Fed currently has is raising interest rates," he added.
Semiconductor stocks offered a boost to equities, as they rebounded after a sell-off in the previous session. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) traded more than 2% higher. Applied Materials gained more than 3%, and Teradyne and Lam Research moved up 5%. Micron Technology increased more than 4%. STMicroelectronics added more than 2%.
However, gains were muted as U.S. crude topped $80 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude futures added 3% to above $86 a barrel. This comes after President Donald Trump on Monday said he would reinstate a blockade on Iranian shipping through the key Strait of Hormuz.
Gains were also kept in check by a 24% drop in shares of International Business Machines after the company warned second-quarter profits will be lower than expected due to soft demand in its software and infrastructure businesses.

[14] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 13:52 UTC] Perpetuals.com ends acquisition talks with Trump-linked crypto firm
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/perpetualscom-ends-acquisition-talks-with-trump-linked-crypto-firm-2026-07-14/
Perpetuals.com (PDC.O) , a global fintech company, has discontinued discussions to potentially acquire part ​of a business closely affiliated with World ‌Liberty Financial, the crypto venture backed by the Trump family, according to a press release issued by Perpetuals on ​Tuesday.

“Perpetuals has decided not to further pursue ​the acquisition of AI Financial Corporation’s subsidiary Alt5 ⁠Sigma Canada, Inc. and the earlier letter ​of intent has been terminated,” the statement said.

Representatives for ​AI Financial (AIFC.O) , previously known as ALT5 Sigma, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S.-based, Japan-headquartered Perpetuals had announced ​on July 7 that it had signed ​a non-binding term sheet to explore the potential acquisition.

Last August, World ‌Liberty ⁠Financial partnered with a small, loss-making Nasdaq-listed company called ALT5 Sigma and struck a deal under which ALT5 Sigma raised $750 million by selling new ​shares and used $717 ​million of ⁠that to buy World Liberty tokens. That purchase sent more than $500 million ​to the Trump family, Reuters reported, based on ​the ⁠Trumps’ arrangement with World Liberty Financial.

Since August 11, 2025, the date of the deal, the ALT5 share ⁠price ​has plummeted from above $9 to ​around 53 cents on Tuesday, causing steep investor losses .

[15] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 13:54 UTC] Uber Is Said to Be In Advanced Talks on Delivery Hero Takeover
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/uber-is-said-to-be-in-advanced-talks-on-delivery-hero-takeover
Uber Is Said to Be In Advanced Talks on Delivery Hero Takeover
Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire German food-delivery company Delivery Hero SE, people familiar with the matter said.
Uber aims to reach an agreement with Delivery Hero as soon as this week, according to the people. A transaction would likely value the German group well above its recent trading price of around €36 per share, some of the people said.

[16] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 13:54 UTC] Uber Is In Advanced Talks on Delivery Hero Takeover
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/uber-is-said-to-be-in-advanced-talks-on-delivery-hero-takeover
Uber Is In Advanced Talks on Delivery Hero Takeover
Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire German food-delivery company Delivery Hero SE, people familiar with the matter said.
Uber aims to reach an agreement with Delivery Hero as soon as this week, according to the people. A transaction would likely value the German group well above its recent trading price of around €36 per share, some of the people said.

[17] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 14:00 UTC] Social Security says it’s handling disability claims better. But it may just be pushing more people away.
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/social-security-says-its-handling-disability-claims-better-but-it-may-just-be-pushing-more-people-away-413a6b61?mod=mw_rss_topstories
The rate of denials has increased in disability cases, research shows

[18] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 14:00 UTC] Superhuman’s new auto-draft feature almost makes me like AI replies
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/superhumans-new-auto-draft-feature-almost-makes-me-like-ai-replies/
Since the large language model (LLM) explosion started, companies have been trying to solve the problem of overflowing inboxes by using AI to categorize emails and draft replies that sound like you. Email client Superhuman is launching a new version of its auto-draft feature that identifies important emails and creates draft replies that sound less robotic.
Superhuman has attempted this in the past with features like instant replies and follow-up auto-drafts. However, a lot of those emails sounded like an overly enthusiastic AI salesperson, and I didn’t use them much. The new version of the auto-draft feature feels different. In the last few days, after gaining access to the beta, I have sent emails with little to no editing for some generated drafts.
The app understands which emails might need replies and drafts a response based on your tone from previous conversations. It also generates two other variations that you might want to send instead.
In my experience using the feature, I saw drafts agreeing to embargoes on a pitch to get more details, or confirming timing for a meeting that I could send with minimal edits. The feature also generated responses to emails asking for an authored post on TechCrunch, saying that I don’t handle that work. (TechCrunch does not accept authored posts.)
The feature is far from perfect, though. By default, it often generated a positive response to a pitch, or agreed to a meeting at a post-midnight time. Thankfully, I could select another response from the other variations quickly and send it away.
The feature learns from your usage and improves responses. For instance, after the midnight meeting debacle, when someone suggested a similar time, the feature generated a draft saying that the timing doesn’t work for me.
I receive thousands of emails every month, partially thanks to AI making first drafts easier for others, like comms and PR professionals. I don’t have the confidence to hand over the reins to AI to handle my inbox completely, but this feature could help me respond to more people when I don’t need to type out long messages.
Users can personalize emails by heading to Settings> Personalization and adding details about themselves and their role, along with adding files or links for more context.
Superhuman’s co-founder, Rahul Vohra, said during the testing phase, 40% of auto-generated drafts were sent within one day, and 60% of those were sent without any manual editing.
Vohra said that earlier features like Instant replies were built from older models like GPT-3.5, which were less intelligent or had a smaller context window. With this new implementation, the company is using an array of models.
“Today, we are using a mixture of models to make this work. The actual writing is done by frontier models from both Anthropic and OpenAI. So we’re applying the maximum amount of intelligence and context to this that we possibly can to make the feature work,” Vohra said.
Last year, Grammarly acquired Superhuman and then rebranded the company as Superhuman. Now, the company is building an assistant called Superhuman Go that spans across platforms while carrying context over from one app to another.

[19] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:01 UTC] Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis calls for U.S. to spearhead AI standards body
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/google-deepmind-demis-hassabis-us-led-ai-standards-body.html
The chief of Google's AI division has called for the U.S. to spearhead a standards body that will oversee new AI models and assess national security risks including cybersecurity and biological threats.
Google DeepMind boss Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate, said in an article posted on X on Tuesday that "urgent action" was needed to address risks associated with artificial general intelligence (AGI) — the point at which AI matches or surpasses human intelligence.
"We've already seen the challenges frontier models pose for cybersecurity, and other threats including nuclear and bio risks may soon emerge as capabilities continue to advance," he said.
Hassabis proposed a U.S.-led public-private partnership overseen by the federal government as a solution to helping tackle these threats. The White House, the State Department and the Department of Commerce have been approached for comment.
The comments come a month on from sources telling CNBC that Hassabis, alongside Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, called for a U.S.-led coalition to shape rules and standards around AI at a G7 meeting with tech leaders and heads of state that included President Donald Trump. OpenAI's Sam Altman also called for a similar body in an article published by the Financial Times earlier this month.
AI standards body
Despite growing calls among industry leaders for an AI watchdog, the regulation of leading AI models has increasingly been a point of contention between public and private sectors.
In recent weeks, Anthropic was locked in negotiations with officials after the Trump administration temporarily imposed export controls over an advanced model. OpenAI also faced restrictions as it was initially requested by the U.S. government to limit the rollout of a new model.
Hassabis said the U.S. was well positioned to lead in developing an AI framework "given its economic and technical standing."
"It could establish a new Standards Body modelled on a federally overseen public-private partnership or self-regulatory organisation, much like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), with a board that includes independent leading technical experts and open-source representatives," he added. FINRA regulates brokerage firms and exchange markets in the U.S.
The proposed body would need "substantial" funding "in order to attract world-class technical talent and provide the necessary compute resources for large-scale testing," Hassabis said. Funding would "likely" come from industry, he added.
Frontier labs would initially voluntarily share models with the body for review up to 30 days before release, before becoming mandatory for deployment in the U.S. market after being shown to be "effective."
"Specific agentic AI tests could look for attempts to bypass safety guardrails or signs of deception, and ensure best practices, such as digitally watermarking AI-generated images and generating human-readable output tokens to understand model reasoning," Hassabis said.
U.S. vs China
Calls for greater regulatory oversight come as the race between the U.S. and China to develop and deploy AI models heats up.
Recent model releases from Chinese companies, including DeepSeek and Z.ai, are seen by many as highly competitive compared to leading frontier systems from the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, and are gaining traction among U.S. companies as AI costs rise.
As a result, U.S. lawmakers are currently considering how to curb the growing adoption of Chinese AI models by homegrown companies, which the State Department told CNBC raises "serious concerns."

[20] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 14:01 UTC] Kalshi Ramps Up Effort to Build Markets for AI Computing Power
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/kalshi-ramps-up-effort-to-build-markets-for-ai-computing-power
Kalshi Ramps Up Effort to Build Markets for AI Computing Power
Kalshi Inc. has created a tool that plots the future price of computing power, joining the ranks of exchange and index operators attempting to build markets around the commodity powering artificial intelligence.
The prediction markets exchange will offer a forward curve tracking compute, a shorthand for the power, storage, memory and other resources used in AI processes, according to executives. The shape of the curve should give a sense of where the price to rent GPUs, or graphic processing units, is headed.

[21] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:02 UTC] Need a business loan? SoFi now offers up to $250,000 — here's how it compares
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/select/sofi-small-business-loan-launch/
SoFi is expanding beyond consumer lending with the launch of SoFi Small Business Loans, giving entrepreneurs a new option for financing their businesses.
The loans come with no application or origination fees and fast funding, but they may not be the best fit for every business. Here's how SoFi's new offering stacks up against other small business lenders.
SoFi small business loans
Types of loans
SoFi offers small business loans for all sorts of needs, including the below:
- Expansion loans for growing your business
- Working capital to run your business every day
- Payroll financing to cover payroll and invoices
- Startup financing to, well, get started
- Offers funding in as little as 24 hours
- Doesn't charge application fees, origination fees or prepayment penalties
- Two-year repayment terms are on-par with terms of other lenders
- Offers four types of small business loans
- SoFi members can access benefits like access to one-on-one wealth planning sessions and competitive APY earnings on banking products
- Borrowers can only apply for up to $250,000; other lenders have higher limits on funding amounts
Loan amounts
SoFi's loan amounts range from $2,500 to $250,000. That may be enough for many small businesses, but companies with larger financing needs can find lenders that offer up to $1 million or more.
Term lengths range from 12 to 24 months, which is pretty on par with that of other lenders in the space.
Funding timeline
According to SoFi's website, you can receive funding in as little as 24 hours after your SoFi Small Business Loan application has been approved, provided that you've signed the loan agreement by 2:45 p.m. ET. However, as with any other loan or lender, submitting incomplete or inaccurate information can cause delays in funding, and timing is not guaranteed.
Fees
SoFi Small Business Loan borrowers won't pay an application fee, origination fee or any prepayment penalties for paying off their loan early. There is interest charged on the loan just like with any other form of debt.
Eligibility
Much like other small business lenders, SoFi considers a mix of factors for approving your application, including your credit score, business revenue and credit profile, as well as expenses. The exact credit score requirements are not publicly disclosed; however, SoFi may ask applicants to provide at least three months' worth of business bank statements to get a snapshot of your business' overall health.
How SoFi compares
SoFi's Small Business Loan is a solid choice for entrepreneurs who need funding to get started. But, depending on just how much you need, other lenders might be a better choice.
For example, Biz2Credit offers funding as high as $2 million-plus, depending on the type of financing needed. Fora Financial has financing up to $1.5 million and offers prepayment discounts.
We like Biz2Credit's easy application process and high loan caps. And it charges simple, not compound interest, which can mean big savings for term loans. But the steep approval requirements make it a bad fit for startups with modest sales or in business for less than six months. In addition, Biz2Credit paid $33 million in 2024 after the FTC alleged it misled businesses about processing times for Covid-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
- Up to $6 million available for revenue-based financing
- Funds available as little as 24 hours
- Discount available if you link your business checking account
- Offers commercial real estate loans
- Need 12 months in business and $250,000 in annual sales
- $25,000 lending minimum may be too high
- Financing requires collateral or a personal guaranty
- Fee structure not publicly listed
Offers many types of loans including small business loans and revenue advance
- Higher loan limits than many competitors
- Low minimum credit score
- Next-day funding available
- Prepayment discount
- Borrowers can increase their loan amount after repaying at least 60%
- Charges a factor rate rather than a traditional APR
- Daily/weekly repayment schedule
- 3% origination fee
If you don't have great credit and still need a large amount of financing, Credibly's small business loans go up to $600,000 and considers applicants with a FICO Score as low as 500.
Offers many types of loans including long-term loans, working capital loans, business line of credit and merchant cash advance
- Approval within four hours
- Low minimum credit score
- Loan amounts of up to $600,000
- Funds deposited as soon as the same business day
- Considers overall business health for approval
- Requires average monthly revenue of at least $15,000
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Why trust CNBC Select?
At CNBC Select, our mission is to deliver high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice to our readers, enabling them to make informed financial decisions. Every small business article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of small business products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content independently of our commercial team and any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on maintaining high journalistic standards and ethics.
Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.

[22] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:04 UTC] Mexico files criminal complains in US over migrant deaths in custody
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-files-criminal-complains-us-over-migrant-deaths-custody-2026-07-14/
Mexico has ​begun filing criminal ‌complaints with state prosecutors in ​the United ​States over the deaths ⁠of its ​citizens in U.S. ​immigration custody and during enforcement operations, the ​foreign ministry ​said on Tuesday.

Mexico's government ‌has ⁠also sent cease-and-desist letters to U.S. detention ​centers ​were ⁠Mexican nationals have died, ​the ministry ​added ⁠in a statement.

[23] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 14:04 UTC] AI Spending Reshapes Tech Winners
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-07-14/ai-spending-reshapes-tech-winners-video
Gabriela Santos, Chief Market Strategist for the Americas at JPMorgan Asset Management joined Bloomberg Open Interest to explains why the latest CPI report could keep the Fed on hold, why AI infrastructure spending is squeezing software companies and why investors should stay selective as AI stocks become more volatile. She also breaks down what upcoming tech earnings could mean for the next move in markets. (Source: Bloomberg)

[24] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 14:04 UTC] Latest CPI Report Is a Huge Relief for Investors, Says Santos of JPM Asset Management
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-07-14/ai-spending-reshapes-tech-winners-video
Gabriela Santos, Chief Market Strategist for the Americas at JPMorgan Asset Management joined Bloomberg Open Interest to explains why the latest CPI report could keep the Fed on hold, why AI infrastructure spending is squeezing software companies and why investors should stay selective as AI stocks become more volatile. She also breaks down what upcoming tech earnings could mean for the next move in markets. (Source: Bloomberg)

[25] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:05 UTC] Ireland's DCC set to accept $7.6 billion bid from KKR and Energy Capital, Bloomberg News reports
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/irelands-dcc-set-accept-764-billion-takeover-bid-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-07-14/
Irish energy distributor DCC (DCC.L) is close to accepting a £5.7 billion ($7.64 ​billion) takeover proposal from a consortium of ‌KKR (KKR.N) and Energy Capital Partners despite shareholder pushback, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

DCC's ​shares hit a near six-year high earlier ​in the session, but were trading marginally lower ⁠at £63.45 at 1415 GMT.

Here are some more ​details:

DCC, which distributes liquid gas, biofuels, and renewable ​energy to businesses and households, signalled its support for a sweetened £65.25 cash per share proposal in June, after rejecting a previous bid ​which it deemed too low.

Two of DCC's largest ​investors, Aviva Investors and Fidelity International, have previously opposed the ‌deal, ⁠saying the buyout firms were undervaluing the company, the report said.

The consortium is pushing ahead with its existing offer ahead of a Wednesday deadline, ​the report ​added, with ⁠DCC's board close to a final sign-off on the deal.

London-listed DCC and ​KKR declined to comment on the ​report, while ⁠Energy Capital did not immediately respond to a Reuters request.

Under UK Takeover Panel rules, the consortium ⁠has ​until July 15 to make ​a firm offer for DCC or walk away.

($1 = 0.7460 pounds)

[26] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 14:06 UTC] Spotify expands its AI push with a ChatGPT-like music assistant
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/spotify-expands-its-ai-push-with-a-chatgpt-like-music-assistant/
Spotify is taking another step to infuse AI technology into its listening experience, with Tuesday’s news that Premium users will now be able to have interactive conversations with the app to choose what music or other audio they want to hear.
The feature is initially available in the U.S., Ireland, and Sweden across iOS and Android devices for users 18 years old and above in English. It’s considered a beta release, meaning that things may not always work perfectly, Spotify says, but user feedback will help to improve the product.
The company didn’t explicitly share more details about the AI technology under the hood in its announcement, but Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch that it uses a mix of its own AI technology and models from multiple providers, based on whatever is best for the task.
The addition is the latest example of how Spotify has put AI technology to use to help people interact with the app’s extensive catalog of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The company also offers tools like an AI DJ, which speaks in an AI voice that you can engage with directly, plus AI features for building playlists with prompts and those for connecting Spotify with third-party AI chatbots, like ChatGPT.
The new feature extends the ability to chat with Spotify beyond the AI DJ experience, allowing users to talk to Spotify across the app’s Home and Now Playing views on mobile devices. Users can either type or speak to the app and have back-and-forth conversations to help them choose what to play next. Beyond that, Spotify says the app will also be able to chat with users about their listening history and can help them learn more about their favorite music or go deeper into podcasts or audiobooks.
That means you could get into questions like what inspired a certain song, or dates of album releases, or even get suggestions of other artists you might like, based on what you’re playing. You can also ask about your own listening history, like when was the first time you played a certain track, or you could explore more into what sort of genres you’ve been streaming lately.
In an announcement about the new feature, Spotify also offers a few suggestions as to how to use this interactive technology. For instance, you could ask Spotify to “play some artists I haven’t heard before,” then continue to shape that selection with follow-ups, like asking it to add a specific artist by name, or narrow the selection to just more recent tracks. You could also shape the request further by asking it to be “more upbeat,” or give it other directions.
Plus, you can ask Spotify to save songs, add songs to your queue, or follow the artist via the new feature.
The feature is rolling out now to the markets on mobile devices.

[27] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 14:10 UTC] IBM’s stock suffering a record plunge after the surprise release of an earnings miss
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibms-stock-dives-toward-worst-day-in-nearly-40-years-after-the-surprise-release-of-an-earnings-miss-8519741e?mod=mw_rss_topstories
IBM’s stock plunges after a preliminary release of profit and revenue that were well below expectations.

[28] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 14:10 UTC] IBM’s stock is having its worst day ever after the surprise release of an earnings miss
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibms-stock-dives-toward-worst-day-in-nearly-40-years-after-the-surprise-release-of-an-earnings-miss-8519741e?mod=mw_rss_topstories
IBM’s stock plunges after a preliminary release of profit and revenue that were well below expectations.

[29] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 14:12 UTC] Read IBM CEO's letter to investors warning about its poor results: 'This quarter we faltered'
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/read-letter-ibm-ceo-sent-to-investors-about-q2-results-2026-7
IBM shares tanked on Tuesday after the tech giant released preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
The company reported revenue of $17.2 billion, up just 1% and below analyst forecasts, with infrastructure revenue down 7%.
In a letter to investors on Tuesday, CEO Arvind Krishna said the company "faltered," blaming large deals that failed to close and clients redirecting spending toward servers, storage, and memory amid expected price increases driven by the global memory shortage.
Underneath a summary of the company's results, Krishna said IBM had underestimated the "magnitude" of clients changing spending habits, and didn't adapt quickly enough.
You can read Krishna's full letter below.
I want to spend some time explaining what we experienced in the quarter that led to the Software and Infrastructure performance shortfall you see above. When we discussed our expectations with you in April, we noted that we would be wrapping on the launch of z17 in the second quarter. Given this was the strongest start to a mainframe program in our history, we expected Infrastructure revenue to decline low-single digits for the year, beginning this quarter. What played out was worse than our expectations, driven by a shortfall in our Z performance and the associated software stack, primarily in Transaction Processing. In the last few weeks of June, we saw clients shift their quarterly capex spend toward servers, storage, and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases. This dynamic impacted client buying patterns. While we anticipated some supply chain related impact in our expectations, we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization. In addition, clients were distracted with rapidly-evolving, industry-wide cybersecurity concerns in the quarter. These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered. We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall. These are not excuses, but they are realities. Our job is to help our clients through uncertainty, to find paths forward to grow their businesses no matter what is happening in the external environment. While our second-quarter results are disappointing, our performance in many areas showed strength, reinforcing the conviction we have in our portfolio and strategy.
- Within Software, Red Hat revenue growth accelerated sequentially to 11 percent
- Recent acquisitions including both HashiCorp and Confluent delivered strong performance
- With clients prioritizing infrastructure investments, Distributed Infrastructure had its best performance in reported history, up 37 percent with strong growth in Power and Storage, and a backlog of approximately $500 million exiting the quarter
- Despite challenges this quarter, z17 remains at nearly 130 percent program-to-program, well ahead of z16 which was our strongest program on record, with clients representing 85% of installed MIPs maintaining or growing capacity
- Continued growth in Consulting signings led by strong GenAI contribution
- Productivity initiatives contributed to continued operating (non-GAAP) PTI Margin expansion in the quarter
Importantly, we continue to innovate at speed and scale. After the introduction of Mythos, our teams across IBM and Red Hat quickly mobilized to take advantage of an unprecedented opportunity, launching Lightwell. Lightwell is a $5 billion commitment backed by new frontier AI capabilities and a global force of more than 20,000 engineers creating a trusted enterprise clearinghouse to address open source software vulnerabilities. Early adopters include organizations like Bank of America, BNY, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, State Street, Visa, Wells Fargo and more. General availability of Lightwell was announced on July 8. Finally, quantum computing is no longer decades away, it is upon us, and we are investing aggressively. Recently, with the U.S. Department of Commerce, we announced a letter of intent to build Anderon, the world's first pure-play quantum wafer foundry supported by $1 billion in CHIPS incentives provided by the DoC and a $1 billion cash contribution by IBM. Shortly after that, we disclosed plans to invest more than $10 billion in quantum over the next five years, spanning R&D, capex, manufacturing scaling, M&A and ecosystem expansion. We remain on track to deliver the first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. While performance in the quarter was below our expectations, we have conviction in the strength of our portfolio and the strategic transformation of our business. To remedy challenges this quarter, we are undertaking new initiatives and accelerating others, all to improve our results going forward. We will hold our regularly scheduled conference call with you all on July 22, 2026, at 5PM ET to go into deeper detail and discuss our full-year expectations. Arvind Krishna, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM

[30] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:16 UTC] German minister warns against unacceptable delays to 10 bln euro satellite project
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/german-minister-warns-against-unacceptable-delays-10-bln-euro-satellite-project-2026-07-14/
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Tuesday urged timetable and budget discipline for a planned ​military satellite project valued at 10 billion ‌euros ($11.45 billion), saying delays were unacceptable given current threats to security.

"We cannot afford delays in these times," Pistorius said ​during a visit to satellite maker OHB (OHBG.DE) in ​Bremen.

Germany's armed forces are expected to award contracts ⁠for the project - dubbed SATCOMBw4 - around the end ​of 2026.

Designed to give the Bundeswehr sovereign space-based ​communications capability similar to SpaceX's Starlink network , the project is expected to involve about 200 satellites, with an initial fleet of roughly ​40 that could enter service from 2029.

"The Bundeswehr ​needs these capabilities," Pistorius said, citing requirements for early warning, ‌reconnaissance, ⁠detection and communications in space.

The system would enable autonomous global command-and-control capabilities and help Germany meet its NATO commitments, he added.

OHB is working with Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) and, ​according to government ​and industry ⁠sources, Airbus Defence on the project. Concerns have been raised that the consortium ​structure could limit price competition.

Pistorius warned ​that threats ⁠to satellites were already a reality, saying countries were investing heavily in offensive counter-space capabilities.

Germany plans to ⁠invest ​a total of 35 billion euros ​in space security by 2030, he added.

($1 = 0.8734 euros)

[31] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:17 UTC] Eyeing a credit card sign-up bonus? Here's the best time to apply
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-time-to-apply-for-credit-card-bonus/
Are you considering applying for a new credit card bonus but unsure when you should start preparing? Getting your credit in shape, choosing the right card and planning out how to meet the spending requirement can take longer than you think.
Your credit score can play a big role in whether you're approved for a credit card, and improving it usually takes time. In the final weeks leading up to your application, it's also worth outlining how you'll meet the spending requirement.
With many cards offering limited-time bonuses, not getting approved for a card could mean missing out on a best-ever welcome offer. CNBC Select covers how to prepare for your next credit card application and provides a rough timeline for when to tackle each step.
Are you living paycheck to paycheck, or do you have a financial success you're comfortable sharing with a reporter? Please fill out this quick form.
When are the best times to apply for a welcome bonus?
Since many credit card bonuses rotate in and out of availability, it can be hard to time your application exactly right, especially if you can't afford to wait around. While you should typically apply for a card when it has a higher bonus, it's also important to have a plan for meeting the spending requirement in a way that doesn't overextend you financially.
If you're planning on making a major purchase in the near future, this could be a great reason to look into earning a welcome bonus. For example, if you have a home repair or are buying a new appliance, these larger expenses can be an easy way to hit a bonus's spending requirement. Plus, you can stack the bonus with any rewards you earn on the purchase itself.
It's also a good idea to consider opening a new card right before a vacation. Travel rewards cards typically earn points or miles on your travel purchases, so after booking your trip, you'll have a stockpile of points for either a few extra days or the start of a new journey. Plus, these cards come with perks like TSA PreCheck credits or access to airport lounges.
It's never worth attempting to hit a bonus's spending requirement if you're not able to pay back your purchases. If you do, interest charges can cancel out any rewards you earn.
Need help paying off debt? Consider these companies
3 to 6 months before applying
This is the earliest phase of planning, when you start thinking, "Maybe I could use another credit card."
In this phase, you should focus on making sure your credit score is in the best shape possible for any future applications. During this period, be sure to pay bills on time and in full and double-check your credit report for any errors or outdated information.
If you're looking to boost your credit score a bit, Experian Boost could work. This free service lets you connect your Experian account to your bank account or credit card and receive credit for paying certain bills, like your rent or internet. While this will only influence your Experian credit score, it could still help depending on which score your lender uses.
Experian Boost®
Cost
Free
Average credit score increase
13 points, though results vary
Credit report affected
Experian®
Credit scoring model used
Results will vary. See website for details.
How to sign up for Experian Boost:
- Connect the bank account(s) you use to pay your bills
- Choose and verify the positive payment data you want added to your Experian credit file
- Receive an updated FICO® Score
Learn more about eligible payments and how Experian Boost works.
1 to 2 months before applying
During this phase, start to narrow down the credit cards you're interested in and evaluate current offers to see how they compare to older ones.
Since credit card welcome offers can go in and out of availability, a card's best bonus might not always be available. You can often find sites that list past bonuses of credit cards — like we outline in our list of top welcome bonuses ending soon — which can help you know how current deals compare to older offers.
It might not always make sense to wait for a card's highest possible bonus, especially if you have a time-sensitive purchase. However, if you can afford to wait for a better offer, it can greatly increase the card's initial value.
This is also a great time to do a deeper dive into one or two cards you're targeting to make sure they make sense for life beyond the bonus. If you don't get future value from the card, it might not be worth it; here are a few questions to consider:
- Does the card offer any statement credits? If so, are they for services you'd realistically use?
- Is the card earning rewards on any of your top spending categories?
- Will you take advantage of any perks like lounge access or hotel upgrades?
- Will you get more value than the annual fee in the second year?
The best credit cards come with a welcome bonus you can hit and benefits that provide value in the years to come.
2 to 3 weeks before applying
In this window, map out your future spending so you have an idea of how to hit the spending requirement.
For example, if you have to hit a $4,000 spending requirement within the first three months of account opening, that means you'll have to spend an average of $1,334 per month, or roughly $333 per week. If that's above what you normally spend, you should come up with a plan of attack before you apply.
This would be a great time to make any large purchase you've already been planning, like a new home appliance or even a vacation. You shouldn't simply increase your spending without thinking about it; the goal isn't to spend more, but to redirect all your intentional spending through your new card.
After approval
Once you apply for your desired card and receive approval, you can start spending.
If your new card earns rewards on utilities or streaming services, for example, make sure you swap out your payment information so the new card is being charged. It's also recommended to set up autopayments for your new card; you might even get a discount depending on the card and issuer.
Front-loading your spending may help relieve some stress when the bonus deadline starts looming. You never want to leave hitting your bonus until the last several days, so periodically check on your overall progress, whether that's at the end of each month or week.
Once you've hit your spending goal within the allotted timeframe, simply wait for the bonus to hit your account.
Limited-time bonuses to consider
If you're still shopping around for a credit card that fits you best, here are a few current welcome bonuses you could take advantage of.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
If you've been looking for a credit card with a sub-$100 annual fee that still comes loaded with perks, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) is a great fit.
The card is currently matching its best-ever offer of 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months. Even if redeemed at a rate of 1 cent per point, this bonus is worth $1,000 — and potentially much more if redeemed toward travel.
On top of the bonus, the card comes with a $100 annual hotel credit for Chase Travel, a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS application fee credit and several 3X rewards categories, including gas stations, dining and streaming services.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card packs a punch for a $95 annual fee card, offering annual travel credits, comprehensive travel protections, flexible rewards and more.
- You can transfer rewards to all of Chase's travel partners including World of Hyatt, Southwest Rapid Rewards and many more
- Long list of travel and shopping protections
- Annual Chase Travel hotel credit
- Has an annual fee
- Requires a high credit score
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through C

[32] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:19 UTC] Earnings season plays: Profit expectations are growing for these stocks while their valuations get cheaper
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/earnings-season-plays-profit-expectations-are-growing-for-these-stocks.html
Wall Street analysts are raising earnings estimates for a host of stocks that have seen slumping share prices, leaving more attractive valuations heading into second-quarter earnings season.
Nicole Inui, head of Americas equity strategy at HSBC Global Investment Research, said expectations for the quarter are high but concentrated in sectors where earnings visibility is relatively strong. She sees opportunities beyond the artificial intelligence trade, including companies that could benefit from tariff refunds and spending tied to the FIFA World Cup.
Consensus estimates call for S&P 500 EPS to rise 22% from a year earlier, the strongest growth since the post-pandemic period.
Historically, companies that beat earnings estimates see only modest stock gains, while those that miss tend to fall more sharply. Still, Inui is not overly concerned because much of the quarter's expected earnings growth is forecast to come from energy, semiconductor and tech hardware suppliers, where earnings are more predictable.
Outside those areas, her analysis shows that earnings are expected to grow about 5%, far below the roughly 24% seen in the first quarter.
Energy and tech lead
Energy and information technology are expected to lead, according to FactSet data used by HSBC, logging EPS growth of 122% and 61%, respectively,
The Mag 7 (Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Tesla, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Apple) as a group are expected to post earnings growth of about 30%, while earnings before interest and taxes will probably expand by about 34%, continuing to support the AI spending narrative.
Healthcare is the only sector expected to report weaker earnings, led by pharmaceutical companies, though Inui sees opportunities, given low expectations.
AI and tech earnings will remain the market's focus, while still providing possible surprises.
Consumer staples stocks, industrials and sectors such as autos, could get a boost from tariff refunds. Spending tied to the FIFA World Cup may have supported consumer-friendly sectors such as beverage and travel businesses.
HSBC ran a screen that found 24 stocks where "earnings have been revised higher, yet valuations appear discounted and share prices have dropped."
Among the stock that floated to the top were these.
Source: HSBC
For Netflix, forward earnings estimates increased 12% in the past three months at the same time as the shares fell 21%. Netflix has plunged 40% over the past 12 months, leaving Netflix's valuation at the very low end of its historical range, HSBC said.
Shares of Netflix have plunged almost 42% over the past year as the streaming platform issued underwhelming forward guidance in April, contended with uncertainties tied to its unrealized bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and the departure of co-founder and former board of directors chairman Reed Hastings.
The Wall Street Journal last week also reported the dominant streaming platform has discussed adding live television channels to its offerings and explored bundling its product with other streaming services. Netflix is scheduled to announce second-quarter results Thursday post-market.
T-Mobile appears to have a similar disconnect. Its forward EPS estimates increased by nearly 9% over the past three months at the same time as the stock dropped almost 12%, once again leaving its relative valuation at the very bottom end of its historical range, HSBC said.
The wireless carrier reported a strong first quarter, achieving 217,000 postpaid net account additions, a 6% increase from 205,000 a year earlier. In April, T-Mobile announced two strategic fiber partnerships to strengthen its broadband portfolio and expand fiber access across Northeastern markets. The company also reported a postpaid average revenue per account (ARPA) of $151.93, up nearly 4% from $146.22 a year earlier.
T-Mobile is scheduled to release second-quarter earnings on July 23.
— With additional reporting by CNBC's Liz Napolitano

[33] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:21 UTC] Low Rhine water levels pose cost and logistics threat to German industry, analysts say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/low-rhine-water-levels-pose-cost-logistics-threat-german-industry-analysts-say-2026-07-14/
Low water levels on Germany's Rhine river are raising cargo transport costs and disrupting logistics, adding pressure to Germany's fragile economic ​recovery, analysts said on Tuesday.

The Rhine is crucial for transporting raw materials, fuel products and manufactured goods. ‌The heatwave and reduced rainfall this summer in western Europe caused a sharp fall in Rhine water levels , with cargo ships often only sailing about 20% full.

Germany's Thyssenkrupp Steel told Reuters the worsening low water is now affecting the supply of raw materials to its Duisburg plant ​and it has “slightly reduced blast furnace production because of the somewhat restricted supply of raw materials.”

The company's own ​barge operations have been suspended because of the low water levels and it is chartering vessels ⁠with a shallower draught. "At present, supplies to our customers are not at risk," a spokesperson said.

Most vessel sailings continue, but ​operators impose shallow water surcharges on freight prices to compensate for vessels not sailing fully loaded, increasing costs for cargo ​owners. Loads are spread among several vessels, also increasing prices.

Deutsche Bank Research economist Marc Schattenberg said: "Initially, this is likely to become noticeable through higher transport costs and adjustments to logistics routes".

RISK TO NASCENT ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Germany's industry has recently shown signs of improvement, with factory orders, exports and ​industrial production posting stronger than expected gains in May. However, transport-related supply chain disruptions would be "an unwelcome headwind for a ​stabilising industrial sector", he said.

Schattenberg added that many companies were likely to be better prepared than in previous low water crises because ‌they had ⁠invested in more resilient supply chains.

Germany's inland waterways agency expects the water level at Kaub, a key Rhine bottleneck near Koblenz, to fall below 50 centimetres on Tuesday. The record low at Kaub was 25 centimetres in October 2018.

At current levels, a typical Rhine container ship with capacity for 500 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, can pass through the Kaub section ​carrying less than one fifth of ​its normal load, Deutsche ⁠Bank said.

"If the Kaub water level falls to around 40 centimetres or below, cargo shipping is usually suspended," Schattenberg said.

Low water could threaten logistics of refined fuel from oil refineries, said ​Thomas Puls of the German Economic Institute (IW).

German oil refineries mostly receive crude oil by ​pipeline but use ⁠the Rhine for high-volume distribution of refined products. For a Rhine closure, he estimated about 3,000 additional road fuel tankers would be needed daily. Even if they could be found, extra transport costs could threaten increases in western German petrol station prices.

Germany’s chemical ⁠industry is ​better prepared today for heatwaves and low water levels than it was ​during the drought in 2018, said Wolfgang Grosse Entrup, CEO of German chemical industry association VCI.

“For now, the effects remain manageable, partly because production is ​running at a low level,” he said.

[34] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 14:23 UTC] EQT Forms New Venture Capital Fund to House Some Existing Tech Stakes
URL: https://www.wsj.com/pro/venture-capital/eqt-forms-new-venture-capital-fund-to-house-some-existing-tech-stakes-3285606a
The new continuation vehicle raised around $600 million in a funding round led by HarbourVest Partners.

[35] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 14:24 UTC] The real AI race may no longer be at the frontier
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/the-real-ai-race-may-no-longer-be-at-the-frontier-open-models-hugging-face/
For several weeks this summer, the AI industry was fixated on Anthropic’s latest frontier models and Washington’s fight to control who was granted access to them. But while everyone was watching the frontier, developers kept building — and they weren’t waiting around for permission from the Anthropics and OpenAIs of the world.
Chinese open-weight models accounted for 41% of downloads on Hugging Face this spring, surpassing U.S. models. On OpenRouter, the top six most popular models are all open models from Chinese firms including Tencent, Xiaomi, DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Z.ai. Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.7 trails in seventh place, at the time of this writing. And data from Vercel shows that open weight models are absorbing much of the volume-heavy infrastructure of AI apps, while closed models operate as the higher-cost, premium layer. Open models handled nearly a third of AI requests on the platform in June.
Those platforms only capture one slice of the AI ecosystem; in particular, they leave out sessions hosted by major labs, which likely account for the bulk of OpenAI and Anthropic’s usage. But open-source models’ large and growing share of the market raises a difficult question: How much do frontier models still matter if most production AI ends up running on cheaper, customizable alternatives?
Some see the growth of open-source models as a sign that the most intelligent models may end up being used for only the most specialized use cases. “Maybe in a few years, the frontier models will be for experimenting and [for] some really high value tasks, and most of the production workloads will actually be powered either by private models within companies or by open source models,” Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue said on a recent episode of Equity.
Hugging Face is a platform and developer community best known for hosting, sharing, and helping companies deploy open models. Delangue says Hugging Face’s customers and community members are increasingly touting the benefits of owning their own AI models rather than renting them, a trend that’s picked up steam in the cold light of day after getting the bill associated with the cost of scaling closed frontier models.
“If you’re an AI company or a technology company, you don’t want to outsource your core capabilities to another company, to a black box API that you don’t control, don’t have any visibility on, and don’t really have any sort of ownership,” Delangue said.
That shift, Delangue argues, is reflected in the activity happening on Hugging Face. A new repository is created every seven seconds on the platform, which hosts almost three million public models and one million public datasets, per Delangue. That points to a different picture than the “one model to rule them all,” he says. In reality, it looks more like companies using many different models, many of which are customized for their specific use case. Half of all Fortune 500 firms are using Hugging Face to deploy their own private models and open source models, he says.
The growing popularity of open models coincides with a steady stream of increasingly capable releases from Chinese AI labs.
Every few months, another Chinese AI company releases a powerful open-weight model that is cheaper to deploy and easier to customize than closed competitors, undercutting the economics of proprietary AI that U.S. firms have poured billions into. Most recently, Beijing-based AI company Z.ai released an open weight model called GLM-5.2 that excels at agentic coding and competes with Anthropic’s latest models on identifying security vulnerabilities.
Delangue isn’t the only executive arguing that enterprises should avoid tying themselves to a single model provider.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently warned against single provider lock-in, arguing that control of data should be a primary concern for enterprises using AI.
“While the great innovation that comes from model providers having fair use rights to train models on public data is needed, I find it ironic that the status quo is to then turn around and impose restrictive terms on distillation, and to reserve the right to learn from customer usage and interaction data,” Nadella said. “If learning flows in only one direction, economic value converges toward the owners of the learning infrastructure rather than the creators of the knowledge itself. Therefore, it’s imperative that we distribute the learning infrastructure to every firm so that they can control their own learning loop.”
The rise of open models has also intensified a debate over whether increasingly capable models should be broadly available at all.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has argued that scaling powerful open model weights could become dangerous because once they are released, they become difficult to control. Others have argued that open models are easier to access by bad actors who could use them to spread disinformation or enact cyber or biological warfare.
Delangue sees the tradeoff differently.
“The biggest risk in AI is concentration of power,” Delangue said. “The way you make the world safer, in my opinion, is by leveling up the playing fields and creating transparency on these models.”
Transparency means defenders can more easily “patch the cybersecurity risks that they already know open source models can exploit,” he said.
The Hugging Face executive argues that keeping powerful models closed doesn’t eliminate the risks associated with advanced AI systems, in part because it’s easy to get past frontier model API guardrails and to steal the weights and disseminate them openly. Restricting powerful models, Delangue argues, simply concentrates the technology in the hands of a few companies while reducing transparency into how systems work.
“You don’t really make it safe by keeping it behind closed doors for just a few players,” Delangue said. “You make it more dangerous because you create asymmetry of power and asymmetry of capabilities.”

[36] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:28 UTC] EU foreign subsidy rules may focus more on bigger deals amid red tape concerns
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/eu-foreign-subsidy-rules-may-focus-more-bigger-deals-amid-red-tape-concerns-2026-07-14/
European Union rules targeting unfair non-EU subsidies used to acquire European companies could ​be revised to let regulators focus on larger ‌deals after concerns were raised about excessive red tape, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

The EU executive, which enforces the bloc's ​competition rules, said feedback from stakeholders on the Foreign ​Subsidies Regulation, in force since 2023, highlighted concerns ⁠about the complexity of the regime and the administrative ​burden.

The FSR marked a toughening of Europe's stance towards ​foreign state-backed acquisitions, amid concerns that subsidised buyers from China in particular could gain an unfair advantage in acquiring strategic European assets.

"We ​will continue listening to calls for simplification and strengthening ​awareness, while ensuring that the FSR remains a strong and effective shield ‌for ⁠our market," EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne said in a statement.

The Commission said it may increase the current €500 million ($573 million) EU turnover threshold that triggers mandatory FSR approval ​for mergers and ​acquisitions, and ⁠could introduce a simplified review process for certain transactions.

The FSR, which also applies to ​public procurement contracts worth at least €250 million, ​could be ⁠revised to make it easier for companies to obtain waivers limiting the disclosure of information on certain foreign subsidies.

The ⁠proposed ​changes will be published in the ​autumn for stakeholder feedback and are due to be adopted in 2027.

($1 = ​0.8731 euros)

[37] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:32 UTC] What JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs CEOs have said about AI: Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks have also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said every major business posted record revenue last quarter. He added that the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
Dimon said artificial intelligence has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered jobs elsewhere.
JPMorgan stock fell slightly in early trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank's deals backlog is at the highest level in five years, which bodes well for revenue in future quarters.
Goldman Sachs stock rose more than 6% in early trading.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Jamie Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan Chase earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Wells Fargo earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Bank of America earnings are out. Here are the numbers.
- Goldman Sachs earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Citigroup earnings are out. Here are the numbers.
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[38] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:33 UTC] Wall Street bank earnings surge, lifted by trading and investment banking
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/wall-street-bank-earnings-surge-lifted-by-trading-investment-banking-2026-07-14/
Wall Street bank earnings ​powered ahead in the second quarter with a strong lift from fees for advising on mergers and acquisitions and surging trading ‌revenue, but the lenders warned about risks to the economy and markets.

The SpaceX initial public offering has helped. Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, played big roles in the nearly $86 billion SpaceX IPO. Banks on the SpaceX IPO raked in around $500 million in fees .

Investment banking has been a strong area of revenue growth, with mega equity offerings and ​multibillion-dollar transactions signaling the most bullish dealmaking environment in years. Trading continues to be strong with higher-than-usual volatility due to geopolitical conflict and ​uncertainty surrounding AI disruption.

"We've had really terrific global markets performance and investment banking performances," said Bank of America Chief ⁠Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick on the bank's media call. "Business continues to feel good."

Bank of America (BAC.N) beat estimates for second-quarter profit , benefiting from record trading activity and ​a surge in dealmaking, one of five banks reporting on Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) reported a similar theme. Big-ticket IPOs and dealmaking helped drive investment banking fees to their ​highest levels since 2021, while stock traders capitalized on volatile markets.

'BOOMING ENVIRONMENT'

“What’s going on in equities is a booming environment with a ton of activity, big IPOs, the AI theme, a very active environment,” said JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum on the bank's media call.

Global investment banking revenue hit $61.4 billion in the first half of 2026, a 24% jump ​from a year earlier, according to Dealogic data. JPMorgan remained the global leader in investment banking revenue, while Goldman Sachs was the global leader in ​advising on M&A.

Chip designer Cerebras' (CBRS.O) $6.4 billion IPO and Google-parent Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) $85 billion share sale were also among the top deals in the second quarter.

"We thought the 2Q earnings were going ‌to be ⁠very good, but they turned out to be extraordinary," said Macrae Sykes, portfolio manager at GABF ETF, Gabelli Funds. "We continue to believe the environment for the major banks is very constructive due to business activity, market engagement and demand for capital with average loans up around 10%.”

Bank shares were mixed. JPMorgan rose 0.7%, Citi climbed 1%, BofA gained 1% and Goldman jumped 4%, but Wells Fargo dropped 1.7%.

Still, there were notes of caution about markets.

"How fragile/dangerous/overheated/exuberant is ​the current moment?" asked JPMorgan's Barnum, pointing ​to nominal leverage numbers and ⁠valuations being "quite high."

"It would be naive not to be worried – but it's easy to be worried and the market keeps going up," he said.

Citi CFO Gonzalo Luchetti said conflict in the Middle East may affect deal activity over time, ​although the pipeline remains strong.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in the bank's press release that "several risks are shifting ​below the surface like ⁠tectonic plates, including geopolitical tensions and wars, sticky inflation, large global fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices," adding "they could also cause meaningful disruptions when they shift or collide."

Goldman Sachs (GS.N) exceeded second-quarter profit expectations , Wells Fargo (WFC.N) beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit, and Citigroup (C.N) reported a 45% jump in second-quarter profit and its highest quarterly revenue in ⁠a decade. ​Morgan Stanley (MS.N) will report second-quarter results on Wednesday.

"The AI-driven capex super cycle has benefited equity ​issuance, M&A activity and debt financing, while trading has been helped by Iran-related volatility across asset classes," said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research.

[39] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:33 UTC] ZTE among Chinese firms licensed to purchase Nvidia's H200 chips, documents show
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/zte-among-chinese-firms-licensed-purchase-nvidias-h200-chips-documents-show-2026-07-14/
A unit of telecoms gear maker ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) and two other Chinese firms are among the latest entities to receive U.S. approval to purchase advanced AI chips from ​Nvidia (NVDA.O) and AMD (AMD.O) , according to documents and two sources familiar with the matter.

Nvidia's ‌H200 chip, one of its most powerful and used to train and run large AI models, has become a focal point of U.S.-China tech rivalry as Washington seeks to restrict China's access to advanced ​computing power.

ZTE Kangxun Telecom and server maker Maginfra have been permitted to purchase Nvidia's ​H200 chips, while Zhuhai Hengqin Yunxiang Zhisheng Network Technology, a subsidiary of ⁠cloud computing company Kingsoft (3888.HK) , has been cleared to use some AMD chips that rival ​the H200, according to the documents and the sources.

The three firms, not previously reported to have ​received U.S. clearance, expand the known set of companies involved in the licensing process beyond China's largest internet groups and major electronics distributors.

Reuters reported in May that the U.S. had cleared around 10 Chinese firms, including ​Alibaba (9988.HK) , Tencent (0700.HK) , ByteDance and JD.com (9618.HK) , to buy the Nvidia chips, but that no deliveries ​had been made at that time as the deals remained caught between approval requirements and scrutiny in both ‌Washington ⁠and Beijing.

However, some Chinese cloud firms have recently told partners and clients they may soon be able to obtain H200 chips, the sources said, indicating some progress in import reviews by Chinese authorities.

ZTE, Maginfra, Kingsoft, Nvidia, AMD and China's Ministry of Commerce did not respond to ​requests for comment. The ​U.S. Bureau of ⁠Industry and Security - the Commerce Department agency overseeing export controls - did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Washington has steadily tightened restrictions ​on sending advanced AI chips to China since 2022, arguing the ​technology could ⁠support the PRC's military modernisation.

But the Trump administration has allowed sales of the H200, which first shipped to clients globally in 2024, with some arguing the exports promote U.S. technological dominance, while ⁠Nvidia ​has pushed to preserve access to one of the ​world's largest technology markets.

China, meanwhile, has encouraged domestic alternatives, creating uncertainty over whether U.S.-approved chip sales can proceed even ​after Washington grants export licenses.

[40] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:36 UTC] Jamie Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles: Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks have also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said every major business posted record revenue last quarter. He added that the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
Dimon said artificial intelligence has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered jobs elsewhere.
JPMorgan stock fell slightly in early trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank's deals backlog is at the highest level in five years, which bodes well for revenue in future quarters.
Goldman Sachs stock rose more than 6% in early trading.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Jamie Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan Chase earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Wells Fargo earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Bank of America earnings are out. Here are the numbers.
- Goldman Sachs earnings are out. Here are the numbers
- Citigroup earnings are out. Here are the numbers.
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[41] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 14:37 UTC] Reflection inks $1B compute deal with Nebius
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/reflection-inks-1b-compute-deal-with-nebius/
Reflection AI, a U.S. startup vying to develop open models, has signed a $1 billion compute deal with European AI infrastructure company, Nebius.
Nebius, formerly the international arm of Russian tech giant Yandex, will provide Reflection access to Nvidia’s latest chips. The deal comes just a few weeks after the startup signed a similar deal to access SpaceX’s computing resources, and mirrors several partnerships by AI firms as they race to secure compute for training and deploying their models.
Along with its increasingly capable Chinese counterparts, Reflection is one of several open-weight AI model developers that have received ample attention lately as debate rages over the value of top-shelf, closed-source AI models — especially with data retention concerns surging up, as well as government intervention.
Just last month, the Trump administration pressured Anthropic and OpenAI to restrict their most powerful new models, raising concerns that access to AI models could be taken away overnight. That, plus the release of more capable open models from China, has led to an increase in mainstream interest in open source AI.
Reflection, currently valued at $8 billion, was founded in 2024 by two former Google DeepMind researchers. It has already raised close to $2.6 billion in funding from backers including Nvidia, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Shortly after securing a $2 billion investment from Nvidia, Nebius signed a five-year infrastructure deal with Meta worth up to $27 billion. Last year, Nebius signed a multi-year deal with Microsoft worth up to $19.4 billion.
TechCrunch has reached out to Reflection and Nebius for more information.

[42] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:38 UTC] Warsh promises inflation will be a 'thing of the past,' cites 'mistake' of prior policy
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/warsh-promises-inflation-will-be-a-thing-of-the-past-cites-benefits-of-ai-investment-boom.html
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh pledged Tuesday to "get monetary policy right" and defeat the inflation that has bedeviled the central bank for the past five years.
In remarks for delivery to separate congressional panels this week, Warsh reiterated his recent tough talk on inflation, while also touting the strength of the U.S. economy and benefits coming from business investment, particularly involving artificial intelligence.
"Today we are at a hinge point in history. It's up to all of us to meet this moment," said Warsh, who speaks Tuesday to the House Financial Services Committee then the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.
"The Fed's number one objective is to get monetary policy right — or as near to it as we possibly can. That is our clear and constant aim, the star we steer by," he added. "And if we get policy right — and we will — the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past."
The remarks come just two months into Warsh's term. Fed chairs are mandated to appear twice a year before Congress to deliver a monetary policy report then take legislators' questions.
Warsh takes over a Fed that has scene inflation exceed its 2% mandate since 2021. During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, the chairman called inflation "a choice," and emphasized repeatedly the importance of bringing down the cost of living during his first news conference.
Warsh further criticized past practices of the Fed, specifically a policy adopted in 2020 that allowed for above-target inflation after periods of lower prices. The policy specifically sought to address imbalances in employment.
"That central bank wasn't the first central bank to ask for a little more inflation and end up with a lot more. It was a mistake," he said. "The framework did not succeed in its objectives, and I am pleased that before my arrival, that my predecessors took that and cast it aside."
Similar to his predecessor, Jerome Powell, Warsh noted that the persistently high inflation levels have "been an undue burden on American households and businesses" who have faced higher costs across the board, with the latest surge coming in good part from soaring energy prices.
"While monthly price fluctuations are inevitable — especially in an unsettled world — underlying inflation over longer time horizons is determined largely by monetary policy," he said. "The members of our Committee have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation. And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability."
On broader conditions, Warsh said the economy "is expanding at a solid pace, showing resilience in the face of recent developments."
He pointed to business investment that he called "the most striking feature" of the current climate.
"The rapid pace — which appears to be accelerating — reflects, in large part, the construction of data centers and the immense demand for the AI-related equipment and software that fill them," he said.
"We don't know the extent to which the economy will benefit from the AI buildout," he added. "Yet it seems inevitable that what is now called 'AI investment' will soon be called just 'investment.'"
Warsh previously has said he expects an AI productivity boom will prove disinflationary — a premise challenged by some economists as well as his fellow Fed policymakers.
Elsewhere, Warsh further fleshed out the five task forces he has created to conduct a comprehensive review of the Fed's operations. The panels will examine the communications, technology, the balance sheet, economic data the Fed employs and the way it looks at inflation.
Together, he said the groups are part of "a new chapter at the Federal Reserve," an extension of the "regime change" Warsh promised last year in a CNBC interview. However, whereas Warsh previously faulted "incumbents" at the Fed for institutional problems, he has taken a more conciliatory tone since he's been in office.
"t's been a privilege to return to the Fed and to work again with so many talented and dedicated people I'm fortunate to call my colleague," he said.

[43] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 14:40 UTC] IBM Falls on Sales Miss; JPMorgan Soars on Equities Trading Beat | Stock Movers
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-07-14/ibm-falls-on-sales-miss-jpmorgan-soars-video
On this episode of Stock Movers:

- IBM (IBM) shares are plummeting after the company reported preliminary second-quarter sales that fell short of expectations, attributing the miss to customers spending their money on chips and servers amid AI-fueled shortages.
- Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) all reported early this morning. Wells Fargo reported second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates on higher fees from wealth management and investment banking. JPMorgan soared past all estimates on equities trading, but missed on FICC sales and trading revenue. Bank of America net interest income met estimates. Shares have oscillated in early trading.
- Apple (AAPL) shares are falling after being cut to underweight from sector weight at KeyBanc, which expects weaker device demand and service revenue growth in the US, a dynamic that makes the stock look unfavorable due to its high valuations. (Source: Bloomberg)

[44] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 14:40 UTC] 'A troubling precedent': Businesses ask Senate to kill a plan to limit stock buybacks and dividends
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-buyback-ban-dividends-defense-stocks-trump-executive-order-senate-2026-7
Businesses are urging Congress to strip a measure from a bill that would restrict defense contractors from issuing dividends or buying back their stock.
More than 40 business and industry groups have penned a letter to the Senate urging action on section 815 of the National Defense Authorization Act, a provision that would effectively ban companies that contract with the Department of Defense from buying back their own shares or paying dividends.
"If adopted, Section 815 would harm millions of American retirees and other investors by restricting lawful returns of capital to shareholders, establish a troubling precedent for federal interference in corporate governance and capital allocation decisions," the letter stated.
President Trump first discussed the idea of barring defense contractors from stock buybacks in January. His initial statements triggered a selloff in defense stocks, hitting sector leaders like General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.
Months later, business groups and the Chamber of Commerce are urging Senate to ensure that Section 815 is stricken from the NDAA entirely, making it clear that they see severe consequences if it is signed into law.
Signed by a list of pro-business organizations that includes the US Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, and American Council for Capital Formation, the letter highlighted the concerning elements that these businesses and organizations see with Trump's plan.
They framed their argument around the notion the move would harm "main street investors," as Section 815 would limit two of the primary ways that a company can return money to shareholders. The letter's authors said it could be a blow retirement funds for many Americans, given how many people own stocks through their 401(k) and Roth IRA accounts.
"Stock buybacks are simply another common way of providing a financial return to investors," the letter states. "Supporters of restrictions on buybacks argue that when companies elect to buy back their own stock, they are taking capital away from research & development, manufacturing, or other investments. Such claims are demonstrably false."
Trump's January executive order was framed as a way to penalize contractors for underperforming.
"Every firm across our economy has a right to profit from prudent investment and hard work, but the American defense industrial base also has the responsibility to ensure that America's warfighters have the best possible equipment and weapons," the order said. In a Truth Social post, the president said: "MILITARY EQUIPMENT IS NOT BEING MADE FAST ENOUGH!"
Share buybacks are sometimes criticized as a way for companies to artificially boost their stock price irrespective of actual performance, but the business and trade groups that signed the letter say they're important for individual investors as well as big institutions.
Citing a study from the US Chamber of Commerce, the letter notes that retail investors have saved as much as $4.2 billion over the past 17 years as a direct result of share buybacks.
"Some of the newest investors in the market are the beneficiaries of Trump Accounts, a program that depends upon consistent returns in the stock market," the letter added. "Restrictions on the return of capital to shareholders could constrain investment returns and threaten the long-term success of this program."

[45] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 14:43 UTC] Ukraine targets Russian shipping in ‘unprecedented’ drone assault
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/6d5e952f-eb03-4277-a8b4-caae478a02d9
Ukraine targets Russian shipping in ‘unprecedented’ drone assault
Ukraine said it has hit more than 110 Russian vessels in nine days in the Sea of Azov, making it one of the most concentrated series of attacks on shipping ever to take place.
The recent campaign against Russian vessels, which started in earnest on July 6, is aimed at disrupting the fuel and logistics supply chains that are sustaining Russia’s military operations in occupied southern Ukraine as well as Crimea.
The number of ships hit in the timeframe has surpassed that of even the Iran-Iraq tanker wars in the 1980s, according to Tomas Alexa, senior analyst at maritime security agency Ambrey, when there were more than 450 attacks over seven years.
“I cannot stress enough how unprecedented this is,” Alexa said. “We have never seen anything so concentrated on a global scale.”
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, the branch of the country’s military dedicated to drone warfare, said on Tuesday that 11 more Russian ships had been hit overnight, including five tankers, five cargo ships and a tugboat — bringing the total to 116 in nine days.
“The goal of the operation is to systematically disrupt the enemy’s logistics chain,” the force said. “Disabling tankers, cargo ships and auxiliary vessels complicates the export of oil and petroleum products, limits maritime transport capabilities, and reduces the enemy’s ability to supply fuel to its forces and occupation grouping in temporarily occupied Crimea.”
Alexa said the strikes mostly involved drones hitting accommodation blocks on ships or the pipework through which cargoes were pumped into the tanks on board. “These are highly targeted,” he said. “It’s potentially quite a deadly campaign.”
Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, and futures for the grain reached a six-week high on July 10, according to Trading Economics.
About a quarter of Russia’s grain exports normally flow from ports in the Sea of Azov, such as Mariupol and Berdyansk, and out through the Kerch Strait and into the Black Sea. Kyiv has accused Russia of using the route to export grain stolen from Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation.
The level of attacks caused the Russian agricultural ministry to say on Tuesday that grain exports would be redirected away from the Sea of Azov, with Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accusing Ukraine of “terrorism”.
“What the Ukrainian regime is up to isn’t even piracy,” Lavrov said. “Pirates at least steal and take things for themselves. And here they’re not taking anything for themselves or anyone else. They’re just inflicting damage and spreading fear.”
Attacks on merchant vessels have been common throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has typically deployed unmanned surface vessels against ships sanctioned by the US, EU or UK, or used drones to attempt to disrupt the loading of non-sanctioned Russian ships.
This time, by targeting fuel tankers and other support vessels operating in the waters, Ukraine aims to complicate the transport of fuel, ammunition and other supplies, increasing the cost of the Kremlin’s war and the difficulty of maintaining its forces along the 1,200km front line.
It also hopes to disrupt civilian fuel supplies to the Crimean peninsula, which was forcibly annexed by Moscow in 2014. Robert Brovdi, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, said Kyiv hoped to encourage an exodus out of the territory, a popular Russian summer holiday destination.
To counter this, Russia has deployed “an unprecedented number of tankers to replenish fuel reserves” to the occupied Crimean peninsula. But his drone forces, he said, “are working intensively to destroy Russia’s shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov”.
The Ukrainian navy said on Tuesday afternoon that it had also destroyed the Russian FSB border patrol ship Izumrud. It said it used a Sargan-3000 uncrewed maritime system, or sea drone, in the attack, which took place near the Russian port city of Novorossiysk. The navy reported casualties, stating there were dead and wounded among the ship’s crew.
The strike was highly symbolic for Kyiv. The Izumrud had taken part in the November 2018 attack on three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait, during which Russians seized the ships and detained 24 Ukrainian crew members.
Russia retaliated against the latest strikes with attacks on four vessels in Ukrainian ports on Monday night, according to Ambrey.
One of the ships hit, a Togo-flagged bulk carrier, had been discharging fertiliser minerals when it was attacked and caught fire. “Three of the vessel’s crew were reported to have been killed, and four seriously injured,” Ambrey said.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, said on Monday that he condemned the attacks in the Sea of Azov, noting that “such acts endanger seafarers, threaten the safety of navigation, disrupt global supply chains and undermine the principles upon which international shipping depends”.
Additional reporting by Max Seddon in Berlin and cartography by Steven Bernard in London

[46] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:45 UTC] Despite the market volatility, one tech name is showing bullish signs. How to trade it
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/despite-the-market-volatility-one-tech-name-is-showing-bullish-signs-how-to-trade-it.html
The constant derailing of the Iran peace talks and ongoing interruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have made it incredibly difficult to trade with any degree of certainty since February. While this volatile macro environment prevails, the best thing a trader can do is stick strictly to technical setups with clearly defined risk parameters. Despite the Nasdaq's rout Monday, Accenture (ACN) is actually showing some promising bullish signs. The major caveat here is that tight trade management is absolutely critical, which I will outline below. To spot a high-probability entry on ACN, I am looking at two very simple indicators: Accelerated MACD (5, 13, 5): I prefer this faster MACD setting to catch momentum pivots before the rest of the market wakes up. As highlighted on the chart, the MACD triggered a bullish crossover on June 26th. While this can sometimes precede an explosive move, its best to look at another indicator for some kind of confirmation. Relative Strength Index (RSI): To gauge the underlying strength of this bounce, let's look at the RSI. The indicator was officially in oversold territory from June 17 through July 1, but it is now moving sharply higher. This upward trajectory adds a necessary layer of confirmation to our MACD signal. Given the delicate geopolitical situation with Iran, this specific trade will only make sense if the broader Nasdaq demonstrates some form of a bounce in the coming days. The trade setup: ACN 138-139 bull call spread With ACN currently trading at $138.52, my strategy is to sandwich the current price right between my strikes. If ACN drifts higher in the coming days, you can simply adjust the strikes to envelope the new price action, buying the In-The-Money call just below the live price and selling the Out-Of-The-Money call just above it. One quick note before we get to the trade details. If tracking these setups manually isn't your style, Maya (our algorithmic trading engine) handles entries and exits completely autonomously using a 100% rules-based system. We are celebrating one year of being fully live right now, so you can lock in our $47 launch offer here: https://tradewithmaya.com/autotrading. Here is my exact trade setup: Buy $138 call, Aug 7 expiry Sell $139 call, Aug 7 expiry Contracts: 1 Cost: $50 Potential Profit: $50 With such a difficult trading environment, strict trade management is imperative. The Maya algorithm mentioned above uses 9 different technical exit criteria, which is as solid as it gets for risk management. However, for a human trader, watching that many variables manually is hardly practical. The easiest and most effective way to cut a loser is to bail if the trade loses half of its overall value. If you paid $50 to enter this spread and ACN continues to drop, I would immediately close the position if the spread's value falls to $25. Another highly objective way to cut a losing trade is simply exiting the moment the MACD makes a bearish crossover. — Nishant Pant Founder: https://tradewithmaya.com/ Author: " Mean Reversion Trading ″ Youtube, Twitter: @TheMeanTrader DISCLOSURES: Nishant holds a bull call spread on ACN expiring on August 7, 2026. All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, or its parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer.

[47] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:46 UTC] E. Jean Carroll receives $5.6M from Trump in sex abuse, defamation case: Court filing
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/trump-e-jean-carroll-sex-abuse-case.html
E. Jean Carroll and her attorneys Shawn Crowley and Roberta Kaplan react outside the Manhattan Federal Court after the verdict in the second civil trial after she accused former U.S. President Donald Trump of raping her decades ago, in New York City on Jan. 26, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Writer E. Jean Carroll has been paid more than $5.6 million that she was owed as part of a federal civil jury verdict holding President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, a court filing showed Tuesday.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[48] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:47 UTC] Chamath Palihapitiya says soaring AI token spend will hit companies' earnings
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/chamath-palihapitiya-ai-tokenmaxxing.html
Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya on Tuesday said artificial intelligence usage could negatively impact some companies' earnings, in part because C-suite executives will have to contend with spending that they "didn't know existed inside of their organization."
"CEOs and the CFOs, in my opinion, probably have no idea how much tokenmaxxing is going on inside of their organizations," Palihapitiya told CNBC. "I suspect what'll happen is one day you're going to have a miss, and EPS will be off by a few pennies, and the CEO will say to the CFO, 'What happened?'"
Palihapitiya is the founder of the investment firm Social Capital, the CEO of the AI company 8090 and a host of a tech podcast called "All-In." He is a controversial figure in Silicon Valley because of his role in heavily promoting special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, during the Covid pandemic, many of which have since shuttered and resulted in substantial losses for investors.
"Who didn't make money? Speculators," Palihapitiya said Tuesday. "Now, do I feel bad for them? Yes. Were my incentives misaligned with them? Also yes."
Palihapitiya said there were "some parts" of those investments that worked, but he added that it was a "huge mistake" to promote the SPACs on social media and CNBC. He launched a new SPAC, the American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. A (AEXA), last year, which is designed to target companies in AI, energy, defense and decentralized finance.
In 2024, Palihapitiya founded 8090, a company that's building a platform where people can collaborate with AI agents to develop enterprise software. The company announced a $135 million funding round led by Salesforce in June.
Palihapitiya is also one of a growing chorus of investors and tech executives who are cautioning that the era of so-called tokenmaxxing, where employers have incentivized staffers to use as much AI as possible, is over. He said in March that his company's AI spending is trending toward more than $10 million a year, which "feels very scary" as the founder of a small startup.
"Anyways, just sharing our current lived experience as I suspect many other companies are also feeding this revenue ramp without getting any meaningful ROI from it," he wrote in a post on X at the time.
Palihapitiya's comments about AI spend on Tuesday echo the concerns shared by Palantir CEO Alex Karp, who sharply criticized OpenAI and Anthropic for their token-based pricing models earlier this month.
"I'm not throwing shade at them, but something has gone completely wrong," Karp told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "The basic view among enterprises in this country is I'm going to chillax and waste my time with tokens."
WATCH: It was a ‘huge mistake’ for me to come on CNBC and talk about SPACs, says Chamath Palihapitiya

[49] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 14:48 UTC] IBM Falls Most Since At Least 1968 on Sales Miss
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-07-14/ibm-falls-most-since-at-least-1968-on-sales-miss-video
International Business Machines Corp. shares slid by the most in at least 58 years after the company reported preliminary second-quarter sales that fell short of expectations, attributing the miss to customers shifting their spending to chips and servers amid AI-fueled shortages. 
Anurag Rana, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Tech Analyst, discusses the miss and what it means for IBM as well as the broader tech sector. (Source: Bloomberg)

[50] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 14:52 UTC] IBM Suffers Biggest Share Drop in Its History
URL: https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/ibm-shares-sink-18-on-earnings-warning-d115d564
IBM shares sank as much as 25% as the company issued a profit warning citing a shift in customer spending from software to AI hardware and memory chips.

[51] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:53 UTC] US official says shipments of H200 chips to China have begun
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-official-says-shipments-h200-chips-china-have-begun-2026-07-14/
A top U.S. official ​told Congress on Tuesday ‌that "very few" Nvidia H200 chips to ​date have been ​shipped to China or ⁠Hong Kong.

[52] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:53 UTC] US official says shipments of Nvidia H200 chips to China have begun
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-official-says-shipments-h200-chips-china-have-begun-2026-07-14/
A top U.S. official told Congress on Tuesday that "very few" Nvidia (NVDA.O) H200 chips to date have been shipped ​to China or Hong Kong.

In May, Reuters reported the Commerce Department had cleared around ‌10 Chinese firms to buy Nvidia's second-most powerful AI chip , the H200, but no deliveries had been made. Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that H200 chip ​shipments have begun but the number was "very few."

Later in the hearing, Kessler said it ​was a "trivial" amount of chips. He said the Commerce Department has provided a ⁠confidential list of applications for H200 chips and their status to Congress but did not elaborate.

The ​chip shipments are being closely watched because the H200 is one of Nvidia's most advanced AI ​processors, and sales to China have become a flashpoint in the broader U.S.-China technology rivalry. Washington has sought to limit Beijing's access to cutting-edge chips that could be used for military applications.

U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks, the top ​Democrat on the committee, on Tuesday criticized the department for not adding any Chinese companies to ​an export control list since October, which is the longest period in more than a decade.

He said President ‌Donald ⁠Trump "has turned (export controls) into a bargaining chip in broader negotiations with China" and "weakened existing safeguards, including by approving licenses for advanced AI chips destined for China."

Kessler defended the department's posture and said it was important to enforce the existing list of Chinese companies facing restrictions.

Reuters reported last month that ​the Commerce Department has held ​off on adding China’s ⁠AI startup DeepSeek , memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies and more than 100 other companies flagged as national security risks to the "Entity List," according ​to two people familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration tries ​to avoid ⁠escalating tensions with Beijing.

U.S. companies cannot ship goods, software and technology to companies on the list without a license, which is likely to be denied.

Kessler also defended the decision of the Trump administration on ⁠Friday to ​loosen export controls on the United Arab Emirates, making ​it easier to export Nvidia AI chips, military equipment, commercial satellites and spacecraft in a boost to relations between the ​two allies.

[53] [Reuters Technology | 2026-07-14 14:53 UTC] US official says Nvidia has begun shipping powerful H200 AI chips to China
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-official-says-shipments-h200-chips-china-have-begun-2026-07-14/
A top U.S. official told Congress on Tuesday that a small number ​of Nvidia (NVDA.O) H200 chips, one of the company's most powerful AI chips, have been shipped to China to date.

"There have been minimal exports ‌of any H200s to China so far," Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He said shipments of H200 chips have begun but the number was "very few."

Reuters reported on Tuesday that a unit of telecoms gear maker ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) and two other Chinese firms were among the latest entities to receive U.S. approval to purchase ​advanced AI Nvidia (NVDA.O) and AMD (AMD.O) chips.

In May, Reuters reported the Commerce Department had cleared around 10 Chinese firms to buy the H200, but no deliveries ​had been made at the time. Sources said at the time that Alibaba (9988.HK) , Tencent (0700.HK) and ByteDance were among those approved.

Kessler said ⁠the Commerce Department has provided a confidential list of applications for H200 chips and their status to Congress but did not elaborate.

EXPORT CONTROLS UNDER SCRUTINY

Sales to ​China of Nvidia's H200 chips have become a flashpoint in the broader U.S.-China technology rivalry. Washington has sought to limit Beijing's access to cutting-edge chips that could be ​used for military applications.

U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Tuesday criticized the Commerce Department for not adding any Chinese companies to an export control list since October, which is the longest period in more than a decade.

He said President Donald Trump "has turned (export controls) into a bargaining chip in broader negotiations with China" and "weakened existing safeguards, including ​by approving licenses for advanced AI chips destined for China."

Kessler defended the department's posture and said it was important to enforce the existing list of Chinese ​companies facing restrictions.

AI CHIP RULES STILL IN WORKS

He said more action was coming on AI regulations.

"I don't want to replace the diffusion rule because I don't think the rule is worth ‌replacing," Kessler ⁠said, referring to a Biden-era rule controlling global access to AI chips. The rule would have stymied the global AI ecosystem, he said.

But he added, "There will be future regulatory action in the area of chips and AI."

SMUGGLING CONCERNS RAISED IN HEARING

Republican Representative Bill Huizenga sharply criticized Kessler for guidance the Commerce Department issued on May 31 about a potential loophole that may have allowed subsidiaries of Chinese companies outside China to obtain Nvidia Blackwell chips, which are even more sophisticated than H200s.

Huizenga asked why ​the guidance said Chinese companies could keep ​any Blackwell chips "that they may have ⁠gotten through either smuggling or other loopholes."

Kessler said if companies had not been licensed for the chips they should self-disclose the violation.

Huizenga said the bureau should be clear with the Chinese that they cannot keep the Blackwells and that they had ​had multiple conversations about it.

"That is just a frickin' circle that you talk in, and I'm sorry but this ​is unacceptable," he said.

Kessler ⁠also defended the decision of the Trump administration on Friday to loosen export controls on the United Arab Emirates, making it easier to export Nvidia AI chips, military equipment, commercial satellites and spacecraft in a boost to relations between the two allies.

Last month, Reuters reported that the Commerce Department had held off on adding China’s AI startup DeepSeek , memory ⁠chip maker ​ChangXin Memory Technologies and more than 100 other companies flagged as national security risks to the "Entity ​List," according to two people familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration tries to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing.

U.S. companies cannot ship goods, software and technology to companies on the list without a ​license, which is likely to be denied.

[54] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:55 UTC] Cyclosporiasis cases in Michigan climb to over 3,000, state health officials say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/cyclosporiasis-cases-michigan-climb-over-3000-state-health-officials-say-2026-07-14/
Michigan health officials on Tuesday reported 3,309 cases linked to an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, an increase of 669 ​cases since the last update on Monday.

The outbreak ‌has resulted in 44 hospitalizations as of July 9, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. No deaths have been ​reported.

Here are the details:

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection that ​can be contracted by consuming food — typically raw fruits ⁠and vegetables — or water contaminated with feces, according to ​the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases of an ​intestinal infection from the cyclospora parasite that causes diarrhea, nausea and other gastrointestinal symptoms have risen steadily in recent months across the United ​States, according to the CDC.

The CDC said on its ​website dated July 9 that 843 people across 31 states had contracted ‌the ⁠parasite, and 86 of them had been hospitalized. At that time, the agency said more than 1,500 additional cases required further analysis and confirmation.

Symptoms can range from mild to severe, ​with children, ​older adults and ⁠people with weakened immune systems facing a higher risk of serious illness.

The current U.S. outbreak, ​which began on May 1, is centered ​in Michigan, ⁠with Ohio and New York also reporting high numbers of cases.

U.S. health officials have not identified the source of contamination ⁠and ​are tracing foods linked to cases ​through the supply chain, potentially to the farm level, using genetic sequencing where ​needed.

[55] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 14:55 UTC] India’s Udaan Secures $160 Million to Boost Finances Before IPO
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/india-s-udaan-secures-160-million-to-boost-finances-before-ipo
India’s Udaan Secures $160 Million to Boost Finances Before IPO
Indian business-to-business e-commerce firm Udaan has lined up $160 million in funding to bolster its balance sheet as it prepares for a capital markets listing.
The financing combines fresh equity, new debt and the conversion of a portion of its outstanding convertible bonds into equity, the startup said in a statement Tuesday.

[56] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 14:56 UTC] Supreme Court Justice Barrett says 'the threat level is really high' in budget testimony
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/supreme-court-budget-congress-kagan-barrett.html
Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett testify before the House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill on July 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Finn Gomez | Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told a House subcommittee on Tuesday that "the threat level" against her and other federal judges "is really high" as she testified about the high court's budget request.
"Those statistics sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not," Barrett told the panel.
Barrett, who was testifying with Justice Elena Kagan, also told the panel about being given a bulletproof vest by her security after a leak to a news outlet about an opinion that reversed the Supreme Court's decision that had said there was a constitutional right to abortion.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[57] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:56 UTC] Nigeria's Dangote begins pricing local fuel sales in dollars, citing crude supply constraints
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nigerias-dangote-begins-pricing-local-fuel-sales-dollars-citing-crude-supply-2026-07-14/
Nigeria's Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun pricing fuel products for the local market in U.S. dollars, ​with a company spokesperson on Tuesday citing difficulties securing ‌sufficient crude under the government's naira-for-crude programme and rising global oil prices.

The naira-for-crude programme, launched in October 2024, allowed domestic refiners to purchase ​crude in the local currency and reduced pressure on ​the foreign exchange market.

Africa's largest refinery, with a ⁠capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, has set the ex-depot ​price of petrol at $0.779 per litre, diesel at $1.087 per litre and ​aviation fuel at $0.942 per litre, according to a pricing template circulated to marketers.

Edwin Devakumar, vice president of the Dangote Group, said the refinery had ​been absorbing a currency mismatch by selling products in ​naira while sourcing crude in dollars, but limited crude supply under the naira-for-crude ‌programme ⁠had undermined the arrangement's viability.

Although state-owned oil company NNPC increased Dangote's allocation to seven cargoes in May from about five previously, the refiner has said it requires 13 to 15 cargoes ​a month and ​has been forced ⁠to import the remainder at international prices.

The decision could boost demand for dollars among fuel ​marketers and make domestic fuel prices more sensitive ​to ⁠exchange-rate fluctuations.

The sector regulator, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dangote has ⁠become ​a major local petrol supplier, helping ​to reduce the country's dependence on fuel imports, but has struggled to secure ​sufficient volumes in Nigeria.

[58] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 14:57 UTC] Russia launches American and two cosmonauts to space station with rare NASA chief visit
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-launches-american-two-cosmonauts-space-station-mission-2026-07-14/
Russia launched two cosmonauts and an American ​astronaut to the International Space Station on Tuesday from ‌Kazakhstan, resuming crewed flights from a recently repaired launchpad with a rare joint attendance by the heads of NASA and Russia's space agency.

U.S. astronaut Anil Menon ​and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina lifted off from ​the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft at 10:47 ⁠a.m. EDT (1447 GMT), bound for the ISS, where they will ​spend about eight months as the station's 75th rotation crew.

The crew and ​their Soyuz spacecraft were placed into orbit some 10 minutes later, beginning a roughly three-hour orbital trek to the football field-sized space laboratory ahead of docking ​at 1:56 p.m. EDT.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman traveled to Baikonur for ​meetings with Roscosmos director Dmitry Bakanov and to watch the launch, the first visit ‌to ⁠Russia's launch pad by a NASA chief since 2018. Tensions over the Russia-Ukraine war had largely prevented Bill Nelson, former President Joe Biden's NASA chief, from such talks.

The Expedition 75 mission was the first spaceflight for ​Menon, 49. Isaacman, ​a billionaire private ⁠astronaut, flew on a SpaceX capsule in 2024 with Menon's wife, SpaceX engineer Anna Menon, and two ​others in the Polaris Dawn mission , a private spacewalking ​voyage funded ⁠by Isaacman.

The last time Russia launched a crew out of Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 31, the rocket badly damaged the historic launchpad, knocking Moscow's only ⁠crew-capable ​launch site out of service amid months ​of repairs. Russia resumed launches from the pad in March with an uncrewed ISS ​cargo mission.

[59] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:01 UTC] Boeing records highest first-half deliveries since 2018
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-records-highest-first-half-deliveries-since-2018-2026-07-14/
Boeing (BA.N) said Tuesday that it delivered 64 jetliners in June, compared to 60 the ​previous month and in June 2025.

Boeing delivered 314 ‌aircraft through the first half of the year, a 12% increase over the same period last year and the highest number of ​first-half deliveries for the jet maker since 2018.

The ​U.S. planemaker trails European rival Airbus (AIR.PA) , which delivered 89 ⁠jets in June and 351 in the first half ​of the year.

Boeing's deliveries are expected to rise in the ​second half of the year, as it increases output of its best-selling 737 MAX. The company currently is increasing 737 output from 42 ​jets a month to 47.

Boeing's June deliveries included 42 ​737 MAX and 13 787s.

Its 787 deliveries included five jets that had ‌been ⁠held up by seat certification delays to startup airline Riyadh Air.

The planemaker delivered three 777 freighters and five 767s, including three for conversion into KC-46 aerial refueling tankers by ​Boeing's defense ​division.

Boeing booked ⁠121 new orders and eight cancellations in June, for a net total of 113 new ​orders.

Boeing has received 7,206 orders for the ​737 ⁠MAX, surpassing its previous best-selling 737 Next Generation, which received 7,159 orders.

Canadian airline WestJet canceled orders for six 737s, and ⁠Aviation ​Capital Group ordered six 737s, which ​it will lease to WestJet.

Through June, Boeing has booked 408 orders after ​cancellations and conversions.

[60] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:04 UTC] Britain to test readiness for hybrid attack in biggest defence drill for decades
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/britain-test-readiness-hybrid-attack-biggest-defence-drill-decades-2026-07-14/
Britain said on Tuesday it would carry out its biggest home defence exercise in decades next year, ​seeking to test its ability to counter hybrid ‌threats such as cyberattacks, disinformation and sabotage of critical infrastructure.

Britain and European allies have rapidly accelerated defence preparations since Russia invaded Ukraine in ​2022, with NATO warning that Moscow could be ready ​to attack Europe by 2030. Britain has said ⁠Russia has stepped up hybrid threats — from physical and cyberattacks ​to information warfare.

While the drill scenario would be kept secret, ​the government said it would test Britain's readiness for hybrid attacks and complement a NATO crisis-management exercise designed to test how allies coordinate ​political and military responses to major security crises.

The multi-day ​exercise would involve ministers and hundreds of officials from across government and ‌the ⁠public sector, senior minister Darren Jones said on Tuesday.

Britain also updated its official list of the biggest threats it faces, adding attempts to interfere with democracy, such as election interference, ​disinformation campaigns or ​foreign influence ⁠operations.

Overall, seven new risks were added, including cyberattacks on data infrastructure, water infrastructure and police ​systems, and a "digital resilience failure" risk based ​on lessons ⁠from the CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) outage in 2024, which crashed more than 8 million Microsoft (MSFT.O) Windows-based computers worldwide.

The government said it would also ⁠launch ​a national public awareness campaign later ​this year to encourage households to prepare for emergencies such as severe weather, ​flooding and cyberattacks.

[61] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:05 UTC] Warsh promises Fed policy 'regime change' to rid inflation 'tax' on American people
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/warsh-promises-inflation-will-be-a-thing-of-the-past-cites-benefits-of-ai-investment-boom.html
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh pledged Tuesday to "get monetary policy right" and defeat the inflation that has bedeviled the central bank for the past five years.
In remarks for delivery to separate congressional panels this week, Warsh reiterated his recent tough talk on inflation, while also touting the strength of the U.S. economy and benefits coming from business investment, particularly involving artificial intelligence.
"Today we are at a hinge point in history. It's up to all of us to meet this moment," said Warsh, who speaks Tuesday to the House Financial Services Committee then the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.
"The Fed's number one objective is to get monetary policy right — or as near to it as we possibly can. That is our clear and constant aim, the star we steer by," he added. "And if we get policy right — and we will — the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past."
The remarks come just two months into Warsh's term. Fed chairs are mandated to appear twice a year before Congress to deliver a monetary policy report then take legislators' questions.
Warsh takes over a Fed that has scene inflation exceed its 2% mandate since 2021. During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, the chairman called inflation "a choice," and emphasized repeatedly the importance of bringing down the cost of living during his first news conference.
Warsh further criticized past practices of the Fed, specifically a policy adopted in 2020 that allowed for above-target inflation after periods of lower prices. The policy specifically sought to address imbalances in employment.
"That central bank wasn't the first central bank to ask for a little more inflation and end up with a lot more. It was a mistake," he said. "The framework did not succeed in its objectives, and I am pleased that before my arrival, that my predecessors took that and cast it aside."
Similar to his predecessor, Jerome Powell, Warsh noted that the persistently high inflation levels have "been an undue burden on American households and businesses" who have faced higher costs across the board, with the latest surge coming in good part from soaring energy prices.
"While monthly price fluctuations are inevitable — especially in an unsettled world — underlying inflation over longer time horizons is determined largely by monetary policy," he said. "The members of our Committee have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation. And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability."
On broader conditions, Warsh said the economy "is expanding at a solid pace, showing resilience in the face of recent developments."
He pointed to business investment that he called "the most striking feature" of the current climate.
"The rapid pace — which appears to be accelerating — reflects, in large part, the construction of data centers and the immense demand for the AI-related equipment and software that fill them," he said.
"We don't know the extent to which the economy will benefit from the AI buildout," he added. "Yet it seems inevitable that what is now called 'AI investment' will soon be called just 'investment.'"
Warsh previously has said he expects an AI productivity boom will prove disinflationary — a premise challenged by some economists as well as his fellow Fed policymakers.
Elsewhere, Warsh further fleshed out the five task forces he has created to conduct a comprehensive review of the Fed's operations. The panels will examine the communications, technology, the balance sheet, economic data the Fed employs and the way it looks at inflation.
Together, he said the groups are part of "a new chapter at the Federal Reserve," an extension of the "regime change" Warsh promised last year in a CNBC interview. However, whereas Warsh previously faulted "incumbents" at the Fed for institutional problems, he has taken a more conciliatory tone since he's been in office.
"t's been a privilege to return to the Fed and to work again with so many talented and dedicated people I'm fortunate to call my colleague," he said.

[62] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 15:06 UTC] Vail CEO Says Comeback Plan for Ski Resorts Needs to Be Beyond Epic
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/c-suite/vail-ceo-says-comeback-plan-for-ski-resorts-needs-to-be-beyond-epic-c614e469
New moves to revive growth and upgrade the mountain experience take a page from Delta and United, Rob Katz says.

[63] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:06 UTC] Warsh pledges Fed policy 'regime change' to rid inflation 'tax' on American people
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/warsh-promises-inflation-will-be-a-thing-of-the-past-cites-benefits-of-ai-investment-boom.html
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh pledged Tuesday to "get monetary policy right" and defeat the inflation that has bedeviled the central bank for the past five years.
In remarks for delivery to separate congressional panels this week, Warsh reiterated his recent tough talk on inflation, while also touting the strength of the U.S. economy and benefits coming from business investment, particularly involving artificial intelligence.
Calling inflation an "unfair burden," Warsh reiterated his call for "regime change" that he first made in an interview with CNBC last year.
"It has been a tax on the American people and businesses. We plan on getting rid of that tax," he said. "That means we need a regime change in policy, and we need new consideration of practices, some of which have been working, some of which haven't."
The remarks come just two months into Warsh's term. Fed chairs are mandated to appear twice a year before Congress to deliver a monetary policy report then take legislators' questions.
"Today we are at a hinge point in history. It's up to all of us to meet this moment," said Warsh, who speaks Tuesday to the House Financial Services Committee then the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.
"The Fed's number one objective is to get monetary policy right — or as near to it as we possibly can. That is our clear and constant aim, the star we steer by," he added. "And if we get policy right — and we will — the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past."
Warsh takes over a Fed that has scene inflation exceed its 2% mandate since 2021. During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, the chairman called inflation "a choice," and emphasized repeatedly the importance of bringing down the cost of living during his first news conference.
Warsh further criticized past practices of the Fed, specifically a policy adopted in 2020 that allowed for above-target inflation after periods of lower prices. The policy specifically sought to address imbalances in employment.
"That central bank wasn't the first central bank to ask for a little more inflation and end up with a lot more. It was a mistake," he said. "The framework did not succeed in its objectives, and I am pleased that before my arrival, that my predecessors took that and cast it aside."
Similar to his predecessor, Jerome Powell, Warsh noted that the persistently high inflation levels have "been an undue burden on American households and businesses" who have faced higher costs across the board, with the latest surge coming in good part from soaring energy prices.
"While monthly price fluctuations are inevitable — especially in an unsettled world — underlying inflation over longer time horizons is determined largely by monetary policy," he said. "The members of our Committee have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation. And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability."
On broader conditions, Warsh said the economy "is expanding at a solid pace, showing resilience in the face of recent developments."
He pointed to business investment that he called "the most striking feature" of the current climate.
"The rapid pace — which appears to be accelerating — reflects, in large part, the construction of data centers and the immense demand for the AI-related equipment and software that fill them," he said.
"We don't know the extent to which the economy will benefit from the AI buildout," he added. "Yet it seems inevitable that what is now called 'AI investment' will soon be called just 'investment.'"
Warsh previously has said he expects an AI productivity boom will prove disinflationary — a premise challenged by some economists as well as his fellow Fed policymakers.
Elsewhere, Warsh further fleshed out the five task forces he has created to conduct a comprehensive review of the Fed's operations. The panels will examine the communications, technology, the balance sheet, economic data the Fed employs and the way it looks at inflation.
Together, he said the groups are part of "a new chapter at the Federal Reserve," an extension of the "regime change" Warsh promised last year in a CNBC interview. However, whereas Warsh previously faulted "incumbents" at the Fed for institutional problems, he has taken a more conciliatory tone since he's been in office.
"t's been a privilege to return to the Fed and to work again with so many talented and dedicated people I'm fortunate to call my colleague," he said.

[64] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:12 UTC] S&P 500 trades higher after light inflation data, but gain held in check by IBM drop: Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
The S&P 500 rose on Tuesday after June inflation data came in weaker than expected, though the index's gain was kept in check as traders assessed rising oil prices and a slew of corporate earnings releases.
The broad market index was up 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 86 points, or 0.2%, supported by Goldman Sachs, which popped 8% after the bank posted an earnings beat.
The consumer price index in June fell 0.4% on the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had called for a 0.2% decline last month and expected the inflation rate to come in at 3.8%.
With easing inflation, expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates this year reduced following the release. Odds that the central bank would hike rates at its July meeting dropped to 17% from 42% the day prior, per the CME's FedWatch Tool. However, traders are still expecting a hike at the meeting in September, seeing a 63% chance that the target rate will be a quarter or half point higher.
Treasury yields were off their lows of the day as investors turned their attention back to oil and comments from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh.
"Tuesday's weaker-than-expected CPI print suggests the inflation surge driven by the Iran war is fading, but this may just be a temporary relief as tensions have escalated in recent days," said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital. "The weaker inflation data likely keeps the Fed on hold for now and reduces any rate hike odds, but we remind investors that almost every communication that has emanated from Chair Warsh during his short tenure so far has been hawkish."
"Warsh is looking to get consumer prices under control and the best tool the Fed currently has is raising interest rates," he added.
Semiconductor stocks offered a boost to equities, as they rebounded after a sell-off in the previous session. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) traded nearly 2% higher. Applied Materials and Teradyne gained more than 3%, and Lam Research moved up 4%. Micron Technology increased more than 2%. STMicroelectronics added more than 1%.
However, gains were muted as U.S. crude topped $80 per barrel as was last up 1%, while international benchmark Brent crude futures added 2% to above $85 a barrel. This comes after President Donald Trump on Monday said he would reinstate a blockade on Iranian shipping through the key Strait of Hormuz.
Gains were also kept in check by a 24% drop in shares of International Business Machines after the company warned second-quarter profits will be lower than expected due to soft demand in its software and infrastructure businesses.

[65] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:14 UTC] Oil gives up gain after Trump abandons 20% fee on Strait of Hormuz traffic
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/oil-prices-today-brent-wti-hormuz-trump-toll-iran.html
Oil prices eased on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump abandoned his demand for ships to pay a protection fee to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 23 cents to $78.37 per barrel. Brent futures, the international benchmark, were up 65 cents to $83.95.
The U.S. military bombed military targets along Iran's coast Monday night in an effort to degrade Tehran's ability to attack commercial ships, according to U.S. Central Command.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said its forces attacked two supertankers transiting Hormuz with their transponders turned off. The United Arab Emirates' state oil company ADNOC said two of its tankers were hit by projectiles while transiting the strait, killing one mariner and injuring several others.
The U.S. Navy will reimpose its blockade against Iranian ships at 4 p.m. ET on the orders of President Donald Trump, Centcom said in a statement.
Trump said Monday the U.S. military will keep Hormuz open but he demanded payment equal to 20% of the value of all cargo shipped through the strait.
Citi warned that Trump's proposal to impose shipping fees in the Strait of Hormuz materially raises the risk of further military escalation.
"The possibility that the Iranian regime walks away from the MoU until after the mid-term US elections has also risen, a scenario which would most likely see higher for longer oil prices," the bank wrote in a report published early Tuesday.
Roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Shipping traffic slumped after Iran began targeting vessels in the waterway in early March, but had started to recover following Washington and Tehran's interim agreement.

[66] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:16 UTC] S&P 500 gains after light inflation data, bounce in chip stocks: Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
The S&P 500 rose on Tuesday after June inflation data came in weaker than expected, though the index's gain was kept in check as traders assessed rising oil prices and a slew of corporate earnings releases.
The broad market index was up 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 86 points, or 0.2%, supported by Goldman Sachs, which popped 8% after the bank posted an earnings beat.
The consumer price index in June fell 0.4% on the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had called for a 0.2% decline last month and expected the inflation rate to come in at 3.8%.
With easing inflation, expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates this year reduced following the release. Odds that the central bank would hike rates at its July meeting dropped to 17% from 42% the day prior, per the CME's FedWatch Tool. However, traders are still expecting a hike at the meeting in September, seeing a 63% chance that the target rate will be a quarter or half point higher.
Treasury yields were off their lows of the day as investors turned their attention back to oil and comments from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh.
"Tuesday's weaker-than-expected CPI print suggests the inflation surge driven by the Iran war is fading, but this may just be a temporary relief as tensions have escalated in recent days," said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital. "The weaker inflation data likely keeps the Fed on hold for now and reduces any rate hike odds, but we remind investors that almost every communication that has emanated from Chair Warsh during his short tenure so far has been hawkish."
"Warsh is looking to get consumer prices under control and the best tool the Fed currently has is raising interest rates," he added.
Semiconductor stocks offered a boost to equities, as they rebounded after a sell-off in the previous session. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) traded nearly 2% higher. Applied Materials and Teradyne gained more than 3%, and Lam Research moved up 4%. Micron Technology increased more than 2%. STMicroelectronics added more than 1%.
However, gains were muted as U.S. crude topped $80 per barrel as was last up 1%, while international benchmark Brent crude futures added 2% to above $85 a barrel. This comes after President Donald Trump on Monday said he would reinstate a blockade on Iranian shipping through the key Strait of Hormuz.
Gains were also kept in check by a 24% drop in shares of International Business Machines after the company warned second-quarter profits will be lower than expected due to soft demand in its software and infrastructure businesses.

[67] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 15:17 UTC] New York State halts construction of all new data centers
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/new-york-state-halts-construction-of-all-new-data-centers/
New York became the first state to halt data center construction after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order today that temporarily bars the state from approving new permits for large projects.
Hochul’s order applies to data centers 50 megawatts or larger, potentially affecting more than a dozen projects. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will not issue any permits that haven’t already been completed.
“Progress shouldn’t arrive with a higher utility bill, deleted water supply, or noise pollution,” she said at a press conference in Brooklyn. “These data centers can only be built, should only be built in places that want them. So they will never be exempt from local zoning, local approvals.”
The moratorium will be lifted once the state finalizes an environmental review process for data centers, which Hochul expects will take about a year. Hochul’s office is also considering requiring data centers to pay into a fund that would support the state’s electrical grid, and she would like to prevent hyperscale data centers from receiving tax benefits.
Hochul’s executive order arrives as more stringent measures are moving through New York’s legislature. Last month, the legislature advanced a bill that would pause construction of data centers larger than 20 megawatts for one year, while another still in committee would institute a three-year moratorium.
The average data center built in the last few years has been smaller than 100 megawatts, but those in development are expected to be much larger. Through 2030, nearly a quarter of new data centers will exceed 500 megawatts, according to BloombergNEF, driven by increasing AI investment.
The idea of a data center moratorium has been debated at the state and federal levels, but New York is the first to put one into practice. In December, more than 230 organizations called for a nationwide pause on new data centers. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has also proposed a nationwide moratorium, though it hasn’t received much traction. More recently, Maine’s legislature passed a bill that would have paused construction on new data centers until November 1, 2027, but Gov. Janet Mills vetoed it.
Just years ago, data centers were sought after by states eager to secure new development projects, but recently, public sentiment on data centers has soured as new projects have grown in size. The scale and pace at which they’re being constructed has started to strain the electrical grid in addition to regional resources like water and farmland. Two-thirds of respondents to a recent poll said they were concerned about data centers driving up electricity prices. Another survey found that people would rather have an Amazon warehouse in their backyard than a data center.
Hochul’s order could be setting up for a clash with the Trump administration, which thus far has supported data center development. Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is led by a Trump appointee, told grid operators to develop special fast lanes to speed data centers’ interconnections.

[68] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:19 UTC] UK banks' lack of Mythos access a wake-up call, government AI adviser says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/uk-banks-lack-mythos-access-wake-up-call-government-ai-adviser-says-2026-07-14/
UK banks' inability to access Anthropic's powerful AI model Mythos underscores the urgent need for Britain to build its ​own AI capabilities and adopt a more strategic approach to the technology, a government-appointed banking industry adviser ‌said.

Harriet Rees, chief information officer at Starling Bank, who was appointed “AI champion” by the finance ministry in January, said Britain needed to build AI infrastructure and models, and develop skills so “we are not fully reliant on U.S. tech providers.”

"Now is the time for us to think very strategically ​about what we need to do to protect our leading position moving forward. Time really is of the essence, ​we don’t have two years here,” Rees said in an interview with Reuters.

U.S.-based Anthropic released Mythos ⁠in April to a select group that included U.S. lender JPMorgan (JPM.N) .

Banks want Mythos because it is said to be the ​most advanced AI model for identifying cybersecurity vulnerabilities, helping them patch weaknesses more quickly and strengthen their defences.

In Britain, only a very ​small number of banks - mainly the UK operations of U.S. lenders - were granted access, according to Rees.

Big British lenders still do not have a timeline for when they expect to get access to Mythos either, the CEO of one of Britain's largest banks told Reuters last week.

An Anthropic ​spokesperson said: "We have begun the rollout of Mythos 5 to organizations outside the United States. We continue to coordinate with ​the U.S. government to expand access to the broader set of domestic and international partners."

PACKAGE OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Rees, together with fellow ministry appointee Rohit Dhawan, ‌Lloyds ⁠Banking Group's (LLOY.L) head of AI, has developed a package of recommendations on AI policy and regulation that aim to boost use of the technology.

The proposals, which also urge regulators to review the growing use of AI chatbots to deliver financial advice to consumers, were published on Tuesday as part of the government's financial services AI adoption plan ahead of finance minister Rachel Reeves' annual Mansion ​House speech.

The UK government said ​it accepted the recommendations aimed ⁠at it, and would work with regulators and industry on the next steps.

In a statement, Reeves said she has "set out a serious plan for AI sovereignty, backing British companies to compete ​and win, and the AI Adoption Plan is central to achieving this across the financial ​services sector.”

Regulators have ⁠long warned that concentration among critical technology providers could pose financial stability and operational risks.

Alongside work to build out domestic capability, the UK should increase its options by building relationships with AI firms outside of the U.S., noting those in China and France, Rees ⁠said.

To improve ​transparency and strengthen the resilience of the AI firms on which banks already ​depend, Dhawan added that the UK could bring them within the remit of financial regulators by designating them as “critical” providers to the finance sector, joining four U.S. ​cloud providers announced on Friday .

[69] [Reuters Technology | 2026-07-14 15:19 UTC] UK banks' lack of Mythos access a wake-up call, says government AI adviser
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/uk-banks-lack-mythos-access-wake-up-call-government-ai-adviser-says-2026-07-14/
UK banks' inability to access Anthropic's ​powerful AI model Mythos emphasises the urgent need for Britain to build its own AI capabilities and adopt a more strategic ‌approach to the technology, a government-appointed banking sector adviser said.

Harriet Rees, the Starling Bank chief information officer who was appointed “AI champion” by the finance ministry in January, said Britain needed to build AI infrastructure and models while developing skills to ensure Britain is not fully reliant on U.S. tech.

"Now is the time for us to think very strategically ​about what we need to do to protect our leading position moving forward. Time really is of the essence; we don’t have ​two years here,” Rees said in an interview with Reuters.

U.S.-based Anthropic released Mythos in April to a select group ⁠that included U.S. lender JPMorgan (JPM.N) .

STRICT U.S. RESTRICTIONS ON MYTHOS ACCESS

Banks want Mythos because it is said to be the most advanced AI model for identifying ​cybersecurity vulnerabilities, helping them to patch weaknesses more quickly and strengthen defences.

In Britain, only a very small number of banks — mainly the UK operations of ​U.S. lenders — were granted access, Rees said.

Big British lenders still do not have a timeline for when they expect to gain access to Mythos, the CEO of one of Britain's largest banks said last week.

The U.S. administration introduced strict restrictions on who can access Mythos but at the end of June Anthropic said it had permission to release ​its AI model to trusted U.S. organisations .

An Anthropic spokesperson said: "We have begun the rollout of Mythos 5 to organisations outside the United States. We continue ​to coordinate with the U.S. government to expand access to the broader set of domestic and international partners."

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey used his Mansion House speech ‌on Tuesday ⁠evening to renew his call for the U.S. to take a more cooperative approach to tackling risks from frontier AI models.

"This needs to be coordinated internationally because no country can seal itself off from the cross-border nature of systems that are prevalent today," he said.

PACKAGE OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Rees and fellow ministry appointee Rohit Dhawan, Lloyds Banking Group's (LLOY.L) head of AI, have developed a package of recommendations on AI policy and regulation that aim to boost use of the technology.

The ​proposals, which also urge regulators to ​review the growing use of AI ⁠chatbots to deliver financial advice to consumers, were published on Tuesday as part of the government's financial services AI adoption plan ahead of finance minister Rachel Reeves' annual Mansion House speech.

The UK government said it would work ​with regulators and industry on the next steps.

In a statement, Reeves said she has "set out a serious plan ​for AI sovereignty, backing ⁠British companies to compete and win", adding that the AI Adoption Plan is central to achieving this across the financial services sector.

Regulators have long warned that concentration among critical technology providers could pose financial stability and operational risks.

Alongside work to boost domestic capability, the UK should increase its options by building relationships with AI ⁠companies outside ​the U.S., such as those in China and France, Rees said.

To improve transparency and strengthen ​the resilience of the AI companies on which banks already depend, Dhawan added that the UK could bring them within the remit of financial regulators by designating them as “critical” providers to ​the finance sector, joining four U.S. cloud providers announced on Friday .

[70] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 15:20 UTC] Your Social Security check could go up by $74 a month next year
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/your-social-security-check-could-go-up-by-74-a-month-next-year-58877142?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Social Security’s cost-of-living-adjustment could be 3.8% in 2027, as inflation shows signs of cooling.

[71] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:22 UTC] Data center firm Switch taps banks for IPO that could value it up to $80 billion, sources say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/data-center-firm-switch-taps-banks-ipo-that-could-value-it-up-80-billion-sources-2026-07-14/
Data center operator Switch has hired investment banks for an initial public offering ‌that could raise up to $10 billion as soon as the fourth quarter, according to two people familiar with the matter, and value the company at close to $80 billion, including debt.

Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) have been tapped as lead underwriters for the offering, the people said. ​The size, timing and valuation remain under discussion and could still change, the sources said, requesting anonymity because ​the deliberations are confidential.

The IPO would rank among the largest U.S. stock market debuts in ⁠recent years, underscoring investors' appetite for companies benefiting from surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The U.S. IPO market ​has rebounded this year, led by a pipeline of large technology and AI-related listings including SpaceX (SPCX.O) , the largest public debut in history , ​and potential debuts from Anthropic and OpenAI .

U.S. IPO proceeds have totaled $155.5 billion so far this year, the strongest pace since 2021, according to data from Dealogic.

Switch operates large-scale data center campuses that provide the power, cooling and connectivity needed to support AI computing, allowing cloud providers and ​enterprises to deploy energy-intensive GPU clusters used for training and running artificial intelligence models.

Its customers include Nvidia (NVDA.O) , Dell Technologies (DELL.N) and ​FedEx (FDX.N) .

Switch has held discussions with private investors about raising capital at a valuation of at least $40 billion ahead of the IPO, a ‌third source ⁠said. TMT Finance first reported on the preparations for the private round in March.

Switch, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment.

TECH PIPELINE GROWS

Data centers have become critical to the AI infrastructure buildout, as companies race to secure computing capacity needed to train and deploy increasingly powerful models. Investors have also shown interest in companies supporting the broader AI infrastructure ecosystem, ​with upcoming public offerings such ​as SoftBank-backed SB Energy’s IPO ⁠adding to the pipeline of large technology and infrastructure listings.

The pipeline also includes Brookfield-backed data center provider Csquare, which is targeting a valuation of up to $4.18 billion in its U.S. ​initial public offering. AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems (CBRS.O) surged in its market debut in May after ​the company ⁠raised $5.55 billion in its IPO.

Reuters was first to report in 2024 that Switch was considering an initial public offering , when discussions were at an early stage.

Las Vegas-based Switch was taken private by DigitalBridge and IFM Investors for $11 billion in 2022. Australian pension fund ⁠Aware Super ​bought a minority stake from Switch's owners in 2023. The company was ​founded in 2000 by Chief Executive Rob Roy.

Switch's data centers have been powered by renewable energy since 2016, a feature that may appeal to technology ​companies with decarbonization targets.

[72] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 15:24 UTC] How a financial crash created Britain’s first prime minister
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/c148573c-c6c6-424c-bdbf-e74bc309fb11
How a financial crash created Britain’s first prime minister
When the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, it wiped out fortunes and plunged Britain into its first great stock market crisis. The collapse of the South Sea Company, a government-backed scheme that promised to turn national debt into riches, left the country's finances in disarray and threatened the credibility of the British state itself. Into the chaos stepped Robert Walpole. Charged with restoring confidence, he restructured the government's debts and laid the foundations for Britain's emergence as a financial superpower. In doing so, he became the country's first de facto prime minister, a title he rejected initially because it was widely used as an insult. In this episode, Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett explore Walpole’s rise to power with Thomas Levenson, professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Further reading:
Money for Nothing: The South Sea Bubble and the Invention of Modern Capitalism by Thomas Levenson
To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney
Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive Producer: Manuela Saragosa
Original music and sound design: Breen Turner
Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at [email protected].

[73] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 15:24 UTC] Francisco Partners Nears $1.3 Billion Deal to Buy Construction Software Maker Command Alkon
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/francisco-partners-nears-1-3-billion-deal-to-buy-command-alkon
Deals
Francisco Partners Nears $1.3 Billion Deal to Buy Construction Software Maker Command Alkon
Buyout firm Francisco Partners is in advanced talks to acquire a controlling stake in construction software maker Command Alkon Inc. for as much as $1.3 billion, a sign that investors still see value in sector-specific software.
Francisco is in late-stage negotiations with Command Alkon’s private equity owner, Thoma Bravo, about purchasing the 55% stake, according to people familiar with the matter. Command Alkon’s biggest customer, Germany’s Heidelberg Materials AG, owns the other 45% after acquiring the position from Thoma Bravo in 2021. That deal valued the company at about $1.7 billion.

[74] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:25 UTC] Boeing records highest first-half deliveries since 2018
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/boeing-records-highest-first-half-deliveries-since-2018.html
Boeing said Tuesday that it delivered 64 jetliners in June, compared to 60 the previous month and in June 2025.
Boeing delivered 314 aircraft through the first half of the year, a 12% increase over the same period last year and the highest number of first-half deliveries for the jet maker since 2018.
The U.S. planemaker trails European rival Airbus, which delivered 89 jets in June and 351 in the first half of the year.
Boeing's deliveries are expected to rise in the second half of the year, as it increases output of its best-selling 737 MAX. The company currently is increasing 737 output from 42 jets a month to 47.
Boeing's June deliveries included 42 737 MAX and 13 787s.
Its 787 deliveries included five jets that had been held up by seat certification delays to startup airline Riyadh Air.
The planemaker delivered three 777 freighters and five 767s, including three for conversion into KC-46 aerial refueling tankers by Boeing's defense division.
Boeing booked 121 new orders and eight cancellations in June, for a net total of 113 new orders.
Boeing has received 7,206 orders for the 737 MAX, surpassing its previous best-selling 737 Next Generation, which received 7,159 orders.
Canadian airline WestJet canceled orders for six 737s, and Aviation Capital Group ordered six 737s, which it will lease to WestJet.
Through June, Boeing has booked 408 orders after cancellations and conversions.

[75] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:27 UTC] Warren Buffett is accelerating his charitable donations with aim to give away Berkshire wealth by 2034
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/warren-buffett-is-accelerating-his-charitable-donations-with-aim-to-give-away-berkshire-wealth-by-2034.html
(This is a special breaking news edition of the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
BUFFETT ACCELERATES DONATIONS
- SETS GOAL TO 'DISPOSE OF ALL' HIS SHARES IN EIGHT YEARS
- GIVES $6B TO FOUR FAMILY FOUNDATIONS
- GATES FOUNDATION CUT OFF
- BUFFETT ON CNBC'S 'SQUAWK' WEDNESDAY MORNING
Warren Buffett is speeding up the pace of his annual donations of Berkshire Hathaway shares to four family foundations, giving them a total of almost $6 billion now.
In a news release this morning, Buffett says, "My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years."
CNBC's Becky Quick is sitting down with Buffett in Omaha and we will bring you that interview starting at 6 am ET tomorrow (Wednesday) on "Squawk Box."
Buffett, who will be celebrating his 96th birthday next month, now owns stock in the company with a market value of more than $140 billion.
Even without taking into account potential increases in Berkshire's stock price, that implies gifts of at least $17 billion each year, more than double the $7 billion in stock he donated last year.
In the release, Buffett says, "Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034."
That excludes the Gates Foundation from any further donations, ending what Buffett said in 2006 would be a "lifetime pledge" of annual gifts to the charity established by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, Melinda Gates.
Based on the schedule he set out at that time in which the number of shares decreased by 5% each year, he was due to donate almost $4.5 billion to the Gates Foundation this month.
Last year around this time, Buffett gave the four family foundations around $1.4 billion in gifts, so it appears this year they are also getting the donation originally earmarked for the Gates group.
In this round, Buffett is giving the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife, 9 million Class B shares with a current value of around $4.5 billion.
The three foundations run by his children, Susie Buffett's Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation, will each get 1 million Class B shares worth just under $500 million.
The release does not say whether he will also be making gifts to the family foundations at Thanksgiving as he has done in the last four years, but it seems likely given his new eight-year goal.
Last year those contributions totaled around $1.3 billion.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported Buffett was holding back his scheduled donation to the Gates Foundation pending a law firm's review of the charity's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, with the results expected this summer.
In 2006, Buffett said he was "irrevocably committing to make annual gifts of Berkshire Hathaway 'B' shares throughout my lifetime" for the Gates Foundation's benefit as long as either Bill or Melinda Gates "remain alive and active in [its] policy-setting and administration."
But cracks in what had been a strong personal friendship with Bill Gates began to appear in 2021, when Buffett resigned as a foundation trustee two months after Bill and Melinda announced they had decided to end their 27-year marriage.
In 2024, Buffett told the Journal, "The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death," following a revision of his will that made his three children the trustees of a charitable trust that will hold "99%-plus" of his wealth.
This year, revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files about the notorious pedophile's connections to Gates put even more strain on Buffett's relationship with Microsoft's co-founder.
In March, Buffett told CNBC he has not talked to Gates "at all since the whole thing was unveiled" and "until it gets cleared up ... I just don't think it makes sense to do a lot of talking."
Asked whether we will continue to give money to the Gates Foundation, Buffett replied, "I'll wait and see what unfolds ... I don't have to make that decision today. And I haven't made it today."
"I've learned things I didn't know about something for all these years."
Over the last two decades, Buffett's Gates Foundation gifts have totaled almost $48 billion, based on the value of the shares when they were donated.
The current value of the almost 321 million shares donated to the charity is around $159 billion.
It has sold the vast majority of them over the years to help fund its operations.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.
Also, Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire's website.
-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch

[76] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:28 UTC] JPMorgan's Dimon says CEO succession timetable unchanged after latest executive shuffle
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/jpmorgans-dimon-says-timetable-unchanged-his-departure-ceo-2026-07-14/
JPMorgan's (JPM.N) Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that the timetable for his departure as CEO remained unchanged, in ​response to an analyst's question about the bank's succession plan following a recent executive shuffle.

The bank's ‌plan to name Dimon's successor has been in focus after it appointed insiders Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh as co-presidents last month and announced the retirement of senior executive Marianne Lake, who was widely seen as a top contender for the CEO role.

"The timing (for succession) is ​essentially the same, obviously completely up to the board," Dimon told analysts on a post-earnings conference call. "The board ​made a decision to go ahead with making two co-presidents, which will prepare them to ⁠do far more at the company."

Reuters reported last month that Dimon planned to remain CEO for at least three ​more years.

Analysts viewed the promotions of Petno and Rohrbaugh as a step toward clarifying JPMorgan's succession plan, narrowing the list ​of executives seen as potential successors to Dimon after more than two decades as CEO.

"When she (Lake) knew about the plan, she decided she'd rather retire than stay here. That's it, no mystery," Dimon said.

THE CEO WISH LIST

When asked about the qualities he prefers to see ​in his successor, Dimon drew a long list: "You want to be good at people. You want to be analytical. You ​want to be detailed. You want to be a culture carrier. You want to have heart. You want to have grit.

"You want ‌to ⁠have soul. You want to have a work ethic. You want to be able to travel. You want to be able to walk in operating centers and deal with CEOs and prime ministers, it's all of that."

In the latest executive-level shuffle, Rohrbaugh took over as CEO of the consumer and community banking business from Lake. He was previously co-CEO with ​Petno of the commercial and ​investment banking unit, which ⁠will now be headed solely by Petno.

"I do think it's very important that people have experience across the company," Dimon said, in response to Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo's comment on Rohrbaugh spending ​much of his career as a trader before taking over the new role.

He added ​that when a big ⁠bank is taken over by someone only from the investment bank, the rest of the franchise can suffer.

Rohrbaugh is seen as having the lead internally, Reuters has reported , citing sources.

JPMorgan has awarded Petno and Rohrbaugh retention bonuses of $30 million each, while COO Jennifer ⁠Piepszak and ​asset and wealth management CEO Mary Erdoes will each get $20 million.

Dimon's ​remarks followed a bumper quarter for JPMorgan , which posted record quarterly profit as investment banking fees and stock trading surged. The stock was last up 2% in ​late-morning trading.

[77] [Bloomberg Technology | 2026-07-14 15:29 UTC] Small Amount of Nvidia AI Chips Shipped to China With US License
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/small-amount-of-nvidia-ai-chips-shipped-to-china-with-us-license
Small Amount of Nvidia AI Chips Shipped to China With US License
A small number of Nvidia Corp.’s H200 artificial intelligence chips have been shipped to customers in China after winning US approval, the Trump administration official who oversees export control programs confirmed.
Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, said Tuesday that a “trivial” number of the Nvidia processors were shipped to China, though he declined to offer specifics on the amount of chips or the buyers.

[78] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:32 UTC] Key witness in US probe of Turkey's Halkbank avoids prison time
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/key-witness-us-probe-turkeys-halkbank-avoids-prison-time-2026-07-14/
A key cooperating witness in the U.S. government's criminal investigation ‌into Turkish state-run lender Halkbank 's (HALKB.IS) alleged role in helping Iran evade sanctions avoided prison time at his sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

Reza Zarrab was sentenced to time served by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors had urged the judge to take his cooperation with their case into account in determining ​his punishment.

The sentencing marked the conclusion of a long-running criminal case that had been an irritant between NATO allies Turkey and ​the United States. Relations have improved since President Donald Trump 's return to the White House last year, as well as ⁠the Justice Department's decision earlier this year to end its prosecution of Halkbank itself.

Zarrab, a 42-year-old Turkish-Iranian gold trader, pleaded guilty on October ​26, 2017 to conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions.

He testified against former Halkbank official Mehmet Hakan Atilla at trial in New York in 2017. Atilla ​was convicted of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

TURKEY-U.S. TIES IMPROVE

The U.S. separately charged Halkbank in 2019 with secretly transferring $20 billion of restricted Iranian funds, converting oil revenue into gold and cash to benefit Iranian interests, and documenting fake food shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds.

The bank had pleaded not guilty. Turkish President Recep Tayyip ​Erdogan called the case unlawful and "ugly."

Berman formally dismissed those charges last month, after the Justice Department said in March it had reached a ​deal with Halkbank to end the case in exchange for the bank hiring a monitor to review its sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance.

The Justice Department said the ‌agreement ⁠arose out of Turkey's role in securing a ceasefire last year between Israel and Hamas.

Washington and Ankara are experiencing their best ties in decades . In a visit to Ankara for a NATO summit earlier this month, Trump said he would lift U.S. sanctions on Turkey over its 2019 purchase of Russian defense systems and signaled a willingness to sell the country F-35 fighter jets.

ZARRAB ARRESTED A DECADE AGO

For Zarrab, the sentencing concludes a decade-long ​legal odyssey that began with his ​arrest in Miami in 2016 ⁠on a family trip to Disney World.

He served 22 months in jail before being released in 2018. He has been free on bail since then.

Zarrab had previously forfeited a boat valued at $288,690 and $88,102.59 in cash to ​the U.S. government. Berman imposed no additional forfeiture or fine, noting that Zarrab was unemployed and had ​a negative net ⁠worth.

Zarrab's lawyers have said in court papers that Turkey had seized $172 million worth of his assets in retaliation for his cooperation. In 2017, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said the Istanbul prosecutor's office had decided to seize Zarrab's assets as part of an investigation against him.

Turkey's then-Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said ⁠at the ​time he hoped Zarrab would "turn back from his mistake" in cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, ​reiterating Ankara's view that the criminal case was aimed at putting pressure on Turkey and its economy.

In brief comments before Berman formally imposed the sentence, Zarrab thanked the court and ​U.S. law enforcement for looking out for the safety of himself and his family.

[79] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:34 UTC] Biotech's recovery isn't a 'head fake.' These 3 stocks could lead the next leg up
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/biotechs-recovery-isnt-a-head-fake-these-3-stocks-could-lead-the-next-leg-up.html
The stock market's attention has been focused almost exclusively on artificial intelligence, semiconductors and a handful of megacap technology companies. Investors looking for value may find one of the more compelling opportunities developing in a different corner of the market. Biotechnology has spent much of the past four years in a bear market. Rising interest rates, weaker venture funding and investor fatigue toward healthcare innovation pushed valuations sharply lower. However, many of the factors that hurt the sector are beginning to reverse. Clinical trial activity is recovering. Global industry sponsored trial starts stabilized at 5,318 in 2024, according to IQVIA, essentially back to the 2019 pre-Covid level of 5,316, after declines in both 2022 and 2023. Activity by U.S. healthcare companies has risen from there, IQVIA said. Funding conditions also are stabilizing and large pharmaceutical companies are approaching a wave of patent expirations that will likely force them to acquire new drugs and technologies, which could also boost stock values. Importantly, investors don't have to speculate on risky clinical-stage companies to capitalize on the trend. Some of the industry's highest-quality businesses are trading at discounts to their historical valuations despite maintaining strong competitive positions and long-term growth prospects. While the exact multiples will fluctuate with earnings estimates, all three companies trade at valuations that appear reasonable relative to their competitive advantages, growth prospects and historical trading ranges. The best value: IQVIA If forced to choose a single stock, IQVIA would be my highest-conviction idea . The company sits at the intersection of two powerful trends: growing pharmaceutical research spending and the increasing importance of healthcare data. IQVIA maintains one of the world's largest healthcare information databases and provides clinical research services to drug developers around the globe. That combination creates a business model that is extraordinarily difficult to replicate. Pharmaceutical companies rely on IQVIA's data to design studies, identify patients, recruit trial participants, satisfy regulators, and increasingly train AI models. IQV mountain 2016-07-08 IQVIA 10-Year Chart Think of the company as the toll collector on the drug-development highway. What makes the opportunity particularly attractive is valuation. Despite a record backlog, improving demand trends, and significant AI opportunities, the stock trades at a multiple that remains well below historical norms. The market appears to be pricing IQVIA as though biotech research spending will remain permanently subdued. If spending simply returns to normal growth rates, the stock could benefit from both earnings growth and multiple expansion. The recovery play: Danaher Danaher offers a different way to invest in biotech. Rather than developing drugs, the company provides the equipment, filtration systems and manufacturing technologies required to produce them. Through its Cytiva and Pall businesses, Danaher has become one of the most important suppliers to the global biopharmaceutical industry. DHR mountain 2016-07-08 DHR 10-Year Chart The key investment concept is switching costs. When a drug manufacturer validates a production process using a particular filtration platform or bioprocessing system, changing suppliers becomes expensive, time-consuming and potentially risky. Regulatory requirements make those relationships even more durable. As a result, Danaher enjoys one of the strongest installed bases in healthcare. The company's shares have struggled because biotechnology customers spent much of the past two years working through excess inventory accumulated during the pandemic. Investors have treated that slowdown as evidence of structural weakness. Yet biologic drugs continue to gain share. Cell and gene therapies continue to advance. Pharmaceutical companies continue investing in manufacturing capacity. The industry's long-term growth drivers remain intact. Danaher appears less like a company facing permanent challenges and more like a dominant franchise emerging from a cyclical downturn. The blue-chip biotech: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a true biotechnology company and arguably the highest-quality drug developer in the sector. The company transformed the treatment of cystic fibrosis and now generates substantial free cash flow from a franchise that continues to dominate its market. Unlike many biotech firms, Vertex does not need outside capital to fund its research. That financial strength gives management flexibility to invest aggressively in new opportunities. The company's pipeline extends well beyond cystic fibrosis, into pain management , kidney disease , gene-editing therapies, and rare diseases. Several of these opportunities could become meaningful growth drivers over the next decade. VRTX mountain 2016-07-08 VRTX 10-Year Chart Vertex is not the cheapest stock among the three recommendations. However, investors will find a company with an exceptional balance sheet, industry-leading profitability, and multiple avenues for growth. In an industry where many businesses are dependent on favorable capital markets, Vertex stands apart as a self-funded innovator. Biotech may be ready to outperform Biotech investors have heard versions of this argument before. The sector has looked inexpensive at various points since 2021, only to disappoint. History explains much of today's skepticism. The difference now is that several important variables appear to be moving in the same direction. Funding markets are healthier. Clinical activity is improving. AI is accelerating drug discovery and development. Meanwhile, major pharmaceutical companies face increasing pressure to replace revenue that will disappear as key patents expire . Those forces should support greater investment across the biotechnology industry. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer.

[80] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 15:35 UTC] Trump reverses course on a 20% fee on Strait of Hormuz cargo after pushback
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-reverses-strait-of-hormuz-cargo-fee-2026-7
President Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed course on his earlier proposal for the US to levy a 20% fee on all cargo flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
"I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.
Trump cited "highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership" as one reason for his reversal.
Brent Crude futures hovered around $84 after the announcement, up just under 2% on the day.
It had been unclear how Trump planned to impose the fee, which he said would reimburse the US for costs incurred in reinstating a blockade on the Strait and ensuring the safe passage of ships through one of the world's most critical trade chokepoints.
Global shipping companies like Hapag-Lloyd had pushed back on Trump's 20% fee proposal. Others pointed out that US officials, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had previously said that fees shouldn't be imposed for accessing international waterways.
"No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway," Rubio said last Monday. "That's existing international law. That's the way it is in international waterways all over the world, and that's the way we expect it'll be here."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, whose country has considered imposing its own fees, poked fun at Trump's proposal before it was pulled.
"POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service," Araghchi wrote on X on Monday, adding, "20% is of course too much. We will be fair."
The US and Iran have resumed attacks after Trump said last week that a peace agreement between the nations was "over."

[81] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:36 UTC] Paramount still plans to close WBD merger by end of September despite lawsuit
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/paramount-wbd-merger-lawsuit.html
Paramount Skydance is still aiming to close its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of September despite a recent lawsuit filed by state attorneys general challenging the deal, Paramount's lead trial counsel Jeffrey Kessler told CNBC's David Faber in an interview on Tuesday.
On Monday, a group of state attorneys general led by California's Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the merger due to antitrust concerns. Later in the day, the group filed court papers seeking a temporary restraining order to put the deal on hold so that legal proceedings could move forward.
Either way, Kessler said that the company is prepared to bring the matter to the Supreme Court if it faced a prolonged blockade in closing the deal.
"The company believes strongly in this," Kessler said of the combination of the entertainment and media companies.
Kessler told Faber on Tuesday the temporary restraining order came after Paramount "indicated" that its intention was to be able to close as early as July 22, when the company expects to have all regulatory clearances.
The July date stems from the next big hurdle Paramount needs to clear. The European Union has been reviewing the deal for approval and recently set July 22 as a new provisional deadline. Paramount recently submitted concessions to the EU as it looks to smooth concerns regarding the deal.
The proposed acquisition that would bring together the two storied film studios of Warner Bros. and Paramount, as well as a sprawling portfolio of pay TV networks, has already received approval from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as other global jurisdictions.
"Or we could work out a schedule to get this all decided by early September, that would be perfectly acceptable to the company if we could create an orderly procedure," Kessler said. "The states rejected both alternatives so right now we have a [temporary restraining order] that's been filed."
If granted, it would pause the deal for 14 days. Up to two temporary restraining orders could be granted before the coalition seeks a preliminary injunction, putting the deal on ice while it's sorted out in court. Kessler said on Tuesday the company doesn't expect it to get to that point, arguing this isn't an antitrust issue.
A long delay could be costly for Paramount. As part of the deal, Paramount has agreed to pay a so-called ticking fee, meaning that if the closing goes past Sept. 30, Paramount would pay additional fees to WBD shareholders per quarter until closing. That fee would equal roughly $650 million in cash value per quarter.
For it to be delayed or blocked, "the merger has to be anti-competitive. This merger is pro-competitive," Kessler told Faber.
"Anybody who knows the entertainment industry knows it is in deep trouble," he added, noting widespread challenges as consumers flee pay TV bundles and competition among streaming giants like Netflix intensifies.
He added that the merger would create a competitor that could "go toe to toe with a Netflix or Disney or [Amazon's] Prime," which would be a positive for the theater industry and Hollywood workers.
On Monday, Bonta said in a release that the merger would "lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S."
As Hollywood has expressed concerns since the deal was announced, Paramount CEO David Ellison has promised that once merged, the film studios would together put out a slate of 30 movies annually.
"We've told the states if they have what they think are legitimate concerns, they should come to the table and we talk about them," said Kessler, noting the question of whether Paramount could deliver the 30 films per year.
Kessler said that Paramount has told state attorneys general the company is willing to put in writing that it would commit to the 30 films, and if it doesn't happen, litigation could then take place.

[82] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:38 UTC] JPMorgan's Dimon says regulators should not set 'false' capital requirements
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/jpmorgans-dimon-says-regulators-should-not-set-false-capital-requirements-2026-07-14/
U.S. bank regulators should not ​set capital requirements in an artificially high way, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday, intensifying his criticism of the new ‌rules, which he has previously said will unfairly penalize his bank.

Speaking during a quarterly earnings call , Dimon said proposals to change the way lenders calculate the funds they must put aside to absorb potential losses were "unfair," and disproportionately affected his and other big diverse banks, while giving a leg up to Wall Street trading giants.

"They should not do the numbers ​in a false way to make the number higher," said Dimon. "The number should be the number. If they think we should have ​more capital, they should ask us... I'm not happy to have these numbers falsely done."

The comments underscore a growing ⁠rift between JPMorgan — the country's largest bank — and regulators, even as the latest proposals are widely seen as more favorable to the industry than the original ​2023 version.

JPMorgan has previously said that it would face a roughly 4% capital increase under the new drafts, whereas competitors would face an average of a ​4.8% capital reduction.

The bank reported a record second-quarter profit on Tuesday, as a wave of big-ticket IPOs and dealmaking helped drive investment banking fees to their highest levels since 2021, while its trading desk capitalized on volatile markets.

A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve, which is leading the effort along with two other federal bank regulators, did not respond to ​a request for comment.

The agencies are working to finalize numerous capital proposals, including the Basel rules on risk weights and the GSIB surcharge, which is ​an added capital layer imposed on the nation's largest and most critical banks. Banks and other interested parties have submitted formal comment letters to the agencies, flagging issues including ‌what banks ⁠see as double-counting of some risks and a new capital charge on unused credit lines.

Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman has said she hopes to wrap up the rule-writing effort by the end of this year.

The proposals, unveiled in March, are much more industry-friendly than a 2023 draft unveiled by Democratic regulatory officials, which withered on the vine amid industry opposition and the transition to President Trump's administration. Nevertheless, Dimon has become a loud critic, particularly of ​how the GSIB surcharge is calculated.

He ​advocated again on Tuesday for the ⁠Fed to change the surcharge's calculation so that it fully accounts for economic growth since the central bank imposed it in 2015, which would in turn reduce, on paper, lenders' footprint in the economy and the resulting charge.

The ​Fed has also proposed reducing the impact of banks' reliance on short-term wholesale funding in the surcharge calculation. ​That is likely ⁠to benefit Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) because they are much more reliant on short-term wholesale funding than their GSIB rivals, which have large deposit bases, Reuters previously reported .

"I don't understand why you would want that as a policy outcome, because it is disproportionately damaging the ability of banks to serve Main Street," JPMorgan Chief ⁠Financial Officer ​Jeremy Barnum said on the same call.

"If that's not what they want, then they shouldn't ​let it happen by accident," he added.

In his bank's own earnings call Tuesday, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank is "very engaged with our regulators to ensure better alignment of ​regulatory outcomes with underlying risk, and look forward to swift progress towards a more balanced framework."

[83] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:40 UTC] Cuba's national electric grid collapses for the third time in July, state media says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cubas-national-electric-grid-collapses-third-time-july-state-media-says-2026-07-14/
Cuba's national power grid ​collapsed on Tuesday, state ‌media reported, marking the third major blackout on the island in ​nine days.

The outage ​left around 10 million people ⁠without power amid a ​U.S.-imposed oil blockade that ​has crippled the island's already obsolete generation system.

U.S. President Donald Trump ​imposed an oil ​blockade on the Caribbean island after ‌Washington ⁠deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

Venezuela was Cuba's primary fuel benefactor, ​and ​subsequent ⁠U.S. pressure also led Mexico to halt ​oil shipments to ​the ⁠island.

The chronic power failures fueled rising social tensions, sparking scattered ⁠pot-banging ​protests in ​Havana last week after the nationwide blackout.

[84] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:48 UTC] Oil prices off highs after Trump abandons 20% fee on Strait of Hormuz traffic
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/oil-prices-today-brent-wti-hormuz-trump-toll-iran.html
Oil prices eased off session highs Tuesday, after President Donald Trump abandoned his demand for ships to pay a 20% protection fee to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 1.82% to $79.56 per barrel. Brent futures, the international benchmark, were up 1.98% to $84.95.
"Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," Trump said in a Truth Social Post.
Trump demanded the fee Monday in exchange for the U.S. Navy protecting ship traffic through Hormuz. The security situation in the strait has deteriorated over the past week as Iran has repeatedly attacked commercial ships.
Tehran has demanded tolls for safe passage through Hormuz. The U.S. has adamantly opposed those demands. Iran agreed it will not impose a fee for 60 days under the interim deal it signed with the U.S.
The International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, opposes manadatory tolls in the strait as illegal.
U.S. crude oil had traded above $80 per barrel earlier in the session as Washington and Tehran continued to battle for control of Hormuz. The U.S. miltary bombed targets along Iran's coast Monday in an effort to degrade Tehran's ability to attack commercial ships, according to U.S. Central Command.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said its forces attacked two supertankers transiting Hormuz with their transponders turned off. The United Arab Emirates' state oil company ADNOC said two of its tankers were hit by projectiles while transiting the strait, killing one mariner and injuring several others.
The U.S. Navy will reimpose its blockade against Iranian ships at 4 p.m. ET on the orders of President Donald Trump, Centcom said in a statement.
Trump said Monday the U.S. military will keep Hormuz open but he demanded payment equal to 20% of the value of all cargo shipped through the strait.
Citi warned that Trump's proposal to impose shipping fees in the Strait of Hormuz materially raises the risk of further military escalation.
"The possibility that the Iranian regime walks away from the MoU until after the mid-term US elections has also risen, a scenario which would most likely see higher for longer oil prices," the bank wrote in a report published early Tuesday.
Roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Shipping traffic slumped after Iran began targeting vessels in the waterway in early March, but had started to recover following Washington and Tehran's interim agreement.

[85] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:48 UTC] Oil prices off highs after Trump abandons 20% protection fee on Strait of Hormuz traffic
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/oil-prices-today-brent-wti-hormuz-trump-toll-iran.html
Crue oil prices eased off session highs Tuesday, after President Donald Trump abandoned his demand for ships to pay a 20% protection fee to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 1.82% to $79.56 per barrel. Brent futures, the international benchmark, were up 1.98% to $84.95.
"Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Trump demanded the fee Monday in exchange for the U.S. Navy protecting ship traffic through Hormuz. The security situation in the strait has deteriorated over the past week as Iran has repeatedly attacked commercial ships.
Tehran has previously demanded tolls for safe passage through Hormuz. The U.S. has adamantly opposed those demands. Iran agreed it will not impose a fee for 60 days under the interim deal it signed with the U.S. on June 17.
The International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, opposes mandatory tolls in the strait as illegal.
U.S. crude oil had traded above $80 per barrel earlier in the session as Washington and Tehran continued to battle for control of Hormuz. The U.S. miltary bombed targets along Iran's coast Monday in an effort to degrade Tehran's ability to attack commercial ships, according to U.S. Central Command.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said its forces attacked two supertankers transiting Hormuz with their transponders turned off. The United Arab Emirates' state oil company ADNOC said two of its tankers were hit by projectiles while transiting the strait, killing one mariner and injuring several others.
The U.S. Navy will reimpose its blockade against Iranian ships at 4 p.m. ET on the orders of President Donald Trump, Centcom said in a statement.
Trump said Monday the U.S. military will keep Hormuz open but he demanded payment equal to 20% of the value of all cargo shipped through the strait.
Citi warned that Trump's proposal to impose shipping fees in the Strait of Hormuz materially raises the risk of further military escalation.
"The possibility that the Iranian regime walks away from the MoU until after the mid-term US elections has also risen, a scenario which would most likely see higher for longer oil prices," the bank wrote in a report published early Tuesday.
Roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Shipping traffic slumped after Iran began targeting vessels in the waterway in early March, but had started to recover following Washington and Tehran's interim agreement.

[86] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 15:49 UTC] Norway oil service workers end strike, industry group says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/norway-oil-service-workers-end-strike-industry-group-says-2026-07-14/
Norway's Safe union and employers have agreed to end ​a labour dispute in the oil service industry ‌which had disrupted offshore drilling operations and reduced the country's petroleum production, industry group Offshore Norway said on Tuesday.

The ​Safe union launched its strike action on ​June 15 after wage talks broke down , while employers ⁠later responded by announcing a lockout from June 27, ​affecting close to 2,000 employees.

"Work will resume as soon as ​practically possible," Offshore Norway's chief negotiator Elisabeth Bratteboe Fenne said in a statement.

The two sides will now submit to ​a voluntary arbitration, Offshore Norway added.

The dispute ​affected oil service companies including SLB (SLB.N) , Halliburton (HAL.N) , Subsea 7 , DOF ‌Subsea, ⁠Weatherford, DeepOcean and Baker Hughes (BKR.O) .

By July 9, the labour dispute had reduced Norway's petroleum output by a cumulative 2.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), Offshore ​Norway said at ​the time, ⁠equal to more than half a day's total production.

Norway, Europe's largest supplier ​of pipeline gas, produced more than 4 ​million ⁠barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in 2025.

Had it continued, the dispute could have reduced Norway's petroleum ⁠output ​by about 120,000 boed by ​mid-July, up from an initial impact of around 12,000 boed, Offshore ​Norway had warned.

[87] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:51 UTC] Jim Cramer says don't bite on Apple sell call; buy his new chip favorite
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jim-cramer-says-dont-bite-on-apple-sell-call-buy-his-new-chip-favorite.html
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Tuesday's key moments. 1. Stocks rose Tuesday after a cooler-than-expected June consumer inflation report eased concerns that the Federal Reserve would need to raise interest rates this month. While the inflation data boosted the broader market, software stocks came under heavy pressure after IBM preannounced a weaker quarter due to softness in its software business. IBM attributed the challenges to customers shifting spending toward servers, storage, and memory. IBM shares plunged roughly 26% on the session, putting the stock on track for its worst day since October 1987. Jim Cramer said the warning underscores how AI-related spending continues to migrate toward infrastructure and cybersecurity. 2. Shares of Apple slipped nearly 1% after KeyBanc downgraded the stock to an underweight sell and lowered its price target to $250. The Club stock closed at $317 on Monday. The analysts argued that U.S. wireless carriers are scaling back device subsidies, which could slow iPhone upgrade cycles and make Wall Street's growth expectations too optimistic. KeyBanc also warned that recent price increases on Macs and iPads could weigh on unit demand and eventually slow Apple's high-margin services business. Jim dismissed those concerns, arguing they rely too heavily on assumptions about Apple's business. "That's all conjecture. I don't want conjecture. I want facts," he said. "I like Apple here." 3. Arm Holdings fell more than 5% after HSBC downgraded the stock to hold, citing near-term foundry capacity constraints that could limit earnings growth. Jim said the report reinforces why the Club recently exited its position in Arm to buy more shares of Intel . While he praised Arm CEO Rene Haas, Jim said that Arm depends on third-party foundries to manufacture its chips. By contrast, he noted that Intel is expanding its own manufacturing footprint. "I think Intel's such a buy here," he said. 4. Stocks covered in Tuesday's rapid fire at the end of the video were: Capital One , Bank of America , JPMorgan , Johnson & Johnson , and HCA . (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AAPL, INTC. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

[88] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 15:51 UTC] Corporate earnings face a high bar, but BofA says 3 things suggest the party will keep going for investors
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/q2-earnings-outlook-stocks-ai-tech-energy-bofa-stock-market-2026-7
The big banks kicked off earnings season with a bang this week, and if Bank of America is correct, investors should expect the strong results to keep rolling in.
Even after suprisingly strong first-quarter results, the bank's head of US equity strategy, Savita Subramanian, says Wall Street can expect companies clear the high bar they've set for themselves.
"Aſter a blowout 1Q (S&P 500 EPS +27% YoY), consensus expects S&P 500 EPS to grow 22% YoY in 2Q. Expectations are elevated, but we see no signs of earnings momentum rolling over," she wrote in a note to investors on Monday.
Importantly, while investors will be closely watching capex from Big Tech—Subramanian highlighted that Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle, are all expected to spend more than 40% than Wall Street initially projected at the start of the year— other areas of the market will also deliver for investors this season.
Here's what the bank is watching.
Energy joins the party
The analyst said that her team sees another sector joining tech in driver's seat this quarter. The energy sector has surged this year. The sector is the top performing segment of the S&P 500, and BofA sees the momentum continuing to drive growth through the coming quarter.
"Tech and Energy continued to drive estimates higher ahead of reporting, guidance and revision trends are near post-COVID highs, both ISM PMI surveys are in expansionary territory," she wrote.
Subramanian added that BofA expects to see overall earnings-per-share reach $85.50 for Q2, a 28% year-over-year increase and 5% higher than the Wall Street consensus. Her team has raised its full-year earnings forecast for 2026 from $335 to $345, up 26% year-over-year.
Macro data and early reporter results are solid
As Subramanian also highlighted, earnings season has been strong early on. Even prior to the deluge of strong earnings from big banks that reported on Tuesday, of the companies that already reported, 83% came in above expectations for EPS and 72% beat estimates on sales figures. 61% of these companies managed to successfully beat estimates on both metrics.
"Early reporters are concentrated in Consumer and Tech but can oſten give a read on the full quarter's results," Subramanian wrote.
The analysis also flagged supportive macro trends. Indeed, the latest reading of the consumer price index on Tuesday backs this up, with consumer price inflation cooling more than expected in June.
Encouraging guidance trends
Over the past three-month period, more companies have delivered higher-than-expected guidance than have come in below estimates by roughly 1.4 to 1, close to the strongest ratio since 2021.
The most upbeat guidance has come from companies in the tech and financial sectors, while consumer discretionary and material stocks have posted the weakest forecasts. Subramanian regards this as promising.
"Quarterly guidance trends in the quarter leading up to reporting have historically been positively correlated with the magnitude of the S&P 500's EPS surprise," she noted.

[89] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 15:52 UTC] Here’s the inflation breakdown for June 2026 — in one chart
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/inflation-cpi-june-2026-in-one-chart.html
Consumer prices pulled back in June on the heels of lower energy and gasoline prices, a reversal after moving sharply upward in recent months due to the Iran war. However, inflation risks re-igniting in coming months amid renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, economists said.
The consumer price index, an inflation barometer, rose 3.5% in June from 12 months earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.
That's down from 4.2% in May — the first decline in the annual inflation rate since January, when it stood at 2.4%.
"It suggests the worst is over, we're past the peak and inflation should moderate," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's.
"The biggest threat is that things unravel and we're back to full-blown war with the Strait [of Hormuz] shut down," he said.
That could push interest rates higher. The inflation rate is one of the economic indicators the Federal Reserve uses to guide interest rate decisions. Prior to this latest CPI reading, policymakers at the U.S. central bank had recently signaled an increase in borrowing costs could be on the table to try to contain inflation. The Fed aims for an annual inflation rate around 2% over the long term.
Barring renewed tensions, economists said that inflation should moderate, likely keeping the Fed from increasing borrowing costs.
"We think inflation will continue the process of slowing down over the coming year," said Tom Porcelli, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "We don't see a compelling reason at this point for the Fed to raise rates."
U.S.-Iran escalation could reignite inflation
The U.S. and Iran reached a temporary ceasefire deal in mid-June to try to end the conflict that erupted Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran.
Global oil prices declined substantially throughout June, from more than $90 per barrel to roughly $73 per barrel by the end of the month.
Prices for gasoline, which is refined from crude oil, and other fuels and energy products fell dramatically as a result.
Gasoline prices fell about 10% in June while fuel oil declined 9% and the broader energy category declined 6%, according to the inflation data issued Tuesday. However, each is up by double digits over the past year: By 27%, 43% and 16%, respectively.
Since energy and fuel are major cost inputs for businesses — fuel to power airplanes and transport food to grocery stores, for example — consumers have seen prices rise to varying degrees elsewhere, too.
The price reprieve in June may be short-lived amid flaring tensions in the Middle East.
That U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal appears increasingly fractured after the adversaries exchanged hostilities for a third consecutive day on Tuesday. Global oil prices had risen to about $86 per barrel as of 9:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
"A serious re-escalation of the conflict would threaten to revive the key upside risk to inflation and raise the odds of rate hikes," Goldman Sachs Research wrote in a note on Sunday.
Largest one-month drop since April 2020
Overall, the consumer price index declined by 0.4% on a monthly basis in June — the largest one-month decrease since April 2020, at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the BLS said.
The energy index was the largest contributor to that decrease, "more than offsetting" increases in other indexes like those for shelter and food, the BLS said.
But there were declines elsewhere, too.
The price for new vehicles remained steady during the month. Used car and truck prices declined 0.2% in June, bringing the annual decline to about 2%, likely due to weak consumer demand amid affordability concerns for cars, Zandi said.
Apparel and electricity prices were also down "big time" during the month, while medical services prices also decreased and housing was "barely up," Zandi said.
However, he doesn't expect all these trends to continue, and chalked up some of the price weakness to data "anomalies" that can occur in CPI reports from time to time.
Indeed, specific categories within the broader CPI report can surge or fall back amid various supply and demand issues.
For example, beef roast prices are up about 14% over the past year amid a decades-low cattle supply. Tariffs and adverse weather also pushed up tomato prices 20% in the past year, though they've recently begun falling back.
Ultimately, "there are a lot of gravitational forces at work that should push inflation back to target — assuming the war doesn't go off the rails again," Zandi said.

[90] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 15:57 UTC] Chamath Palihapitiya says CFOs could be in for a tokenmaxxing shock during company earnings
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/chamath-palihapitiya-cfo-tokenmaxxing-shock-2026-7
AI is getting expensive. Chamath Palihapitiya says he thinks CFOs may be about to discover those costs the hard way.
Palihapitiya, a billionaire venture capitalist and one of the co-hosts of the "All In" podcast, said Tuesday on CNBC that businesses encouraging employees to consume more AI could face surprise operating expenses — and even earnings misses — as AI-use bills add up.
"The CEOs and the CFOs, in my opinion, probably have no idea how much tokenmaxxing is going on inside of their organizations," Palihapitiya said. He predicted top executives across the US could miss earnings expectations.
That rising price pressure, Palihapitiya said, is coming as premium models from OpenAI and Anthropic face growing competition from lower-priced options that are narrowing gaps in quality.
Tokenmaxxing is Silicon Valley shorthand for using as many AI tokens as possible — the theory is that AI will produce more work, faster. Tokens are units of data processed by AI models and commonly used to calculate customer bills.
Some firms that embraced AI dove headfirst into the AI-optimist-deep end: several introduced company-visible leaderboards and incentives to show which workers were using the tools the most.
Now, the bill is becoming harder to ignore, and Palihapitiya says leaders are adjusting. For example, Uber's CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga said in April that the company had already exhausted its full-year Claude Code budget, while Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said the company shut down "the silly things" that were burning tokens.
"It is not that hard to build a token incinerator," Mosseri said during a recent episode of "Lenny's Podcast."
At the same time, Palihapitiya told CNBC that tech mainstays like Meta, Google, and SpaceX — which he said have fewer computing-capacity constraints — are closing the gap. They're releasing cheaper models that are "80 to 95% as good," he said.
"I think that you are seeing a convergence; it used to be the case that when a model dropped, it was so superior to everything else," Palihapitiya said. "You're like, 'Oh my God. We went from kerosene to jet fuel.' So of course, I'm going to go to jet fuel."
Instead, he likened recent AI updates to successive generations of the iPhone: They're still improving, but are no longer introducing massive technological step changes.
When asked whether lower-cost models from Grok and Meta were as good as Anthropic's, he said: "For most use-cases, the answer is a screaming yes."
Palihapitiya didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

[91] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 16:00 UTC] BMW’s slow roll in China
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/bmws-slow-roll-china-2026-07-14/
Greetings from London!

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume’s historic pitch to the company’s supervisory board to slash jobs and close four car assembly plants in Germany was easily defeated by labor representatives on the board.

That was hardly a shock, given the union’s strong position on the supervisory board.

What was surprising was that, on the same day, Volkswagen announced plans to cut its lineup by up to half and reduce production capacity.

Blume confirmed in ​an internal memo on Monday that Volkswagen’s management seeks to double previously planned job cuts to 100,000 workers globally.

If it comes to slashing VW’s lineup, history tells us the German automaker ‌will cut low-volume, low-margin models.

If the plants that make those models don’t get new ones, then Volkswagen may find it easier to close them and cut jobs than trying to get the supervisory board to agree to a grand restructuring plan.

Either way, Volkswagen’s saga will continue.

Which brings us to today’s Auto File…

BMW late to China EV party

Stellantis U.S. recovery ?

Germany’s China problem

BMW’s old ‘new’ EVs

For years, BMW’s slogan was “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” emphasizing its technological edge and the driving pleasure that its pricy cars provided.

But the German premium automaker’s edge has faded in ​China, where its Neue Klasse, or new class, of EVs look set to be old before they even hit the world’s largest and fastest-moving market.

You can read all about it here .

After three China-related profit ​warnings in under three years, BMW badly needs a win in China.

The company’s sales have fallen in China for two consecutive years and are on track for a third , ⁠despite heavy discounts on its cars there.

Even if BMW’s EVs do sell well in China, those discounts now look baked in because Chinese rivals are selling premium models at lower prices.

Fixing its China business will likely ​be priority number one for BMW’s new CEO Milan Nedeljkovic.

Recommended reading:

US Senate committee to vote on Chinese car ban

Carmakers’ initial win in diesel emission case

Iran war pushes up oil prices , again

Stellantis US rebound?

When Antonio Filosa was named CEO of Stellantis last ​year, a core part of his brief was to revive sales in the U.S. market — where high-margin pickup trucks and SUVs have driven profits at the world’s No. 4 automaker.

At the company’s investor day in May, management presentations were heavy on adding even more RAM pickups and Jeeps to those it has already launched.

The early signs are that this back-to-basics strategy is paying off. Stellantis reported a 38% increase in North American sales in the second quarter.

You can read all about it here .

That sales jump was supported ​by new or refreshed models, including the Ram 1500 8-cylinder light-duty truck and its high-performance, off-road TRX SRT version, the refreshed Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Grand Cherokee, and the Chrysler Pacifica.

Investors were unimpressed at the investor day ​by Filosa’s €60 billion ($68 billion) new business plan to 2030 focused on new model launches, brand portfolio reorganisation and new partnerships in technology and manufacturing.

But if it can maintain that U.S. momentum, it could lift Stellantis’ shares out of the doldrums.

Germany’s China slump

It’s ‌not just BMW ⁠that has hit a long slump in China.

Germany’s carmakers are all struggling there. As Reuters colleague Rachel More reports, they all had a dismal second quarter in the world’s largest car market.

You can read all about it here .

Volkswagen , Mercedes-Benz and BMW all saw a sales drop of at least 30% from April to June in China.

VW had the worst quarter, with sales plunging almost 37%. After years as China’s top-selling automaker, Volkswagen was knocked into second place by BYD in 2024 and into third place last year.

And Porsche, which has been in a tailspin in China for several years, saw its sales drop 32% there.

Trump job-killing energy policies?

U.S. President Donald Trump moved quickly last year to scale back ​EV-friendly policies, including a $7,500 federal tax subsidy for electric ​cars. Trump is also not a fan of renewable ⁠energy.

As Reuters colleagues Valerie Volcovici and Nichola Groom report, labor and environmental coalition BlueGreen Alliance says that reduced federal support for clean energy has caused the cancellation or delay of $83 billion in investment across hundreds of projects.

You can read all about it here .

The group’s analysis found that 223 manufacturing and clean energy projects representing $82.9 billion in investment ​and 111,765 jobs have stalled or been cancelled during Trump's second presidency.

The analysis attributed that to Trump's signature tax and spending package, which repealed or curtailed ​Biden-era incentives as well as other ⁠administration actions aimed at reducing federal support for renewable energy and EVs.

Fast Laps

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation creating state rebates of $3,500 for new EVs for first-time buyers that will take effect later this summer as U.S. sales have slowed.

Chinese-owned Swedish automaker Polestar reported a 4% fall in quarterly sales volumes, weeks after an effective ban from the U.S. market.

Ford said it has reached a tentative agreement with Canadian auto union Unifor on a three-year national labor contract covering more than 5,000 unionized employees ⁠in Canada.

German auto ​component and chip maker Bosch has begun sample production at its first U.S. semiconductor factory, finalizing a $225 million agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department ​to strengthen domestic manufacturing of silicon carbide chips.

Car buyers in Singapore must now fork out almost $100,000 for a certificate to own a small car, as costs in the city-state's vehicle quota system have hit an all-time high for small models.

Skoda Auto, the Czech unit of Volkswagen, said it ​does not expect any direct impact from its parent company's plans to reduce capacity and cut its model lineup.

Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here .

[92] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 16:00 UTC] Google Images gets a Pinterest-like redesign focused on discovery
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/google-images-gets-a-pinterest-like-redesign-focused-on-discovery/
Google Images, the tech giant’s image search engine, is taking on Pinterest with its latest redesign that turns the site into a browsable, dynamic gallery of images from across the web. Google is also adding a way for users to create AI images right in Search, as it celebrates 25 years since the debut of Google Images.
Pinterest has long been known for allowing people to browse and save visual inspiration for everything from fashion to home decor. With this redesign, Google is essentially copying that playbook by turning Google Images into a place for discovery and inspiration, and not just search, which could increase users’ time spent on Google platforms, helping boost its ad revenue.
In addition, Google is likely hoping that when users can’t find the image they’re looking for on Google Images or when they want to visualize something, they’ll stay within its ecosystem to create it rather than turn to third-party services like ChatGPT.
After navigating to the redesigned Google Images, users will see a “For You” gallery of images tailored to their interests and browsing history. Like Pinterest, the gallery is designed for continuous browsing, with Google saying it updates in real time with new images.
As users browse, they can save ideas to their “collections,” which will appear as tabs above the main gallery of photos. For example, users can create collections for things like vacation outfit ideas, travel inspiration, and ways to design a reading nook, which they can come back to later.
The redesign is rolling out over the coming weeks on desktop in the U.S. in English. Users need to be signed into a Google Account to try it out, the tech giant says.
As for generating images directly in Search, Google says the feature is meant for moments when you have a highly specific idea for an image that doesn’t already exist online. Google is bringing image generation directly into AI Overviews on Search and will use its latest Nano Banana model to transform a text prompt into a custom visual.
The feature can also help users reimagine spaces and visualize ideas, such as seeing what a room might look like painted red or what a dorm room with a coastal theme could look like.
Image generation in AI Overviews will start to roll out over the coming weeks in English for all regions that currently support image creation in AI Mode, Google says.

[93] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 16:00 UTC] OpenAI’s Growing Challenges Narrow Its IPO Window
URL: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openais-growing-challenges-narrow-its-ipo-window-8ad8f734
Plus, Apple’s legal sparring, and Wall Street’s problem with AI drug discovery.

[94] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 16:00 UTC] Oil touches $87 as battle for Strait of Hormuz alarms energy markets
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/2d899824-5f94-4f0c-81fc-c54a0750e498
Oil touches $87 as battle for Strait of Hormuz alarms energy markets
Oil climbed above $87 on Tuesday for the first time since the US and Iran agreed to extend their ceasefire, as the intensifying battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz rattled global energy markets.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped as much as 5 per cent to $87.55 a barrel, extending gains made on Monday, when prices surged almost 10 per cent.
The price later fell back to around $85.50 a barrel after US President Donald Trump said that he would abandon a proposed fee of 20 per cent on cargo passing through the strait.
“Clearly this is escalating,” said Mike Bell, head of market strategy at RBC BlueBay Asset Management, adding that “we are starting from a worse place in terms of global oil inventories now” compared with the initial oil price surge in March.
Global oil reserves have been diminished since March, as countries tapped into their stockpiles to shield their economies from the effects of the strait’s closure.
“If the Strait of Hormuz is closed for another prolonged period from here, it’s a much worse starting point than when the initial conflict kicked off,” Bell said.
The strait has become an explosive flashpoint between Washington and Tehran, with both sides claiming to control a waterway that is critical to supplying the world with oil and gas.
This week’s gains mark an abrupt turnaround for a market that had sold off aggressively after a preliminary peace agreement between the US and Iran was signed a month ago.
“Overall, market complacency around Hormuz flows is being severely tested,” said Amrita Sen, director of market intelligence and co-founder at Energy Aspects.
“With the road to normalised energy supply out of the Gulf seemingly blocked . . . bonds are taking the view that the inflation pulse might exist for longer,” said Stephen Jones, chief investment officer at Aegon Asset Management.
US forces struck Iran overnight, the sixth wave of attacks since President Donald Trump last week resumed air strikes in retaliation for Iran hitting commercial vessels in the strait, with the Islamic republic targeting two tankers with cruise missiles.
Oil’s rally accelerated on Monday after Trump said the US would reinstate its naval blockade of Iran and charge a 20 per cent fee on cargo moving through the contested waterway.
Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank, said that “the very spectre of tolls will make markets nervous.”
The rise in the oil price prompted a sell-off in government bonds early on Tuesday, but they rebounded following data showing lower than expected US inflation in June.

[95] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 16:02 UTC] Singapore court orders Bloomberg, reporter, to pay $356,000 for defaming ministers
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/singapore-court-orders-bloomberg-reporter-pay-356000-defaming-ministers-2026-07-14/
Bloomberg News and one of its reporters were ordered ​to pay S$460,000 ($355,734) in damages after an article it published was found to have defamed two Singapore government ‌ministers, the city-state's High Court said in a judgment released on Tuesday.

Bloomberg and the reporter Low De Wei are liable to pay S$230,000 to each minister, comprising S$170,000 in general damages and S$60,000 in aggravated damages, said the judgment.

Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said he was disappointed by the ruling ​and that the company continued to stand by its reporter and the newsroom.

"We argued at trial that our reporting ​was accurate and served an important public interest, and we continue to believe that the ministers ⁠have imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid story," he told Reuters in an email. He did not ​say whether Bloomberg planned an appeal.

The law firm that represented the ministers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In her ​judgment, Justice Audrey Lim wrote: "The dominant purpose behind the article was to publish a story about the claimants, in particular about their (good class bungalow) transactions. The broader narrative of how wealthy individuals in Singapore use non-caveated transactions and trust structures to keep their dealings secret or 'off-radar' was the cover ​devised to carry that story."

Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng had sued Bloomberg and one of ​its reporters for defamation over a December 2024 article on secrecy around expensive property transactions that mentioned deals involving the two ministers.

Bloomberg had defended ‌the story ⁠as reporting on trends related to transactions of luxury properties, saying both ministers were newsworthy examples of such deals. The news organisation told the court the article did not allege wrongdoing by the ministers.

The lawyer for the ministers had called for aggravated damages to be awarded and said the defendants had showed malice.

He said in court that when Bloomberg received a correction direction issued under ​Singapore's Protection from Online Falsehoods ​and Manipulation Act, the company ⁠responded by lifting the paywall on the article and publicly stood by it.

A Bloomberg editor said in an affidavit that the company had lifted the paywall so that readers could see the ​correction notice. The hearing was told that the notice was placed at the top of the ​story on its ⁠website, along with a statement that Bloomberg "respectfully disagrees" with the direction and stood by its reporting.

In her ruling, the judge said Low had been reckless and false in describing the opacity of local government records for non-caveated bungalow transactions.

She said that such records were in ⁠fact maintained ​in public records and made searchable through the Singapore Land Authority's Integrated ​Land Information Service, a fact Low knew from making searches as a reporter himself.

"I find that Bloomberg's conduct in removing the paywall pertaining to the article also ​demonstrates malice," added the judge.

($1 = 1.2931 Singapore dollars)

[96] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 16:03 UTC] Earthquake of magnitude 6.05 strikes Mindanao, Philippines, GFZ says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/earthquake-magnitude-605-strikes-mindanao-philippines-gfz-says-2026-07-14/
A ​magnitude 6.05 ‌earthquake struck ​Mindanao ​in the ⁠Philippines ​on Tuesday, ​the German Research ​Centre ​for Geosciences ‌said.

The ⁠quake was at ​a ​depth ⁠of 10 ​km (6.21 ​miles), ⁠GFZ ⁠said.

[97] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:07 UTC] Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon tells CNBC that 'Fed independence has served us well': Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
Three CEOs weighed in on the state of the consumer and discussed how they're thinking about artificial intelligence.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said all of the company's major businesses posted record revenue last quarter. He added that the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
Dimon said artificial intelligence has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered positions elsewhere in the company.
JPMorgan stock was up roughly 2% in early trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
He told CNBC that it's up to management teams to mitigate the impact from AI job losses.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank's deals backlog is at the highest level in five years, which bodes well for revenue in future quarters.
Solomon also said he sees AI as a transformational technology that enhances talent rather than replacing people.
Goldman Sachs stock rose more than 6% in early trading.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Jamie Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan guidance keeps climbing
- Wells Fargo CFO says consumers have been resilient
- Bank of America CEO tells CNBC that markets-related business led to growth
- Here's what helped lift Goldman Sachs
- Citigroup reports best quarterly revenue in a decade
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[98] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 16:08 UTC] Big banks and Big Tech are surfing the same wave
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/8218ea69-27ba-42b1-9ac0-beeba1b0fb1d
Lex
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[99] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:10 UTC] Burnham Faces Day One Warning of Souring UK Economy and Oil Risk
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/burnham-faces-day-one-warning-of-souring-uk-economy-and-oil-risk
Burnham Faces Day One Warning of Souring UK Economy and Oil Risk

[100] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 16:12 UTC] New York enacts nation's first statewide moratorium on AI data centers
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-state-ai-data-center-moratorium-temporary-ban-2026-7
New York is pumping the brakes on new AI data centers.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday unveiled the nation's first statewide moratorium on what she described as "energy-guzzling" AI data centers, or "hyperscale" facilities.
The Democratic governor signed an executive order placing a one-year pause on the construction of large-scale AI data centers so that the state can develop new rules to protect its energy grid, natural resources, and local communities, Hochul said.
"These hyperscale AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, truly threatening to outpace our grid's capacity, and they drive up costs for local ratepayers," Hochul said at a press conference. "And I refuse to let those costs be passed on to New Yorkers who already pay too much for their utility bills."
The move immediately proved controversial. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania reacted to the news by posting, "China wins."
Shares of data center companies, including Digital Realty Trust, Vertiv Holdings, and Equinix, dipped on the news, falling as much as 2% early Tuesday.
'No choice but to address these challenges'
Hochul said that the AI data centers require millions of gallons of water, can increase carbon emissions, occupy large amounts of land, and can emit "disruptive" noise and vibrations for nearby residents.
The governor said that New York has "no choice but to address these challenges created by these massive facilities."
Additionally, Hochul said that New York will require data centers to either produce their own power or pay a premium to use the state's electric grid.
"It's the only way to ensure that our residents and businesses have affordable energy that they need, and that our power capacity is already stretched to its limit, so we have so much more to do," said Hochul.
In response to the executive order, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pointed out on X that his AI data center moratorium bill "was called a radical idea" mere months ago.
"Today, New York became the first state to enact a moratorium and a majority of voters nationwide support it," Sanders, an independent, wrote. "AI must benefit ALL of humanity, not just a handful of Big Tech billionaires."
Hochul said New York wants AI companies to invest and grow in the state, but not at the cost of its communities and infrastructure. The governor also said she's aiming to repeal sales tax exemptions for large-scale data centers across the state.
Hochul's executive order is narrower than the AI data center moratorium bill passed by the state Legislature last month, applying only to facilities with power demands of 50 megawatts or more, rather than the bill's 20-megawatt threshold.
The governor's office told Business Insider that it will continue working with the legislature and further review the bill called the "Responsible Data Center Development Act."
State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, a sponsor of that bill, hailed Hochul's executive order during the governor's press conference, saying that Hochul is "setting the standard that technology should improve our lives, not pollute our environment, strain our energy grid, or drive up our utility bills."
Hochul's moratorium comes as tech giants race to build massive data centers across the US to power AI technologies such as large language models.
The fast-paced buildout of these data centers has become a flashpoint nationwide, with critics sounding the alarm over energy demand, water consumption, and the strain on local infrastructure.
A recent Gallup poll found that 71% of Americans surveyed oppose constructing AI data centers in their local area, far more than the 53% of respondents who said they would oppose the construction of a nearby nuclear energy plant.

[101] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:13 UTC] United to Roll Out Roomier Economy Row and Ditch Middle Seat
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/united-airlines-to-roll-out-new-economy-row-with-extra-legroom
United to Roll Out Roomier Economy Row and Ditch Middle Seat

[102] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:16 UTC] ICE suspends vehicle stops for U.S. immigration enforcement, Reuters sources say
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/ice-suspends-vehicle-stops-for-us-immigration-enforcement.html
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday suspended vehicle stops related to immigration enforcement, two sources briefed on the matter said told Reuters, after agents fatally shot two men in separate incidents six days apart following stops in Texas and Maine.
The policy shift came one day after an ICE officer killed a driver in the coastal Maine town of Biddeford, about 15 miles south of Portland.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement nearly 12 hours after the shooting asserting that the officer, "fearing for public safety," opened fire on the driver when he attempted to flee agents trying to pull him over.
Officials did not explain how the driver might have posed a threat.
While some video footage of the incident's aftermath has emerged, there is not yet any public video showing the moment of the shooting itself. Maine Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, told reporters that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras, leaving questions unanswered about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
There were multiple protests on Monday, and further demonstrations were scheduled for Tuesday.
Immigration advocates said the person shot was a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorized to work in the U.S.
Since the beginning of June, ICE arrests in Maine have more than quadrupled to around 70 per day in early July, according to internal ICE data shared with Reuters by a source.
Monday's killing, along with another that occurred last week in Houston, brought to at least seven the number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to office and launched a campaign of mass deportations.

[103] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:16 UTC] Summer air travel can be ripe for delays. Here's how insurance can protect your trip
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/select/trip-delay-insurance-can-protect-your-summer-travel/
Summer is in the midst of vacation season, but it can also be a peak time for travel headaches.
There were more than 10,000 delays and more than 1,200 cancellations on July 5, as many Americans traveled to celebrate Independence Day, according to FlightAware. This is beginning to follow a similar pattern to last year: In 2025, July had the highest number of delayed flights, with 69% on schedule, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It also had the highest volume of cancellations for the year — 2.45% of flights were canceled — much higher than the annual average of 1%.
Weather is a major factor in these disruptions: Between June and August 2025, weather and storms caused 57% of delays, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, higher than the average 35% of delays that are caused by storms between September and November of the same year.
Delays, cancellations and other travel inconveniences can happen any time of the year, but getting travel insurance could be an especially good idea for your summer travel plans. Here's what you need to know about getting a policy.
Are you living paycheck to paycheck, or do you have a financial success you're comfortable sharing with a reporter? Please fill out this quick form.
How travel insurance can help with summer flight disruptions
Weather delays and cancellations are often covered by travel insurance
Travel insurance typically covers delays and cancellations related to weather and even natural disasters. Most policies will reimburse you for lost, non-refundable expenses — like hotels, excursions and car rentals — if you can't get to your destination within 24 hours of your expected arrival.
However, individual policies differ — some require you to have lost 50% of your planned trip length to qualify for cancellation coverage. To be sure, read over your policy documents to see exactly what qualifies.
Additionally, your policy could cover flight delays, giving you funds to spend on food, lodging or other expenses while you wait. Many policies require that your flight be delayed by six hours or more to qualify, and payouts can range from $100 to $250 per person, depending on the policy.
The key to reaping the benefits of travel insurance is purchasing a policy well in advance of a known storm. In the case of a hurricane or tropical storm, you'll need to have bought your policy before the storm was named.
Travel insurance can help beyond the airport, too
Whether you're hitting the beaches of Mexico or visiting a picturesque European countryside, travel insurance can help with situations such as medical emergencies and lost or stolen items.
Most travel insurance policies include travel medical coverage, which can help pay for unexpected injuries or illnesses you sustain while traveling abroad, where your U.S. health insurance isn't accepted. Your policy can not only pay for the cost of care, medications and other needs, but it can also help you find medical attention and provide translation services if needed.
Most travel insurance policies can reimburse you for items that are lost at any point during your trip. While there are a few exceptions, such as expensive electronics and credit cards, it can help with things like your passport or jewelry.
How to buy travel insurance
Getting travel insurance should be one of the first things you do after you book a trip. After all, some provisions of travel insurance are only available if you buy it within two to three weeks of booking your trip — coverage for pre-existing conditions is one such case.
And since travel insurance excludes events and situations known at the time of purchase, buying it as soon as you book will ensure you're covered for whatever scenario arises.
To buy travel insurance, start by getting quotes and comparing them. Prices can vary between insurers, so it's a good idea to shop around. We like Allianz for families with children, as the brand's OneTrip Prime policy covers one child under age 17 with each traveling, insured adult. We also like Faye's digital-first policies that let you manage your coverage and even file a claim right from the app.
- OneTrip Prime and Premier plans cover one child under 17 for free
- CFAR coverage reimburses 80% of nonrefundable trip costs.
- Pre-existing condition waiver included with all plans
- Rates are higher than the national average
- Limited options for adventure travel
- CFAR plan must be purchased through a travel agent
- No discounts
- $2,100 per person trip delay coverage after six hours
- 100% digital claims process
- Can add coverage for pet care and vacation rental damage
- Only one plan is available
- Rates are higher than some competitors
If you want to compare dozens of policies at once, travel insurance marketplace Squaremouth can put many options side by side to help you find the most coverage at the lowest price.
SquareMouth Travel Insurance Marketplace
Policy highlights
SquareMouth is a travel insurance marketplace that allows you can compare top-rated providers, including Berkshire Hathaway, Nationwide, Seven Corners and Tin Leg.
24/7 assistance available
Yes
Read our SquareMouth travel insurance review
Pros
- Includes more than 30 travel insurance companies
- You can compare providers side-by-side on the website
- SquareMouth doesn't add additional markups or fees
- Carriers that don't adequately address a customer complaint are removed
Cons
- Doesn't provide travel insurance policies of its own
You should read prospective policy documents carefully: Some brands offer sample policies to review before you purchase. Others offer a free look period — typically 10 days — after you buy to review the terms and ensure they meet your needs.
Travel insurance FAQs
Is travel insurance worth it?
Travel insurance can be a worthwhile investment for trips outside your home country. These policies can cover the cost of unexpected medical care when your standard coverage doesn't apply, lost items, canceled flights and other scenarios.
When doesn't travel insurance cover weather scenarios?
Travel insurance doesn't cover weather or storms once they're known. In the event of a tropical storm or hurricane, storms are excluded once they're named.
How much is travel insurance?
Travel insurance usually costs between 4% and 10% of your non-refundable trip expenses.
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Why trust CNBC Select?
At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every travel insurance review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of travel insurance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.
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[104] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:18 UTC] Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon tells CNBC that U.S. economy is 'well positioned': Live updates
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
Three CEOs weighed in on the state of the consumer and discussed how they're thinking about artificial intelligence.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said all of the company's major businesses posted record revenue last quarter. He added that the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
Dimon said artificial intelligence has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered positions elsewhere in the company.
JPMorgan stock was up roughly 2% in early trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
He told CNBC that it's up to management teams to mitigate the impact from AI job losses.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank's deals backlog is at the highest level in five years, which bodes well for revenue in future quarters.
Solomon also said he sees AI as a transformational technology that enhances talent rather than replacing people.
Goldman Sachs stock rose more than 6% in early trading.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Solomon: 'Fed independence has served us well'
- Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan guidance keeps climbing
- Wells Fargo CFO says consumers have been resilient
- Bank of America CEO tells CNBC that markets-related business led to growth
- Citigroup reports best quarterly revenue in a decade
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[105] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 16:19 UTC] New York becomes first US state to suspend data centre development
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/1c390476-9d93-4df5-9b41-7381db43b4ea
New York becomes first US state to suspend data centre development
New York is set to become the first US state to impose a one-year ban on construction of new data centres, as backlash swells over the infrastructure needed to power the AI boom.
The Empire State will ban data centres of more than 50 megawatts for a period of one year, stopping new permit applications and pausing outstanding ones. A typical large data centre is at least 100MW.
In a video posted to X, Governor Kathy Hochul said that the “scale and speed of development has put unprecedented demand on energy and water resources and threatens to drive up utility costs. Before it goes any further I need safeguards in place to protect New Yorkers.”
Hochul, who is up for re-election as governor in November after serving her first full term, will sign an executive order on the moratorium on Tuesday. The order is a compromise to a more strict bill passed by New York’s state legislature that would have halted development of facilities over 20MW.
There are currently 12 gigawatts of data centre applications pending in the New York grid operator’s queue, according to the New York Independent System Operator. The amount is roughly equivalent to Portugal’s record peak electricity demand.
New York is home to 133 data centres, according to Data Center Map, compared with 637 in Virginia and 504 in Texas. Existing centres would not be affected by the order.
The first-of-its-kind moratorium comes amid a growing backlash over data centres and their potential impact on electricity costs, water supplies and the local communities near which they are built.
Politicians and regulators across the country are grappling with how to manage the industry’s booming growth. According to data from BloombergNEF, US data centre power demand will surge from 34.7 gigawatts in 2024 to 106GW by 2035.
Fourteen states aside from New York are considering banning data centres, including Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Legislation that would have imposed a moratorium on Maine was vetoed by outgoing governor Janet Mills.
Virginia, home to the largest concentration of data centres in the world, recently implemented a new tax on the facilities’ energy use.
Numerous local bans by cities and counties have been implemented throughout the US.
On Monday the White House said it would add utility companies and data centre developers to its Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which already includes tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI, in which they committed to cover the cost of power infrastructure needed for data centres.
“I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” Donald Trump said in January.
A poll conducted by strategy consultancy Public First found Americans were far more likely to oppose the construction of data centres than other nations, with just 26 per cent supporting their development.
In the first quarter of 2026, at least 75 projects worth $130bn were disrupted by local opposition.
Blackstone’s QTS was recently forced to scrap a vast data centre project in Virginia’s Prince William County.
During New York’s year-long ban, state officials will develop measures to protect utility customers and assess how projects affect the environment.

[106] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 16:22 UTC] Meta’s Adam Mosseri says AI token budgets could soon be capped per engineer
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/metas-adam-mosseri-says-ai-token-budgets-could-soon-be-capped-per-engineer/
In a recent interview, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said he can see a time in the future, perhaps only a year or two, when putting limits on Meta employees’ AI token spend will become necessary.
“I think that you can imagine, at least in a year or two … that the burn rate of a strong engineer might be the same as their salary, or their cost of employment. And in that world, you’re going to probably need to put in some caps,” the Meta executive said, while speaking on Lenny’s Podcast.
AI token spend, a reference to the cost of processing AI prompts and responses, has been a much-buzzed-about subject in recent days. Meta shut down an internal AI token spend leaderboard after AI costs put the company on track for billions of dollars in 2026.
Meta is not alone in rethinking its approach to AI experimentation. Uber also had an AI reckoning after it blew through its 2026 AI coding budget by April. Soaring token costs saw Microsoft cancel Claude Code licenses, consolidating its engineers around its own Copilot CLI tool instead.
Mosseri’s belief, he explained, is that AI token costs will have to be managed just like any other resource, offering an analogy to things like payroll or operating expenditure (OpEx), which is the day-to-day costs of running a business.
“I think of it like…any other resource,” Mosseri said. “I have to decide how to deploy capacity to my different teams because I have a limited number of GPUs and CPUs and storage and RAM etc. I have to decide how to deploy OpEx for labeling budgets across my teams. I have to decide how to deploy payroll for headcount across my teams.”
Token budgets will be the same, he added, noting that the cap per engineer would have to be proportional to the company’s trust in their ability to use the budget in an “ROI-positive” way.
Meta doesn’t currently have token caps for any employee, Mosseri said, but he believes that their use could be healthy in the future. Further down the road, he expects token costs to come down as the AI model makers enter a pricing war to attract people to use their tools over their competitors.
For now, the company has managed to rein in its token costs a bit by shutting down the “silly things” that it was doing, Mosseri noted — like that token spend leaderboard.
“It’s not that hard to build a token incinerator, and that doesn’t create a lot of value,” he said.

[107] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 16:23 UTC] Wall Street banks smash records on stock trading boom
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/137efc01-087f-4b1d-b2a4-e18ea61197f2
Wall Street banks smash records on stock trading boom
Wall Street banks posted record quarterly results as a speculative trading frenzy in AI-linked groups helped stock traders at four of the largest lenders deliver a forecast-busting $19.4bn in revenues.
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, all of which announced results on Tuesday, reported equities trading revenues far in excess of what analysts had been expecting, up 72 per cent on a year ago and double what the banks generated in the second quarter of 2024. Across their wider businesses, the banks posted a combined $42.7bn in net income.
The results underscore how the rush to build AI infrastructure is driving a boom in Wall Street earnings, with soaring stock prices in the US, China, Korea and Taiwan and sharp moves in equity markets that have boosted the banks’ trading arms.
Executives described a Goldilocks environment for equities trading with big initial public offerings such as SpaceX, elevated activity in Asia and significant changes to the make-up of indices.
“It’s getting close to as good as it gets. We just don’t know how long it’s going to last,” JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said.
Another top JPMorgan executive, Jeremy Barnum, said that “it would be naive not to be worried” by the buoyant operating environment. But Barnum added: “At the same time, it’s always easy to be worried and then the market keeps going up.”
Banks have shifted their trading businesses away from taking directional bets in recent years, and they now focus primarily on facilitating and financing trades for hedge funds and other specialist trading firms.
Market volatility, particularly around the semiconductor stocks and hyperscalers riding a wave of enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, has helped stock traders to a string of record-high performances.
Still, the second quarter was “off the charts”, analysts at Oppenheimer said on Tuesday.
Both Goldman and JPMorgan’s equities traders delivered revenues that surpassed analysts’ forecasts by more than $2bn.
The $6bn equities trading performance helped JPMorgan to a record quarter overall, with net income of $21.2bn — although that figure was lifted further by a $4.6bn gain on its stake in payments group Visa.
Goldman meanwhile reported its highest quarterly profits in five years, with net income up 80 per cent from a year ago to $6.6bn. Its $7.4bn haul from equities trading exceeded the combined total of the five largest US investment banks for most quarters before 2020.
Bank of America also had a record quarter for equities trading with $3.6bn in revenues, up 70 per cent year-on-year, while Citi, which is stronger in fixed income, reported a 45 per cent rise in equities revenues to $2.3bn.
Deregulation has also freed up financial resources for banks to allocate more capital to their trading business and finance more trades for clients.
“When our [commercial and investment banking] clients want us to serve them and we can do that in ways that make sense for us from a risk appetite and from a returns perspective, we’ve got plenty of capital to do that,” JPMorgan’s Barnum said.
Market volatility typically benefits traders but can hold back revenues in capital markets since it can be challenging to launch an IPO into a choppy market.
However the blockbuster listing of SpaceX generated $500mn in fees across Wall Street, including $100mn for Goldman and Morgan Stanley and $75mn each for JPMorgan, Citi and BofA.
Goldman increased investment banking revenues more than 50 per cent from a year earlier, to $3.4bn.
The bank said its backlog of fees had increased from the end of the previous quarter and that it expected a further rise in fees from dealmaking activity.
Goldman chief executive David Solomon was also bullish about the potential for trillions in AI spending to continue supporting investment banking revenues, as hyperscalers have turned to equity and debt markets to raise billions in fresh capital.
“The build-out of AI infrastructure remains at its early stages, and we believe this multiyear investment cycle will continue to drive elevated levels of strategic activity, financing, and capital formation across markets,” Solomon said.

[108] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:28 UTC] Bank of America says investors are too bullish so forget about summer market upside
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/bofa-says-investors-are-too-bullish-forget-about-summer-market-upside.html
There's an unnerving level of confidence in a summer rally, according to Bank of America Securities. Bank of America's latest bull and bear indicator flashed a reading of 9.4, an extremely bullish level that reflects investor optimism that an improving macroeconomic backdrop — strong artificial intelligence spending, a dovish Federal Reserve — is about to unlock the next leg of the bull market. The stock market rally has virtually stalled since early June, as conflicting signals around gas prices, skepticism around future AI profits and the path forward for monetary policy kept investors on the sidelines — awaiting some big catalyst for the next major move up or down. BofA's Michael Hartnett worries that the sheer level of optimism is in itself a contrarian sell signal, meaning that there may be fewer buyers to devote cash into a crowded market. As a result, he said investors should reduce their equity exposure, especially in high-beta names that are volatile and more sensitive to market movements. Others are more hopeful that the second-quarter earnings season will be the next major catalyst driving further upside for the stock market. According to FactSet data, the S & P 500 is about to see earnings growth above 20% for a second straight quarter, meaning price-to-earnings multiples can continue to decline as earnings accelerate. But pessimists worry that companies are deferring the cost of massive spending, while front-loading the benefits. Paulsen Perspectives' Jim Paulsen noted that, historically, when stock prices and earnings per share have spiked above trendline averages, the future one-year average performance of the stock market has been disappointing. There's also the worry that higher inflation could eventually hurt earnings expectations, in the event that hostilities between the U.S and Iran continue to worsen. But on Tuesday, at least, the major averages were last higher, after the latest consumer prices data for June showed pricing pressures were softer than feared.

[109] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:29 UTC] Texas Braces for Heavy Storms One Year After Deadly Floods
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/texas-braces-for-slow-moving-storms-one-year-after-deadly-floods
Texas Braces for Heavy Storms One Year After Deadly Floods

[110] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:30 UTC] Lofty Valuations Dent Muni Appeal After Months of Strong Inflows
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/lofty-valuations-dent-muni-appeal-after-months-of-strong-inflows
Lofty Valuations Dent Muni Appeal After Months of Strong Inflows

[111] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:33 UTC] Darline Graham’s Appointment Brings Senate Women to Record High
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/darline-graham-s-appointment-brings-senate-women-to-record-high
Darline Graham’s Appointment Brings Senate Women to Record High

[112] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 16:34 UTC] Regulatory action on chips, AI is coming, Commerce official says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/regulatory-action-chips-ai-is-coming-commerce-official-says-2026-07-14/
Action regulating artificial ​intelligence and semiconductors ‌is coming, a U.S. ​Commerce Department ​official who oversees export ⁠controls said ​at a hearing ​on Tuesday.

The official, Jeffrey Kessler, made ​the remarks ​while noting that the ‌Trump ⁠administration does not plan to replace the ​Biden ​era ⁠AI diffusion rule, ​which set ​up ⁠a global regime capping AI ⁠chip ​shipments ​certain countries could receive.

[113] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 16:36 UTC] Why the Golden Age of Sports TV Is Driving Fans Crazy
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/sports-tv-channels-streaming-eb66be44
The fragmentation of sports on TV has been a boon for leagues. But it’s making it more expensive—and confusing—for the fans.

[114] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:39 UTC] Deel Moves to Strike ‘Spy’ Witness in Rippling Lawsuit
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/hr-startup-deel-moves-to-strike-spy-witness-in-rippling-lawsuit
Rippling spokesperson calls latest move a ‘Hail Mary’

[115] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 16:43 UTC] AkzoNobel’s merger of equals looks distinctly second-best
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/083d56bb-7189-46e8-8742-5f3c7dcb2bda
Lex
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AkzoNobel’s merger of equals looks distinctly second-best
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Weekly Briefing
Our Wednesday newsletter brings you the best of the column and what we're reading
Lex takes a stance
Sharp financial opinion, delivered daily by a team of international experts
Key investment themes
Straight-to-the-point analysis of tech, energy, banking, investment and M&A
Witty and original
Entertaining, accessible insight into what makes companies tick
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[116] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:44 UTC] Wall Street Titans Posted Huge Trading Numbers. Be Worried
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-14/goldman-s-stock-trading-numbers-are-so-wild-they-re-worrying
Wall Street Titans Posted Huge Trading Numbers. Be Worried

[117] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:45 UTC] Apple’s OpenAI Suit May Turn Out to Be a Favor
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-14/apple-s-suit-against-openai-may-turn-out-to-be-a-favor
Apple’s OpenAI Suit May Turn Out to Be a Favor

[118] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:45 UTC] US and UK Pledge to Embrace Stablecoins More in Regulatory Push
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/us-and-uk-pledge-to-embrace-stablecoins-more-in-regulatory-push
US and UK Pledge to Embrace Stablecoins More in Regulatory Push

[119] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:47 UTC] Trump Teases ‘Massive’ Oil Deals With Iraq During Visit From PM
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/trump-teases-massive-oil-deals-with-iraq-during-visit-from-pm
Trump Teases ‘Massive’ Oil Deals With Iraq During Visit From PM

[120] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:48 UTC] Stocks making the biggest moves midday: IBM, Goldman Sachs, CleanSpark, HCA Healthcare & more
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/stocks-making-big-moves-midday-ibm-goldman-cleanspark-hca-more-.html
Check out some of the companies making the biggest moves midday: CleanSpark — The digital infrastructure company surged 11% after securing a 20-year data center lease in Georgia, totaling $6.6 billion in contracted revenue . HCA Healthcare — The hospital operator fell more than 7% after lowering full-year earnings guidance. HCA now sees full-year earnings per share between $28.70 and $30.50, down from a previous forecast of $29.10 per share to $31.50 per share. HCA also lowered the top end of its 2026 revenue outlook range. JPMorgan Chase — The largest bank in the nation rose 2% after posting Q2 results. JPM earned $6.14 per share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $58.02 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $5.85 per share on revenue of $50.19 billion. Bank of America — Bank of America added 2% after beating expectations in the second quarter. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank earned $1.21 per share, more than the $1.13 expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue of $31.7 billion also exceeded the $30.72 billion consensus estimate. Wells Fargo — San Francisco-based Wells fell 3% after posting earnings of $2.00 per share on revenue of $22.62 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were anticipating earnings of $1.72 per share on revenue of $21.84 billion. Goldman Sachs — The Wall Street investment bank jumped 7% after posting second-quarter earnings above exceeded estimates. Goldman earned $20.98 per share, more than the $14.48 LSEG consensus estimate. Revenue of $20.34 billion also topped the $16.13 billion expected. Citigroup — The bank fell 5% after logging its best quarterly revenue in a decade. Citigroup posted second- quarter earnings of $3.15 per share, more than the $2.74 expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Revenue of $24.77 billion also exceeded the anticipated $23.74 billion. Apple — The iPhone maker dipped 1% after KeyBanc downgraded Apple to underweight from sector weight, with a $250 price target implying 21% downside from Monday's close. The Wall Street firm expects Apple could come under pressure as customers tighten their purse strings in response to rising prices. IBM — The legacy tech giant plunged 25% after issuing weaker-than-expected preliminary Q2 earnings. IBM expects to report a profit of $2.93 per share, excluding certain items. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a profit of $3.01 per share. O-I Glass — The old Owens-Illinois slumped 8% after a double downgrade to undeperform from buy at Bank of America, which cited a recent 20% rally, challenging glass demand, fewer benefits from restructuring, less improvement in Europe and currency headwinds. LM Ericsson — The Swedish networking and telecommunications provider that also trades in the U.S. dropped 13%. Ericsson posted disappointing revenue of 52.70 billion Swedish kronor, missing the consensus estimate of 53.94 billion, according to StreetAccount. Adjusted gross margin of 48.4% topped the 47.8% that was expected. MBX Biosciences — The clinical state biopharmaceutical tum,bled 8% after saying CEO Kent Hawryluk stepped down effective immediately and will be replaced by the current executive chairman Steve Hoerter. — CNBC's Sarah Min, Fred Imbert contributed reporting

[121] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:48 UTC] JPMorgan Says Circle, Coinbase Face Stablecoin Profit Pressure
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/jpmorgan-says-circle-coinbase-face-stablecoin-profit-pressure
JPMorgan Says Circle, Coinbase Face Stablecoin Profit Pressure

[122] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 16:49 UTC] Bank of America says there's an emerging 'shock risk' for stocks as another dot-com signal flashes
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-bubble-shock-warning-volatility-signal-ai-tech-rotation-2026-7
Another parallel to the dot-com era is rearing its head, Bank of America says.
The bank said on Tuesday that there's risk of a fresh "shock" emerging for markets, pointing to one divergence that's appeared lately in stocks. It's the growing split between single-stock volatility and volatility in the broader indexes, which have remained relatively stable despite an ongoing rotation in tech.
The S&P 500 Constituent Volatility Index, a measure of single-stock volatility in the S&P 500, is now showing its largest-ever spread against the VIX, the market's broader volatility gauge, the CBOE said in a June report.
The S&P 500 Constituent Volatility Index, or the VIXEQ, hovered around 50 on Tuesday, a 46% increase year to date. The VIX, meanwhile, was at 16, up 13% for the year.
A similar divergence was seen in the late stages of the dot-com bubble, Bank of America's global equity derivatives research team said, adding that its measures of single-stock realized volatility were at levels last seen before the bubble popped.
"Stock vs index vol near Dotcom extreme… shock risk is real," BofA analysts wrote. "Index vol remains relatively muted, driving a historic divergence that could widen further, and potentially surpass dotcom extremes, if valuations (not just price action) move further into bubble-like territory."
Stocks are also heading into a "seasonally challenging period," analysts added, referring to how May to October tends to be the market's weakest six-month stretch.
The widening gap between single-stock volatility and index-wide volatility has largely been driven by the sell-off in the semiconductor sector, BofA said. Investors are rotating out of hot chip names to take profits and seek more attractive areas of the market.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF, one fund overlooking the sector, is still up 83% for the year, but has tumbled 12% from its peak in late June.
The spread has also been driven by the "increasing de-correlation of semis from other megacaps and software," with the correlation between chip stocks and the broader market indexes now hovering near record lows, the bank added.
Other forecasters on Wall Street have also flagged the growing gap between single-stock volatility and market-wide swings as a potential warning sign for the AI trade.
In a recent note, Stifel said that falling dispersion — or, when the gap between the VIXEQ and the VIX grows smaller — has typically preceded large drops in the market.

[123] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 16:49 UTC] Brent oil structure changes to reflect mounting supply risk as Iran tensions flare
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brent-oil-structure-changes-reflect-mounting-supply-risk-iran-tensions-flare-2026-07-14/
The price ​of Brent crude oil futures for prompt delivery rose on Tuesday ‌to a one-month high over the price for oil six months later as traders priced in renewed risks to Middle Eastern supplies and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The ​first-month Brent contract traded $8.92 a barrel above the sixth-month contract , its ​largest premium since June 10. A market structure in which prompt ⁠contracts trade at a premium to later ones is known as backwardation ​and is typically viewed as a sign of tight near-term supplies.

Brent's move follows ​a sharp escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, including renewed military strikes and attacks on vessels near the strait, which have reignited concerns over the security of Middle East ​oil supplies.

"The return to backwardation signals that the market expects crude availability ​to remain constrained in the weeks ahead," Saxo Bank head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen ‌said.

The ⁠structure contrasts with that in early July, when prompt Brent traded below later contracts, a more common structure known as contango and typically associated with ample near-term supplies. Recovering exports through the strait then eased supply concerns.

"For the moment, ​this is largely a ​paper move, ⁠with investors likely pouring back into the market following the latest escalation," said Neil Crosby, head of research at Sparta ​Commodities.

"We are seeing flows out of Hormuz slow, which ​could ... impact ⁠the physical market incrementally over the coming weeks if disruptions persist," Crosby added.

Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban also swung from discounts to premiums, signaling growing ⁠supply ​concerns.

Oil and gas tanker traffic fell to its lowest ​level since May 25, according to analysis from Kpler on Monday.

[124] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:50 UTC] Social Security cost-of-living adjustment estimate for 2027 falls as inflation cools
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/social-security-cola-in-2027-cooling-inflation-lowers-estimate.html
Cooling inflation has also chilled some experts' expectations for the 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, which may be between 3.7% and 3.8%, according to new estimates.
The Social Security COLA may be 3.7% in 2027, estimates Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare analyst. That figure is one full percentage point below the 4.7% COLA for 2027 Johnson estimated last month.
"This is a significant drop in inflation, and one that we've rarely seen in the June CPI data over the past five years," Johnson said in a statement.
New government data released on Tuesday shows the consumer price index increased 3.5% over the past 12 months as of June. That was lower than expectations due to a decline in energy prices.
Meanwhile, the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group, estimates the Social Security COLA for 2027 may be 3.8%, unchanged from its projection from last month.
To be sure, those estimates are subject to change. The official COLA for the following year is typically announced by the Social Security Administration in October.
Social Security benefits are adjusted annually through cost-of-living adjustments to help those monthly checks keep pace with inflation.
The annual COLA has averaged 3.1% over the past 10 years, according to the Social Security Administration. In 2026, more than 75 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries saw a 2.8% increase to their benefits.
How Medicare premiums may change in 2027
Retirement confidence among retirees has declined, according to a January survey fielded by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research firm; and Greenwald Research, a research consulting firm.
Retirees' confidence fell 5 percentage points to 73%, the survey, which included 1,045 individuals in retirement, found. Top worries included inflation, debt, healthcare costs, housing expenses and potential changes to the retirement system, according to the results. Two in five retirees said their healthcare costs have been higher than expected, the survey found.
One healthcare expense — standard premiums for Medicare Part B, which covers medically necessary and preventive services — may be $209.50 per month in 2027, according to estimates in the annual Medicare trustees report released in June. That is down from $202.90 per month in 2026 — a decline of $6.60 or 3.3%. Higher-income beneficiaries may pay additional surcharges.
"That's relatively low," Johnson said. "The average increase in Part B is usually about 5.4% per year, and that's what it's been over the past 10 years."
The initial deductible for Medicare Part D, which covers prescription drugs, will be $700 in 2027, up from $615 in 2026, according to the trustees report. Meanwhile, the catastrophic threshold, or out-of-pocket spending limit, will be set at $2,400 next year, up from $2,100 in 2026. Those new thresholds have been finalized, according to the report.

[125] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 16:50 UTC] U.S. trade official says 'very few' Nvidia H200 AI chips have been shipped to China
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/nvidia-h200-ai-chips-china.html
A top U.S. trade official said on Tuesday that "very few" of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips have been shipped to China and Hong Kong.
"The bottom line is very few shipments against licenses for H200s and equivalents have taken place. It's a very small quantity of chips," Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffery Kessler said at a congressional hearing.
The remark is a sign that H200 shipments to China have restarted, potentially boosting Nvidia's sales even higher. Since last year, Nvidia has excluded any potential Chinese AI chip revenue from its forecasts and CEO Jensen Huang said on CNBC in May that he told investors to "expect nothing" from Chinese sales.
An Nvidia representative declined to comment.
Nvidia has long sought to ship its AI chips to China, which is one of the largest markets for AI development, but has found itself caught up in a trade and technology war between Washington and Beijing, with most of the company's products under export restrictions to China.
In December, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. government would approve China sales of the H200 AI chip in exchange for a 25% cut. Licenses for the chips, which some in the administration say can be used for military purposes, were issued earlier this year.
The H200 is an older Nvidia chip in the Hopper generation, while American companies are currently using faster and more powerful Blackwell chips.
Kessler said that the U.S. government assessed companies that want the H200 chips on a case-by-case basis, with applicants needing to meet national security requirements and submit to inspections to make sure the chips are compliant.
"There are cases where we deny the license applications we receive," Kessler said.
But it remains unclear whether China will ultimately approve the import of large quantities of the chips. Without Nvidia chips, Chinese firms will be forced use domestic alternatives, which are considered inferior for AI training.

[126] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:50 UTC] Poker Case Tied to Ex-NBA Coach, Player to See More Guilty Pleas
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/poker-case-tied-to-ex-nba-coach-player-to-see-more-guilty-pleas
Poker Case Tied to Ex-NBA Coach, Player to See More Guilty Pleas

[127] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:50 UTC] Korea’s Thirst for Canadian Crude Is Poised to Outlast Iran War
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/south-korea-s-canadian-oil-imports-quadruple-as-iran-war-disrupts-hormuz
Korea’s Thirst for Canadian Crude Is Poised to Outlast Iran War

[128] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 16:53 UTC] Iraq needs a fair share within OPEC, says prime minister
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iraq-needs-fair-share-within-opec-says-prime-minister-2026-07-14/
Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said ​on Tuesday that Iraq needed a fair ‌share within OPEC after he was asked by reporters whether he was considering leaving the oil producer group.

Zaidi ​is on a trip to Washington as ​he aims to secure major U.S. investment in ⁠his country's oil, gas, and power sectors ​after the Iran war hammered crude output and ​state finances.

"Iraq is one of the founding members of OPEC... Our right is to receive a fair share for Iraq," ​he told reporters at the White House ​during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Zaidi highlighted ‌Iraq's ⁠past conflicts with the Islamic State, which he said had imposed enormous costs on the country and devastated its infrastructure.

"The damage suffered by Iraq exceeds $400 ​billion, and ​to this ⁠day some Iraqis still have destroyed homes and are living in camps. ​I have a plan to return them ​to ⁠their homes, and that is why I want a fair share for Iraq in OPEC," he said.

[129] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:54 UTC] States Seek Delay on Paramount’s $110 Billion Warner Deal
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/states-seek-order-delaying-paramount-s-110-billion-warner-deal
States Seek Delay on Paramount’s $110 Billion Warner Deal

[130] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 16:59 UTC] DOJ’s Claritev Probe Expands With New Information Demands
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/doj-s-claritev-probe-intensifies-with-new-information-demands
DOJ’s Claritev Probe Expands With New Information Demands

[131] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 17:00 UTC] European defence groups plan interceptor system to destroy missiles in space
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/8280d5cf-a117-4dd2-bf69-dbe3ac199a18
European defence groups plan interceptor system to destroy missiles in space
A group of European missile manufacturers is developing what they say will be the continent’s first interceptor able to destroy medium-range ballistic missiles in space, as the region rushes to plug gaps in air defence.
The alliance will be led by Dutch aerospace start-up Destinus, and includes Airbus’ German-based defence and space arm, MBDA Deutschland, as well as France’s Safran and Thales.
The group, dubbed the Bliksem EXO consortium, said the system would be designed to detect, track and defeat ballistic missiles above the atmosphere.
The programme will draw on lessons learnt from Ukraine’s experience in countering air and missile attacks from Russia. Moscow’s use of the Oreshnik ballistic missile in Ukraine, which is considered very difficult to intercept, has underlined Europe’s vulnerability in detecting launches.
Shorter-range ballistic missiles typically follow trajectories that remain within the atmosphere, while longer-range ones spend part of their midcourse flight outside the atmosphere.
The new system is designed to intercept missiles through direct kinetic hit-to-kill impact rather than an explosive warhead.
Under a letter of intent signed on Tuesday, the companies said they planned to enter into a binding consortium agreement within three months, followed by a test in space in 2027.
Europe has “strong lower-layer missile defences but it still lacks a sovereign European upper layer against medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles,” said Mikhail Kokorich, Destinus chief executive.
The announcement of the industrial alliance follows Monday’s launch of the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, a wider coalition of nations. Backed by Ukraine and nine other countries including Sweden, France, Germany and the UK, the coalition pledged to come up with joint missile defence systems.
Separately on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France had agreed to let Ukraine produce certain missiles under licence for the first time. The move is part of a bid to help Kyiv boost its arsenal and fend off Russia’s ballistic missile attacks.
Ukraine will order four air defence systems known as SAMPT-NG — a next-generation rival to the US Patriot made by Franco-Italian Eurosam, which is backed by Thales and MBDA — and will produce the related Aster 30 interceptor missiles. To tide it over until deliveries starting in 2027, France will temporarily send two existing equivalents to Ukraine.
Ukraine will also produce SCALP cruise missiles and the AASM guided bombs, Macron said, and has ordered 16 Rafale fighter jets made by France’s Dassault Aviation, for delivery by 2028-2029.

[132] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:03 UTC] How Warren Buffett Plans to Dispose of His $140 Billion Berkshire Stake
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/buffett-lays-out-plan-to-dispose-of-140-billion-berkshire-stake
How Warren Buffett Plans to Dispose of His $140 Billion Berkshire Stake

[133] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:03 UTC] E. Jean Carroll receives $5.63 million owed by Trump in sex abuse case
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/e-jean-carroll-receives-563-million-owed-by-trump-sex-abuse-case-2026-07-14/
The writer E. Jean Carroll ​has collected nearly $5.63 million from Donald Trump after a jury in 2023 found the U.S. ‌president liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, court records show.

Over Trump's objections, the money was released to Carroll's law firm on Monday, five days after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan authorized the disbursement from a court-supervised ​account.

The payout represents the original $5 million civil verdict, plus interest.

It is the first time ​Trump has been forced to pay Carroll. She has won $88.3 million of civil ⁠verdicts against the president in the seven years since he first denied having raped her around ​1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

Trump has branded Carroll's claims a ​hoax, denied he knew her, said she made up the alleged rape to help sell her memoir, and derided her case as "weaponization and lawfare." Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump's appeal from the $5 million verdict.

A spokesperson for Trump's ​legal team on Tuesday repeated a statement made after Kaplan's decision: "The American People stand with President ​Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of ‌the Carroll ⁠Hoaxes."

TRUMP WARNED OF 'IRREPARABLE HARM'

Last week, Trump's lawyer asked a federal appeals court to block a disbursement, saying the president would suffer "irreparable harm" if Carroll fulfilled her stated intention to give away the money because the money likely could not be recovered.

The lawyer also said it did not matter that ​Carroll now assures she ​will put the money ⁠in an interest-bearing account to fund her retirement, because she could still give it away.

Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million based on a Trump denial in 2022, ​though they did not find that Trump raped her.

A different jury in ​2024 ordered Trump ⁠to pay Carroll $83.3 million, based on his original 2019 denial during his first White House term.

Trump is expected to appeal that verdict to the Supreme Court.

Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the ⁠judge, ​said in a statement: "Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury ​found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. We are pleased to report that she has received ​the damages payment the jury awarded her."

[134] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:05 UTC] US company seeks to produce uranium for nuclear energy from seawater
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-company-seeks-produce-uranium-nuclear-energy-seawater-2026-07-14/
Texas-based SuperCritical Materials Corp said on Tuesday it has won an exclusive license from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to ​extract uranium from seawater, a process that was developed by ‌U.S. labs but is not yet commercial.

The uranium would need to undergo several procedures including conversion into a gas, enrichment, and fuel fabrication before it could ​power nuclear energy.

Uranium exists naturally in seawater, but at very ​small concentrations of about 3.3 parts per billion.

SuperCritical hopes to ⁠extract uranium from seawater with specially treated acrylic fibers to ​which dissolved uranium ions bind.

The U.S. now imports up to 75% of ​the enriched uranium used in reactors, from countries including Russia, France and Germany. Washington has banned Russian uranium imports with waivers permitted until 2028.

"Our long-term goal is ​to transform the U.S. from a net importer to a net ​exporter of uranium and nuclear fuels," said Alexander Canon Bryan, founder and CEO.

Company ‌hopes ⁠its first plant can produce 1.85 million pounds (839,150 kg) of uranium per year for at least 40 years. That amount could power about 4 million households annually.

Ted Garrish, assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the ​DOE, said the ​technology "represents a potentially ⁠significant contribution to America's long-term fuel security and industrial competitiveness."

Company has not made a final investment decision ​yet, but says it can develop uranium as soon ​as ⁠2030 or 2031.

SuperCritical has raised $4.5 million privately and is seeking to become a publicly traded company on Nasdaq this year.

SuperCritical expects to deploy first ⁠in ​Texas and to work with 13 regulatory ​agencies to get permissions, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Railroad Commission ​and the U.S. Coast Guard.

[135] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 17:08 UTC] US banks results as they happened: Wall Street banks post blockbuster profits as equities trading booms
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/f4231724-bb67-4cfd-81e2-d20f4badb82e
Joshua Franklin and Ortenca Aliaj

JPMorgan Chase reported record quarterly profits that surpassed even the pandemic-era boom, helped by a blockbuster performance by its traders and gains from its stake in Visa.

Net income jumped 41 per cent to $21.2bn, including $4.6bn linked to its shares in Visa. Excluding that gain, net income was $16.9bn, compared with forecast earnings of $16.5bn.

Investment banking fees were $3.3bn, up 30 per cent from a year ago and aided by $75mn from its work on the SpaceX initial public offering in June. Trading revenues were up 35 per cent at $12.1bn, with an 86 per cent increase at its equities business.

The results come on a busy day of earnings on Wall Street, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo also all reporting results on Tuesday.

Joshua Franklin and Ortenca Aliaj in New York

JPMorgan Chase lifted its outlook for what it expects to earn from net interest income in 2026 and cut the net charge-off rate it is forecasting for its card business, a bullish signal for the bank’s lending business. The bank said it was now forecasting total net interest income — the difference between what banks pay on deposits and what they earn from loans and other assets — of $105.5bn, up from $103bn. JPMorgan also said that it now expected a net charge-off rate — the portion of its loans marked as unrecoverable — at its card business of about 3.2 per cent, down from 3.4 per cent.

The bank reported non-interest-related expenses were up 15 per cent to $27.3bn, which it said were primarily driven by “higher compensation” and a jump in the number of front-office employees. The US lender also reported an increase in brokerage and occupancy expenses.

Joshua Franklin in New York

Jamie Dimon said the US economy had demonstrated “notable resiliency this year” but JPMorgan’s chief executive warned of risks from the Iran war, higher asset prices and elevated inflation.

“This strength is being supported by several tailwinds, including AI-driven capital investment, fiscal stimulus and the benefits of more efficient regulation,” Dimon said.

“However, several risks are shifting below the surface like tectonic plates, including geopolitical tensions and wars, sticky inflation, large global fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices. We cannot predict how these forces will ultimately play out.”

Akila Quinio in New York

Wells Fargo reported a 17 per cent increase in net income to $6.4bn, higher than expectations of $5.6bn, in the three months to the end of June as the bank continues to grow its balance sheet following the removal of a regulatory asset cap. Revenues at the San Francisco-based lender grew to $22.6bn, above expectations of $21.8bn. The bank was boosted by 20 per cent revenue growth in investment banking, thanks to higher activity in equity and debt capital markets. Chief executive Charlie Scharf said that after “years of not being on a level playing field with our competitors because we couldn’t grow our balance sheet”, Wells is “carefully deploying capital to grow and support our clients by taking risks that we think are prudent through economic cycles”.

Wells’ lending was stunted for years after regulators imposed a $2tn asset cap on the bank in 2018 following a consumer mis-selling scandal.

Compared with Goldman Sachs, analysts are forecasting slightly more modest earnings growth from JPMorgan Chase.

Second-quarter net profits are expected to come in at $16.5bn, a 10 per cent increase on a year earlier.

Investment banking and trading are likely to drive the increase, with advisory fees expected to rise 13 per cent and revenues from fixed-income and equities trading predicted to climb 15 per cent.

That should help offset an expected $3.1bn in reserves for possible losses from loans — an 8.5 per cent jump from last year.

Analysts are predicting credit losses at JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup will tick up in the second quarter but remain below recent highs.

The net charge-off rate — the portion of loans with losses that are marked as unrecoverable — is expected to rise from the previous quarter at JPMorgan and Citi, according to Bloomberg estimates. They are poised to fall at Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Bank executives have talked about the credit losses “normalising” after a prolonged period of low default rates in the wake of pandemic-era stimulus programmes.

Goldman Sachs helmed the capital markets deal of the year, along with Morgan Stanley: the SpaceX initial public offering.

Its $100mn in fees from that listing are expected to help lift quarterly profits by 25 per cent from a year ago, with gains in both equities trading and investment banking.

Analysts forecast that Goldman’s profits for the three-month period will hit $4.7bn, the bank’s best second quarter since 2021.

Investment banking fees — which include the SpaceX bonanza — are expected to rise by more than a third from the same time last year, to almost $3bn.

Trading revenues are forecast to have risen 13 per cent to $8.8bn, with the biggest gains from its equities business.

Tuesday will see five of the world’s biggest banks, with more than $2tn in combined market capitalisation, report second-quarter earnings.

It is the first time that has happened in at least 10 years, according to AlphaSense data. Mike Mayo, analyst at Wells Fargo, calls this confluence “the World Cup of banking”.

Perhaps earnings pile-ups are actually a good thing. As analysis gets faster, there is much to be said for being able to tell in the blink of an eye whether an earnings surprise is company-specific or sector-wide.

That is particularly true for interconnected sectors such as tech, where chipmakers, hyperscalers and software companies from Alphabet to Nvidia to Salesforce scatter their reflections on the state of a red-hot market over weeks rather than days.

Read the full Lex note here.

The big investment banks have been firing on all cylinders. Growth in trading units and investment banking fees has come at the same time as losses from lending have been muted.

That has helped bank shares outperform the broader market during the past two years — and prompted questions over how much upside remains for Wall Street stocks.

“The bar is higher,” said Saul Martinez, head of US financials equity research at HSBC. “This should be a good quarter, but I think the market is expecting that, and you have seen that in the stock prices.”

Welcome to the FT’s live coverage of a busy day on Wall Street, where many of the biggest US banks will report results.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are expected to report bumper second-quarter earnings, profiting from volatile markets and the blockbuster SpaceX initial public offering.

Together with Morgan Stanley, which reports on Wednesday, revenues in the banks’ trading businesses are predicted to grow by more than 18 per cent from a year ago to $40.2bn.

Often a good quarter for traders means a bad one for capital markets bankers, since it can be hard to launch an IPO into a choppy market.

But there was one blockbuster exception to that rule this quarter: SpaceX. The $500mn in fees from that deal, plus a resurgence in mega-mergers, should help Wall Street banks report their highest investment banking fees in four and a half years.

Altogether, the banks are forecast to report a 27 per cent year-on-year increase in fees from investment banking for the quarter, taking the total to $11.1bn.

Follow the FT’s live coverage of the results and analyst calls.

[136] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:08 UTC] Beckham’s IM8 Gets $1 Billion From General Catalyst for Growth
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/beckham-s-im8-gets-1-billion-from-general-catalyst-for-growth
Beckham’s IM8 Gets $1 Billion From General Catalyst for Growth

[137] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:09 UTC] Barclays believes SK Hynix's U.S. shares can double. Here's why
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/barclays-believes-sk-hynixs-us-shares-can-double-heres-why.html
Following its debut on the Nasdaq last week, shares of South Korean memory maker SK Hynix could double in price over the next year, according to Barclays. The bank started coverage of the memory specialist on Tuesday with an overweight rating and a price target of $330 compared with its current price around $167. The performance driver for the stock will be the ongoing shortage of memory facing the broader technology sector, allowing price increases that will boost revenues, Barclays analysts said. "We see some upside to gross margins nearer term but the biggest delta to Bloomberg consensus is materially higher 2027 revenues driven by HBM pricing uplift and SKHY's strong position," Simon Coles at Barclays wrote in a Tuesday note to clients. SKHY 5D mountain SKHY 5-day. The pricing power of the memory sector has led to a huge expansion of projected profit margins in recent months, fueling a stock price boom that has only recently begun to taper. The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) is down about 17% over the past month but up 116% since its inception at the beginning of April. While memory is a historically volatile sector, the AI investment boom has created a demand supercycle for the component that most analysts on Wall Street believe is far from over. Simon Coles also sees the potential in the company's balance sheet to repurchase stock, which could further raise the stock's price. "We estimate SKHY will hold cash equivalent to > 40% of its current market cap by year end 2027, providing ample opportunity to boost earnings growth through share buybacks," he wrote.

[138] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:09 UTC] California settles lawsuit against testing vendor over glitch-ridden bar exam
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/california-settles-lawsuit-against-testing-vendor-over-glitch-ridden-bar-exam-2026-07-14/
Testing vendor Meazure Learning has agreed to pay $5.25 million to the State Bar of California to settle a lawsuit the agency filed after its problem-plagued February 2025 bar exam, ​the state bar said Monday.

Meazure Learning will also forgo an outstanding $1.36 million payment from ‌the state bar as part of the settlement, ending more than a year of legal wrangling over the delivery of the exam, which was marred by multiple technical problems . The settlement agreement calls for the state bar to dismiss its ​lawsuit within two days of receiving payment from Meazure.

In a statement, State Bar General Counsel ​Ellin Davtyan called the settlement a “reasonable, appropriate, and acceptable resolution” that helps to ⁠offset the costs the state bar incurred after the botched exam.

Meazure Learning continues to deny any ​liability or wrongdoing, a company spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. But the settlement allows it to “avoid ​the time, expense, and distraction of protracted litigation.”

The state bar sued Meazure in May 2025, alleging the company failed to live up to its promises that its systems could handle thousands of bar examinees. The bar signed a $4.1 million contract ​with the company in September 2024 to administer the February and future exams, to be given both ​remotely and in person. The new format was meant to reduce the cost of administering the attorney licensing exam ‌by ⁠eliminating the need to rent out large event spaces.

However, February 2025 test-takers encountered widespread technical and logistical problems. Some examinees were unable to log into the bar exam at all, while many experienced delays, lax exam security, distracting proctors, and a faulty copy-and-paste function.

A California State Auditor report released Thursday concluded that ​the February 2025 bar exam ​cost the state ⁠bar at least $5.1 million, with an additional $4 million in lost revenue from fee waivers and exam refunds for test takers. The audit also found that the ​state bar contracted with Meazure without fully verifying the company’s ability to ​effectively deliver ⁠the exam.

California returned to in-person testing following the exam, and the state bar’s Board of Trustees in May recommended to the California Supreme Court that the state begin using the NextGen bar exam developed by the National ⁠Conference ​of Bar Examiners starting in July 2028. That exam is also ​only given in person.

Read more:

California bar exam meltdown on Tuesday prompts offer of March retakes

California Bar sues vendor over exam meltdown

Test ​vendor moves to toss California's lawsuit over botched bar exam, says fraud claims fail

[139] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:11 UTC] Fender escalates Stratocaster copyright fight, taking aim at Yamaha
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/fender-escalates-stratocaster-copyright-fight-taking-aim-yamaha-2026-07-14/
Fender, the ​U.S. maker of the iconic Stratocaster electric guitar played by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, has widened ‌its legal campaign to defend the guitar's design with a notice letter sent to Yamaha (7951.T) , the Japanese company told Reuters.

Fender began an aggressive campaign over the shape of the Strat in March, after a German court granted it copyright protection over the body shape in the European ​Union. Fender sent cease-and-desist letters to manufacturers and retailers asking them to halt production and sale of affected ​models in the region, sparking a backlash across the guitar industry, drawing legal challenges and criticism ⁠from independent manufacturers.

The letter to Yamaha, the world's largest maker of musical instruments, has not been previously reported. Yamaha did ​not specify which models were named but said it was reviewing the notice and weighing how to respond.

In a statement ​to Reuters, Fender said, "Protecting these iconic designs is part of Fender's obligation as a steward of the brand, its legacy, and the authenticity musicians associate with Fender instruments. We remain open to engaging constructively with partners and companies across the industry."

The move pits Fender against a sizeable ​competitor with resources to fight a costly legal battle, after its initial moves sparked an online backlash among fans. At ​stake is whether Fender can claim exclusive rights to what many musicians consider a generic design, potentially wiping cheaper alternatives off European shelves ‌and reshaping ⁠competition in fast-growing markets such as China and India.

"It's literally the guitar emoji," said Rhett Shull, a U.S. guitarist and YouTube creator with over 780,000 subscribers. Shull said many guitarists view the Strat body as a generic shape after decades of use, and noted that Fender itself sells acoustic guitars in the "dreadnought" shape pioneered by C.F. Martin & Co.

"We encourage the creation of ​new and distinctive designs that ​push guitar innovation forward ⁠rather than relying on direct copies of Leo Fender's pioneering work," Fender said in its statement.

Yamaha's Pacifica line, which bears the closest resemblance to a Strat, launched in 1990. Fender's campaign ​could reshape a market in which companies have for decades sold Fender-inspired guitars for less ​than $100 to more ⁠than $5,000.

For now, Fender's push centers on European law. In 2009, it unsuccessfully sought U.S. trademark protection for the Strat but never appealed.

Fender has sent legal notices to companies including Thomann, a German retailer that sells Strat-shaped guitars under its Harley Benton brand. Thomann ⁠has countersued ​Fender, citing the need to protect industry diversity.

"I think their end goal ​is to be the sole suppliers of Stratocasters to the whole of the European market. I think they've probably underestimated the backlash," said Philip Cupitt, ​a patent attorney at Marks & Clerk.

[140] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:11 UTC] Fender escalates Stratocaster copyright fight, taking aim at Yamaha
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/fender-escalates-stratocaster-copyright-fight-taking-aim-yamaha-2026-07-14/
Fender, the ​U.S. maker of the iconic Stratocaster electric guitar played by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, has widened ‌its legal campaign to defend the guitar's design with a notice letter sent to Yamaha (7951.T) , the Japanese company told Reuters.

Fender began an aggressive campaign over the shape of the Strat in March, after a German court granted it copyright protection over the body shape in the European ​Union. Fender sent cease-and-desist letters to manufacturers and retailers asking them to halt production and sale of affected ​models in the region, sparking a backlash across the guitar industry, drawing legal challenges and criticism ⁠from independent manufacturers.

The letter to Yamaha, the world's largest maker of musical instruments, has not been previously reported. Yamaha did ​not specify which models were named but said it was reviewing the notice and weighing how to respond.

In a statement ​to Reuters, Fender said, "Protecting these iconic designs is part of Fender's obligation as a steward of the brand, its legacy, and the authenticity musicians associate with Fender instruments. We remain open to engaging constructively with partners and companies across the industry."

The move pits Fender against a sizeable ​competitor with resources to fight a costly legal battle, after its initial moves sparked an online backlash among fans. At ​stake is whether Fender can claim exclusive rights to what many musicians consider a generic design, potentially wiping cheaper alternatives off European shelves ‌and reshaping ⁠competition in fast-growing markets such as China and India.

"It's literally the guitar emoji," said Rhett Shull, a U.S. guitarist and YouTube creator with over 780,000 subscribers. Shull said many guitarists view the Strat body as a generic shape after decades of use, and noted that Fender itself sells acoustic guitars in the "dreadnought" shape pioneered by C.F. Martin & Co.

"We encourage the creation of ​new and distinctive designs that ​push guitar innovation forward ⁠rather than relying on direct copies of Leo Fender's pioneering work," Fender said in its statement.

Yamaha's Pacifica line, which bears the closest resemblance to a Strat, launched in 1990. Fender's campaign ​could reshape a market in which companies have for decades sold Fender-inspired guitars for less ​than $100 to more ⁠than $5,000.

For now, Fender's push centers on European law. In 2009, it unsuccessfully sought U.S. trademark protection for the Strat but never appealed.

Fender has sent legal notices to companies including Thomann, a German retailer that sells Strat-shaped guitars under its Harley Benton brand. Thomann ⁠has countersued ​Fender, citing the need to protect industry diversity.

"I think their end goal ​is to be the sole suppliers of Stratocasters to the whole of the European market. I think they've probably underestimated the backlash," said Philip Cupitt, ​a patent attorney at Marks & Clerk.

[141] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:12 UTC] Sky-high returns and earnings expectations could mean the end is near for this stock-market bull run
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sky-high-returns-and-earnings-expectations-could-mean-the-end-is-near-for-this-stock-market-bull-run-429b4085?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Never since 1950 have the S&P 500’s price and earnings both been so far above the historical trend at one time, one strategist said.

[142] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:12 UTC] T. rex sells for $50 million, becoming the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever auctioned
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/trex-fossil-auction-sothebys.html
A Tyrannosaurus rex specimen sold at Sotheby's for $50.1 million, becoming the most expensive dinosaur ever sold at auction.
Riding a boom in dinosaur prices at auction, the T. rex, named "Gus," blew past its price estimate of $20 million to $30 million after a 10-minute bidding war between seven bidders. It broke the record sale by Sotheby's of a Stegosaurus skeleton nicknamed "Apex" in 2024 for $44.6 million, bought by billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin.
Gus was discovered in South Dakota and is about 67 million years old. Touted as one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found, Gus has 183 fossil bone elements and is about 61% complete by bone count. It is about 38 feet long, about 12.5 feet tall and has a skull length of 54 inches, making it one of the largest T. rex fossils ever found, according to Sotheby's.
Gus also displayed a number of injuries, including fractured and healed bones in several ribs and gastralia, as well as bite marks to several skull bones.
"Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that's been excavated, documented, prepared and cared for with real excellence," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice chairman and worldwide head of science and natural history.
Dinosaur fossils have become one of the fastest growing segments of the collectibles market, as the wealthy search for rare stores of long-term value and auction houses look to categories beyond art to diversify their sales. A T. rex named "Stan" sold at Christie's in 2020 for $31.8 million.
While the success of Gus is likely to encourage the sale of more dinosaur bones, paleontologists and other experts warn that there are few safeguards for authenticity or verification in the industry.

[143] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:12 UTC] Can Fees Be Imposed in Hormuz? How Other Waterways Work
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/strait-of-hormuz-fees-how-suez-panama-canal-and-other-waterways-charge-ships
Can Fees Be Imposed in Hormuz? How Other Waterways Work

[144] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:14 UTC] Delivery Hero confirms advanced negotiations with Uber over potential takeover offer
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/delivery-hero-confirms-advanced-negotiations-with-uber-over-potential-takeover-2026-07-14/
Delivery Hero (DHER.DE) said on Tuesday it was in advanced negotiations with Uber Technologies (UBER.N) regarding a potential takeover offer, confirming earlier media ​reports that the U.S. ride-hailing and food-delivery company is pursuing the ‌German group.

The statement followed a Bloomberg News report that Uber was in advanced talks to acquire Delivery Hero and could reach an agreement as soon as this week.

The report said a ​deal would likely value Delivery Hero at well above its recent trading ​price of around 36 euros per share. The Berlin-based company has ⁠gained about 62% this year, giving it a market value of roughly ​11.2 billion euros ($12.8 billion).

Delivery Hero declined to comment on speculation about the offer price, ​but said any potential bid would be made to all shareholders. Uber declined to comment.

Shares of Uber were down nearly 2%, while Delivery Hero closed 5.76% higher at 39.10 euros.

The talks ​follow months of speculation over Delivery Hero's future, with Uber having approached the ​company in May with a 38 euros per share offer that investors viewed as too low, ‌according ⁠to media reports .

Acquiring Delivery Hero would widen the Uber Eats food-delivery network in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, but would also attract attention from antitrust regulators given the overlap in the companies' footprint.

Slowing growth and intense competition have spurred ​consolidation in the ​industry as companies ⁠seek better margins. Uber has also been moving beyond ride-hailing, strengthening its food delivery business and expanding into grocery, travel ​and local commerce, including a recent move into hotel bookings.

Earlier this ​year, ⁠Uber unveiled a food-delivery expansion into seven new European markets, including Austria, Denmark and Norway, expecting to generate an additional $1 billion in gross bookings over the next three years.

Reuters had ⁠reported ​in late May that Uber had raised its ​stake in Delivery Hero to nearly 37% from 25% by acquiring shares from fellow shareholder Aspex Management.

($1 = ​0.8731 euros)

[145] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:16 UTC] Law firm Quinn Emanuel barred from antitrust case over client conflict
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/law-firm-quinn-emanuel-barred-antitrust-case-over-client-conflict-2026-07-14/
U.S. law firm Quinn Emanuel cannot represent data provider Commercial Real Estate ​Exchange (CREXi) in its antitrust case against larger rival CoStar Group, a federal judge ruled, finding the firm's representation ‌of both companies created a conflict of interest.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall in Los Angeles on Monday granted a request from CoStar to disqualify Quinn Emanuel from representing CREXi in the long-running litigation.

The judge agreed with CoStar's arguments that Quinn Emanuel owed it a duty of loyalty because the ​firm had appeared for CoStar in a separate lawsuit in the federal court in San Jose last year.

Quinn ​Emanuel declined to comment. CREXi in a statement said "CoStar’s litigation tactics are meant to distract from ⁠its mounting antitrust exposure as its business and stock struggle."

CoStar general counsel Gene Boxer in a statement said the ​disqualification order “confirms a basic principle that every client is entitled to expect from its lawyers: loyalty.” Boxer said "CREXi’s strategy is now apparent: ​when caught stealing CoStar Group’s content, it tried to steal CoStar Group’s lawyers too."

California-based CREXi, which was represented by Quinn Emanuel since last year, lodged antitrust counterclaims against CoStar in 2021 in a copyright lawsuit that CoStar filed against CREXi the previous year.

The original lawsuit alleged CREXi ​deliberately copied tens of thousands of CoStar photos of real estate properties in what the company has called a mass copyright ​infringement scheme. CREXi in its counterclaims alleged CoStar locked real estate brokers into using its data platforms and blocked rivals from accessing key web ‌tools.

In ⁠court filings, CoStar said Quinn Emanuel did not obtain approval from the company or a waiver before taking on the work for CREXi.

“Despite representing CoStar in active litigation, Quinn made the self-interested decision to represent one of CoStar’s key competitors adverse to its client,” CoStar told Marshall in January.

CREXi countered that disqualification was not justified because there was no overlap between the lawyers ​working on the two cases and ​because they involved different facts ⁠and witnesses. A judge in February dismissed the lawsuit in San Jose, an employment dispute against CoStar.

CREXi said in a court filing that CoStar's bid to disqualify Quinn Emanuel was “litigation ​gamesmanship” and that barring the representation would “strip CREXi of its carefully chosen counsel and severely ​prejudice its ability ⁠to litigate this case.”

Marshall said that because CoStar had not consented to Quinn Emanuel’s work for CREXi “the duty of loyalty has been breached.”

The case is CoStar Group v. Commercial Real Estate Exchange, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 2:20-cv-08819-CBM-AS.

For plaintiff: Nicholas ⁠Boyle and ​Elyse Greenwald of Latham & Watkins

For defendant: Alex Spiro and Michael Lifrak of ​Quinn Emanuel

Read more:

Judge sanctions law firm Quinn Emanuel, citing ethical lapses

As lawyer rates surge, US firm charges $4,000 an hour for top partners

Pfizer, Teva lose bid ​to disqualify ex-prosecutor in generic drug price‑fixing case

Musk wins fight to keep lawyer Alex Spiro in Twitter trial

[146] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:17 UTC] Your paycheck is rising faster than prices for a change — but when will you feel the relief?
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/your-paycheck-is-rising-faster-than-prices-for-a-change-but-when-will-you-feel-the-relief-cbbcb8bd?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Wage growth in June outpaced inflation, after falling behind during April and May.

[147] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:18 UTC] Apple in talks with startup that shrinks AI models to run on an iPhone
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/apple-prismml-ai-compression-iphone.html
Apple is in talks with a small Silicon Valley company that says it can shrink powerful artificial intelligence models enough to run directly on an iPhone, the startup's CEO told CNBC.
PrismML, a Khosla Ventures-backed spinout from the California Institute of Technology, publicly released compressed versions of Alibaba's open-source Qwen model on Tuesday. The company said it reduced the model from roughly 54 GB to less than 4 GB, allowing all 27 billion of its parameters to run on an iPhone 15 or newer.
PrismML CEO Babak Hassibi told CNBC that Apple and other companies have been evaluating the startup's models and measuring their speed, energy efficiency and performance on devices.
"They're really evaluating our technology right now," Hassibi said of Apple.
He characterized the discussions as very early and said it remains unclear where they will lead, but that "things are progressing nicely."
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment
The Information previously reported the PrismML breakthrough.
The release comes one day after Apple opened the public beta of iOS 27, giving iPhone owners their first broad access to the company's long-delayed overhaul of Siri. Apple is trying to make Siri more competitive with assistants from OpenAI and Anthropic while keeping more personal information and AI processing on the device.
The company's approach could address one of the central constraints facing Apple's AI strategy. The most capable models typically require too much memory and processing power to run on a smartphone.
Apple can send complex requests to cloud-based models, but running more AI directly on the iPhone would reduce the delay associated with sending data to a remote server, lower cloud-computing costs and support the company's privacy pitch. It would also allow certain features to work without an internet connection.
Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at Creative Strategies, said smaller models could let Apple move more demanding features onto the iPhone, including computational photography, video generation and health or fitness tools that rely on sensitive personal data.
"The more you can do on device, the better it is," she said, pointing to health and medication data that users would want to keep private.
PrismML said it shrinks AI models by drastically simplifying how their internal information is stored — reducing each value from 16 bits to just one or three possible values. That significantly cuts the memory required to store and operate the model.
Hassibi compared it to the chip industry's move from eight-bit to four-bit computing, but takes it a step further.
The startup said the compressed models use between 10 and 15 times less memory, generate responses six to eight times faster and consume three to six times less energy than conventional versions running on existing hardware.
Hassibi did acknowledged there is a trade-off, however. PrismML's models typically lose a few percentage points of overall performance, with factual recall weakening before skills such as reasoning, math and coding, he said.
PrismML is releasing two compressed versions of the model for free. They are designed to run on everyday devices, including iPhones, MacBooks and Nvidia-powered PCs.
The technology emerged from Hassibi's research group at Caltech. The university owns the underlying patents and licenses them exclusively to PrismML. In March, the company raised a $16.25 million seed round backed by Khosla Ventures and other investors.
Hassibi said Google's open-source Gemma model is next in the pipeline, followed by much larger models, including those from frontier labs that today generally require datacenter hardware.
The technology, according to PrismML, could ultimately extend well beyond phones and laptops to robotics, autonomous systems and other products that need to make decisions quickly without relying on a cloud connection.
"It's very important that the intelligence be local and that it can run fast," he said.
Apple's on-device advantage
Apple already runs parts of its AI system locally, including translation, some summarization and features tied closely to personal information. More complex requests are routed to Apple's private cloud infrastructure or outside models.
Horace Dediu, founder of Asymco, said Apple is likely trying to keep the large majority of common Siri interactions on-device while reserving the most demanding tasks for the cloud.
The advantage is not simply using less memory, he said, but fitting a more capable model within the same physical limits.
"They're trying to figure out how big a model and how clever a model they can fit on the device," Dediu said. Keeping common requests local gives Apple lower latency, greater privacy and potentially lower licensing and cloud costs.
Apple may have an advantage in putting these models to work because it designs the iPhone's chips and software together, giving it tighter control over how AI runs on the device.
But analysts cautioned that PrismML's claims still need to be proven outside controlled demonstrations.
Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, said the model's performance on lengthy prompts, battery consumption during multitasking and reliability across millions of requests will be critical.
"The ultimate test will be millions of queries, thousands of device combinations and robust testing at scale," Pathak said.
Phil Solis, who leads IDC's research on client processors, said power consumption may be the biggest open question. A model that is capable enough to be used frequently — or continuously in the background for agent-like tasks — could drain a phone's battery even if it requires less memory.
What it means for chip demand
PrismML's release also comes during an intense debate over whether improvements in AI efficiency could eventually reduce demand for memory chips and expensive datacenter infrastructure.
Memory has become one of the biggest constraints and costs across consumer electronics and AI servers. Morgan Stanley estimates Apple's average dynamic random access memory cost per bit could rise roughly 190% year over year in fiscal 2027, with NAND costs up about 180%. NAND is typically used in flash drives and solid state drives.
The firm expects Apple to raise the starting price of comparable iPhone 18 models by about $200 to protect margins.
PrismML said its approach could allow a cloud model that normally requires eight GPUs to run on one, while also allowing models that once required a server to move onto phones and laptops.
That could reduce the amount of memory or computing capacity needed for a given AI task. But it does not necessarily mean overall chip demand will fall.
Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, said shrinking models would not eliminate the need for processors or memory. It could simply move more of those chips from datacenters into phones and other devices.
"It's not that you're not going to need the chip," Luria said. "You're still going to need the GPU, and you're still going to need the memory."
He added that running AI on individual devices can actually be less efficient than using shared datacenter infrastructure because chips in phones may sit idle much of the time.
Efficiency breakthroughs can also lead to more use rather than lower spending, as cheaper and faster AI enables new products and prompts consumers to run models more often.
Still, the market has been quick to punish anything that suggests AI may need less memory than expected. Micron shares plunged in March after Google published its TurboQuant paper on cutting memory use without hurting model performance, though the stock later recovered.
PrismML's public release gives everyday users and investors a chance to test whether its claimed gains hold up outside the lab. And for Apple, running more capable AI directly on the iPhone could help the company improve Siri without abandoning the privacy and hardware integration that distinguis

[148] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:19 UTC] Bank earnings takeaways: What JPMorgan, BofA, Goldman, Citi and Wells Fargo said
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
CEOs weighed in on the state of the consumer and discussed how they're thinking about artificial intelligence.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said all of the company's major businesses posted record revenue last quarter. He added that the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
Dimon said artificial intelligence has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered positions elsewhere in the company.
JPMorgan stock was up roughly 2% in midday trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
He told CNBC that it's up to management teams to mitigate the impact from AI job losses.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank's deals backlog is at the highest level in five years, which bodes well for revenue in future quarters.
Solomon also told CNBC that he sees AI as making people more productive, but that it shouldn't affect headcount.
Goldman Sachs stock rose more than 6% in midday trading.
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said AI is helping drive growth, and that Citigroup still sees "real resiliency" in its corporate clients.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Solomon: 'Fed independence has served us well'
- Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan guidance keeps climbing
- Wells Fargo CFO says consumers have been resilient
- Bank of America CEO tells CNBC that markets-related business led to growth
- Citigroup reports best quarterly revenue in a decade
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[149] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 17:21 UTC] Opinion | PEN America Equivocates on Boycotting Israel
URL: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/pen-america-equivocates-on-boycotting-israel-c31e6fcb
And its president resigns, claiming it’s ‘unethical’ even to criticize BDS as discriminatory.

[150] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:22 UTC] ARC shareholders approve $16.4 billion Shell takeover deal
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/arc-shareholders-approve-164-billion-shell-deal-2026-07-14/
ARC Resources (ARX.TO) said on Tuesday its shareholders have voted in favor ​of being acquired by Shell (SHEL.L) , clearing another step for ‌one of this year's biggest energy sector deals.

Shell agreed earlier this year to acquire the Canadian natural gas producer in a $16.4 billion deal, as it ​seeks to expand its natural gas portfolio in North ​America.

ARC said 99.54% of votes cast at a special ⁠shareholder meeting supported the deal. It added that several regulatory ​approvals had already been obtained, including competition clearances in Canada and ​the United States.

The companies now await a hearing for approval at the Court of King's Bench of Alberta, scheduled for Wednesday.

A Shell spokesperson said ​the company would resume its share buyback programme following the ​completion of the shareholder vote.

"The portion of the $3 billion buybacks we announced at ‌Q1 ⁠that was not undertaken due to the necessary suspension of the program will be made up in the remainder of 2026 (subject to board approval)," the spokesperson added.

Last month, Shell paused its $3 billion ​share buyback until ​the shareholder ⁠vote to comply with securities law requirements for the acquisition. The Alberta Securities Commission has granted ​Shell relief from certain requirements related to its ​share repurchase ⁠programs in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, satisfying another condition for the deal to close.

The transaction is expected to close ⁠in ​the second half of 2026. After completion, ​ARC's shares are expected to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

[151] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:26 UTC] SK Hynix ADR Premium Balloons to 51% Over Korean Shares
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/sk-hynix-adr-premium-balloons-to-nearly-50-over-korean-shares
SK Hynix ADR Premium Balloons to 51% Over Korean Shares

[152] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:28 UTC] Officials are reportedly looking into Taco Bell, as source of parasite outbreak remains elusive
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/officials-are-reportedly-looking-into-taco-bell-as-source-of-parasite-outbreak-remains-elusive-3ead0a1f?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Shares of Yum Brands were down nearly 4% on Tuesday.

[153] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:28 UTC] Health officials reportedly looking into Taco Bell, as source of parasite outbreak remains elusive
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/officials-are-reportedly-looking-into-taco-bell-as-source-of-parasite-outbreak-remains-elusive-3ead0a1f?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Shares of Yum Brands were down nearly 4% on Tuesday.

[154] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:28 UTC] Taco Bell reportedly being investigated by health officials, as cyclosporiasis outbreak spreads
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/officials-are-reportedly-looking-into-taco-bell-as-source-of-parasite-outbreak-remains-elusive-3ead0a1f?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Shares of Taco Bell parent Yum Brands were down nearly 4% on Tuesday.

[155] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:32 UTC] Brazil's Oncoclinicas files for debt restructuring, boosting shares
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/brazils-oncoclinicas-files-debt-restructuring-boosting-shares-2026-07-14/
Brazilian oncology treatment provider Oncoclinicas (ONCO3.SA) has filed for an out-of-court restructuring to renegotiate and reprofile about 5.1 billion reais ($993.8 million) in unsecured financial ​debt along with other intercompany claims, sending its shares higher on Tuesday.

The move comes ‌as a growing number of Brazilian companies are seeking to renegotiate debt with creditors while avoiding the costs of formal bankruptcy protection proceedings. So far this year, 33 companies have followed this path.

Oncoclinicas said in a securities filing on ​Tuesday that creditors holding around 37% of the affected claims had already agreed to the proposed ​plan, a level sufficient for the filing under Brazilian law. The filing ⁠was unanimously approved by the board and will be submitted for shareholder ratification at an extraordinary ​meeting.

The company said the restructuring plan could include a shareholder capital injection, the conversion of part ​of the covered claims into equity, the replacement of a portion of the debt with new debt and an extension of debt maturities.

Civil association Instituto Empresa said that while Oncoclinicas has yet to disclose the final terms of ​its restructuring plan, the tools outlined by the company are commonly associated with varying degrees ​of creditor impairment.

The process does not affect Oncoclinicas' operational obligations to clients and suppliers, the company said, adding that ‌services ⁠and day-to-day operations across its oncology network would continue normally.

As part of its restructuring efforts, subsidiaries terminated two built-to-suit lease agreements, including one involving a property in Sao Paulo with an estimated 76 million reais termination penalty that has been included among the claims covered by the restructuring.

MARKET REACTION

Shares ​in Oncoclinicas rose around ​4% to 0.8 reais ⁠in midday trading in Sao Paulo, although the stock remains down roughly 70.8% year to date.

Valor Economico reported on Tuesday, citing sources, that Brazilian ​private equity firm IG4 plans to acquire Oncoclinicas' convertible debentures, investing about 500 ​million reais ⁠in the securities. IG4 declined to comment.

The private equity management firm is focusing on investing in a smaller number of companies, targeting larger, complex, and global deals, company executives told Reuters last month.

IG4, which ⁠recently ​gained co-control of petrochemical firm Braskem (BRKM3.SA) , is also seeking to ​acquire control of sugar and ethanol producer Raizen, as the producer completes its out-of-court restructuring.

($1 = 5.1318 reais)

[156] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:35 UTC] Wall Street banks see AI 'super cycle' set to boost deals, financing
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/wall-street-banks-see-ai-super-cycle-set-boost-deals-financing-2026-07-14/
A rush by technology companies to ​fund AI infrastructure is boosting dealmaking and financing activity for Wall Street, bankers said on Tuesday, generating lucrative fees ‌from capital raising and loans.

Investment banks have reaped strong fees from AI-related deals, including SK Hynix's $26.5 billion ADR offering and SpaceX's record $86 billion initial public offering, as well as debt issuance .

But July has been rough for technology stocks , especially microchip makers, as investors wrestle with high valuations and question the longevity of the ​AI capex boom.

'MULTI-YEAR CYCLE'

"The build-out of AI infrastructure remains in its early stages, and we believe this multi-year investment cycle ​will continue to drive elevated levels of strategic activity, financing, and capital formation across markets," Goldman Sachs (GS.N) ⁠CEO David Solomon said during an earnings call. Solomon added that the industry "is in the middle of an AI capex super ​cycle" where there are demands to utilize every single financing instrument.

Goldman Sachs was the lead left underwriter on the SpaceX IPO, and is also ​poised to play a major role alongside Morgan Stanley (MS.N) in the upcoming listing of Anthropic , as investors seek exposure to the AI boom.

Rival OpenAI has also filed for a U.S. IPO.

Citigroup (C.N) , which was a joint global co-ordinator on the SK Hynix sale, earned over $70 million from the deal.

AI DOMINATING CONVERSATIONS: CITI

Citi CEO Jane Fraser ​told investors on its conference call that AI was "dominating a lot of the conversation" with spending on technology, data centers, energy and ​defense accelerating.

Bank of America (BAC.N) recently extended a $520 million credit line to OpenAI, its first loan to the AI company, a person familiar with the ‌matter told ⁠Reuters.

"Overall, the U.S. economy has proved more durable than expected, supported by the strong consumer, ongoing AI-driven investments across the board and easing energy costs, though inflation and tighter monetary policy remain key risks," Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said on a conference call.

BofA has helped raise nearly $500 billion for AI-related companies since 2025, accounting for 60% of such fundraising across investment-grade debt, leveraged finance and equity ​capital markets, according to internal ​data seen by Reuters.

"The AI-driven ⁠capex super cycle has benefited equity issuance, M&A activity and debt financing," said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research.

Larger rival JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) has also been involved with AI-related companies ​on fundraising and is financing data centers.

Meta Platforms (META.O) is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase on ​a roughly $13 billion financing ⁠package for a data center in El Paso, Texas, Reuters reported in May, citing a source familiar with the matter.

JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said the firm is seeing decent capital expenditure and loan demand from companies that may not be AI-related, but have an indirect ⁠link.

"It's ​like the comments about data centers wind up creating a lot of demand for ​plumbers and electricians, so you wind up seeing it in sort of slightly non-obvious places", he said.

Barnum added that it was hard to say if such demand ​was AI-related.

[157] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:39 UTC] New York becomes first U.S. state to impose AI data center ban
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/new-york-ai-data-center-ban.html
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday signed an executive order barring the construction of new large-scale data centers using 50 megawatts or more of power for up to one year, making the Empire State the first state in the nation to impose such a ban.
"We're in the midst of one of the most significant economic upheavals in generations … perhaps ever," the governor said, announcing the executive order in New York City. "These hyperscale AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, truly threatening to outpace our grid's capacity," she added. "They drive up costs for local ratepayers, and I refuse to let those costs get passed down to New Yorkers."
Hochul's sentiment echoes that of many state residents and environmental leaders, who have heavily scrutinized hyperscaler data centers on the basis of their excessive consumption of power and natural resources, particularly fresh water.
The announcement noted that New Yorkers have seen their electric bills surge, with the state's average residential electricity price climbing nearly 68 percent since 2019. This fact has skewed public opinion starkly against new data center construction, with major public backlash against proposed facilities in townships such as Lansing and East Fishkill.
Leaders of the data center opposition celebrated the governor's decision.
"This one-year moratorium is a huge step forward for New York communities fighting against an onslaught of massive data center proposals," stated Laura Shindell, director of New York State's Food & Water Watch, a high-profile environmental nonprofit. "It comes as the direct result of immense public pressure from people across the state demanding their elected leaders protect them from Big Tech's assault, which threatens the state's clean air and water and New Yorkers' financial security."
Praise was not limited to environmental and community leaders, however, as it also came from the governor's allies, both in Congress and in the state legislature.
""This one-year moratorium is fundamentally about trust," said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, in a statement provided to WRGB Albany. "Right now, New Yorkers aren't convinced these massive facilities benefit them. Before we move forward, our communities need ironclad guarantees that their energy bills won't spike, their water will be protected, and their air will remain clean."
"Technology should make our lives better, not pollute our water, strain our energy grid, or drive up our utility bills," State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, a Democrat, stated in the New York State announcement. "By giving our State time to plan, we can ensure that development and innovation do not come at the expense of all of us."
Many, however, voiced their dissatisfaction, claiming that the moratorium would hinder New York's — and the United States' – ability to compete in a rapidly expanding technological field.
"A statewide moratorium is the wrong answer to the right questions," New York State Assemblyman Scott Gray, a Republican, and three of his colleagues wrote in a letter to the governor in June opposing data center moratoriums. "It freezes investment, takes decisions away from the communities that should be making them and duplicates or ignores work the governor's own administration already has underway."
"Siting belongs to local communities. Albany's job is to set the regulatory framework, facilitate interconnection and protect ratepayers and grid reliability," Gray and his colleagues wrote. "It is not Albany's job to decide for a town or village whether it wants one of these projects. That is a local decision, and it should remain one."
"China wins," said Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman in an X post on Tuesday morning.
There have been claims made by those building data centers that foreign rivals of the U.S. are supporting the anti-AI movement, and evidence of foreign-created anti-AI content being published for a U.S. audience.
A data center moratorium remains popular in the state. A Siena Research Institute poll conducted in June revealed that 46% of respondents believed that a "one-year moratorium on new permits for large data centers in New York" would be good for the state, whereas only 21% said it would be bad. The issue appeared to be fairly bipartisan as well, with Democrats backing the idea by a margin of 37 percentage points and Republicans supporting it by a margin of 13. This same poll showed Hochul, a Democrat, leading her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, by a margin of 20 percentage points – a promising sign for her reelection campaign.
The first-in-the-nation statewide moratorium marks a significant show of authority by Hochul, who has now carried out a landmark policy that her Democratic colleagues, such as Maine's Janet Mills and Virginia's Abigail Spanberger, have cautioned against. Fourteen state legislatures across the country have introduced bills restricting new data center construction, none of which, to this point, have been signed into law.
Tuesday's moratorium might not be the last action taken by the governor's office, either. The Responsible Data Center Development Act, passed by the state legislature earlier this year, contains a one-year moratorium on the construction of new data centers with a peak energy demand of 20 megawatts or more. Hochul has yet to take action on the bill but has indicated that she will work with the legislature to "further review" its nature. Furthermore, a statement released by Hochul's office stated that the governor is actively "pursuing legislation to repeal sales tax exemptions for massive data centers across the state."
In addition to the pause on new data center construction, Hochul directed the NYS Department of Public Service to "consider approaches to require data centers to fund new clean electric generation dedicated to their operations, including but not limited to customer-sited distributed energy resources and battery storage."
Once the state develops a comprehensive framework to support municipalities and strong standards for construction, Hochul says, the moratorium will be lifted. New York ranked among CNBC's best-positioned states to win AI data centers in its recent annual rankings of Top States for Business.

[158] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:40 UTC] Global oil prices notch back-to-back rise, remain ‘tethered to the Hormuz narrative’
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-see-largest-two-day-percentage-gain-in-four-months-on-u-s-iran-fighting-040d7163?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Global oil prices Tuesday were on track to notch their largest two-day rise since mid-March, buoyed by further escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict even as President Donald Trump backed away from his threat to impose a 20% fee on cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.

[159] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:40 UTC] Global oil prices on track to notch back-to-back rise, remain ‘tethered to the Hormuz narrative’
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-see-largest-two-day-percentage-gain-in-four-months-on-u-s-iran-fighting-040d7163?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Global oil prices Tuesday were on track to notch their largest two-day rise since mid-March, buoyed by further escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict.

[160] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:40 UTC] CDC says lab-confirmed US cases of cyclosporiasis top 1,600, expects count to rise
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/cdc-says-lab-confirmed-us-cases-cyclosporiasis-top-1600-expects-count-rise-2026-07-14/
Lab-confirmed cases linked to a U.S. outbreak of cyclosporiasis have risen to 1,645, the ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, ‌up by more than 800 cases from its last update a week ago.

Cases have now been reported across 34 states, and have resulted in 141 ​hospitalizations as of July 13, according to the health ​agency. No deaths have been reported.

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection ⁠that can be contracted by consuming food — typically raw ​fruits and vegetables — or water contaminated with feces, according to the ​U.S. CDC.

While the United States has experienced outbreaks of the gastrointestinal illness before, the scale and geographic spread of this year's outbreak are significantly ​larger, prompting concern among health officials.

The agency cautioned that there ​is a roughly six-week lag between the onset of illness and the reporting ‌of ⁠cases, which means more infections are likely to be identified as additional data is received.

The CDC said it is also aware of more than 5,100 additional cases that require further analysis and confirmation.

The ​current U.S. outbreak, ​which began ⁠on May 1, is centered in Michigan, with Ohio and New York also reporting high numbers ​of cases.

Separately, Michigan health officials on Tuesday reported ​3,309 cases ⁠in the state, an increase of 669 cases since the last update on Monday.

U.S. health officials have not identified the source ⁠of ​contamination and are tracing foods linked to ​cases through the supply chain, potentially to the farm level, using genetic sequencing ​where needed.

[161] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:43 UTC] Taco Bell Pulls Some Items as Parasite Outbreak Spreads
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/taco-bell-says-it-pulled-some-items-amid-parasite-outbreak
Taco Bell Pulls Some Items as Parasite Outbreak Spreads

[162] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 17:43 UTC] Live Q&A: How vibe coding is transforming tech — and tech jobs
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/live-how-vibe-coding-is-transforming-tech-and-jobs-2026-7
As AI gets better and better at writing code, where does that leave software engineers? And, how does it impact the the companies they work for?
Business Insider set out to answer these questions with a multi-part series, The Great Coding Reset.
The fear that AI will make legacy software giants irrelevant has rattled markets. But the companies building vibe-coding tools have attracted big dollars, and seen their valuations skyrocket.
On Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET, Business Insider Today's Dan DeFrancesco sits down with the CEO of one of these fast-growing startups.
Mukund Jha is CEO and co-founder of Emergent which launched in 2025. As of January 2026, the company has raised $100 million.
Tune in live to hear about his company's exponential growth, what Jha looks for when hiring software engineers, and how vibe coding is changing his industry.
Join the conversation below to ask your own question and share your opinions on vibe coding.

[163] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 17:44 UTC] The best AirPods of 2026
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-apple-airpods
AirPods are popular earbuds, and it's easy to see why. They deliver good sound quality, pair seamlessly with Apple devices, and have a cool, sleek design. But picking the right AirPods for your needs can be tricky, especially if you're not familiar with the newest models. That's where my team of audio reviewers comes in. We've spent hours testing all of Apple's latest headphones to rank the best AirPods for different needs.
The AirPods Pro 3 are the top AirPods for most people. They're Apple's most advanced earbuds, delivering powerful active noise cancellation (ANC), a secure in-ear fit, and helpful heart rate tracking for workouts. But if you're on a tighter budget, the AirPods 4 are a worthy entry-level option. They cut features like ANC, but still deliver solid performance and are often on sale for $99.
Below, you'll find a full breakdown of every current AirPods model based on extensive hands-on testing. We've detailed what sets Apple's headphones apart, to help you choose the best AirPods for your listening style and budget.
Our top picks for the best AirPods
Best overall: AirPods Pro 3 - See at Amazon
Best for an open fit: AirPods 4 with ANC - See at Amazon
Best on a budget: AirPods 4 without ANC - See at Amazon
Best for audiophiles: AirPods Max 2 - See at Amazon
Apple AirPods, compared
| Best for | Skip this if | Retail price | Battery life | Design | Noise cancellation | |
| AirPods 4 | Shoppers on a budget | You want active noise cancellation | $129 | Up to 5 hours | Earbuds with semi-open fit | No |
| AirPods 4 with ANC | People who dislike the plugged-in feel of in-ear buds | You prefer an in-ear seal for improved sound and ANC quality | $179 | Up to 4 hours with ANC | Earbuds with semi-open fit | Yes |
| AirPods Pro 3 | Those who want Apple's best-performing earbuds | You're on a tight budget or dislike the feel of in-ear buds | $249 | Up to 8 hours with ANC | Earbuds with in-ear fit | Yes |
| AirPods Max 2 | Audiophiles who want Apple's best sound quality | You want compact headphones or don't care about top-notch sound quality | $549 | Up to 20 hours with ANC | Over-ear headphones | Yes |
Best overall
The AirPods Pro 3 offer improved noise cancellation, a built-in heart rate sensor for workouts, and support for Apple's new Live Translation feature. Though the earbuds' revised shape could be an issue for some ears, these are Apple's most impressive AirPods so far.
What we like
What we don't like
The AirPods Pro 3 are Apple's flagship wireless earbuds, and they're our pick for the best AirPods overall. This model offers a few improvements over the older AirPods Pro 2, including stronger noise cancellation, longer battery life, better water resistance, and new heart rate tracking. In nearly every way, the AirPods Pro 3 beat their predecessor and aced our tests.
Although they use the same custom driver as the Pro 2, Apple has refined the design for improved airflow. This results in a wider soundstage and deeper bass. Apple claims the Pro 3's active noise cancellation (ANC) is twice as powerful as before, and our testing confirmed a clear boost. They effectively block engine hum, vacuums, and subway noise — nearly matching the performance of our favorite noise-canceling earbuds, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2.
Like the Pro 2, the AirPods Pro 3 have an in-ear design, but they have a slightly updated shape. You also get five ear-tip sizes, including a new XXS option. However, our reviewer actually preferred the old shape of the Pro 2, as it fit a bit more tightly against their ear. Ultimately, fit varies by ear shape, but most users should be able to get a good seal.
Built-in heart rate tracking is a standout feature that's not available on other AirPods. Each earbud has a sensor that measures your heart rate, providing helpful workout data when paired with an iPhone. This is a great perk for users who don't already own a fitness tracker, such as an Apple Watch. Water resistance also jumps from IP54 to IP57, meaning the AirPods Pro 3 can handle sweat and brief submersion. If you're looking for the best AirPods to use during workouts, the Pro 3 are the buds to get.
Battery life now reaches eight hours with ANC enabled (up from six hours on the Pro 2), although total battery life drops slightly to 24 hours with the case (down from 30 hours). We think the longer single charge is the better tradeoff, but this is something to keep in mind.
The AirPods Pro 3 retain all of the Pro 2's hearing health features, which you won't get on standard AirPods. There's also a Live Translation function (which requires an iPhone with Apple Intelligence). However, that feature is also supported on the AirPods 4 with ANC, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Max 2.
Read our full Apple AirPods Pro 3 review.
Check out our guide to the best earbuds.
Best for an open fit
Apple's base AirPods are now available with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) without the use of in-ear tips. The new model uses the brand's H2 chip to power features like Transparency Mode, Adaptive Audio, and Conversation Awareness.
What we like
What we don't like
Apple's AirPods 4 are the brand's midrange earbuds. Unlike the AirPods Pro 3, they use a semi-open fit rather than an in-ear seal, which some people find to be more comfortable. You can choose between two versions: one without ANC for $129 and one with ANC and a wireless charging case for $179.
Both options deliver the same core audio performance and design, but the ANC model's noise-canceling feature and wireless charging case are useful perks for those willing to pay the extra money. Though the AirPods Pro 3 have benefits this model lacks, the AirPods 4 with ANC are an excellent midrange alternative, and they're the best AirPods for people who prefer an open fit.
Instead of having silicone tips that plug into your ears to create a full seal, the AirPods 4 ear tips rest just outside your ear canal. Although an in-ear seal allows the AirPods Pro 3 to deliver better sound quality and noise cancellation, some people dislike the constricted feeling of the tips in their ears.
The AirPods 4 offer a more open fit, and Apple has refined the design over previous models to ensure they stay securely in place across a variety of ear shapes. However, opinions remain divided over the comfort of open-ear AirPods, so this ultimately comes down to personal preference and the size of your ears.
During our review, we were impressed by the earbuds' audio quality, which holds up well against other options in this price range. Noise-canceling performance is also solid, which is surprising, given that most open-fit earbuds struggle with ANC. The earbuds' transparency mode is also excellent for when you want to let in outside sound to stay aware of your surroundings. That said, the AirPods Pro 3 outperform the AirPods 4 at blocking out louder distractions, such as an airplane engine.
Read our full Apple AirPods 4 review.
Best on a budget
Apple's latest generation of AirPods features a new design to optimize comfort for wearers of every kind. It's powered by the H2 chip and uses a smaller case than ever.
What we like
What we don't like
The standard AirPods 4 without ANC are the cheapest AirPods available. They retail for $129 and are often on sale for $99, cementing them as the best AirPods on a budget.
This model is essentially identical to the more expensive AirPods 4 with ANC, save for two key differences. This option does not have active noise cancellation, so it can't block ambient sounds or pass them through in transparency mode. Additionally, this version features a wired charging case instead of a wireless one.
Beyond those two limitations, the earbuds offer the same open-fit design, solid audio performance, and robust feature set as the more expensive version. This makes the AirPods 4 without ANC a good fit for casual listeners who don't want to pay more for noise cancellation.
For affordable earbud recommendations from other brands, check out our guide to the best budget headphones.
Best for audiophiles
The AirPods Max 2 are the long-awaited follow-up to Apple's high-end over-ear headphones. This second-gen model features subtle improvements to sound quality and ANC, along with features like Live Translation.
What we like
What we don't like
The AirPods Max 2 are Apple's latest over-ear headphones. While other AirPods use an earbud-style design, the Max 2 use large padded cups and a sturdy headband. This over-ear design delivers the most impressive sound quality and noise cancellation in Apple's lineup. They also feature a premium build with metal components, making them ideal for anyone who values high-end style over portability.
The first-generation AirPods Max launched in December 2020, and this second-generation model hit stores in April 2026. The AirPods Max 2 feature the same physical design but incorporate a few small enhancements under the hood. They use Apple's more advanced H2 chip to improve ANC and enable features like Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, and Live Translation, which were missing from the original AirPods Max. Though owners of the first-gen model shouldn't rush to upgrade, the Max 2 are the better headphones.
The AirPods Max 2 also use a new high-dynamic-range amplifier that pairs with the device's custom 40mm drivers. In testing, this resulted in a subtle improvement in sound quality. Our reviewer was especially impressed by their spacious soundstage, and they delivered a more balanced profile than rivals like the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2.
Noise-canceling performance is also exceptional and improved over the first-gen model. In fact, the AirPods Max 2 essentially matched the ANC power of Bose's industry-leading QC Ultra 2 headphones in our tests.
As with the first-generation model, the main drawbacks here are the headphones' weight and the included case. Though the premium metal design looks great, some people might find the Max 2 to feel a bit heavy on their head during extended listening. Meanwhile, the case doesn't fully protect the headphones. Instead, it just wraps around the ear cups. If you're looking for something more functional, check out our guide to the best AirPods Max accessories.
The AirPods Max 2 are also pricey, even compared to direct rivals. That said, we're already seeing regular $50 discounts at retailers like Amazon. Ultimately, if you're an Apple fan who wants top-tier sound in an over-ear design — and you're willing to splurge — these are the best AirPods you can buy.
Read our full Apple AirPods Max 2 review.
Check out our guide to the best over-ear headphones.
What do AirPods offer that other earbuds don't?
AirPods stand out from other earbuds because of how seamlessly they work with other Apple products. Features like instant pairing, automatic switching between iPhone, iPad, and Mac, hands-free Siri, and Find My support are all tightly integrated at a level most competitors can't match. When paired with a compatible iPhone, certain AirPods also support features you won't find in other earbuds, including hearing health capabilities and Apple's Live Translation. Apple's noise cancellation is also among the most impressive on the market, rivaling top models from Bose and Sony.
How we test AirPods
To test the best AirPods, our audio reviewers evaluated performance across design, fit, sound quality, extra features, and ease of use. We listen to a diverse range of tracks across genres and from various sources, including many of the best music streaming services. For AirPods that support spatial audio, we also listen to Dolby Atmos tracks.
Likewise, if an AirPods model supports noise cancellation, we evaluate that feature in a real-world noisy environment, such as near heavy traffic outside, to test how well it reduces ambient noise. We also sample transparency modes to see how well the AirPods let in surrounding noise naturally.
For this guide, we focused on how each AirPods model compares to other AirPods to determine each model's strengths and weaknesses within Apple's headphones lineup. We also compared them to similar options from competing companies to gauge their performance against the best headphones from other brands.
Meet the expert behind this guide:
Steven Cohen, senior tech editor: I oversee tech buying guides for Business Insider's Reviews team, and I've been covering headphones for over a decade. My writers test earbuds year-round, including every new pair of AirPods Apple releases. I put this guide together based on our hands-on testing to help you figure out which AirPods actually make sense for you. While all of Apple's earbuds share some core features, certain models have advantages depending on how you listen. My goal is to break it all down so you can feel confident you're getting the right AirPods without paying for extras you'll never use.
Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.
What to look for in AirPods
When choosing the right AirPods for your needs, consider price, sound quality, noise cancellation, and design.
Price: Apple's current lineup includes the AirPods 4 ($129), AirPods 4 with ANC ($179), AirPods Pro 3 ($249), and AirPods Max 2 ($549). Discounts are common, especially on the standard AirPods 4, which often dip to just under $100.
Sound quality: For earbuds, the AirPods Pro 3 offer the best overall audio performance. If you prefer over-ear headphones and don't mind paying more, the AirPods Max 2 are Apple's best-sounding option, period. The AirPods 4 sound solid, but their open-fit design leads to some audio leakage.
Noise cancellation: If ANC is a priority for you, consider the AirPods 4 with ANC, AirPods Pro 3, or AirPods Max 2. The Max 2 headphones block out the most noise thanks to their over-ear build, while the Pro 3 earbuds also perform impressively. The AirPods 4 with ANC offer the lightest noise cancellation of the group, but still do a decent job.
Design and fit: The AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4, and AirPods 4 with ANC are all earbuds. The Pro 3 use an in-ear fit that creates a seal for better sound and stability. An in-ear design is great for performance, but not everyone loves the feel. The AirPods 4 use a semi-open design that sits just outside the ear canal, making them more comfortable for some but less effective for sound quality and ANC. For an entirely different experience, the AirPods Max 2 use an over-ear design with padded cups and a headband. They deliver the strongest performance but aren't nearly as portable as earbuds.
What are the top AirPods alternatives?
Apple's AirPods are popular headphones, but they may not be the ideal choice for all users. This is especially true if you plan to use your earbuds primarily with an Android phone or PC. Thankfully, many brands sell similar headphones that are less rigidly tied to the Apple ecosystem.
Some of our favorite AirPods alternatives include the Beats Fit Pro, Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, and Soundcore Liberty 4 NC. The Beats brand is actually owned by Apple, and the Fit Pro earbuds use the company's H1 chip, just like older AirPods. Meanwhile, the Powerbeats Pro 2 use the H2 chip and have heart rate tracking just like the AirPods Pro 3. Beats headphones also offer a more Android-friendly set of features and an Android app. The Soundcore earbuds are an affordable alternative to AirPods, priced under $100, and feature a stem-like design reminiscent of classic AirPods.
Check out our guide to the best AirPods alternatives for details on all of our picks. For earbuds geared more toward active use, visit our guides to the best running headphones and best headphones for working out.
AirPods FAQs
Do AirPods go on sale?
Although Apple rarely offers direct discounts on AirPods in its online or physical stores, the headphones often receive great deals from other retailers, such as Amazon. In fact, it's rare to find the AirPods 4 selling at full price on Amazon.
Based on typical street prices, we don't recommend paying more than $119 for the AirPods 4, $169 for the AirPods 4 with ANC, $229 for the AirPods Pro 3, or $529 for the AirPods Max 2.
The lowest price we've ever seen the AirPods 4 discounted to was $69, while the AirPods 4 with ANC have dropped to $99, the AirPods Pro 3 have been $169, and the AirPods Max 2 have hit $399.
When will new AirPods be released?
Apple doesn't release new AirPods every year. Instead, the brand typically launches new earbuds every two to three years, with each model refreshed on its own schedule. Here's a closer look at when we can expect new versions of each model.
- AirPods: Apple's fourth-generation AirPods launched in September 2024 during the brand's iPhone 16 launch event. The release cycle for new AirPods is typically two to three years, so we don't expect another model until 2026 at the earliest.
- AirPods Pro: Apple released the first-generation AirPods Pro in 2019, followed by the second-generation model in 2022, and the third-generation model in September 2025. Another brand-new generation model is unlikely to launch this year, but a Bloomberg report indicates that an upgraded model with infrared cameras could be in the works. The cameras would be used to enable more AI functions.
- AirPods Max: Apple released the original AirPods Max in December 2020 and launched a refreshed Max model with USB-C charging and new colors in 2024. A second-generation model hit stores in April 2026.
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Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@businessinsider.com.

[164] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:45 UTC] Lucid Sinks on Report EV Maker Considering Strategic Options
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/lucid-shares-sink-on-report-saying-weighing-possible-bankruptcy
Lucid Sinks on Report EV Maker Considering Strategic Options

[165] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 17:45 UTC] DeepMind CEO calls for an independent standards body to regulate frontier AI
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/deepmind-ceo-calls-for-an-independent-standards-body-to-regulate-frontier-ai/
In an X post on Tuesday morning, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis called for the creation of a new regulatory body to oversee frontier model releases. Titled “A Framework for Frontier AI and the Dawning of a New Age,” the post makes the case for a “standards body” modeled after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which could test frontier models and develop best practices for their release.
“Initially, Frontier Labs would voluntarily share models with the Standards Body for review up to 30 days before release,” the post reads. “Once the assessment protocol is shown to be effective and robust, formalisation could quickly follow, meaning that Frontier Models would be required to pass it to be deployed in the US market. Labs would also work with the Standards Body to address any critical post-release vulnerabilities.”
The proposed system would build on the ad hoc reviews performed by the US government on Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s Sol. Those reviews drew significant criticism for lack of technical expertise and opaque decision-making as to when a model could be released. Under Hassabis’s proposed regulator, those decisions could be handed off to a new organization, backed by the US government but funded by the AI industry and operated independently.
The prospect of AI regulation remains controversial for both the tech industry and the Trump Administration. Most recently, White House AI advisor and a16z general partner Sriram Krishnan discounted the possibility of an AI regulator within the executive branch, saying “there will not be an FDA for AI.”
Establishing the standards body as a self-regulatory organization like FINRA could be a way to address those concerns. Hassabis envisions the regulator being staffed by open-source representatives and technical experts from within the industry, along with the financial backing from AI labs that would be necessary to retain them. They could even outsource some evaluations to the growing pool of AI safety groups who would be able to specialize in specific risks.
“The strength of this approach is it would be technically focused, while at the same time supporting innovation and incentivising responsible behaviour,” Hassabis argues. “It is designed to keep up with the field’s acceleration and adapt to the biggest risks as they are identified, and could be ratcheted up if the seriousness of the situation demands.”

[166] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:47 UTC] Saba Capital becomes top shareholder at UK's Workspace amid reforms push
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/saba-capital-becomes-top-shareholder-uks-workspace-amid-reforms-push-2026-07-14/
Saba Capital Management has become the largest shareholder in Workspace Group (WKP.L) , strengthening the activist investor's ​campaign for strategic reforms at the office-space provider.

A ‌filing on Tuesday showed that Saba has raised its stake in Workspace to 29.1% from 28.2%. It has steadily built its position in ​the company this year, more than doubling from ​a 13.5% holding in January.

In June, the ⁠firm sought to replace Workspace's non-executive directors, arguing that ​the company's roughly 50% discount to net asset value ​reflected years of underperformance and strategic missteps. It also said it had identified a disposal roadmap, covering 56 properties.

Workspace last week urged its ​shareholders to vote against Saba's proposals at its ​annual general meeting later this month, adding that the investor's plan ‌was "high-risk, ⁠short-sighted and not suitable for the company."

Last month, Workspace unveiled a "transformation to an earnings-focused business" strategy, aiming to reinvest proceeds from asset disposals into property upgrades ​to boost rental ​income and ⁠drive long-term value creation.

Saba's latest stake increase leaves it just below the 30% ​threshold that would trigger a mandatory takeover ​offer ⁠for Workspace under UK takeover rules.

Saba Capital declined to comment on any potential offers for Workspace, while ⁠Workspace did ​not immediately respond to a ​Reuters request for comment.

[167] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:48 UTC] Morgan Stanley runs to Broadcom's defense as investors worry about competition
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/analysts-run-to-broadcoms-defense-as-investors-worry-about-competition.html
Worries over rising competition have put pressure on Broadcom , but Morgan Stanley has come to the chipmaker's defense, calling it "a core AI winner" second only to Nvidia. In a note to clients on Tuesday, analysts at Morgan Stanley said concerns that Taiwan-based semiconductor company MediaTek could significantly steal Broadcom's share of Google's tensor processing unit (TPU) business are overblown. The Information reported in March that MediaTek was working with Alphabet to develop the next version of its custom chips. "Our view is that MediaTek participation is real, but not disruptive," wrote the analysts, who reiterated a buy-equivalent rating on Broadcom's stock with a $502 price target. To be sure, analysts noted that Alphabet is incentivized to reduce its reliance on Broadcom (or any one chip provider) to lower costs and gain "supplier optionality" as it produces multiple TPU generations. But Broadcom's relationship with Google appears to be just fine. In April, Broadcom announced an expanded chip agreement with the search giant through 2013 to produce future iterations of its chips. Broadcom also announced plans to provide Anthropic with roughly 3.5 gigawatts of computing capacity through Google's chips. And yet shares of Broadcom, though up nearly 3% Tuesday, are down almost 22% from their record closing high of $481.57 on June 2. So far this year, the stock has rallied only about 14%, trailing well behind the iShares Semiconductor ETF, which is up almost 90% year to date. Nvidia has also lagged in the semiconductor category. The firm said it was surprised by Broadcom's year-to-date underperformance, given the strength of its AI growth trajectory. "[Broadcom] should remain the majority TPU supplier over time, with 80% share, and we see the bearish calls for 50% share or eventual displacement as premature," the analysts wrote, adding that high-bandwidth memory, packaging execution, and scale mean Broadcom's partnership with Google is likely to remain strong. Broadcom also has several other irons in the fire. In April, Meta extended its deal with Broadcom for its custom silicon. And last week , Apple announced an extension of its Broadcom partnership in a $30 billion-plus chipmaking deal. We also remain bullish on Broadcom's AI future, which is why we raised our target price to $480 from $425 last month after its fiscal second-quarter report. In June, we right-sized the position when the stock was red-hot heading into the print. That ended up being a solid move, as the stock sank over 12% following the strong quarterly results, even though the company gave conservative guidance on AI revenue. Broadcom shares rallied nearly 5% last Wednesday after Apple provided additional details on its Broadcom deal. At the time, Jim told investors not to get too greedy or "complacent" when big moves occur in semiconductor stocks, meaning investors should consider locking in some profits when possible. Furthermore, Jim has frequently touted Intel as the semiconductor name to acquire — we bought more on Monday —telling investors to hop on it during Tuesday's Morning Meeting . With the stock down 14.5% in the last month, Jim said, "Intel's such a buy here." (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AVGO, NVDA, and INTEL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

[168] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 17:49 UTC] Bank earnings takeaways: From Goldman Sach's SpaceX IPO fees to JPMorgan's AI job cuts
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/jpm-bank-of-america-citi-bank-earnings-live-updates.html
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all reported earnings Tuesday that beat expectations.
The banks also reported strong revenue from equities trading.
CEOs weighed in on the state of the consumer and discussed how they're thinking about artificial intelligence.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said all of the company's major businesses posted record revenue last quarter. He added that the "U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring."
Dimon said artificial intelligence has helped the bank cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles, though he noted that most of those people were offered positions elsewhere in the company.
JPMorgan stock was up roughly 2% in midday trading.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, meanwhile, said it was one of the strongest quarters to date for his company. "Every business segment reported double digit net income growth and strong returns on equity," he said.
He told CNBC that it's up to management teams to mitigate the impact from AI job losses.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank's deals backlog is at the highest level in five years, which bodes well for revenue in future quarters.
Solomon also told CNBC that he sees AI as making people more productive, but that it shouldn't affect headcount.
Goldman Sachs stock rose more than 6% in midday trading.
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said AI is helping drive growth, and that Citigroup still sees "real resiliency" in its corporate clients.
What you need to know:
- Investment banking fees saw huge gains across the banks
- Solomon: 'Fed independence has served us well'
- Dimon says AI has helped JPMorgan cut up to 40% of jobs in certain roles
- JPMorgan guidance keeps climbing
- Wells Fargo CFO says consumers have been resilient
- Bank of America CEO tells CNBC that markets-related business led to growth
- Citigroup reports best quarterly revenue in a decade
- It's unusual for five megabanks to all report on the same morning

[169] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:53 UTC] Lucid Shares Slide as EV Maker Hires Restructuring Adviser
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/lucid-hires-restructuring-adviser-as-ev-maker-s-troubles-mount
Lucid Shares Slide as EV Maker Hires Restructuring Adviser

[170] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 17:55 UTC] Paychecks are rising faster than prices for a change — but when will consumers feel the relief?
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/your-paycheck-is-rising-faster-than-prices-for-a-change-but-when-will-you-feel-the-relief-cbbcb8bd?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Wage growth in June outpaced inflation, after falling behind during April and May.

[171] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 17:56 UTC] Apple wins dismissal of lawsuit over child sexual abuse material on iCloud
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/apple-wins-dismissal-lawsuit-over-child-sexual-abuse-material-icloud-2026-07-14/
A U.S. judge has dismissed a proposed class ​action accusing Apple (AAPL.O) of failing to stop the dissemination of child sexual abuse material through its iCloud data storage platform, ‌saying the company is broadly shielded from the claims under a federal law protecting online services from liability for user content.

U.S. District Judge Noël Wise in San Jose, California, in a ruling late Monday, agreed with Apple's argument that the company is immune from claims brought by plaintiffs who say Apple failed to take action to prevent images ​of their sexual abuse as children from being shared and stored on iCloud.

Wise said the lawsuit sought to hold Apple responsible for ​failing to remove or block content created by users, placing the claims within the scope of Section 230 of ⁠the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 federal law.

Plaintiffs were suing on behalf of a class of 2,680 people with similar allegations, and estimated ​the compensatory damages to be as high as $32.8 billion, according to court filings. The lawsuit also sought a court order directing Apple to make changes to ​iCloud.

More U.S. courts have been grappling with Section 230's protections , particularly in lawsuits alleging that technology companies caused harm through design of their products rather than content created by users.

Nothing in federal law requires Apple to proactively utilize available technology or develop new technology to identify and report child sexual abuse material on its cloud platform, Wise wrote.

“Lawmakers can fix ​this problem that is contributing to the exploitation of children,” Wise wrote. “This Court cannot.”

Wise dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

James ​Marsh, an attorney for the plaintiffs, who go by the pseudonyms Amy and Jessica, said they are considering an appeal and evaluating whether other legal claims are possible.

While the plaintiffs ‌disagree with ⁠the judge's conclusion on the law, "we agree with her conclusion that Congress should do more to protect children online and address the skyrocketing harms from online exploitation," Marsh said.

Representatives for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CLASS CLAIMS

Amy and Jessica sued Apple in 2024, claiming that years-old images of their abuse as children continued to be stored and shared on Apple’s iCloud platform.

The lawsuit claimed Apple knew there was a problem with child sexual ​abuse material on iCloud, but chose ​not to use widely available technology ⁠to identify and report it.

In 2021, Apple announced it was going to launch a program known as NeuralHash to identify child sex abuse material, but by the following year it said it would no longer be implementing ​it, according to the lawsuit. At the same time, the company made end-to-end encryption available on iCloud data, ​making it nearly impossible ⁠for law enforcement or Apple to identify child sexual abuse material on iCloud, the lawsuit said.

Apple has said it has worked hard to eliminate the spread of child sexual abuse material on its devices. In filings, the company said it elected to use methods other than NeuralHash in a bid to eliminate risks ⁠to users’ ​security and privacy.

Wise previously dismissed a version of the complaint but gave the plaintiffs a ​chance to amend it, according to court records.

Apple is facing a similar lawsuit filed by West Virginia's attorney general. The state called the case the first of its kind by a government ​agency over the distribution of child sexual abuse material on Apple's data storage platform.

[172] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 17:58 UTC] Meloni Dealt Surprise Setback in Italian Voter Reform Drive
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/meloni-dealt-surprise-setback-in-italian-voter-reform-drive
Meloni Dealt Surprise Setback in Italian Voter Reform Drive

[173] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:00 UTC] South Korea’s Leveraged ETFs Have the Worst Timing
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-14/south-korea-s-leveraged-etfs-have-the-worst-timing
South Korea’s Leveraged ETFs Have the Worst Timing

[174] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:01 UTC] Spanish Money Manager Bestinver Winds Down Latin America Fund
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/spanish-money-manager-bestinver-winds-down-latin-america-fund
Spanish Money Manager Bestinver Winds Down Latin America Fund

[175] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:01 UTC] When IBM Acts Like a Penny Stock, Something Is Wrong
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-14/when-ibm-acts-likes-a-penny-stock-something-is-wrong
When IBM Acts Like a Penny Stock, Something Is Wrong

[176] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 18:09 UTC] Uber, Delivery Hero in Advanced Talks Over Potential Takeover
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/uber-delivery-hero-in-advanced-talks-over-potential-takeover-8a5d6bca
Delivery Hero said talks are at an advanced stage, and didn’t comment on speculation regarding the price of the offer.

[177] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 18:12 UTC] This overlooked index is a better investment than the S&P 500
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-overlooked-index-is-a-better-investment-than-the-s-p-500-74c7e698?mod=mw_rss_topstories
We did the math over a 30-year period, and it’s not even close.

[178] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 18:22 UTC] Ford Executive Chairman on Chinese Cars: U.S. ‘Can’t Expect to Keep Them Out Forever’
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ford-executive-chairman-on-chinese-cars-u-s-cant-expect-to-keep-them-out-forever-556268e2
China’s automakers have rapidly displaced competitors elsewhere in the world.

[179] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 18:23 UTC] These are the obstacles still keeping women from retirement security
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-are-the-obstacles-still-keeping-women-from-retirement-security-eea48a95?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Yes, women still need a “retirement security day.” Here’s why.

[180] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:23 UTC] CVS settles with FTC, agrees to count TrumpRx drug purchases towards insurance
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/cvs-settles-with-ftc-agrees-count-trumprx-drug-purchases-towards-insurance-2026-07-14/
CVS Health's (CVS.N) Caremark has finalized a ‌settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in which it agreed to curb use of after-market discounts known as rebates and count consumers' TrumpRx purchases toward their deductibles, an FTC spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Similar to Cigna's settlement with the FTC earlier this year , the deal would curb practices critics say contribute to high drug costs. ​It would also require CVS' Caremark pharmacy benefit manager to include a patient's payments through the TrumpRx drug website toward the ​deductibles some of its health plans require, once regulations are in place to facilitate the TrumpRx program.

The settlement ⁠is expected to bring billions of dollars in savings on drug prices, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

“The FTC under President ​Trump won’t stand for anticompetitive behavior that drives up prices for American consumers,” Ferguson said.

U.S. President Donald Trump launched TrumpRx.gov, a website offering hundreds ​of generic and branded drugs at a discount, in February, with a particular focus on connecting consumers with low prices for highly popular weight-loss drugs from Eli Lilly (LLY.N) and Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) .

Health plan deductibles are the minimum spend members must reach before leveraging their coverage. TrumpRx.gov sends cash-pay customers to drugmaker websites for discounted drugs, ​but has operated outside of insurance, limiting its value for some American consumers.

CVS must also provide an option to clients that allows them to ​opt out of rebate payment models, a spokesperson for the FTC said. These rebates are paid by drugmakers to the pharmacy benefit manager and may or ‌may not ⁠be passed on to the plan sponsor or consumer after a certain drug is dispensed.

Small pharmacies would also be given the option to be reimbursed for the actual cost of drugs they dispense plus a fee, in a bid to address complaints that pharmacy benefit managers do not fully reimburse independent local pharmacies.

“Today’s agreement advances and reinforces the changes we have already put in place and ensures affordability for families and ​patients across the country," said Ed ​DeVaney, a president at Caremark.

The decision ⁠to eliminate rebates will vary based on the client and how individual employers choose to structure their own pharmacy benefit, a spokesperson for CVS said. But the company aims to encourage its clients to pass ​through discounts to individual members, CVS said in a release on Tuesday.

The FTC's original lawsuit, launched in ​2024, said Caremark, ⁠Cigna's (CI.N) Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth's OptumRx (UNH.N) forced patients to pay higher prices for insulin.

CVS reached a proposed settlement with the regulator in March, and the FTC said the deal was similar to one with Express Scripts.

Regulators have said the rebate model incentivizes companies to raise list prices and ultimately steers ⁠customers to ​pricier drugs.

Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate the price of drugs with manufacturers, on behalf of plan ​sponsors, such as employers.

CVS will also enhance its reporting on the price of drugs and member payments it receives, shift to a fee-based compensation structure, and cap out-of-pocket cost ​of insulin at $25 per month, the company said.

[181] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:24 UTC] Lawmakers seek to counter China, Iran repression tactics on US soil
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/lawmakers-seek-counter-china-iran-repression-tactics-us-soil-2026-07-14/
U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan bill to increase penalties for foreign ‌government agents who threaten people on U.S. soil, a move aimed at countering the rise of what officials call "transnational repression" by countries such as China and Iran.

The bill, put forward by Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and Republican Senator John Curtis, comes after ​China's ethnic unity law went into effect on July 1, establishing what Beijing says is its right ​to target certain critics beyond its borders.

That Chinese measure was a direct factor in ⁠the introduction of the "Stop Transnational Repression Act," Senate staffers told Reuters.

Should it become U.S. law, it would ​for the first time give a federal definition for such crimes and increase potential prison sentences for convicted ​individuals by up to an additional 10 years.

"This is a bipartisan effort to counter a national threat that reports show is only expanding in scope, with new and brazen efforts by countries like China trying to expand its intimidation of those not ​in lock step with the regime," Schiff said.

Curtis called transnational repression "an attack on both our sovereignty and ​our freedoms."

Some Chinese communities in the U.S. who oppose China's ruling Communist Party, as well as pro-democracy activists and supporters of Taiwan, ‌Tibetan ⁠and Uyghur causes, have complained that Beijing sends agents and others to harass, spy on and intimidate them.

China says accusations that it conducts such operations are baseless. Its embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the legislation.

The bill defines transnational repression, in part, as any effort by a ​foreign state's agent or proxy "to ​harass, coerce, or threaten ⁠a person, including by force or reasonable fear of death." Codifying the term under U.S. law will serve as a "heightened deterrent for foreign actors," it says.

Human rights ​non-profit Freedom House says that China is behind most documented cases of such ​repression globally, with ⁠319 stemming from the country since 2014.

A New York man was found guilty in May of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after federal prosecutors alleged that he operated a " secret police station " on behalf of ⁠Beijing ​in Manhattan.

Separately, two men were sentenced this year to 10 years and ​15 years in prison for what the Justice Department said was a plot directed by Iran's government to stalk and kill an Iranian-American ​human rights activist.

[182] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:26 UTC] Bond Traders Ditch July Rate-Hike Bets on Surprise Inflation Dip
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/wall-street-ditches-july-rate-hike-bets-on-suprise-inflation-dip
Bond Traders Ditch July Rate-Hike Bets on Surprise Inflation Dip

[183] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:28 UTC] Indian Gas Exchange files for IPO as parent IEX looks to pare stake
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indian-gas-exchange-files-ipo-parent-iex-looks-pare-stake-2026-07-14/
Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) has ​filed for an ‌initial public offering, draft papers ​showed on ​Tuesday, as parent Indian ⁠Energy Exchange (IEX) (IIAN.NS) ​looks to ​pare its stake in the gas trading ​exchange to ​comply with shareholding rules.

IEX ‌will ⁠sell up to 16.7 million shares in ​the ​offering, ⁠with a proposed listing of ​IGX on the ​BSE, ⁠according to its draft prospectus.

[184] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 18:29 UTC] IBM gets sucked into the AI-powered memory chip vortex
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-ai-biggest-winners-draining-tech-budgets-memory-prices-2026-7
IBM's pre-earnings warning to investors reveals a new reality in the AI spending boom: There's only so much money to go around, so some tech companies are winning at the expense of others.
The company said customers are shifting technology budgets in two important ways. First, they're spending heavily on memory chips, servers, and storage to build AI infrastructure before expected price increases. Second, they're diverting more money toward cybersecurity as companies race to defend against new AI-powered threats.
The result is what amounts to a giant sucking sound across corporate IT budgets. Money flowing into AI is leaving less available for other technology purchases, including IBM's latest mainframe computers and the software that runs on them.
IBM said customers spent the final weeks of June buying servers, storage, and memory to lock in supply before prices rose, a much bigger shift than it expected. That hurt sales of its new Z mainframes and related software.
The company also blamed "rapidly evolving" cybersecurity concerns for delaying numerous large deals. IBM didn't identify the cause, but Barclays analysts said the comments likely refer to Anthropic's recently launched Mythos AI model, which has heightened concerns that AI can rapidly uncover software vulnerabilities. The analysts said companies appear to be accelerating security spending, potentially at the expense of other technology projects.
The market reacted accordingly. While IBM's stock plummeted nearly 25%, shares of memory companies rose, with SK Hynix surging more than 20% on Nasdaq on Tuesday. Shares of cybersecurity vendors, including CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks, also jumped.
The bigger question is whether IBM is experiencing a temporary budget shuffle or something more lasting. "There was no indication that this trend has yet abated," BNP Paribas analysts wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday. They expect IBM to share more on its outlook when the company reports results on July 22.
Barclays analysts argued the spending shift is probably temporary, with customers delaying mainframe purchases while they absorb higher infrastructure costs.
And this isn't likely the SaaSpocalypse: IBM's other software businesses, including Red Hat, continued to perform well, with revenue growth actually accelerating.
Let's call it the "Mainframe-alypse." Not sure that one will catch on.
Anyway, IBM's warning highlights a broader trend emerging across enterprise technology: AI is forcing companies to make difficult choices about how existing technology budgets are allocated, producing clear winners and losers.
There's only so much money to go around.
Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com.

[185] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:29 UTC] Zipline adds ex-Tesla, Uber, Waymo execs to make drone delivery mainstream across U.S.
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/zipline-drone-delivery-tesla-uber-waymo-executives.html
South San Francisco startup Zipline is adding former Tesla and Waymo execs to its C-suite, and bringing on a former Uber executive to lead its commercial expansion, as the company scales its drone delivery service into new U.S. and international markets.
Since Zipline started up about twelve years ago, its fully electric, autonomous drones have been used to make more than 2.5 million commercial deliveries. The drones can carry items weighing up to 8 pounds. They have been used to deliver everything from life-saving vaccines, blood and anti-venom doses, to burritos and personal pizzas. Customers generally order via Zipline's app.
Little Caesars, Chipotle and Cleveland Clinic are among the U.S. businesses Zipline works with today, along with retail partners like Walmart and over 100 small businesses.
The company's CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo estimates that Zipline is now making one drone delivery every 20 seconds, up from one per minute in early 2025 when Zipline ranked at No. 46 on CNBC's annual Disruptor 50 list.
One million of its deliveries to-date were conducted within the last 12 months, the company said, and roughly 70% of its daily delivery volume takes place in the U.S.
That's a big shift from Zipline's early days when it focused on drone deliveries of medical essentials and humanitarian aid to clinics and farms in Rwanda and Ghana. Zipline's business in Africa is also growing, Rinaudo said, with development deals and expansion underway, some with the help of the U.S. State Department.
Rinaudo is fond of saying Zipline works to make orders for delivery feel as effortless as "teleportation." Its fastest order-to-delivery time has been about five minutes for some orders in Dallas.
With the company's newest healthcare partner, Cleveland Clinic, Zipline will be offering "healthcare home delivery service" in a suburb of Cleveland this month, allowing patients to get prescriptions flown to their homes, at no additional cost to start.
Joining the venture-backed startup as its new chief financial officer this month is former Tesla vice president of finance, Sendil Palani.
Palani spent about 17 years working for Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker, and told CNBC he views Zipline as a similarly, mission-driven organization with related operations from precision manufacturing to maintaining charging infrastructure.
Zipline also has the potential to eliminate traffic congestion and pollution associated with traditional deliveries by air and on the ground, Palani said, while saving human and animal lives with its rapid deliveries, which can be made over damaged roads in the aftermath of extreme weather or other disasters.
Today, Zipline has the capacity to make 24,000 drones per year at its South San Francisco factory. Palani, who started at Tesla when the company was making just one, fully electric vehicle per day, sees analogies to the years when Tesla started mass-manufacturing its entry level Model 3 sedans.
(Zipline's former CFO was another Tesla finance leader, Deepak Ahuja, who is still advising the drone business, and personally recommended Palani to fill his shoes.)
In addition to the new CFO hire, Zipline is bringing on Kevin Vosen as chief legal officer, who joins after a stint at Ohalo, the agricultural biotech firm, and a seven year tenure as chief legal officer at Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous vehicle venture.
Bolstering its leadership team should help Zipline scale its services across the U.S., Rinaudo said, after gaining traction in its first major metro area of Dallas, Texas, last year.
The startup has also hired Allen Penn as head of commercialization and markets. Penn previously served as vice president of Uber Eats, and helped build the company's food delivery and international ride-hailing business.
While Zipline is starting operations soon in Austin, Houston, and Cleveland, it has not yet revealed its next U.S. markets. "We are expecting just the U.S. business to grow by another 15X this year," Rinaudo said, adding "many tens of metros across the U.S. and some new, large international markets" in 2027.
While Zipline has the most traction by far in the U.S., it faces competition from Alphabet's drone division Wing, fellow startups like Flytrex and Matternet, and others developing cargo-carrying drones for military use.
Researchers at PwC have estimated that the U.S. drone market will grow 65% a year from 2024 to 2034, with deliveries rising from around 13 million this year to more than 800 million in 2034.
"It's at a crazy inflection point," Rinaudo said. "This thing that we were working on for 12 years that everyone thought was totally weird and was never going to work is now becoming totally normal. Everybody is realizing it doesn't make sense to have a 3,000-pound gas-powered, combustion engine vehicle and a person deliver something to your house that weighs five pounds."

[186] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:30 UTC] Bank of Canada Expected to Hold Rates on Oil Price Uncertainty
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/bank-of-canada-likely-to-hold-as-hormuz-blocked-decision-guide
Bank of Canada Expected to Hold Rates on Oil Price Uncertainty

[187] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:31 UTC] US Senate confirms 3rd Trump personal attorney to serve as US appellate judge
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-confirms-3rd-trump-personal-attorney-serve-us-appellate-judge-2026-07-14/
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday for the third time confirmed one of President Donald Trump's personal attorneys to a seat on a federal appeals court as it approved his nomination of a lawyer at the ​Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to the bench.

The Republican-led Senate voted 50-45 in favor of Matthew Schwartz ‌becoming a judge on the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after he represented Trump in a personal capacity on two appeals, including that of his 2024 hush money-related criminal conviction.

He was confirmed over the objections of Senate Democrats who have argued Schwartz was one of ​several of Trump's personal attorneys whose loyalty to the Republican president has been rewarded with lifetime appointments to ​the bench.

The Senate has already confirmed Emil Bove and Justin Smith , two other lawyers who have represented ⁠Trump in private practice, to seats on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the St. Louis-based 8th ​U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, respectively.

Trump nominated Schwartz, a former clerk to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, to ​fill a seat that had been held by U.S. Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush who recently took senior status, a form of semi-retirement.

The 2nd Circuit hears appeals from Connecticut, New York and Vermont. With Schwartz, the 13-judge court will have ​six Republican appointees, all of whom were nominated by Trump.

His practice at Sullivan & Cromwell had focused on securities and corporate ​litigation, which are frequently the focus of the 2nd Circuit's docket.

Trump in announcing Schwartz's nomination in April said he "has fought fiercely against Lawfare ‌and Government ⁠Overreach, representing clients at all levels of Federal and State Judiciaries."

Schwartz had been among the lawyers representing Trump in his appeal to the New York Court of Appeals in the civil fraud case brought by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James. A state appeals court last year preserved the case while tossing a half-billion-dollar penalty a judge had entered.

He ​has also been representing Trump in his ​attempts to overturn his ⁠May 2024 conviction for concealing a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose claim to have had a sexual encounter with him could have upended his 2016 presidential ​campaign. Trump has denied Daniels' claim.

During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May, Democrats ​questioned Schwartz about ⁠how much money Trump owes his law firm, after Trump's Save America PAC reported in April that it owed Sullivan & Cromwell nearly $400,000.

Schwartz, who reported earning $7.36 million last year as a partner at the law firm, said he did not know.

But he stressed that ⁠if he ​was confirmed, he would recuse himself from the cases in which ​he represented Trump, would be impartial and would "rule without fear or favor."

Read more:

Trump attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell nominated to judgeship pledges to recuse from cases

Trump ​nominates former Ohio solicitor general, Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer to US appeals courts

[188] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:31 UTC] Lucid rejects take-private, bankruptcy report after shares plunge
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/lucid-rejects-take-private-bankruptcy-report-after-shares-plunge-2026-07-14/
Lucid Group (LCID.O) on Tuesday denied as "completely false" a blog ‌post saying it was considering a potential take-private transaction or a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, after the electric-vehicle maker's shares tumbled more than 50% in what would be their steepest one-day decline.

Lucid said it had sufficient ​liquidity to fund operations well into the next year, and had not formed a special board committee to ​explore the reported scenarios. It also said restructuring adviser AlixPartners was assisting the company on improving ⁠execution and operations, and was not recommending bankruptcy.

The Eletric-Vehicles blog reported that AlixPartners had been asked to ​present its findings to Lucid's board before its next meeting and that scenarios under review included ​taking the company private or seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, while adding that no decision had been made.

Trading in the stock was halted multiple times after 1 p.m. ET because of volatility. The stock fell as ​much as 57% to $2.37 in afternoon trading before paring losses.

Shares were last down about 13% at ​2:45 p.m. ET.

AlixPartners did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Lucid's shares have lost about 99% ‌of ⁠their value since the company went public, as it has struggled to turn a profit nearly five years after its market debut.

The report comes as Lucid undergoes a broad restructuring under CEO Silvio Napoli , who took over in June.

Last month, the company said it would cut about 18% of its ​U.S. workforce, eliminate the ​chief operating officer ⁠role and streamline its leadership structure to reduce costs and improve execution.

Lucid also announced a series of executive appointments , including naming Alexander De Bock as chief ​financial officer and appointing new leaders for technology, customer, transformation and digital ​functions.

In May, ⁠Lucid suspended its 2026 vehicle production forecast of 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles after supplier-related issues disrupted deliveries of its Gravity SUV, saying it would provide an updated guidance following a strategic review under Napoli.

Despite ⁠billions of ​dollars in backing from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, ​Lucid has struggled with weak demand, persistent cash burn and repeated capital raises, prompting investors to question how quickly it ​can scale production and move toward profitability.

[189] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 18:33 UTC] Homes are getting more affordable. So how come you still can’t afford to buy one?
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/homes-are-getting-more-affordable-so-how-come-you-still-cant-afford-to-buy-one-f2d69d02?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Home prices exploded over the past five years. They’re now going up more slowly, but incomes have not kept up.

[190] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 18:33 UTC] Google faces another AI training lawsuit from major publishers
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/google-faces-another-ai-training-lawsuit-from-major-publishers/
A group of publishers and authors have filed a class action lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using their copyrighted works to train its AI platform, Gemini.
The group of plaintiffs, which includes Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., also alleges that Google intentionally removed or changed copyright information on these works to “conceal… that its Gemini Models were trained on stolen materials,” according to the lawsuit.
This lawsuit is just one of many complaints that publishers, authors, and other copyright holders have filed against AI companies such as Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
While many of these lawsuits are still pending, two early court decisions in California have favored the AI companies, ruling that the use of copyrighted works for AI training is considered “fair use” under U.S. copyright law that has not been updated since before the existence of the internet.
Anthropic was, however, fined $1.5 billion for pirating the works it trained on, marking the largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright law. Around half a million writers were eligible for payments of at least $3,000. However, many authors opted out of receiving the settlement so that they could pursue further legal action over AI training.
The California judges’ decisions don’t bode well for how other courts may view the tech companies’ fair use defense, but the conflict is too nuanced for these rulings to establish an inarguable precedent. The lawsuit against Google was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, giving a different judge the opportunity to weigh in.
In the Google case, the publishers have a more nuanced, long-term relationship with the company. The lawsuit explains that publishers and authors have a long history of providing Google with copyrighted works for the specific purpose of making books searchable through Google Books. These search results do not allow users to view entire books. Instead, they provide access to short snippets of the book along with bibliographic information. The plaintiffs claim that Google trained Gemini on copies of these books, as well as books uploaded to the Google Play store, even though it never received permission to do so.
“Google illegally copied works from all these scope-limited programs for AI training, knowing it lacked authorization to do so,” the lawsuit reads.
The plaintiffs also cite an internal document from Google that allegedly states that using copyrighted books for AI training could be “highly problematic for Google” and might result in “$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[191] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:33 UTC] Yum's Taco Bell removes select items, says no confirmed link to US cyclosporiasis outbreak
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/yum-shares-fall-after-report-us-health-authorities-investigating-taco-bell-2026-07-14/
Yum Brands' (YUM.N) Taco Bell said on Tuesday it had removed limited items from some restaurants as a precaution but said U.S. health officials have not linked the widening outbreak of cyclosporiasis to the chain or any specific ​food product.

Cases of the disease, which causes diarrhea, nausea and other gastrointestinal symptoms, have risen steadily across the ‌country in recent months. Thirty-four states have reported cases , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shares of Yum fell as much as 4.5% after the Washington Post reported federal and state health officials were investigating whether lettuce served at Taco Bell may have been associated with the current ​outbreak of the disease.

"Public health officials have not confirmed a link to Taco Bell or any specific ingredient, supplier, ​restaurant or retailer," Taco Bell said.

The chain said it would continue to monitor the situation closely and follow ⁠the guidance of public health authorities.

In Brooklyn, several major grocery store and fast-food chains, including Taco Bell, had not posted signage ​or pulled products on Tuesday, a Reuters reporter observed.

Most people in stores and on the sidewalk had also not heard about the ​outbreak, though office worker Dee Stephens — standing outside the Taco Bell on Bushwick Avenue — said she planned to avoid lettuce for the foreseeable future.

"I can get my greens in other ways," she said.

The outbreak is occurring as public health officials grapple with reduced surveillance capacity . Last year, the Foodborne Diseases ​Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet, a partnership involving the CDC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FDA and 10 state health ​departments, stopped tracking six of eight pathogens, including cyclospora, due to funding cuts.

Foodborne illness outbreaks can weigh heavily on restaurant stocks. McDonald's (MCD.N) came under scrutiny ‌during ⁠a cyclospora outbreak linked to salads in 2018, while Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N) faced a series of severe E. coli and norovirus outbreaks across multiple U.S. states, which battered the company's sales and stock price.

"Perception matters as much as the facts in the early stages of a food safety investigation. Even an unconfirmed link to a foodborne illness can cause consumers to rethink where they eat," ​said Zak Stambor, analyst at ​eMarketer.

"Even if the chain is ⁠ultimately cleared, the investigation could cast a shadow over the brand and weigh on sales in the near term," he added.

Lab-confirmed cases linked to the recent outbreak of cyclosporiasis have risen to ​1,645, the CDC said on Tuesday, up by more than 800 cases from its last update ​a week ago.

The ⁠current U.S. outbreak, which began on May 1, is centered in Michigan, while Ohio and New York have also reported high numbers of cases.

Infections across the country have resulted in 141 hospitalizations as of July 13, according to the health agency. No deaths have been ⁠reported.

The CDC ​said it is also aware of more than 5,100 additional cases that require ​further analysis and confirmation.

Cyclosporiasis can be contracted by consuming food — typically raw fruits and vegetables — or water contaminated with feces, according to the CDC.

[192] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:37 UTC] Graham’s Sister Sworn In as US Senator Days After His Death
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/graham-s-sister-sworn-in-as-us-senator-days-after-his-death
Graham’s Sister Sworn In as US Senator Days After His Death

[193] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:41 UTC] Cybersecurity stocks rally on AI spending change comments from IBM's Krishna
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/cybersecurity-stocks-ai-spending-mythos.html
Cybersecurity stocks jumped on Tuesday after IBM CEO Arvind Krishna flagged cyber fears as a top priority for customers in the company's preliminary second-quarter results.
During the period, Krishna said customers shifted spending to servers and memory and that "rapidly-evolving, industry-wide cybersecurity concerns" distracted customers.
The rise of advanced artificial intelligence models such as Anthropic's Mythos has spurred mass anxiety on Wall Street and worries of quicker, more sophisticated cyberattacks.
Krishna told CNBC's Sara Eisen on Tuesday that some major deals were put on hold toward the end of the quarter as businesses rethink spending.
"Mythos is making people pause to say, wait, how much do I need to spend on cyber? They're pausing on new deals until they know," Krishna told Eisen Tuesday. "We don't see our software being disrupted by AI at all."
Okta, Netskope and CrowdStrike skyrocketed about 10% each, while SailPoint, Zscaler and SentinelOne surged about 8% each. Palo Alto Networks about 7%.

[194] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:42 UTC] Lucid stock plunges after report that EV maker is considering bankruptcy, which company denies
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/lucid-stock-lcid-bankruptcy-report.html
Lucid Motor stock fell more than 40% at one point and trading was halted for volatility multiple times Tuesday amid speculation that the company is considering new options.
A site focused on electric vehicles called EV reported Tuesday Lucid was considering going private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the site, the company asked AlixPartners to review those options and deliver its findings to Lucid's board before its next meeting.
The report from EV also said AlixPartners had encouraged the board to further restructure in the U.S. and Europe and to focus on the Gravity SUV.
AlixPartners said it had no comment on the report. Lucid said in a statement that "the rumors are completely false."
"The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today," the company said in a statement." Our focus is on improving execution, strengthening operations, and positioning Lucid to realize the full potential of its technology, products, and innovation. AlixPartners is assisting us in that and nothing else and has not recommended bankruptcy to management or the Board."
Lucid has been facing an increasingly challenging market amid slower-than-expected adoption of EVs and changing regulations under the Trump administration, including the elimination of a $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV.
The EV maker, which is heavily backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, said last month that it was laying off 18% of its U.S. workforce as part of a cost-savings plan.
Earlier this month, Lucid missed Wall Street expectations for second-quarter delivery results.
The company's new CEO Silvio Napoli announced a shake-up of the company's leadership team at the time to "simplify the company's structure."
Lucid in May suspended its production guidance as Napoli said he would be evaluating the company's business decisions, adding that it needs to lower its "elevated inventory" of vehicles.

[195] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:43 UTC] Roche to Test Brainshuttle Therapy in Bid to Prevent Alzheimer’s
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/roche-to-test-brain-shuttle-technology-in-bid-to-prevent-alzheimer-s-disease
Roche to Test Brainshuttle Therapy in Bid to Prevent Alzheimer’s

[196] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:43 UTC] Supreme Court Justice Barrett says the threat level against judges 'is really high'
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/supreme-court-budget-congress-kagan-barrett.html
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told a House subcommittee on Tuesday that "the threat level" against her and other federal judges "is really high" as she testified about the high court's 2027 budget request.
"Those statistics sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not," Barrett told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, before she shared several anecdotes about threats affecting her and her family.
The Supreme Court is asking Congress to appropriate $228.4 million for fiscal 2027, a nearly 10% increase since the $207.8 million appropriated for 2026. The increase reflects higher spending on security-related measures, both for the protection of justices and for cybersecurity.
Justice Elena Kagan, who was testifying with Barrett, noted that the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police recently testified that threats against Congress are up 50% this year compared to 2025.
"The Supreme Court Police expect a smaller but still very substantial 38% annual increase in threats this year, which follows a 25% increase last year" in threats to the court and its justices, Kagan said.
"For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize," she said.
According to data from the U.S. Marshals Service, since the beginning of 2026, there have been a total of 512 investigations of threats to federal judges, of which there are 2,600 active judges. That compares to 807 investigations of threats for all of 2025.
Barrett and Kagan are the first Supreme Court justices to testify to Congress since 2019. That year, Kagan and Justice Samuel Alito testified about the court's budget request.
The two justices are scheduled to testify on Tuesday afternoon to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.
Barrett said the increased threats "have required me to my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about."
She told the panel that in the spring of 2022, "My security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest" when threats to her life escalated after the leak to a media outlet of a draft Supreme Court opinion that more than a month later reversed a 1973 decision that had said there was a constitutional right to abortion.
"I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, and he wanted to know what it was and why I had it," Barrett said.
"I didn't know how to respond because maybe I lack imagination, but I didn't expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one."
Barrett, who was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump in his first term, also discussed having recently been the target of a "swatting" attack.
"My teenage son, one of my teenage sons, opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street, it was full of police cars, who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home," Barrett said.
"I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court Police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm, and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home."
She also said that "any of us, me included, have received threatening anonymous deliveries designed to intimidate and harass us."
The hearing comes nine months after a 29-year-old California man, Nicholas Roske, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for his 2022 plot to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanagh at his Maryland home. Roske told police after his arrest that he was upset about the leaked Supreme Court decision on abortion.
Kagan, in her testimony, noted that "the majority of last year's funding increase went to shifting the responsibility for residential security of the justices from the Marshals Service to the Supreme Court Police.
Kagan said that when she first joined the court in 2010, after being nominated by President Barack Obama, "Our security was very different at the time."
"The Supreme Court Police focused almost exclusively on protecting the building, and our IT department focused on supporting the latest BlackBerry devices," she said.
"I didn't have a security team of my own, and I was accompanied by security personnel only when I participated in work-related public events," Kagan said. "We began expanding our security program in earnest in 2017, initially at the behest of members of Congress."
Barrett said that in addition to increased threats to judges personally, "the cybersecurity attacks have been up ... by magnitudes year after year."
"The rapid advancement of AI is making that more and more possible," Barrett said. "We haven't suffered the kind of paralyzing attacks that some of the lower courts have, but in seeing that, that has caused us to try to ramp up very quickly our cybersecurity protection, and so some of the funding that we're seeking is for additional cybersecurity experts."
The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, opened the hearing by saying, "Whatever one's view of the specific Supreme Court ruling, judicial officers — up to and including the justices of the Supreme Court — must be able to do their jobs without fear for their safety or their family's safety."

[197] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:44 UTC] We're raising our price target on Goldman Sachs after a blowout quarter, upbeat outlook
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/were-raising-our-price-target-on-goldman-sachs-after-a-blowout-quarter.html
Goldman Sachs reported a blowout quarter Tuesday, fueled by booming activity on Wall Street, sending shares to fresh all-time highs. The stellar results, coupled with CEO David Solomon's rosy outlook, reinforce our desire to own the investment banking giant in a moment tailor-made to its strengths. Revenue in the second quarter rose 39.5% year over year to $20.34 billion, crushing the consensus of $16.13 billion, according to LSEG. Earnings per share (EPS) in the three months ended in June surged 92% to $20.98, a huge beat versus the $14.48 consensus, according to LSEG data. Shares of Goldman jumped 7.5% and are on pace for their best single-day move in over a year. The stock also set a new intraday record high of roughly $1,136 apiece. To close at a record, Goldman needs to end the day above $1,106.37, its current closing peak set on June 22. GS 1Y mountain Goldman Sachs 1-year return Bottom line Expectations were high for Goldman Sachs, which during the period co-led SpaceX's record-breaking initial public offering, helped steer Alphabet's enormous secondary stock sale, and advised on the $67 billion NextEra-Dominion Energy merger . Plus, the stock market had a big rebound from its Iran war lows, while oil prices and bonds whipsawed — an ideal backdrop for Goldman's trading desks, which thrive on volatility. Despite all these well-known wins, Goldman still blew past estimates. Jim Cramer summed it up like this: Everyone expected a good quarter, "but not this good." Goldman's three most important businesses — investment banking, trading, and asset and wealth management — all exceeded consensus revenue expectations, unlike in the first quarter of this year, when only investment banking delivered a clean beat. Additionally, key metrics used to evaluate a bank's performance were also much better than expected. In particular, Goldman's efficiency ratio — calculated by dividing the firm's expenses by its revenues — was 57.4%, a multiyear low (lower is better here). Return on tangible common equity, a measure of how efficiently the bank generates profits from its capital, was 25.5%. While the second quarter featured some extraordinary deals, Goldman struck an upbeat tone on the pipeline of future activity — and that's notable for anyone worried about the sustainability of the performance. "Even with very strong investment banking revenues this quarter, our backlog increased to its highest level in five years and its second highest level on record, underpinned by a record advisory backlog and reflecting the strength and breadth of our client engagement," chief executive Solomon said on the earnings call. Advisory work typically involves mergers and acquisitions (M & A). Solomon indicated that part of the investment banking business is benefiting from the Trump administration's more accommodative stance on takeovers and tie-ups. This follows tougher enforcement during the Biden era. "CEOs are dreaming and thinking about really large, structurally scale-enhancing opportunities. That is leading to just a lot more strategic activity," Solomon said, adding:" They've got a multiyear window where they can potentially execute on it." On the IPO side, artificial intelligence giants OpenAI and Anthropic have both submitted confidential filings with U.S. regulators, and while the timing of those megadeals is unclear, Goldman is among the banks leading the offerings. It's not just the leading AI labs filling the pipeline. Data center operator Switch has hired Goldman as a lead underwriter for its planned IPO, Reuters reported on Tuesday . The news underscores the myriad ways in which the AI boom is driving Goldman's business. From IPOs to soaring debt and equity issuance to fund AI infrastructure projects, Goldman is involved. The flip side is that it leaves Goldman vulnerable to a slowdown in AI investments. Asked about this on the call, Solomon offered a level-headed response, saying he's aware of the history of past tech booms, but stressed Goldman looks different now than it did two-plus decades ago, when the dot-com bubble burst. "The firm is so much bigger, so much more diverse, has so many more earnings engines, has so much more durable revenue than it had the last time we saw a significant investment cycle like this," Solomon said. "Could this ebb and flow? Absolutely. It will, as it has in any other cycle," he added. "Ultimately, you will have a recalibration, a reset, a drawdown, and then a further acceleration. That's what the path generally looks like. ... As we manage the firm, that's something we're thinking carefully about." Goldman's asset and wealth management business is a key source of that more durable revenue base. Its assets under supervision reached a new record in the June quarter, and early into the third quarter, Goldman landed $70 billion in combined retirement assets from Verizon and Lockheed Martin , supporting future growth. "Those are the businesses that didn't seem to matter, but they're so big now that they do seem to matter," Jim said Tuesday, referring to asset and wealth management. Under Solomon, Goldman has worked to leverage the bank's client relationships in one area to benefit its other businesses — say, getting a CEO whose company tapped Goldman's bankers for an M & A deal to use Goldman for their personal wealth advisory. This sort of "flywheel effect" can also be at play with IPOs that mint millionaires and even billionaires. Solomon said that since the start of 2025, Goldman has seen nearly 900 referrals from its investment banking unit to its wealth management unit. The firm is stepping up its investments in wealth management, Solomon said, because it sees the opportunity for even more growth. "The growth in very wealthy people that have investable assets is expanding at an even faster pace." This is something long-term investors in the bank's stock should appreciate, as it will continue to help Goldman grow earnings more sustainably over time. That could ultimately allow the bank's stock to command a higher price-to-earnings multiple than if it were more heavily reliant on trading and investment banking. Goldman also continues to invest in the adoption of artificial intelligence by its rank-and-file, seeking ways to make the company more efficient and productive. CFO Denis Coleman said, while Goldman is already finding ways to deploy AI, particularly on the software engineering side, "I think, frankly, it is still early." "We want our world-class people to be more productive and do more for clients. As they become more productive, they may feel less need to replace people who, in the ordinary course, flow through the system. Right now, it's not a moment for a structural rework of our human capital footprint. It's a moment to invest and utilize this technology and learn how to deploy it in the best possible way for our people and our clients." While we still see plenty to like, we're reiterating our hold-equivalent rating on Goldman because it's not our style to chase moves like this. However, we are increasing our price target to $1,200 a share, up from $1,050. Segment results Goldman's global banking and markets division delivered a monster beat, with revenue rising 53% year over year and 22% sequentially to $15.52 billion. That came in $3.8 billion ahead of the consensus, driving most of the top-line beat. Within the segment, investment banking revenue totaled $3.4 billion, up 55% from a year ago, and ahead of the $2.8 billion consensus. This is the line item housing the fees from SpaceX's IPO and $25 billion bond sale during the quarter. It also includes the money earned from co-leading Alphabet's massive $85 billion equity raise , which was announced in June. Unsurprisingly, both Goldman's equity and debt underwriting revenue exceeded estimates, rising 130% and 70%, respectively. Advisory revenue, the third pillar of the investment-banking business, was a slight miss, up nearly 18%. This largely consists of the bank

[198] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 18:46 UTC] Banks had a blockbuster quarter. Jamie Dimon says the market is 'close to as good as it gets.'
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-earnings-jpm-citi-goldman-bofa-wells-markets-outlook-2026-7
"Record." "Strong." "Best quarterly revenue in a decade."
Wall Street CEOs described their impressive second-quarter earnings in confident terms on Tuesday, as all five banks that reported results notched double-digit profits. The banks — JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America — generally reported big gains in equities trading revenue and investment banking fees. Morgan Stanley, which is set to report on Wednesday, is also expected to have had a strong quarter.
Overall, the CEOs said that the economy had proved resilient and the deal pipeline robust, buoyed by the AI financing boom. Yet the banking leaders questioned whether the business conditions that helped create the blowout quarter would last — JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said things are "getting close to as good as it gets."
"We're in a very healthy, active, exuberant market with very high prices and very high volumes, and we benefit from that. We just don't know how long it will continue," Dimon said in a call with analysts. "Could it get a lot better than this? It can get better, but how much better? I don't know."
The second quarter marked one of Wall Street's busiest stretches in years. Blockbuster deals, including SpaceX's IPO, helped the rebound in dealmaking. Trading desks benefited from volatile markets, driven by geopolitics and shifting sentiment around some AI stocks. Companies continued raising money to finance AI infrastructure and data centers, which banks have rushed to help with.
None of the CEOs predicted an immediate broad slowdown, but some warned that the boost from the AI buildout won't last forever. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that capital demands for AI will "ebb and flow," as is typical.
"Ultimately, you will have a recalibration, a reset, a drawdown, and then a further acceleration. That's what the path generally looks like," Solomon said.
As he sees it, the markets are still in the "early innings" of the AI buildout cycle, and earlier in the call said he couldn't predict whether a recalibration would come in the next six or eighteen months. Goldman, he said, is investing to support long-term growth.
Wall Street's hottest quarter may be hard to repeat
Jeremy Barnum, JPMorgan's chief financial officer, told journalists ahead of the bank's earnings call that "it would be naive not to be worried" about market exuberance, especially as it relates to AI. At the same time, though, he said that it's easy to worry, only to have the market keep doing well.
The caution also showed up in how executives talked about lending on analyst calls. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said competitors were taking on risks his bank wouldn't touch. Barnum said JPMorgan had passed on some data-center financings because they didn't meet the bank's underwriting standards.
"We have a pretty precise framework to govern what we're willing to do and what we're not willing to do in that space across those types of risks. We saw some deals come through where we were just like, 'Yeah, we're not doing that,'" he said.
A veil of geopolitical uncertainty also hung over the calls. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that while he expects strong market conditions to persist, the war in Iran is complex.
"We can't predict what will happen next in it, and that could affect the market's perception, IPOs, et cetera," he said.
Citi CEO Jane Fraser echoed that the pipeline is healthy, but anticipated a "summer lull," especially given the upcoming midterm elections and the "wild card" of current geopolitics.
Others projected a summer slowdown as well, partly because it would simply be difficult to sustain this quarter's extraordinary momentum — as Barnum said, it seems statistically unlikely that the "particular combination of effects would repeat itself." Citi's CFO mentioned that markets revenue has historically declined in the second half of the year, and, given the current strength, "that decline could be greater this year."
Scharf summed up the basic sentiment fewer than 20 minutes into his bank's earnings call, before analysts even started firing questions: "Strong environments like this don't last forever."

[199] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 18:46 UTC] Brazil's Energis8 eyes annual SAF output of 1 billion liters, CEO says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazils-energis8-eyes-annual-saf-output-1-billion-liters-ceo-says-2026-07-14/
Brazilian firm Energis8 expects to produce around 1 billion liters of sustainable aviation fuel annually, Chief Executive Marcos Guerra told Reuters ​in an interview, adding that important planning should be finished by ‌the end of this year.

The company, also known as E8R, will produce aviation fuel via a tolling model where clients supply Energis8 with ethanol to turn into SAF for a fee, ​Guerra said on Monday, adding that the mechanism will be cheaper than ​spot prices.

Brazil is a major ethanol producer. Though the sector has ⁠long been the preserve of the country's sugarcane producers, ethanol produced from corn and ​other grains has exploded in recent years, with industry leaders calling for expansion into ​maritime and aviation fuels.

The project is expected to start running in 2031 and is forecast to need capital expenditure of $1.3 billion, Guerra said, adding that he was confident that the global ​move toward using renewables rather than fossil fuels is only going to build ​momentum.

"This decision is not going to be taken back," he said in Sao Paulo, adding that ‌the ⁠project will be built in Paulinia, in Sao Paulo state, to take advantage of its proximity to major aviation hubs like Guarulhos and Viracopos Campinas airports.

Though SAF is currently more expensive than fossil-based jet fuel, costs will surely move towards parity ​in the future, Guerra ​said.

"There will come ⁠a moment in aviation where renewable fuel will be cheaper or level with oil," he said, noting that the tolling ​model would mitigate the exposure to SAF price volatility.

The project ​will require ⁠1.7 billion liters of ethanol per year to convert into SAF, he said, with clients to be charged a fee per liter for the conversion.

While Guerra currently controls ⁠85% of ​the company - with 15% being held by three ​other executives he declined to name - 40% of project funding is expected to come from equity while ​the rest will come from debt, he added.

[200] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:46 UTC] US Backs Iraq-Syria Oil Pipeline to Weaken Iran’s Hormuz Hold
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/us-backs-iraq-syria-oil-pipeline-to-weaken-iran-s-hormuz-hold
US Backs Iraq-Syria Oil Pipeline to Weaken Iran’s Hormuz Hold

[201] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:49 UTC] Cybersecurity stocks surge thanks to IBM, and Nvidia climbs on more good China news
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/cybersecurity-stocks-surge-thanks-to-ibm-and-nvidia-climbs-on-more-good-china-news.html
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks are higher on Tuesday, with the S & P 500 recovering about half of Monday's losses. A much cooler-than-anticipated June consumer price index (CPI) report helped turn around the market futures, as traders backed off rate-hike expectations for the Federal Reserve's late July policy meeting. But oil continued its rally, with U.S. oil benchmark WTI crude briefly topping $80 a barrel. The advance came even as President Donald Trump said the 20% reimbursement fee that he planned to impose on cargo shipments through the Strait of Hormuz will be replaced with investment deals with the Gulf states. IBM's weaker-than-expected preliminary second-quarter earnings is a major market story, and the company's reasons for the shortfall is impacting several corners of Tuesday's market. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said customer buying patterns were impacted by clients shifting spending toward tech hardware like servers, storage and memory ahead of indicated price increases. Krishna added that clients were "distracted" with cybersecurity concerns. His comments reflect a new reality for enterprise IT budgets: More dollars are being allocated to cybersecurity defense, hardware, and, most likely, AI computing tokens as companies experiment on ways to improve efficiency and create new tools. This leaves less money to spend on software and other categories. What IBM said explains why cybersecurity stocks like Club names CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks are among the best performers in the S & P 500, along with Dell , Micron and others in the storage and memory food chain. Healthcare is the worst-performing sector. HCA Healthcare is leading the group lower after the company announced preliminary second-quarter results and cut its full-year earnings per share outlook. The hospital operator said it experienced an increase in uninsured volumes from patients who lost coverage from health insurance exchanges. HCA's profit warning included weaker-than-expected surgical volumes in the second quarter, pressuring shares across the medical device sector. We'll see Wednesday whether Club name Johnson & Johnson's medical device business experienced a similar trend. Medical devices account for about 36% of the J & J's total revenue. However, that share will shrink once the company completes the separation of its orthopaedics business. The separation was announced in October 2025 with a targeted timeline of 18 to 24 months. Shares of Club name Nvidia are up 4% on signs the company may have gotten its foot back in the door to China's AI market. Jeffrey Kessler, the under secretary of commerce for industry and security, said Tuesday that a "trivial" number of Nvidia's H200 chips have shipped to China. We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves until we see Nvidia come out and say it has begun collecting revenue from China, considering we've seen plenty of head fakes here. Nevertheless, Kessler's comments, issued at a congressional hearing, mark the second encouraging sign in the past two weeks that Nvidia may have regained access to the sizable Chinese AI market. Last Wednesday, we highlighted a report by The Information that said China plans to let several AI companies buy a limited amount of H200 chips. Trump said in December 2025 that Nvidia could sell the chips to "approved customers," in exchange for a 25% cut of revenue. Boeing announced Tuesday it delivered 171 jets in the second quarter, marking its best first half of the year since 2018 . The company delivered 64 jets in June, an improvement from 60 in May. Last week, the company brought online its fourth 737 MAX assembly line at its Everett, Washington, factory. While production will take time to ramp, the expansion is a key milestone in Boeing's plan to increase output from 42 jets per month to 47, and then to 52 per month next year. Producing more plans and increasing deliveries is essential to Boeing improving its annual free cash flow. Looking ahead, we expect to see Boeing score several jet orders at the Farnborough International Airshow in England next week. This is a major industry event, held in alternating years with the Paris Air Show. There are no major earnings after the closing bell. Before the opening bell on Wednesday, we'll see earnings from Johnson & Johnson, Dutch chip-equipment maker ASML , BlackRock , Slim Jim owner Conagra Brands , Morgan Stanley , uniform supplier Cintas , super regional bank PNC Financial , and BNY Mellon . On the data side, we'll see the wholesale producer price index (PPI) report, and the market will be hoping to see another cool print after Tuesday's CPI. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

[202] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:50 UTC] Lucid dismisses report that it is weighing filing for bankruptcy or going private after shares plunge
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/lucid-stock-lcid-bankruptcy-report.html
Lucid Motor stock fell more than 40% at one point and trading was halted for volatility multiple times Tuesday amid speculation that the company is considering new options.
A site focused on electric vehicles called EV reported Tuesday Lucid was considering going private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the site, the company asked AlixPartners to review those options and deliver its findings to Lucid's board before its next meeting.
The report from EV also said AlixPartners had encouraged the board to further restructure in the U.S. and Europe and to focus on the Gravity SUV.
AlixPartners said it had no comment on the report. Lucid said in a statement that "the rumors are completely false."
"The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today," the company said in a statement." Our focus is on improving execution, strengthening operations, and positioning Lucid to realize the full potential of its technology, products, and innovation. AlixPartners is assisting us in that and nothing else and has not recommended bankruptcy to management or the Board."
Lucid has been facing an increasingly challenging market amid slower-than-expected adoption of EVs and changing regulations under the Trump administration, including the elimination of a $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV.
The EV maker, which is heavily backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, said last month that it was laying off 18% of its U.S. workforce as part of a cost-savings plan.
Earlier this month, Lucid missed Wall Street expectations for second-quarter delivery results.
The company's new CEO Silvio Napoli announced a shake-up of the company's leadership team at the time to "simplify the company's structure."
Lucid in May suspended its production guidance as Napoli said he would be evaluating the company's business decisions, adding that it needs to lower its "elevated inventory" of vehicles.

[203] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:54 UTC] UK May Require Companies to Publish Salaries in Equal Pay Drive
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/uk-may-require-companies-to-publish-salaries-in-equal-pay-drive
UK May Require Companies to Publish Salaries in Equal Pay Drive

[204] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 18:54 UTC] Caution warranted on this red hot AI cloud data stock that's now 'priced for perfection,' says Todd Gordon
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/red-hot-ai-cloud-data-stock-now-priced-for-perfection-says-todd-gordon.html
Last week in this column, we covered the software stocks that were previously left for dead , but are starting to show signs of gaining critical ground on not only the semiconductors, but the broader market. That theme is continuing to manifest, and I want to add another key software name to our buy list — Datadog, Inc. Like last week's Snowflake analysis, DDOG is a relative-strength leader, not a "SaaS-poclaypse" walking zombie that is trying to come back to life. Datadog runs the control room for modern software: it pulls data from a company's servers, apps and cloud services into one place so engineers can see, in real time, whether everything is running and get alerted the moment something breaks. The stock just printed up around $266, ahead roughly 94% in the past year, riding well above both its 50-and 200-day moving averages, with DDOG / S & P turning up also, demonstrating strength vs the broader market. Looking closely at the daily chart, we see the $201 resistance was broken earlier this year and now serves as support. What's interesting about this break of the $201 resistance is it broke through the prior symmetrical advance of 147%. More times than you would imagine, breakout moves fail at the prior symmetrical percentage advance. Not the case with Datadog. The last three weeks, we see an IBD-style cup and handle pattern setting up a breakout targeting the $300's. (The Investor's Business Daily style cup with handle is a bullish continuation pattern developed by William O'Neil. ) The fundamentals back up the bullish technical assessment. Datadog charges by usage, not by seat, so its bill grows automatically as customers run more software in the cloud, which shows up as a net-retention rate above 120% and roughly three-quarters of growth coming from existing customers who keep adopting more tools. First quarter 2026 was its best quarter ever, with revenue crossing $1 billion for the first time, up about 32%, with annual recurring revenue past $4 billion and record new-customer bookings. The accelerant is AI as Datadog built GPU monitoring and LLM observability for exactly this moment, landed eight-figure deals with hyperscaler AI research divisions, counts 14 of the top 20 AI-native companies as customers, and just earned FedRAMP High certification to open the door to work with the Federal government. Its meter spins faster as cloud and AI spending climb, which is exactly where corporate spend is currently heading. Looking below at the weekly, you'll see my favorite confirmation, which is Datadog's forward estimates for revenue and earnings have been rising for 1-, 2-, and 3 fiscal years out. When the price and analysts' expectations are rising in unison, you're looking at a name that should continue to attract institutional firepower that can propel trends, breakouts and extension moves faster than you'd expect. Bottom Line Now for the catch, and it's the price. At $266, Datadog isn't cheap by any stretch. It trades around 108 times forward earnings and 10 to 11 times forward sales, is up a blistering 140% in just three months and is now sitting about 10% above Wall Street's average price target near $230 to $240. Bernstein even trimmed it to Market Perform recently on some near-term demand caution. And underneath all that growth, the GAAP profits are still thin. The company ran a small operating loss last year, and most of its net income comes from interest on a $4.8 billion cash pile rather than the core business. Then there are the real-world risks. A good chunk of that AI revenue is concentrated in just a handful of big customers. The same hyperscalers that host Datadog also sell tools that compete with it. And last year, someone breached Datadog's own source code, which is a pretty uncomfortable look for a company whose whole pitch is securing everyone else. So here's my bottom line. The trend, the pattern and the rising estimates all point higher, and I respect that. But you're paying up for near-perfection here, so I'm not chasing it. I'd rather respect the breakout, size the position with discipline, lean on that $201 support and use the pullbacks to add. — Todd Gordon, Founder of Inside Edge Capital, LLC We offer active portfolio management and financial planning for retail investors, as well as regular market updates like the idea presented above. Visit us at https://www.insideedgecapital.com/cnbc DISCLOSURES: Todd does not yet own DDOG, SNOW, or NOW personally and for clients of his wealth management company Inside Edge Capital, LLC. Charts shown are Koyfin All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, or its parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer.

[205] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:55 UTC] Bowman Says Fed Should ‘Not Micromanage’ Banks on Issues Like AI
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/bowman-says-fed-should-not-micromanage-banks-on-issues-like-ai
Bowman Says Fed Should ‘Not Micromanage’ Banks on Issues Like AI

[206] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 18:59 UTC] Writers Guild Sues Paramount Over Warner Bros. Merger
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/writers-guild-of-america-sues-paramount-over-warner-bros-merger
Writers Guild Sues Paramount Over Warner Bros. Merger

[207] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:00 UTC] US FDA sued for allowing unauthorized vaping products
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-fda-sued-allowing-unauthorized-vaping-products-2026-07-14/
A coalition of public health organizations, pediatricians and parents sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, challenging a ​new policy that allow some manufacturers to sell vapes and ‌nicotine without the legally required license.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, targets FDA guidance issued in May . The guidance states the agency would ​not prioritize enforcement against certain unauthorized e-cigarettes and nicotine pouch ​products if the companies have marketing applications under review.

Plaintiffs ⁠include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics, ​the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, ​the American Lung Association, Truth Initiative and Parents Against Vaping, along with a pediatrician and a parent whose children became addicted to nicotine after using flavored ​e-cigarettes.

Plaintiffs argue the policy unlawfully allows products to remain on ​the market without the marketing authorization required under the Tobacco Control Act.

The group also ‌said ⁠the guidance could permit thousands of unauthorized products, including flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches popular with young people, to be sold indefinitely.

They also contend the FDA bypassed required public notice and comment procedures ​under the Administrative ​Procedure Act ⁠and failed to justify the policy shift.

The lawsuit also challenges the FDA's plan to publish a list ​of products it does not intend to prioritize for ​enforcement, ⁠arguing it would facilitate sales of unauthorized products.

The case will be heard in the same Maryland court that struck down an earlier FDA ⁠policy in ​2017 that had allowed many e-cigarettes ​to remain on the market without authorization.

The FDA did not immediately respond to Reuters ​request for comment.

[208] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:00 UTC] These World Cup Tweets Show How AI Will Unite Us All
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-14/world-cup-s-ai-translated-tweets-rebuild-the-tower-of-babel
These World Cup Tweets Show How AI Will Unite Us All

[209] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:00 UTC] New Russia Oil Sanctions Bill Aims Tariffs at China, India
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/new-russia-oil-sanctions-bill-targets-china-india-for-tariffs
New Russia Oil Sanctions Bill Aims Tariffs at China, India

[210] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:02 UTC] Texas Port CEO Sees US Oil Exports Holding Above Prewar Levels
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/texas-port-ceo-sees-us-oil-exports-holding-above-prewar-levels
Texas Port CEO Sees US Oil Exports Holding Above Prewar Levels

[211] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:03 UTC] Wells Fargo did enough to remain in our portfolio. What we liked about earnings
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/wells-fargo-did-enough-to-remain-in-our-portfolio-what-we-liked-about-earnings.html
The knee-jerk selling of Wells Fargo shares after a largely strong second-quarter earnings report made no sense. Tuesday's results needed to shine following two quarters of disappointments and a struggling stock price. And they did. Total revenue at the bank increased 8.6% year over year to $22.62 billion in the second quarter, outpacing the LSEG-compiled consensus estimate of $21.84 billion. Earnings per share for the three months ended June 30 rose 25% to $2, easily topping the $1.71 consensus estimate. (Four cents worth of EPS was attributable to a one-time tax benefit. But even without that benefit, earnings still far surpassed estimates.) WFC YTD mountain Wells Fargo YTD In afternoon trading, Wells Fargo was off its lows for the session, moving nearly 3% lower. The stock did come into the print rather hot, relatively speaking — up 20%, as of Monday's close, since its 52-week low of nearly $73 on May 15. Despite that gain, and now adding in Tuesday's decline, shares are down roughly 8% year to date. The S & P 500 , by comparison, is up more than 10% in 2026. Therein lies the source of Jim Cramer's frustrations with the stock. Bottom line While the quarter was strong enough to keep us invested, and perhaps pull Wells Fargo out of the penalty box, we reiterated our hold-equivalent 2 rating and $95-per-share price target. We want to see more consistency out of the management team going forward before making any moves to upgrade the stock and/or boost our price target. While net interest margin and income both came up a tad short, that's not too surprising because the higher interest rates for longer from the Federal Reserve can have mixed effects. Banks can generate more on loan activity but must also pay out more to attract capital. Higher rates can also catalyze money to move out of noninterest-bearing (or minimal-interest-bearing) accounts, such as savings and checking accounts, in search of higher-yielding ones, like CDs. Back in April, CFO Mike Santomassimo warned us about this on the Q1 earnings call. On Tuesday's second-quarter call, Santomassimo addressed the upside of this dynamic. "The success we are having growing interest-bearing deposits deepens our relationships with clients in the Commercial Bank and the Corporate Investment Bank, and gives us the opportunity to attract noninterest-bearing deposits in the future. … While financing balances in the markets business are lower spread, they have good returns and profitability and position us to grow other activities with those clients." As a result, we aren't too concerned about the compression here as deeper client relations are worth more in the long-term than a few extra basis points of net interest margin. One way to think about it is that Wells Fargo is trading some interest-based profitability today for more robust fee-based revenue streams in the future. That will help to provide more earnings resiliency throughout the business cycle. Why we own it We bought Wells Fargo as a turnaround story under CEO Charlie Scharf. He has delivered. His tireless efforts to clean up the bank's act after a series of misdeeds before his tenure paid off when the Federal Reserve lifted its 2018-imposed $1.95 trillion asset cap in early June. Competitors : Bank of America and Citigroup Weight in Club portfolio : 2.97% Most recent buy : March 17, 2026 Initiated : Jan. 8, 2021 The net interest income (NII) miss, which is probably the reason for Tuesday's stock decline, was more than offset by noninterest income, demonstrating the benefit of management's efforts to grow fee-based revenue streams. Importantly, both NII and noninterest income were up year-over-year in all operating segments. On the call, Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf took a moment to provide a high-level overview of the economic backdrop as it relates to business going forward. "Consumers and businesses remain strong. Consumer spending is higher, charge-offs are lower, and savings investments are growing across customer segments. Businesses are cautious, but balance sheets and cash flows remain strong, resulting in strong credit performance. Equity indices are at or near all-time highs, and credit spreads are narrow. Concerns around affordability and inflation exist, but the labor market and wage growth remain strong. The markets and U.S. economy have absorbed macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty well." Good as that all sounds, Scharf was quick to add that "strong environments like this don't last forever, and we see large amounts of capital being deployed by both banks and non-banks across a broad range of risk assets." The CEO also stressed that he and his management company won't be complacent. "We will watch carefully for signs of outsized risks and stress, and continue to deploy our resources carefully and deliberately to serve our clients and build sustainable, high returns and higher growth that can endure the inevitable market shocks and economic cycles." Quarterly commentary Wells Fargo's Efficiency Ratio was better than expected, falling 400 basis points year-over-year. Remember, this is one of those key metrics where lower is better because it's a measure of how much non-interest expense goes into each dollar of revenue generated. Return on Tangible Common Equity (ROTCE) saw significant year-over-year improvement, increasing 250 basis points to 17.7%, materially above expectations, driven by better-than-expected deposit and loan performance. Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS) increased 6.8% to $46.13, 40-cents ahead of what the Street was expecting. Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio (CET1) , which measures capital versus risk-weighted assets, came in a tick ahead of expectations, and well above the bank's 8.5% regulatory minimum. As a result, the bank remains well-positioned with the capital needed to invest in the business while returning cash to shareholders. On that note, Wells Fargo said it returned about $4.4 billion to shareholders in the second quarter — buying back 37.4 million shares worth $3 billion and paying out another $1.4 billion in dividends. Segment commentary Consumer Banking and Lending saw second-quarter revenue increase 6.2% year over year. Revenue streams from credit cards and auto loans were up 2% and 33%, respectively. Personal lending revenue fell about 2% while home lending revenue was down 7% versus the year-ago period. Helping to drive the results was the 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year consumer primary checking account growth, a 46% increase in net new credit card accounts, a 41% increase in auto loan originations, and a 13% increase in premier client assets. On the call, Santomassimo said, "The asset cap came off last year, and we had double-digit growth in both average loans and deposits from a year ago." He was referring to June 2025 when the Federal Reserve removed its $1.95 trillion asset cap on the bank, which was put in place in 2018 for past misdeeds. Scharf became CEO in 2019 and worked diligently to clean up Wells Fargo's act. Commercial Banking saw revenue advance 6%, as NII increased 3% versus the year-ago period, while noninterest income increased 13% year-over-year. Net interest income benefited from an increase in loan activity as well as an increase in interest-bearing deposit balances. Noninterest income benefited from equity investments, tax credit investments, and investment banking. Corporate and Investment Banking revenue advanced the most out of the four operating segments, increasing just over 16% year over year. Driving the strong result was a 20% increase in banking revenue on the back of growth in all three sub-revenue lines (lending, treasury management and payments, and investment banking). IB advanced nearly 36% year over year. On the call, the team noted that this was a record quarter for fees from investment banking, which the bank has been building up in recent years. Commercial real estate was down slightly, about 1%, versus the year-ago period, though m

[212] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 19:03 UTC] Buffett drops Gates Foundation from $6bn Berkshire donation
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/ebc72869-a233-4710-a9a4-e398f567a5b2
Warren Buffett drops Gates Foundation from $6bn Berkshire donation
Warren Buffett excluded the Gates Foundation from his annual donation of shares on Tuesday, with the billionaire chair of Berkshire Hathaway directing nearly $6bn of stock to four family-linked charities.
Buffett, who will turn 96 this August, also confirmed that his remaining stake in the company would be directed to the four family-linked foundations within eight years.
The omission of the Gates Foundation on Tuesday follows revelations about Bill Gates’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein, which have emerged through disclosures of materials from the US Department of Justice’s investigation into the deceased sex offender.
Buffett in March said he had not spoken to Gates since “the whole thing was unveiled”, in reference to the Epstein scandal. He added he did not want to be in a position in which he would be called as a witness in the investigation of the late sex offender.
Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Gates Foundation, told staff in February that communications between employees of the charity and Epstein over an abortive fundraising plan were “deeply unsettling and depressing” and “shouldn’t have happened”.
Buffett has donated more than $40bn to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including a sizeable gift last year. However, in 2024 he signalled that his remaining wealth when he died would go to a foundation tied to his family.
On Tuesday, he donated $4.5bn to an Omaha-based foundation named in honour of his late wife and a further $500mn each to three foundations set up by his three children.
“My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years,” Buffett said. “My children are unfortunately growing older. I have every hope that the three of them are able to carry out the disposal of my shares by December 31 2034.”
The Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Buffett, who has spent six decades cultivating a reputation for probity atop Berkshire, has attempted to distance the company from the controversy. Gates stepped down from Berkshire’s board in 2020, shortly after his ties to Epstein were revealed.
Gates and Buffett have had a long friendship, which dates back to the early 1990s, and in 2006 the so-called Oracle of Omaha committed to donating annually to the foundation started by Bill and Melinda French Gates.
The three launched the Giving Pledge in 2010, in which they invited billionaires across the world to commit to donating part of their wealth to philanthropy.
Buffett’s donations to the Gates Foundation were dependent on several conditions being met, including that either Bill or French Gates were alive and active in the organisation. Buffett resigned as a trustee of the foundation in 2021. The couple divorced in 2021, and French Gates stepped down from the foundation board in 2024.
Gates told a US House of Representatives committee investigating Epstein in June that he had last spoken to Buffett in January, according to a transcript of his comments.
“I think it was prior to the release of the Epstein files,” he said. “We talked about my health challenges and some other things. I’m sure, you know, he’s looking at the press.”

[213] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 19:04 UTC] Here's what growing public opposition to the data center boom means for markets
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/data-center-protests-ai-trade-markets-sei-be-morgan-stanley-2026-7
People are on-edge about data centers popping up in their communities, and grassroots opposition to the AI infrastructure boom has implications for markets, Morgan Stanley says.
The data center buildout has been a market-driving trend for years, but as a sprawl of power- and water-hungry buildings dot more and more of the landscape, local opposition has risen to oppose them. It's becoming a bottleneck similar to energy and other resources that have slowed the buildout, Morgan Stanley said this week.
"Community pushback against data center construction has accelerated in 2026 as new moratoriums have been introduced, with the majority of the change happening at the local level,"analysts at the bank wrote. "This puts pressure on costs and timelines and could alter the geographic distribution of data centers."
As for what it means for the market, the bank flagged a few things.
"Pushback to future data center build-outs can clearly weigh on the timing and intensity of the capex cycle, either drawing it out over a longer period of time, or curtailing total investment needs," the bank said.
It also predicted that data centers are likely to increase on-site power generation as a result of the public attention on resources required to run them. Morgan Stanley flagged stocks like Solaris Energy Infrastructure, Innio NV, and Bloom Energy as beneficiaries. It also said data center real estate investment trusts like Digital Realty Trust should be shielded from the effects of the backlash given their smaller size relative to major hyperscalers.
It also added that public opposition could have an effect on issuance of debt that's fueled the buildout.
"Within credit, sustained data center pushback could ultimately extend the cycle and reduce future supply by lowering capex and financing needs," the bank said. "But near term capex front loading may worsen already- building issuance pressure, especially given the AI ecosystem has driven nearly all of this year's incremental corporate supply."
Morgan Stanley's analysis was published on Tuesday, the same day that New York announced its first statewide moratorium on large scale data centers Gov. Kathy Hochul described them as "energy-guzzling" as she signed an executive order pausing construction of date centers larger than 50 megawatts for one year.
Concerns often center around environmental impact, as well as the near-constant droning reported by people who live near data centers. Environmental activists like Erin Brockovich have highlighted problems with their construction, as well as a lack of transparency when data centers are built in rural communities that might not have the resources to support them.
Data center executives have said they are worried by their industry's poor public image. Morgan Stanley highlighted this rising negative sentiment as a growing concern, citing data that points to attitudes toward AI buildout consequences increasingly shifting in a negative direction.
"Roughly half of respondents in a recent Morning Consult survey believe AI data centers negatively affect electricity prices and the power grid, while concerns about water prices and the environment are close behind at around 45%," the bank added.
"We are seeing local communities push back — via legislation, moratoriums, etc. — on the data center build-out, which raises the question: Does this type of opposition limit the extent to which the US can build out its AI infrastructure?" the report states. "An estimated~$156 billion of projects were cancelled or delayed in 2025, and $130 billion already in 1Q26."

[214] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:07 UTC] US Russia sanctions bill eases threat of tariffs on China and India
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-russia-sanctions-bill-eases-threat-tariffs-china-india-2026-07-14/
Republican and Democratic U.S. senators on Tuesday unveiled an updated version of Russia sanctions legislation championed by ​the late Senator Lindsey Graham, seeking to impose sanctions on ‌Russian officials and to use tariffs to pressure China and India to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Graham, who died suddenly on Saturday, had announced during ​a trip to Ukraine just a day earlier that he had ​reached an agreement with Republican President Donald Trump to move ⁠forward with the bill, more than a year after it was ​introduced.

Senate aides said there were 26 co-sponsors for the bill, both Republicans and ​Democrats, and they expected more within several hours, expressing optimism about its chances of passage. "We're pretty confident on its path," one aide said.

The bill is changed from the original ​version introduced by Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and Richard ​Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, in April 2025.

The new version of the measure eases tariffs that ‌could ⁠be placed on third-party buyers of Russian oil and natural gas to a maximum of 100% on the top five purchasers, from the previous proposal's blanket 500%.

It also allows an exception for countries which import less than ​15% of Russia's ​natural gas exports ⁠and which are taking significant steps to reduce those imports, which could exempt Japan, France, Hungary and Belgium.

The ​top five purchasers of Russian crude are China, India, Slovakia, ​Hungary ⁠and Azerbaijan, and the top importers of Russian natural gas are China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium, the aides said.

The new version of the bill also ⁠includes ​a provision that allows Trump to waive the ​sanctions if he deems it in the U.S. national interest to do so.

[215] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:07 UTC] Death toll from Venezuela quakes rises to 4,734, government says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/death-toll-venezuela-quakes-rises-4734-government-says-2026-07-14/
The death ​toll from ‌twin earthquakes in ​Venezuela last ​month has risen ⁠to ​4,734, according ​to figures released by ​top ​lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez ‌on ⁠Tuesday.

The number of injured in ​the ​June ⁠24 quakes ​was ​unchanged ⁠at 16,740, while ⁠17,907 ​people ​remained homeless.

[216] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 19:08 UTC] Brace for $4 gas again: How U.S.-Iran tensions are threatening to end the price break at the pump
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/brace-for-4-gas-again-how-u-s-iran-tensions-are-threatening-to-end-the-price-break-at-the-pump-343a76e1?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Americans got some relief at the gas pump in recent weeks, enough to slow down inflation. That might not last long as the U.S. and Iran continue to vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

[217] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 19:09 UTC] The Race to Commercialize the World’s Most Powerful Psychedelic
URL: https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/the-race-to-commercialize-the-worlds-most-powerful-psychedelic-e66ca163
Watch to see why companies are betting big on the therapeutic potential of a toad poison.

[218] [Tech Insider | 2026-07-14 19:11 UTC] Meta used AI workplace tools to target employees on medical leave, lawsuit alleges
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-faces-lawsuit-over-ai-driven-layoffs-targeting-leave-takers-2026-7
Meta used AI-powered workplace systems to penalize employees for taking medical and parental leave and then selected them for layoffs, according to allegations in a new lawsuit.
The complaint, filed by 26 current and former workers on Monday in federal court in Northern California, alleges that Meta relied on AI-assisted tools and employee-monitoring data to score and rank workers before cutting about 8,000 jobs in May.
The plaintiffs allege that the process relied on metrics such as work output, software development activity, and AI tool usage that employees could not accrue while on protected leave. By failing to adjust those measurements for time away, the suit alleges, Meta effectively recorded medical leave, maternity leave, and disability-related reductions in output as underperformance.
"Meta did not assemble the termination list through the considered judgment of managers who knew the work," the complaint says.
Instead, the employees allege, the company relied on systems including its internal AI chatbot, Metamate; AI usage dashboards; employee-trained "second-brain" agents designed to reproduce parts of a worker's output; activity-monitoring data; and AI-assisted performance and calibration tools.
They allege that Meta ranked employees using internal AI-adoption categories such as "AI Native," "AI First," and "AI Enabled," and that employees' scores declined when they were away from work. The allegations have not been tested in court.
"These claims lack merit and are not based on facts," a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider. "Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI."
The case comes as Meta has pushed employees to use AI more heavily and tracked adoption through internal dashboards and leaderboards. Other major companies, including Disney, JPMorgan, and Visa, have also begun measuring employee AI usage.
The lawsuit against Meta referenced internal AI programs the company introduced this year. Meta had installed software on many US employees' computers to capture keystrokes and mouse movements as training data for its AI models, prompting employee protests over privacy and the program's mandatory nature, Business Insider reported in April. The lawsuit alleges that data from this monitoring program also helped feed Meta's layoff-selection systems.
Meta paused the program in June after an internal leak made the data widely accessible across the company.
Meta also introduced a performance system called Checkpoint this year, placing greater emphasis on outcomes and giving the company's top-rated workers significantly larger bonuses. The lawsuit alleges that an AI-enabled element of Checkpoint made employee AI adoption a "core assessment metric."
The complaint says several employees were selected for layoffs while on approved leave or shortly after returning from it. One engineer alleged that his manager blamed a lower rating on the "broken time" caused by an injury that prevented him from working. Another employee says a manager warned that taking medically approved leave would lead senior leadership to "definitely" nominate him for layoffs.
The employees are asking a judge to pause their terminations while their claims proceed in arbitration and to order an independent audit of Meta's layoff selection process. They also want Meta to recalculate the selections without counting protected leave or disability accommodations against workers.
The plaintiffs, who have chosen to remain anonymous, worked at Meta across several states, including California, Washington, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
Reuters first reported on the lawsuit on Tuesday.
Have a tip? Contact Pranav Dixit via email at pranavdixit@protonmail.com or Signal at 1-408-905-9124. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

[219] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:13 UTC] Cubic in Talks for New Money From Lenders a Year After Debt Deal
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/cubic-in-talks-for-new-money-from-lenders-a-year-after-debt-deal
Cubic in Talks for New Money From Lenders a Year After Debt Deal

[220] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:16 UTC] US judge blocks Trump administration's visa limits for social media researchers
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-blocks-trump-administrations-visa-limits-social-media-researchers-2026-07-14/
A federal judge on Tuesday ​blocked U.S. President Donald ‌Trump 's administration from enforcing a policy ​that targets foreign ​nationals who study disinformation ⁠and hate ​speech on social media ​for visa denials and deportation.

Chief U.S. District ​Judge James Boasberg ​in Washington sided with ‌the ⁠Coalition for Independent Technology Research in finding that the ​administration's ​policy ⁠likely unlawfully burdens the speech ​of non-citizen ​researchers ⁠in the United States in violation ⁠of ​the U.S. ​Constitution's First Amendment.

[221] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:16 UTC] Argentina Inflation Slowed to Lowest Level Since Last August
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/argentina-inflation-slowed-to-lowest-level-since-last-august
Argentina Inflation Slowed to Lowest Level Since Last August

[222] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:18 UTC] Shell targets 2027 drilling at Venezuela's key offshore gas field, sources say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-targets-2027-drilling-venezuelas-key-offshore-gas-field-sources-say-2026-07-14/
Shell (SHEL.L) has begun tendering for drilling services for its Dragon offshore ​gas project in eastern Venezuela , part of a plan to drill four wells there beginning in the second ‌quarter of 2027, according to two people familiar with the process.

The contract is expected to be awarded by the end of September, the people say. However, it will not take effect unless a positive final investment decision is made for the 4.2 ​trillion-cubic-foot development. But the requirement is a sign that the company is taking concrete steps ​to advance the long-delayed development after years of sanctions-related uncertainty.

Progress at Dragon has repeatedly ⁠been interrupted by shifts in U.S. policy toward Venezuela. The Trump administration earlier revoked licenses granted under former ​President Joe Biden that had allowed Shell and NGC to move forward with Dragon and other cross-border gas developments.

Washington ​later issued new authorizations allowing the project and others in the oil industry to proceed following the removal from power in early 2026 of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Shell and Venezuela's Oil Ministry did not immediately respond to a ​request for comment. The company is separately negotiating oil and gas areas with the Venezuelan government that could ​widely expand its presence in the country.

The Dragon project, located in Venezuelan waters near the maritime border with Trinidad ‌and Tobago, is ⁠set to be the OPEC country's second offshore gas development, and is viewed as one of the most important initiatives to address Trinidad's worsening gas shortage, which has reduced output at the country's liquefied natural gas and petrochemical facilities.

Shell plans to transport gas from Dragon to Trinidad, with about 70% of production earmarked for ​the Caribbean nation's flagship Atlantic ​LNG export facility and the ⁠remaining 30% intended for the country's petrochemical sector, the Trinidad government has previously said.

Trinidad's domestic gas production has declined, forcing LNG and petrochemical producers to ​operate below capacity and contributing to the shutdown or idling of several ammonia ​and methanol ⁠plants as well as Atlantic LNG's 4 mtpa Train 1.

Shell has previously said that Dragon could help replenish supplies to Atlantic LNG, of which the British company and BP (BP.L) each own 45%, while Trinidad's National Gas Company holds the ⁠remaining stake.

Shell completed ​a marine survey for Dragon last year that has helped it determine ​drilling locations and pipeline routing. The company and NGC were granted a 30-year license in 2024 by Venezuela for the project and ​have said that initial output could come in three years .

[223] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:18 UTC] SK Hynix options begin trading. But another group of stocks is stealing its thunder
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/sk-hynix-options-begin-trading-but-another-group-of-stocks-is-stealing-its-thunder.html
SK Hynix options debuted Tuesday to less fanfare than one might have expected given the year-long rally in the stock and a 20%-plus surge on Tuesday alone.
About 150,000 options traded in SK by midday Tuesday and while more calls traded than puts, the most popular directional trade by volume was selling calls, according to Cboe LiveVol data. Cboe offered five expiries: five monthly options that expire the third Friday of July, August, September, December and March 2027.
While volume was higher than the 110,000 contracts traded on the VanEck Semiconductor fund (SMH), and almost double the volume in Sandisk or Marvell, it's less than a third of the volume in the Roundhill memory ETF (DRAM), or Micron, which traded about 380,000 contracts Tuesday. Nvidia traded about 2.3 million as of writing.
One explanation for the lack of notable call-buying is that the surge in single-stock ETFs and leveraged funds with exposure to the South Korean chip sensation stole a big chunk of the speculative limelight in the run-up to SK Hynix's U.S. listing and subsequent options.
Almost a dozen ETF issuers filed for leveraged single-stock funds tied to SK, many of which began trading on Tuesday. There's also the huge success of the DRAM ETF, now with $23 billion in assets, of which SK Hynix is the third-biggest holding.
"Those ETFs – double long, double short – that's a lot of demand that maybe got taken away but I'm sure we'll see a pickup in volume when they list the weeklies," said Scott Bauer, CEO of Chicago-based Prosper Trading Academy.
The two biggest trades in the session looked like a single trader who sold more than 2,200 of the 180-strike calls expiring July 17, nearly at-the-money contracts that brought in $9 a piece for a roughly $2 million sale.
The top seven single trades by volume were all bearish, according to LiveVol.

[224] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 19:19 UTC] Iran Is Attacking a Crucial Oil-Market Lifeline: Shuttle Runs
URL: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-is-attacking-a-crucial-oil-market-lifeline-shuttle-runs-ff9f31ed
The back-and-forth voyages have been instrumental because only a small number of shipowners were willing to risk sending their tankers through Hormuz

[225] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:19 UTC] Dept of Justice launches new trade fraud enforcement unit
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/dept-justice-launches-new-trade-fraud-enforcement-unit-2026-07-14/
The Department of Justice said on Tuesday it is creating a new global trade enforcement section of its ​National Fraud Division to investigate and prosecute criminal import, ‌trade and customs fraud offenses.

The new unit is part of a shift by federal agencies from pursuing administrative fines for import violations to criminal ​prosecutions. Since the DOJ and the Department of Homeland ​Security launched the Trade Fraud Task Force in August ⁠2025, the agencies have exceeded $1 billion in civil and criminal ​recoveries, penalties, forfeitures and publicly charged losses.

The DOJ's trade fraud unit's ​mission is to investigate and prosecute criminal schemes to import goods illegally that violate U.S. product safety and anti-forced labor laws or misreport import values ​and other information to evade tariffs.

"For too long, fraud actors ​have viewed customs violations as a mere surcharge or cost of doing ‌business," ⁠Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said in a statement. "By utilizing the Department’s full weight, we are making it clear that trade fraud is a serious economic crime."

DOJ and DHS officials made the ​announcement at a ​U.S. Customs ⁠and Border Protection inspection warehouse near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, a major import hub, amid boxes ​of confiscated illegal vaping devices and drones.

The U.S. ​Attorney's Office ⁠for the Northern District of Illinois also announced criminal charges in two Chicago-based gold jewelry import cases in which defendants were separately ⁠accused ​of falsely declaring the country of ​origin to evade tariffs. The jewelry had a combined import value of $933 million and ​avoided customs duties of $51.6 million, the office said.

[226] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:23 UTC] E. Jean Carroll receives $5.6M from Trump in sex abuse, defamation case
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/trump-e-jean-carroll-sex-abuse-case.html
Writer E. Jean Carroll has been paid more than $5.6 million that she was owed as part of a federal civil jury verdict holding President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, a court filing showed Tuesday.
"The Eagle has landed," Carroll wrote later Tuesday in a social media post celebrating the transfer.
A notice on the online docket in Carroll's case against Trump in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan indicates that $5,625,005.48 was disbursed to pay the law firm of Carroll's attorney on July 9. The total comprises the $5 million in damages awarded in the jury's May 2023 verdict, plus post-judgment interest that accrued in the subsequent three years.
A person close to Carroll confirmed to CNBC that the funds have been transferred to the writer.
"Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll," Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, told CNBC in a statement.
"Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict," Kaplan said.
Trump's attorneys in the case did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
One day before the money was disbursed, federal Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that Trump must pay Carroll, rejecting his last-ditch efforts to avoid doing so while noting that the president "has been stalling this case for years."
Later that same day, a U.S. appeals court in New York denied Trump's request to block Carroll from collecting the money, which Trump had deposited more than three years earlier following the jury verdict.
Trump had been found liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s, then defaming her in 2019 after she went public with her claim about the encounter.
In a separate federal civil case centered on the defamation claim, a Manhattan jury in January 2024 ordered Trump to pay Carroll a total of $83.3 million in damages.
Trump has vehemently denied Carroll's claims and filed numerous appeals in both cases. The Supreme Court in late June refused to hear Trump's appeal of the sexual abuse and defamation verdict.
Trump is continuing to challenge the civil defamation verdict at a lower federal appeals court.
— CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

[227] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:29 UTC] US FDA approves Celcuity's breast cancer drug
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-approves-celcuitys-breast-cancer-drug-2026-07-14/
The U.S. ​Food and ‌Drug Administration ​has ​approved Celcuity's (CELC.O) drug ⁠for ​an advanced ​form of breast cancer, ​the ​regulator said on ‌Tuesday, ⁠making it the ​company's ​first ⁠product to ​gain ​market ⁠entry.

[228] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:30 UTC] Bipartisan group of senators propose Social Security reform process ahead of funding shortfall
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/social-security-reform.html
A bipartisan group of senators is introducing a bill to initiate action on Social Security reform.
The PROMISE Act — which stands for Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone — would establish a process for enacting changes to Social Security, a more than 90-year-old federal program that provides benefits to more than 71 million Americans each month.
Social Security, a pay-as-you-go program that relies on trust funds to supplement payroll taxes when paying benefits, faces a looming funding shortfall. The program may only be able to pay 78% of retirement benefits in 2032, according to the annual Social Security trustees report released in June.
While members of Congress have proposed several pieces of legislation to address the issue, almost none of those bills have been brought up for a vote, according to the PROMISE Act proposal released Wednesday. The proposal would create a legislative procedure through which those ideas may be considered.
Lawmakers introducing the bill include Sens. Dick Durbin, the Democratic Whip from Illinois, as well as Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Tim Kaine, D-Virginia; Angus King, I-Maine; and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
"Social Security is the bedrock promise of a secure retirement, earned after a lifetime of hard work," Durbin said in a statement. "But the longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address the program's financial shortfall."
The move comes after four of those leaders — Cassidy, Durbin, Kaine and Tillis — released a joint statement on June 10 calling for bipartisan action on Social Security following the release of the annual trustees report.
"We say to our colleagues: join us in doing what we were elected to do—legislate on hard issues and protect this lifeline program for our kids and grandkids," the senators wrote.
Durbin is retiring at the end of his current term, while Cassidy failed to win his recent primary reelection bid.
"I want to get it done before we leave, so there is impetus to get it done," Cassidy told CNBC.com in June. Cassidy has what he calls a "big idea" fix for Social Security: Create a separate investment fund for the program, modeled after changes enacted to the federal Railroad Retirement system under President George W. Bush.
Other suggested changes include raising the retirement age or increasing taxes on high earners. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, recently co-wrote an op-ed saying they want to remove the payroll tax cap, currently set at $184,500.
The 2026 trustees report projects the retirement trust fund may run out in the fourth quarter of 2032, three months earlier than previously projected.
If that trust fund — the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, or OASI — is combined with the disability trust fund, the program may be able to pay full benefits until 2034, at which point 83% of benefits would be payable.
At the same time, the report showed the 75-year solvency gap for the program rose to 4.42% of payroll, up from 3.82%. That change prompted the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank, to say "Social Security's financial outlook has substantially worsened." CRFP is a supporter of the PROMISE Act.
Some experts say that looming depletion dates may pose risks to the bond market and the economy and could lead to a fiscal crisis.
How the PROMISE Act would work
The PROMISE Act would create a procedure to initiate Congressional action on Social Security ahead of the trust fund depletion dates.
"Our bipartisan proposal opens Congress to debate this issue in a transparent, fair, and bipartisan way," Durbin said in a statement.
It would task the Social Security Advisory Board — an independent, bipartisan committee — with sending a base bill to Congress after gathering public input. Any legislative recommendations included would have to provide at least 50 years of solvency for Social Security.
A base bill would be introduced by majority leaders of the Senate and House. If they do not, other members of Congress could do so.
The base bill would be sent to the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee for further consideration, hearings or amendments.
It would then be brought to the Senate and House floors for 100 hours of consideration, during which time lawmakers may propose substitute amendments. For an amendment to be adopted, it would need to meet a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
The final bill would also need a minimum of 60 Senate votes.
The PROMISE Act would also create a solvency review process every 10 years that would activate the same floor procedures if a Social Security funding shortfall is projected.
The bill aims to open a pathway for Congress to consider all serious Social Security proposals, according to a fact sheet. It "does not bypass regular order, predetermine a policy outcome, or establish a fiscal commission," the fact sheet states.

[229] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:31 UTC] US derivatives regulator blocks Kalshi from canceling Michigan trades despite court order
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-derivatives-regulator-blocks-kalshi-canceling-michigan-trades-despite-court-2026-07-14/
The top U.S. derivatives regulator said on Tuesday it was blocking the prediction market platform Kalshi ​from cancelling trades in Michigan after a court there ordered ‌the company last month to cease offering sports wagering to state residents.

The action by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was ​the latest head-on collision between federal regulators supportive ​of the fast-growing prediction market industry and the ⁠nearly two dozen states and Native American tribes ​seeking to block the new companies from offering sports betting.

A ​Kalshi representative said the company was reviewing the CFTC's order and considering its next steps. Representatives for the Michigan Attorney General's office ​did not immediately respond to a request for ​comment.

A Michigan judge last month blocked Kalshi from allowing state residents to ‌bet ⁠on sports after the state's attorney general accused it of violating state gaming laws.

The CFTC said on Tuesday that it was staying an emergency rule application from ​Kalshi to comply ​with the ⁠court's order because the order interfered with federal law, which the CFTC says permits ​trade in most sports-related event contracts.

A state ​cannot ⁠force a registered contract market "to violate its obligations," CFTC Chair Michael Selig said in a statement. "The Commission will not ⁠allow states ​or state courts to bully ​registered entities into violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations," Selig ​said.

[230] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:31 UTC] Oil prices rise as U.S. launches new Iran airstrikes, while Trump abandons Strait of Hormuz fee
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/oil-prices-today-brent-wti-hormuz-trump-toll-iran.html
Oil prices rose Tuesday as the U.S. bombed Iran ahead of a naval blockade, while President Donald Trump abandoned his demand for ships to pay a protection fee to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 1.5% to close at $79.34 per barrel. Brent futures, the international benchmark, gained 1.72% to settle at $84.73.
The U.S. military struck additional military targets in Iran on Tuesday, a U.S. official told CNBC. The Navy is scheduled to reinstate a blockade of Iran's ports at 4 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command.
Trump, meanwhile, abandoned his demand that ships pay a 20% fee on their cargo to cross Hormuz under U.S. military protection. The president said the Gulf states would invest in the U.S. as repayment instead.
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, said mandatory tolls in the strait are illegal. Iran has sought to collect tolls for safe passage but agreed it will not impose one for 60 days under the interim deal it signed with the U.S.
U.S. crude oil had traded above $80 per barrel earlier in the session as Washington and Tehran continued to battle for control of Hormuz. The U.S. bombed targets along Iran's coast Monday in an effort to degrade Tehran's ability to attack commercial ships, according to U.S. Central Command.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said its forces attacked two supertankers transiting Hormuz with their transponders turned off. The United Arab Emirates' state oil company, ADNOC, said two of its tankers were hit by projectiles while transiting the strait, killing one mariner and injuring several others.
Citi had warned that Trump's proposal to impose shipping fees in the Strait of Hormuz materially raises the risk of further military escalation.
"The possibility that the Iranian regime walks away from the MoU until after the mid-term US elections has also risen, a scenario which would most likely see higher for longer oil prices," the bank wrote in a report Tuesday.
Roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Shipping traffic slumped after Iran began targeting vessels in the waterway in early March, but had started to recover following Washington and Tehran's interim agreement.

[231] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:32 UTC] US unseals charges, offers $10 million reward for info on Russian hackers
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-unseals-charges-offers-10-million-reward-info-russian-hackers-2026-07-14/
U.S. authorities on Tuesday unsealed charges and offered a $10 million reward ​for information on three Russians accused of ‌providing computer infrastructure related to ransomware attacks and other malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure.

According ​to the U.S. government statement:

Alexander Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin, ​and Yulia Pankova helped facilitate cybercriminal activity ⁠against U.S. critical infrastructure affecting victims ​in 21 states and in several countries, with ​losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars.

Among the victims are unnamed banks, schools, government entities, hospitals ​and media companies throughout the U.S.

The indictment ​accuses the three of conspiracy to commit and aid and ‌abet ⁠computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The U.S. State Department announced it was offering ​a $10 million reward ​for information ⁠on the three or their companies, Media Land and ML.Cloud, which ​offered so-called “bulletproof” hosting services, a term ​used ⁠to describe infrastructure designed to be resistant to detection and takedowns by law enforcement.

Reuters could ⁠not ​immediately locate contact information ​for Volosovik, Zatolokin or Pankova, or the companies listed.

[232] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 19:33 UTC] US lawmaker questions if Paramount CEO pressuring CBS to air pro-Trump content
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-lawmaker-questions-if-paramount-ceo-pressuring-cbs-air-pro-trump-content-2026-07-14/
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee on ​Tuesday asked Paramount (PSKY.O) CEO David Ellison if he or the company were ‌pressuring CBS News to air content sought by President Donald Trump.

Representative Jamie Raskin, who would take over as committee chair next year if Democrats win control of the House in November, said in a letter to ​Ellison: "Your company appears to be colluding with the Trump Administration to curtail ​media independence, promote political and ideological censorship, and stifle dissent."

The letter ⁠cited concerns regarding CBS’s editorial independence after 60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley was ​fired and alleged that CBS editor in chief Bari Weiss asked him to make ​anti-ICE protesters "look more violent."

Raskin and Representative Frank Pallone in May asked Ellison if he or the company offered to make changes to CNN's coverage of Trump in exchange for approval of a $110 billion ​acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) .

Paramount declined to comment. CBS did not immediately respond to ​a request for comment.

"It is plain to see that you have been delivering for

President Trump at ‌CBS ⁠and that Bari Weiss is poised to deliver at CNN, if the acquisition is approved," Raskin wrote.

On Monday, California and 11 states sued to block Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.

In November, Raskin and Pallone said Paramount was "stonewalling congressional oversight" after they sought ​documents tied to ​the Federal Communications ⁠Commission's approval of Skydance's $8.4 billion merger with the CBS News-parent company.

Trump has aggressively pushed the Federal Communications Commission to go ​after media companies over programs or news content he deems unfair.

​Shortly before ⁠the deal was approved, Paramount last year paid $16 million to settle Trump's lawsuit against CBS over its editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, ⁠Trump's Democratic ​opponent in 2024.

Skydance also agreed to ensure ​CBS News and entertainment programming would be free of bias, hire an ombudsman for at least two years ​to review complaints, and end diversity programs.

[233] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 19:36 UTC] IBM workers pay a $400 million price for investing in company stock
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibm-workers-pay-a-400-million-price-for-investing-in-company-stock-fb02f5fa?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

[234] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 19:39 UTC] The founder of Hinge raised $18M to build a new AI dating service, Overtone
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/the-founder-of-hinge-raised-18m-to-build-a-new-ai-dating-service-overtone/
Hinge founder Justin McLeod announced an $18 million fundraise for his new dating company, Overtone.
McLeod stepped down from his CEO role at Hinge just last year, and Hinge owner Match Group — which also owns apps like Tinder and OkCupid — is helping to fund his new company, alongside FirstMark Capital and Pace Capital.
While details on the company are limited at this point, Overtone describes itself as “a voice- and audio-forward service, enabled by AI, that provides highly curated introductions.”
“Overtone is not a dating app,” McLeod wrote in a blog post. “By that I mean it’s not a social platform with profiles that reduce people to stats, quotes and photos. There are no opaque, algorithmic feeds trained on split-second impulses. And there’s no juggling likes, matches and chats across many people at once.”
It may seem odd for the guy who created Hinge to disparage algorithmic feeds and swiping, but the dating industry at large is evolving with the realization that users are dissatisfied with the status quo. A Forbes Health survey conducted in 2024 found that 78% of dating app users felt burnt out. The survey’s 1,000 respondents reported that they spent about 51 minutes per day on dating apps, but this time investment did not often yield fulfilling connections.
Most dating apps are trying to improve the quality of their matchmaking through AI, offering AI-generated conversation starters or assistance building out profiles. But many people feel frustrated with the idea of delegating even more of this intimate process to computers. McLeod seems more interested in using AI to narrow down who might be a good match, as opposed to outsourcing actual conversations and connections.
“We get to know each person deeply, learning about them in their own voice, hearing their own unique story,” McLeod wrote. “And we make only the introductions that are worth making, grounded in relationship science and thoughtful reflection. We transparently explain why we believe someone is a great match.”
Other new apps like Ditto and Date Drop are betting on a similar approach, using AI to pair users up, rather than putting everyone in a pool to swipe on one another, creating the illusion of endless choice and a hotbed for ghosting.
Overtone will be available later this year, but only in certain locations. In addition to its fundraise, the company also announced that relationship expert Esther Perel has joined the board alongside Match CEO Spencer Rascoff and leadership advisor Diana Chapman.

[235] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 19:41 UTC] Anthropic’s newest ad is creeping people out
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/anthropics-newest-ad-is-creeping-people-out/
Anthropic is known for its creative marketing, but the AI company may have been a little bit too creative when it conjured up its most recent advertisement.
Titled “There’s hope in hard questions,” the company’s latest ad has been unsettling viewers with its weird imagery and doomer-ist tone.
The ad begins with a video of a burning house (not exactly a heartwarming start) before pivoting to a series of still images. These images include: a crowd of people being surveilled by facial recognition, a homeless person sleeping on the street, rows upon rows of tombstones in a cemetery, and what appears to be a group of laborers toiling in a mine where (presumably) raw materials for smartphones are being dug up.
Meanwhile, a voice-over track features different people asking questions like “Can AI be trusted?” and “Who’s gonna hit the brakes if we need to?”
In short: Not exactly the family friendly crowdpleaser of the year. At the same time, it’s also not particularly far afield from the company’s past messaging. Anthropic has consistently attempted to depict itself as the ethical foil to other AI companies. This latest marketing stunt — which leans into criticism of AI as a way to make Anthropic seem aware of (and, therefore, distinctly worthy of) the responsibility it carries — would appear to be more of the same.
Not everybody is having it, however.
Sam Altman — the CEO of Anthropic’s chief rival — kicked off the criticism with some pithy trolling. “i thought this was satire, kept looking for the handle to be spelled c1audeai or something,” Altman posted to X on Monday.
Other skeptics — many of whom seem to work in the tech industry — came out of the woodwork to remark upon Anthropic’s odd choice of imagery and tone.
“Anthropic is quite an amazing company. With the worst corporate communications ever,” another person said.
“the EAs [effective altruists] at anthropic really must be living in a bubble of ai psychosis to think this would go down well,” a critical poster remarked.
As some have pointed out, Anthropic is following a very time-tested marketing playbook here. That playbook involves a brand calling out and owning the harms caused by its industry as a way to demonstrate that it is the company best positioned to avoid or correct those harms.
But even if it’s a familiar playbook, it seems to have backfired here — particularly the decision to include a brief shot that appears to be from Arlington National Cemetary. “I can’t stress enough how fucked up it is that Anthropic is running an ad that includes this image asking “Who’s gonna hit the brakes if we need to”,” said one commenter, sharing the cemetary image that appears in the ad.
People kept coming back to the graveyard imagery. “Out of everything in that ad this part was exceptionally weird and sinister,” another person wrote, sharing the same image.
Personally, the ad vaguely reminds me of the propaganda sequence in The Parallax View — the 1970s paranoid thriller about an evil corporation involved in an MK-Ultra-esque conspiracy to create brainwashed assassins. This is probably not the best association to have for a company that would like to prove it is acting as a force for good in the world.
Anthropic’s marketing has made a splash before. In February, during the Super Bowl, the company unleashed a slew of ads that humorously took aim at OpenAI’s decision to include ads in ChatGPT. Those ads earned it a good amount of positive buzz — as well as the smoldering rage of its competitor.

[236] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 19:42 UTC] Apple opens its new Siri AI to everyone with the iOS 27 public beta
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/apple-opens-its-new-siri-ai-to-everyone-with-the-ios-27-public-beta/
Apple is opening up its biggest-ever Siri overhaul to a broader audience with the release of the iOS 27 public beta, giving everyday users the chance to try out the new AI assistant ahead of its broader launch later this fall.
The public beta marks the first time Apple has made its AI-powered Siri widely available beyond developers. With some 2.5 billion active devices worldwide, even if only a fraction of users install the public beta, it will still represent the largest test of Apple’s redesigned AI assistant and its answer to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others.
The Siri AI update, which was officially announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, turns Apple’s aging voice assistant into a more capable, AI-powered tool that can access information on a user’s device, including emails, photos, and messages, as well as respond to what’s on the screen and ground its answers in world knowledge, similar to any modern-day AI chatbot.
It’s also more deeply integrated across the operating system. It can be accessed by saying “Hey Siri” or by pressing the side button, as before, as well as by swiping down from the Dynamic Island (the black bar at the top of the screen). Plus, it’s integrated into the iPhone’s built-in search engine tool, Spotlight, making it more powerful than before because it can search for answers to almost any question.
For the first time, Siri has also been given its own standalone app, a user experience that people already comfortable with chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini may prefer. However, because Siri is so deeply integrated throughout the iPhone, accessing it via an app seems somewhat unnecessary.
In addition to iOS 27 on iPhone, the upgraded Siri is available across all other Apple products, including iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, CarPlay, AirPods, Apple TV, and Vision Pro.
Under the hood, Siri AI leverages Apple Intelligence, including Apple’s new Foundation Models that run on the device and use its Private Cloud Compute. Apple built its Foundation Models in collaboration with Google and its Gemini model, but these models are not just some rebranded version of Gemini. Instead, Apple’s models were built specifically for its Apple Silicon using proprietary data, and distilled Google’s Gemini — a process that uses Gemini to create smaller, highly efficient models built into iOS and other Apple software. Meanwhile, Private Cloud Compute ensures that users’ personal data isn’t stored or accessible to Apple.
In early tests of the developer version of Siri AI, the assistant was able to better handle basic tasks on the phone, like finding certain photos in your Photo Library, summarizing group texts, adding an appointment sent via text to your calendar, looking up nutritional information about what’s in your camera view. It was also better at responding to questions you would normally have to search the web to answer, such as when an upcoming local event is happening, or what’s happening in the news.
In the developer beta, Siri sometimes threw error messages or got confused. (For instance, I once asked Siri for the latest news about Iran, and it searched my contacts for someone with that name.)
However, it’s easy to see Siri becoming a bigger part of your everyday digital life, especially because it doesn’t require you to open an app to use it.
Overall, the developer betas this year have been fairly stable, which makes the public beta much easier to recommend this time around. Of course, installing a beta should always be approached with caution; if your device must run perfectly smoothly and never experience errors, then you may want to hold off until the public launch of iOS 27, which is expected in September.

[237] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:43 UTC] Johnson & Johnson has a chance to show it's more than just a rotation winner
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/johnson-johnson-has-a-chance-to-show-its-more-than-just-a-rotation-winner.html
Johnson & Johnson shares have showed signs of life ahead of earnings. For the stock to keep running, the healthcare giant needs to show investors that its most promising drugs are still gaining steam. J & J's climb back to record highs exactly one week ago was largely fueled by a marketwide rotation into lagging healthcare stocks and away from big winners tied to the AI infrastructure buildout. Since then, though, the stock has lost a few percentage points, in line with the S & P 500's healthcare sector , as the Iran war heated up again and dragged down large swaths of the market outside energy and tech. A weak preliminary earnings report from hospital operator HCA Healthcare weighed on the group in Tuesday's session. Nevertheless, Wednesday morning's second-quarter earnings report is J & J's chance to prove that its businesses — from pharma to medical technology — are performing well enough for investors to stick around and bet on more upside from here. According to FactSet, the average price target among analysts of around $254 does not signal a lot of daylight, as that's right around where the stock traded Tuesday afternoon. Our price target is a bit higher at $265 — a couple of bucks shy of last Tuesday's highs. We're among like minds with our buy-equivalent 1 rating ; nearly 70% of analysts who cover the stock feel the same. For now, though, it's too close to earnings for Jim Cramer to recommend any moves. "I'm not going to go out on a limb and say buy J & J until I know more," he said during Tuesday's Morning Morning. As of Monday's close, shares of J & J had climbed over 14% since the start of June, one of the Club's top gainers during that stretch. One of only two stocks better is fellow Club stock Cardinal Health , which was up roughly 19%, underscoring the market's rotation into the very healthcare names left behind in this spring's blistering rally in chip stocks and other AI hardware makers. Through Monday, the healthcare sector was up 8.7% since June began, easily outperforming a basket of chip stocks , which had dropped 2.7%. Healthcare is a classic defensive sector, so as the AI trade wobbled and investors booked profits in first-half winners, more money flowed in the direction of companies like J & J, Cardinal and our other Club healthcare name Eli Lilly . Cardinal and Lilly also set fresh record closes last week, before retreating modestly, as J & J has, in recent sessions. J & J went nearly four months between record closes. After finishing at $248.56 on March 2, the stock would pull back nearly 11% until bottoming on May 8. It took out its old high on June 26 and kept climbing to close roughly $267 apiece last Tuesday. We've owned J & J since early April . "The majority of the driver has been this market rotation out of tech and into healthcare to move more defensively," said Leerink biopharma analyst David Risinger in an interview about the sector's recovery rally. "But in addition, the underlying fundamentals have been encouraging recently." In other words, companies including J & J have the chance to validate their comebacks this earnings season. JNJ YTD mountain J & J's stock performance so far in 2026. One of J & J's most important drugs is blood-cancer therapy Darzalex, which in the first quarter grew 18%, excluding foreign-exchange benefits, to $3.96 billion. It is currently J & J's top-selling drug by a wide margin and a crucial part of the company's efforts in oncology. Consensus for the second quarter is $4.24 billion, implying 19.8% annual growth, according to FactSet. Darzalex "remains the gold standard" in treating multiple myeloma, J & J CEO Joaquin Duato said on J & J's April earnings call. In a May interview on CNBC, Duato said, "We have the bold ambition to become the No. 1 company in oncology by 2030," explaining that J & J is heavily investing its resources "to get closer" to the goal of eliminating cancer. Carvykti is another key J & J cancer drug, albeit much smaller than Darzalex. Carvykti grew 57% last quarter to $597 million, and analysts expect 49% growth in Q2 to $654 million. While both are used to treat multiple myeloma, Carvykti is a type of personalized treatment that helps a patient's immune system attack the cancer. Think of Carvykti as a more specialized therapy, while Darzalex is an antibody used as a backbone treatment. Patients with multiple myeloma typically end up taking multiple types of medications , explaining why J & J has a broad portfolio for the disease. Away from cancer, investors will focus on the performance of J & J's immunology franchise, which is currently led by Tremfya, its second biggest drug behind Darzalex. Tremfya, which belongs to a class known as IL-23 inhibitors, is used to treat plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and digestion-related ailments under the umbrella of inflammatory bowel disease. In the first quarter, the injectable Tremfya grew revenue by 64% to $1.6 billion. The company said Tremfya is now the leader in new U.S. patient starts in inflammatory bowel disease, helping drive this wave of growth. For the second quarter, analysts expect Tremfya sales of $1.78 billion, implying 50% year-over-year growth, according to FactSet. J & J's updates on the recently launched Icotyde will be important to the Wall Street reaction. Like Tremfya, Icotyde blocks the IL-23 receptor to treat inflammation. The big difference: Icotyde is the first daily pill in the IL-23 inhibitor class. For the second quarter, Icotyde's revenue contribution will likely be minimal, given the Food and Drug Administration only arrived in mid-March . It's currently approved to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, with the goal of more indications in the future. J & J is counting on the drug to be its next cash cow and has said it can be one of its biggest drugs ever . That's why investors want the latest on prescription trends and traction in the psoriasis market. In a note to clients last week, analysts at Goldman Sachs said their recent survey of experts backs up J & J's belief that Icotyde could eventually do at least $10 billion in annual revenue. To be sure, the analysts, who have a $275 price target and buy rating on J & J, said the company would likely not break out Icotyde revenue this quarter since it's still so early in the launch. Darzalex, Tremfya and Icotyde are all part of J & J's Innovative Medicine segment — the official name of its pharmaceutical business. Innovative Medicines made up roughly two-thirds of the $94 billion that J & J generated last year. The remaining third came from MedTech, home to its medical devices and surgical products businesses. Innovative Medicine and MedTech are the heart of J & J following the 2023 separation of its consumer-health division, which sold products including Band-Aid, Tylenol, Neutrogena and its namesake baby powder. That business became a standalone company called Kenvue , which is in the process of being acquired by Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark . Innovative Medicine is not only much bigger than MedTech, but it's also faster growing, expanding at a 7.4% clip in the first quarter, compared with 4.6% for MedTech. In the three months ended in March, J & J said Innovative Medicine had 10 drugs growing at a double-digit percentage. One drug excluded from that list is Stelara, a former blockbuster for J & J that treats similar conditions as Tremfya. However, J & J lost its exclusivity for the drug in 2025, leading to a steep decline in sales due to competition from cheaper biosimilar alternatives. Stelara's first-quarter revenue of $656 million fell 62% from a year earlier. Wall Street expects a similar-sized decline for the second quarter, according to FactSet. RBC Capital analyst Shagun Singh said in an interview that she will be focused on the Innovative Medicine growth rate minus Stelara. More generally, Singh said she likes how J & J has positioned itself across both remaining segments. "These are non-elective categories where if you

[238] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:43 UTC] U.S. strikes Iran before Hormuz Strait blockade restarts
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/iran-strikes-hormuz-strait-blockade-trump-tolls.html
U.S. forces launched strikes against Iranian targets shortly before the U.S. resumed its naval blockade of Iranian ports in and around the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.
The latest round of strikes, aimed at "degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping" in the economically vital strait, began at 3 p.m. ET, CENTCOM said in an X post.
The naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman was set to restart at 4 p.m. ET.
The blockade was lifted after the U.S. and Iran struck a temporary ceasefire deal last month. But President Donald Trump last week declared the ceasefire was "over" after multiple flare-ups of hostilities in the region, and as each side accused the other of violating the terms of the deal.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[239] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 19:49 UTC] The next boost to Apple’s stock could come from an iPhone price hike
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-next-boost-to-apples-stock-could-come-from-an-iphone-price-hike-126150cf?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Morgan Stanley estimates that the iPhone 18 lineup could see a $200 price increase from the previous generation.

[240] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:50 UTC] BofA Sees ‘Strong’ Consumer, Bucking Fears of Price Pressures
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/bofa-sees-strong-consumer-bucking-fears-of-price-pressures
BofA Sees ‘Strong’ Consumer, Bucking Fears of Price Pressures

[241] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 19:50 UTC] The AI boom just found two new winners: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/goldman-sachs-and-jpmorgan-chase-are-emerging-as-ai-winners.html
American megabanks on Tuesday gave evidence that the global artificial intelligence boom isn't just benefiting tech giants and chip makers.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase each posted record quarterly revenue hauls, fueled by massive gains in equities trading and investment banking.
Behind the surge in activity — Goldman revenue jumped 39% to $20.3 billion, while JPMorgan saw it rise 27% to $58 billion — is the fact that AI is "everywhere in financial markets," JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum told reporters.
"These are booming environments with a ton of activity, big IPOs, big index rebalancing, a lot of activity in Asia," Barnum said Tuesday. "A lot of it is downstream of the AI theme, writ large on a global basis. It's just a very, very, very active environment."
The quarter showed that the AI boom is creating winners far beyond Silicon Valley. While Nvidia and hyperscalers including Alphabet have captured many of the headlines, Goldman, JPMorgan and other banks are profiting from the massive flows of capital into AI.
They are advising on AI-related deals, financing data centers and power infrastructure, underwriting debt and equity offerings, and facilitating the surge in trading that has accompanied the global race to deploy the technology.
That is creating "a ripple effect" across the American economy and giving banks a flood of new opportunities to provide financing and trading solutions across public and private markets, Goldman CEO David Solomon told analysts Tuesday.
"We are in the middle of an AI capex super cycle where there are demands on financing in every single financing instrument, in every region of the world and across every single industry," Solomon said. Capex is short for capital expenditures, or investments made by a business for physical assets like factories.
Goldman is preparing for a three-to-five year investment cycle that is still in its early stages, he told analysts.
Goldman shares jumped 8% in afternoon trading, while JPMorgan rose 2%.
AI 'tipping point'
While the AI buildout isn't new, what's changed is that it has broadened out beyond chips and software to include power providers and infrastructure players.
The top beneficiaries of this trend are the three biggest Wall Street firms: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, according to Wells Fargo banking analyst Mike Mayo.
The AI investment boom "reached a tipping point" in the second quarter, Mayo said.
Mayo increased his price targets for Goldman and JPMorgan after Tuesday's blowout results. Morgan Stanley is scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday.
The clearest evidence of the AI impact appeared in equities trading, where global capital flows and blockbuster transactions helped produce some of the biggest revenue surprises of the quarter.
Revenue from equities trading rose 86% to $6 billion at JPMorgan and 72% to $7.42 billion at Goldman. Combined, that was a whopping $4.4 billon more than analysts had expected.
Other large banks also benefited. Bank of America, the second biggest U.S. lender by assets, saw equity trading revenue rise 70% to $3.6 billion.
Helping the quarter, investors broadened out their search for AI beneficiaries, pouring money into Asian markets, including South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, Soofian Zuberi, president and co-head of Global Markets at Bank of America, told CNBC.
"People looked at the AI trade and said, 'What are the best reflections of it outside the U.S?,'" Zuberi said. "You've got American clients who are diversifying and allocating more money to Asia, including foundations, the endowments, and family offices."
SpaceX, Alphabet
The AI impact also showed up in the banks' strong advisory banking revenue for the second quarter.
Investment banking revenue at Goldman jumped 55% to $3.4 billion, and climbed 30% to $3.3 billion at JPMorgan Chase. That is a combined $1 billion more than analysts had expected.
In the quarter, Goldman was lead advisor on the SpaceX IPO and Alphabet's $90 billion equity issuance and advised Dominion Energy on its sale to NextEra Energy, all moves driven by the AI cycle.
At Bank of America, investment banking fees jumped 50% to $2.1 billion.
At the same time as they reap record fees driven by AI, banks are starting to benefit from implementing the technology internally. That should help them increase revenue while keeping a lid on headcount and other expenses.
"AI is driving banking by helping streamline processes," Zubieri said. "And banking is driving AI, because without banking you can't have all these data centers financed."

[242] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 19:57 UTC] OpenAI Unaware of ‘Any Evidence’ Showing Apple Lawsuit Has Merit
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/openai-says-it-s-not-aware-of-any-evidence-that-apple-lawsuit-has-merit
OpenAI Unaware of ‘Any Evidence’ Showing Apple Lawsuit Has Merit

[243] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 20:00 UTC] Everything is awesome for banks
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/6d9ea937-a83a-430f-8f5b-68fb27e15058
Everything is awesome for banks
Lenders are riding the tech wave, too
Five US banks reported earnings this morning and they were all terrific. Today on the show, Lex editor John Foley joins Rob Armstrong to discuss the stunning results for banks and why it’s all part of the AI boom. Also they go long Count Binface again and long hog farms turning into data centres.
For a free 30-day trial to the Unhedged newsletter go to: https://www.ft.com/unhedgedoffer.
You can email Robert Armstrong and Katie Martin at [email protected].

[244] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:00 UTC] BOE Governor Urges UK Growth Push in Direct Appeal to Burnham
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/boe-governor-urges-uk-growth-push-in-direct-appeal-to-burnham
BOE Governor Urges UK Growth Push in Direct Appeal to Burnham

[245] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:00 UTC] LNG Canada, Indigenous Groups Agree $711 Million Equity Option
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/lng-canada-indigenous-groups-agree-711-million-equity-option
LNG Canada, Indigenous Groups Agree $711 Million Equity Option

[246] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:00 UTC] You Can’t Spell Chai Latte Without AI. That Will Hurt India
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-14/you-can-t-spell-chai-latte-without-ai-that-will-hurt-india
You Can’t Spell Chai Latte Without AI. That Will Hurt India

[247] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:01 UTC] Bank of England's Bailey pushes back against deregulation
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/bank-englands-bailey-pushes-back-against-deregulation-2026-07-14/
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned against calls for broad deregulation ‌in a speech at an annual dinner for Britain's banking elite where a year earlier finance minister Rachel Reeves likened red tape to a "boot on the neck" of businesses.

Bailey told the annual Mansion House dinner in the City of ​London financial district on Tuesday that well-designed regulation was vital for supporting economic growth.

"To simply ​argue for less regulation is unhelpfully reductive," Bailey said in a text of ⁠the speech provided in advance by the BoE.

Britain was "operating in a fairly soft economic setting activity-wise", ​Bailey added, after earlier in the day telling a parliament committee that renewed conflict between the United ​States and Iran was so far having a limited impact on inflation.

Bailey is speaking just before Reeves, at the same event, gives what may be her last big speech as finance minister. Former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who is set ​to succeed Keir Starmer as prime minister next week, is expected to replace Reeves.

Bailey said not ​every rule on the BoE's books was "perfectly formed". Last week the central bank set out plans to ease some rules ‌on how ⁠much capital banks must hold to meet leverage requirements, after relaxing a related requirement in December.

Such tweaks, Bailey said, were a matter of balancing the safety of bank deposits against ensuring banks were profitable enough to lend to the rest of the economy — something which they had struggled to achieve in ​the 2010s.

"Simply arguing for 'more' ​or 'less' (capital requirements) are not ⁠sensible positions in and of themselves," he said.

Bailey, who heads the Financial Stability Board, an international forum for regulators, used his speech to renew his ​call on the United States to take a more cooperative approach to ​tackling the risks ⁠from new artificial intelligence models.

"We need much stronger coordination of testing of frontier models before they go into wide circulation," he said.

"This needs to be coordinated internationally because no country can seal itself off from ⁠the cross-border ​nature of systems that are prevalent today."

Earlier on Tuesday, a ​government banking adviser, Starling Bank Chief Information Officer Harriet Rees, said British banks' inability to access Anthropic's Mythos AI model underscored ​the urgent need for Britain to build its own AI capabilities.

[248] [Business Insider | 2026-07-14 20:02 UTC] IBM stock plunges 25% in its worst day ever after Q2 earnings warning
URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-stock-price-fall-q2-results-ai-infrastructure-2026-7
IBM shares tanked on Tuesday, logging their worst day ever after the tech giant reported preliminary second-quarter earnings that were much lower than expected.
The company's stock fell 25%, ending the session at $217.05.
IBM released its results showing the earnings miss ahead of schedule. The precipitous drop in IBM's stock came after it warned of a second-quarter "shortfall" in the performance of its software and infrastructure division, linked to the rollout of its new z17 mainframes, which are designed to process AI workloads.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said that a major factor in the lower-than-expected performance was clients cutting spending on IBM products and reprioritizing their capex spend on "servers, storage, and memory purchases" ahead of "expected price increases."
The prospect of further price rises appears to have prompted IBM's clients to prioritize hardware procurement over the software and mainframe purchases the company had anticipated.
Krishna said in his letter to investors that while IBM had expected some changes in clients' spending patterns, the company "did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization."
"This quarter we faltered," Krishna said in a letter to investors released Tuesday. "We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall."
Software stocks falter on spending fears
IBM's warning and its sharp share price drop spread to other software providers, with Salesforce 4% and Microsoft dropping almost 3%. The IGV tech software ETF, which tracks a broad basket of software companies, was 2% lower.
What is driving software stocks lower is a change in spending patterns triggered by a global shortage of memory chips that has driven up hardware prices since late 2025.
Memory giants like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have shifted production toward the specialized chips that power AI data centers, and that capacity is effectively sold out for 2026 under long-term contracts. The result is a squeeze on the everyday memory used by servers, PCs, and phones.
Micron's CEO has said he expects "tight conditions to persist beyond calendar 2027 as a result of AI-driven demand across all segments coupled with structural supply constraints."
IBM reported revenues of $17.2 billion across the company in the second quarter, up 1%, but behind analyst expectations. Revenues in the infrastructure division were down 7%.

[249] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:03 UTC] Copper Mines Brace for Winter Deluge in Top Producer Chile
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/giant-copper-mines-brace-for-winter-deluge-in-top-producer-chile
Copper Mines Brace for Winter Deluge in Top Producer Chile

[250] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:04 UTC] LNG Canada offers five First Nations option to invest up to C$1 billion in Phase 2 storage tank
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/lng-canada-offers-five-first-nations-option-invest-up-c1-billion-phase-2-storage-2026-07-14/
LNG Canada said on Tuesday five First Nations will have an equity option to invest up to C$1 billion ($710.78 million) to ​acquire a storage tank planned to be built in a ‌proposed expansion of the country's first major LNG export facility.

First Nations, Canada's indigenous peoples groups, have been buying stakes in the country's energy projects seeking economic benefits from ​projects built on their land, amid rising capital requirements for ​companies in the sector.

Under the agreement, MNT Investments — a limited ⁠partnership comprising the economic development organizations of the five First Nations — ​would have the option to acquire a majority stake in a special ​purpose entity that would purchase the planned storage tank.

The entity would finance the 225,000-cubic-metre tank and lease it back to LNG Canada for the operational life of ​the project, the company said.

LNG Canada will continue to operate and ​maintain the facility and associated infrastructure, it added.

Shell-led (SHEL.L) LNG Canada is the first LNG ‌export ⁠facility on North America's West Coast, giving it direct access to Asian markets.

The tank would be among the largest in the world and is a core component of the expansion, which could add two LNG ​trains and raise ​total capacity to ⁠up to 30 million tonnes per annum.

The arrangement would also give the First Nations direct ownership in a ​key component of one of Canada’s largest LNG developments, ​according ⁠to the company.

The deal is conditional on approval of LNG Canada’s joint venture partners for its proposed Phase 2 expansion, with a final investment decision ⁠targeted ​by the end of 2026.

LNG Canada is ​a joint venture between Shell (SHEL.L) , Malaysia’s Petronas (PETGL.UL), PetroChina, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) and South Korea’s KOGAS.

($1 = ​1.4069 Canadian dollars)

[251] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:05 UTC] Writers Guild sues to block Paramount deal saying it would hurt writers
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/writers-guild-sues-block-paramount-deal-saying-it-would-hurt-writers-2026-07-14/
The Writers Guild of America sued to block Paramount's $110 billion acquisition of ​Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, alleging ​the deal would unlawfully decrease competition for ⁠screenwriting services for film and television.

The case ​adds to Paramount's legal woes a day after ​California and a group of 11 states sued to block the deal.

A spokesperson for Paramount did not ​immediately respond to a request for comment.

​While the states focused on film and television distribution, the ‌Writers ⁠Guild said that by reducing the number of buyers in Hollywood for films and TV shows, the deal would harm its members.

“With ​fewer competitors, ​the merged ⁠Paramount-Warner Bros entity would have both the incentive and the ability ​to lower costs by suppressing writers’ ​wages ⁠and reducing output. Writers will be paid less and have fewer employment opportunities,” the WGA complaint ⁠said.

[252] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 20:07 UTC] EV Maker Lucid Hires Firm to Advise on Turnaround
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ev-maker-lucid-hires-firm-to-advise-on-turnaround-47674208
The California-based startup has struggled with sales, quality issues and turnover.

[253] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:10 UTC] AI Bumps Power Cost 60% as Mega US Grid Fails to Hit Supply Goal
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/largest-us-grid-misses-power-supply-goal-amid-rampant-ai-surge
AI Bumps Power Cost 60% as Mega US Grid Fails to Hit Supply Goal

[254] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 20:11 UTC] IBM shares plunge 25% as customers shift spending to AI
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/da478c37-7a32-415d-9f30-3b2981149f95
IBM shares plunge 23% on profit warning
IBM warned that revenues and profits would fall short of market expectations in its latest quarter, sending the US tech group’s shares down more than 23 per cent in pre-market trading on Tuesday.
The company blamed customer spending on AI infrastructure for the shortfall in an unscheduled earnings update, with chief executive Arvind Krishna telling investors that clients had shifted towards “servers, storage and memory purchases . . . ahead of expected price increases”.
“We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall,” Krishna wrote.
IBM said it expected second-quarter revenues of $17.2bn, well below analyst estimates of $17.8bn.
This is a developing story

[255] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:13 UTC] UK to issue first 'digital' bond by early 2027, finance minister says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-issue-first-digital-bond-by-early-2027-finance-minister-says-2026-07-14/
Britain aims to become the first major advanced economy ​to issue a digital sovereign ‌bond by doing so by early next year, finance minister Rachel Reeves ​said in a speech on ​Tuesday.

Britain's "Digital Gilt Instrument" pilot was announced ⁠in 2024 and tests how ​distributed-ledger technology could make capital ​markets more efficient and reduce costs for financial institutions

Reeves made the announcement in ​her annual Mansion House speech ​in the City of London financial district ‌and ⁠said further issuance was planned after the initial sale

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said at the ​same event ​that the ⁠BoE will work to ensure the digital gilt ​can be used as ​collateral ⁠in BoE market operations

Britain's finance ministry picked HSBC (HSBA.L) in February to ⁠run ​the blockchain platform which will ​be used by the tokenised bond

[256] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:16 UTC] Big US Banks Set Aside Less Money for Loan Losses in Quarter
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/big-us-banks-set-aside-less-money-for-loan-losses-in-quarter
Big US Banks Set Aside Less Money for Loan Losses in Quarter

[257] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:18 UTC] Foreign Holdings of US Treasuries Rose in May, Led by Canada
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/foreign-holdings-of-us-treasuries-rose-in-may-led-by-canada
Foreign Holdings of US Treasuries Rose in May, Led by Canada

[258] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 20:19 UTC] Skip the lettuce, cook your other greens and more advice on avoiding cyclosporiasis
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/skip-the-lettuce-cook-your-other-greens-and-more-advice-on-avoiding-cyclosporiasis-ec2aed46?mod=mw_rss_topstories
The outbreak of cyclosporiasis, which causes diarrhea, has sickened about 6,700 people since May.

[259] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 20:19 UTC] Employees sue Meta, alleging discrimination in using AI to make layoffs
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/meta-lawsuit-layoffs-ai.html
A coalition of current and former Meta employees have sued the social media giant, alleging that the company used artificial intelligence in its latest round of layoffs in a way that was discriminatory.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, plaintiffs allege that Meta violated various protected-leave laws and discrimination acts related to pregnancies and disabilities, among others, and wish to pursue their claims individually in arbitration.
Attorneys representing the 26 unnamed workers said in a legal complaint filed in the United States Northern District Court of California that the plaintiffs were among the 10% of Meta's workforce cut in the company's May layoff round.
The plaintiffs allege that Meta's "constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems" failed to take approved absences into account when determining which employees to cut.
"Those tools draw on inputs—performance ratings, calibration scores, productivity and output metrics, 'AI-native' ratings, and AI-token consumption—that, by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability," the lawyers wrote in the filing.
The lawsuit accuses Meta of using metrics like token consumption, which has become a proxy for general AI usage, in a way that targeted certain employees. Because these employees and others were on leave, those metrics declined, the attorneys wrote in the filing.
Courthouse News Service previously reported the lawsuit.
A Meta spokesperson told CNBC in an email that the "claims lack merit and are not based on facts."
"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI," the Meta spokesperson said in the statement.
The lawsuit underscores the rising anxiety about AI's impact on jobs and people with disabilities in the workforce.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a "preliminary injunction maintaining the status quo of their employment" at Meta, "pending an independent audit of the algorithmically assisted selection process and resolution of the merits of their claims in arbitration."
The lawsuit comes nearly a month after a federal judge in California ruled against tech firm Workday in a separate employee-related lawsuit involving the use of AI for hiring decisions. In that case, the judge ruled that Workday must face claims about the company's use of AI-powered job screening services that allegedly violated state and federal laws pertaining to employee discrimination.
Workday denied the allegations and said in a statement at the time that the AI recruiting software doesn't conduct hiring decisions "in California or anywhere else."
"Our technology looks only at job qualifications, not protected traits like race, age, or disability," Workday said in the statement. "We rigorously test our products as part of our Responsible AI program to confirm our tools do not harm protected groups."
WATCH: Meta rebound should continue through July, says 3Fourteen's Warren Pies.

[260] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 20:19 UTC] Trump says US to abandon proposed Strait of Hormuz cargo fee
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/359bc137-c375-4812-87a9-07fbba8e347f
Donald Trump says US to abandon proposed Strait of Hormuz cargo fee
Donald Trump has said he will drop his demand for a 20 per cent fee on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, as the US and Iran fight for control of the critical waterway.
The US president said on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday that instead of a fee, which he had expected Gulf allies to pay, the countries would invest in the US.
“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” Trump wrote.
The U-turn came hours before the US resumed a military blockade against ships transiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, enforced by more than 20 warships and hundreds of aircraft.
Hostilities between the US and Iran have escalated over the past week with a series of tit-for-tat air strikes as the two move closer to a return to full-blown war.
The US military began its seventh round of strikes on Iran on Tuesday afternoon Washington time, according to US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East.
Iranian media reported Qeshm Island was attacked twice on Tuesday evening and that the south-western city of Ahvaz was struck by US projectiles. Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, also reported “powerful” explosions in Bandar Abbas port city.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its navy and aerospace force also carried out missile and drone strikes on Tuesday evening local time, destroying several warehouses used to store weapons and parts for “the enemy’s naval vessels and aircraft” at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
The guards also said it targeted the launch area for MQ-9 drones at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, destroying a number of the drones.
US “acts of aggression will achieve nothing except delaying the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz”, the guards said.
Washington has said its strikes are intended to punish Tehran for hitting ships in the strait and to reduce Iran’s ability to launch more attacks.
Trump had on Monday demanded the 20 per cent fee from allies including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, saying the US was entitled to levy the charge for serving as the “guardian” of the strait.
In the Oval Office on Tuesday, he said he reversed course on the charge following calls from Gulf leaders: “They said: ‘We’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars.’”
There was no immediate confirmation of any investment pledges from Gulf states.
Trump said he did not regret having lifted the naval blockade last month, which the US military confirmed it had reimposed as of 4pm Eastern time. “I gave them a chance. I wanted to give them a chance at making a deal,” he said.
“They shot first. And that was a big mistake that they shot first because we have been knocking the hell out of them,” he added.
In the past week, Iran has attacked commercial ships attempting to transit the strait and launched retaliatory strikes against US targets throughout the Gulf.
According to UK Maritime Trade Operations, three tankers were attacked overnight on Monday, resulting in the death of one seafarer.
Trump’s U-turn on the proposed fee came as shipping companies condemned it as “fundamentally wrong” and against international maritime law.
Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at the biggest shipowners’ association Bimco, said the charge would have constituted “a further disincentive to transiting the strait”, adding that this could only have been offset by “a significant reduction in the threat from Iran”.
Container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd said: “It would be fundamentally wrong to charge tolls for passage through international waters.”
Shipping through the strait has remained depressed since Washington and Tehran broke their ceasefire deal with retaliatory strikes last week. At the time of Trump’s announcement, three tankers were sailing into the Gulf, including one ship under sanctions, but none were sailing out.
No large vessels with their GPS signal turned on have exited the waterway using the route near the Oman coast on Monday or Tuesday.

[261] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:19 UTC] Goldman Raises $10 Billion From Latest High-Grade Bond Sale
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/goldman-raises-10-billion-from-latest-high-grade-bond-sale
Goldman Raises $10 Billion From Latest High-Grade Bond Sale

[262] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 20:21 UTC] IBM’s stock just had its worst day ever after the surprise release of an earnings miss
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibms-stock-dives-toward-worst-day-in-nearly-40-years-after-the-surprise-release-of-an-earnings-miss-8519741e?mod=mw_rss_topstories
IBM’s stock plunges after a preliminary release of profit and revenue that were well below expectations.

[263] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 20:21 UTC] Lucid denies bankruptcy talk, but the stock still sinks to a record low
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lucid-denies-bankruptcy-talk-but-the-stock-still-sinks-to-a-record-low-82f87d0d?mod=mw_rss_topstories
EV maker’s stock down more than 50% intraday, then pares the bulk of those losses after Lucid says ‘the rumors are completely false’

[264] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 20:21 UTC] Stocks end higher buoyed by light inflation data, bounce in chip stocks
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
The S&P 500 closed higher on Tuesday, boosted by semiconductor stocks, after June inflation data came in weaker than expected.
The broad market index finished up 0.38% at 7,543.59, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9% to end the day at 26,107.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled up just 9.63 points, or 0.02%, at 52,508.27. Shares of International Business Machines weighed on the 30-stock index, with the stock down 25% after the company warned second-quarter profits will be lower than expected due to soft demand in its software and infrastructure businesses.
Semiconductor stocks rebounded after a sell-off in the previous session. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) traded 2.5% higher. Applied Materials and Teradyne gained more than 3%. Lam Research and Micron Technology increased roughly 5%. STMicroelectronics climbed more than 2%.
The consumer price index in June fell 0.4% on the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had called for a 0.2% decline last month and expected the inflation rate to come in at 3.8%.
With easing inflation, expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates this year reduced following the release. Odds that the central bank would hike rates at its July meeting dropped to 17% from 42% the day prior, per the CME's FedWatch Tool. However, traders are still expecting a hike at the meeting in September, seeing almost a 60% chance that the target rate will be a quarter or half point higher.
"Tuesday's weaker-than-expected CPI print suggests the inflation surge driven by the Iran war is fading, but this may just be a temporary relief as tensions have escalated in recent days," said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital. "The weaker inflation data likely keeps the Fed on hold for now and reduces any rate hike odds, but we remind investors that almost every communication that has emanated from Chair Warsh during his short tenure so far has been hawkish."
"Warsh is looking to get consumer prices under control and the best tool the Fed currently has is raising interest rates," he added.
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh testified in front of Congress on Tuesday, where he said that "the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past."
Oil prices were off their highs after President Donald Trump abandoned his demand that ships will pay a 20% fee to move through the key Strait of Hormuz waterway. However, they remained higher on the day as the U.S. launched fresh strikes on Iran. U.S. crude, which earlier topped $80 per barrel, settled up 1.5% at above $79, while international benchmark Brent crude futures added 1.7% to above $84 a barrel.
This comes after Trump on Monday said he would reinstate a blockade on Iranian shipping through the strait.
Goldman Sachs led notable bank stocks higher, popping 9% after the bank posted an earnings beat. Big banks JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America released their Q2 results as well, with the two seeing a gain of more than 2% and almost 2%, respectively.

[265] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 20:22 UTC] IBM stock craters 25%, the worst day on record, after issuing second-quarter earnings warning
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/ibm-warns-second-quarter-earnings-fell-short-of-expectations.html
International Business Machines shares slipped 23% on Tuesday after the hardware, software and consulting provider released preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of expectations.
The stock is pacing its worst day since Oct. 19, 1987, when shares fell 23.7%.
The tech company reported adjusted earnings of $2.93 a share on revenue of $17.2 billion, below analysts' expectations for earnings of $3.01 a share and revenue of $17.86 billion, according to FactSet.
CEO Arvind Krishna blamed the shortfall on weakness in the software and infrastructure business, as clients shifted spending toward hardware purchases such as memory chips.
"In the last few weeks of June, we saw clients shift their quarterly capex spend toward servers, storage, and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases," Krishna wrote in a letter to IBM investors. "While we anticipated some supply chain related impact in our expectations, we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization."
"These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered. We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall," Krishna added.
In IBM's previous quarter, the company's software revenue grew 11% to $7.05 billion in the first quarter, helping lift the company to report stronger-than-expected results that returned an adjusted $1.91 per share versus $1.81 expected by analysts.
First-quarter revenue came in at $15.92 billion, also topping estimates of $15.62 billion.
Tuesday's slip comes as fears continue that the growth in artificial intelligence tools will disrupt the businesses of the biggest software companies.
"Mythos is making people pause to say, wait, how much do I need to spend on cyber? They're pausing on new deals until they know," Krishna told CNBC's Sara Eisen Tuesday, referring to Anthropic's AI cybersecurity model. "We don't see our software being disrupted by AI at all."
Memory names like Micron and SK Hynix have been among the latest beneficiaries of the buildout, as demand linked to running and processing AI workloads skyrockets.

[266] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:23 UTC] La investigación por un decomiso de cocaína en España alcanza a Wall Street
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/cocaina-en-espana-investigacion-salpica-a-empresa-ligada-a-wall-street
De película: está el capo de la droga, un policía corrupto y vínculos a la realeza española.

[267] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:30 UTC] Bond Traders Pare Bets on July Fed Rate Hike After CPI Decline
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/bond-traders-big-short-bet-in-fed-funds-slammed-by-cpi-decline
Bond Traders Pare Bets on July Fed Rate Hike After CPI Decline

[268] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:38 UTC] US to launch AI and cybersecurity coordination group, White House says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-launch-ai-cybersecurity-coordination-group-white-house-says-2026-07-14/
The ​U.S. will formally bring together AI developers and essential services ‌providers to share information on cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified by advanced AI systems and coordinate responses, according to a White House statement, fulfilling U.S. President Donald Trump's order ​from June.

Companies including Anthropic and OpenAI have released powerful AI ​systems capable of identifying software and infrastructure vulnerabilities at scale. ⁠U.S. officials worry that bad actors could use them to exploit ​weaknesses in the software systems underpinning critical services — including those of ​financial institutions, hospitals and energy networks — relied upon by Americans.

The Trump administration set up a coordination group between leading AI developers and the essential services providers so ​they can share information about vulnerabilities they have discovered in their ​software and not duplicate efforts. The arrangement includes developers of open-source AI models, said ‌White ⁠House cyber director Sean Cairncross. Cairncross did not specify which developers are involved. In the U.S., Nvidia (NVDA.O) , Meta Platforms (META.O) and the startup Reflection offer open-source options .

Trump in a June executive order directed the Treasury Department, National ​Cyber Director’s Office, ​Department of ⁠Defense and National Security Agency to set up the collaboration.

This is the latest example of the Trump administration ​playing a more active role in the AI ​sector. Trump ⁠at the beginning of his second term said he would take a hands-off approach to the technology. That has shifted in recent months, with ⁠his ​administration taking a more active role in ​monitoring AI's capabilities and considering the national security risks they present.

[269] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:40 UTC] OpenAI’s First Device Will Be Movable, Screenless Speaker Built as AI Companion
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/openai-s-first-device-will-be-moveable-screenless-speaker-built-as-ai-companion
OpenAI’s First Device Will Be Movable, Screenless Speaker Built as AI Companion

[270] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:41 UTC] Trump administration sued by environmental groups for rescinding definition of 'harm'
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-administration-sued-by-environmental-groups-rescinding-definition-harm-2026-07-14/
The Trump administration was sued ​on Tuesday by nine environmental groups that said its recent decision to rescind ‌a more than 50-year-old definition of "harm" imperiled wildlife.

In a complaint filed in Seattle federal court, the groups challenged determinations on July 10 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service ​that "maintaining a freestanding definition of ‘harm’ is unnecessary," and degrading a habitat does not ​qualify under the Endangered Species Act as an illegal "take" of endangered and ⁠threatened wildlife.

Rescinding the definition of harm violates that law's plain language, defies reason, is ​arbitrary and capricious, and should be overturned, the complaint said.

President Donald Trump's administration has scaled ​back a variety of environmental initiatives and standards, including by reducing government support for clean energy and repealing an Obama administration-era scientific finding that climate change threatens public health.

The defendants in Tuesday's lawsuit include the two ​agencies, which are part of the Interior Department and Commerce Department respectively, as well as ​Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Neither department immediately responded to requests for comment.

The plaintiffs ‌in ⁠Tuesday's complaint include the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity.

They said that under federal law, a "take" causes harm when it results in "significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or ​sheltering."

The plaintiffs said abandoning ​the focus on ⁠harm undermined the "ordinary understanding" of its meaning that the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed in a 1995 decision.

They accused the defendants of promoting ​White House "political policy considerations" by following Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent in ​that case, which ⁠said a "take" of an endangered species involved an affirmative act "directed immediately and intentionally against a particular animal."

“Preventing harm to wildlife by protecting where they live, eat and sleep is a basic ⁠foundation ​of the Endangered Species Act,” said Kristen Boyles, a ​lawyer for Earthjustice representing the plaintiffs, in a statement. "The Trump administration repeal violates the core language of the statute ​and decades of legal precedent."

[271] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 20:42 UTC] AI Data-Center Construction Is Booming—but Not Much Else Is
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/ai-data-center-construction-is-boomingbut-not-much-else-is-6ae37b3e
Spending on new factories, warehouses and other industrial sites has been damped by rising costs.

[272] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:42 UTC] Vought Gutted America’s Consumer Watchdog — Now Congress Seeks Answers
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-07-14/cfpb-chief-vought-faces-congress-over-dropped-enforcement-cases
Trump's CFPB head has let big businesses walk away from enforcement actions while changing how the bureau operates. Lawmakers are about to have a chance to question his decisions.

[273] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 20:52 UTC] Lucid brings in turnaround advisers as EV sales slump
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/2ea2d9d3-e415-4812-9cec-75f9c6f9514f
Lucid brings in turnaround advisers as EV sales slump
Lucid has brought in consultants to help revive the struggling Saudi-owned electric-car maker but denied reports that the advisers had “recommended bankruptcy”, which had sent its stock down by more than half.
The California-based carmaker’s stock plunged as much as 56 per cent on Tuesday after reports that the consultants AlixPartners was weighing whether Lucid should file for bankruptcy or be taken private.
But the stock recovered to close down 16 per cent after the company said the “rumours are completely false” and that “the company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year”.
AlixPartners, which is known for advising on Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganisation of General Motors in 2009, is working with Lucid on “improving execution, strengthening operations, and positioning Lucid to realize the full potential of its technology, products, and innovation”, the carmaker added.
Lucid has faced a sharp decline in EV demand in the US exacerbated by the Trump administration’s cancellation of EV credits and reversal of climate policies.
Lucid posted net losses of $2.7bn in both 2024 and 2025. Its stock had fallen 48 per cent this year before Tuesday’s volatile trading.
Saudi’s Public Investment Fund was an anchor investor in the special purpose acquisition company deal that took Lucid public, with Lucid receiving more than $8.5bn in investment and credit lines from the PIF since its listing in 2021.
Lucid operates two plants in Arizona and in 2023 opened Saudi Arabia’s first car manufacturing facility as part of the kingdom’s “Saudi Vision 2030” economic diversification drive.
The group raised $1.1bn in capital in mid-April, including an additional $200mn equity investment from Uber, which has agreed to buy at least 35,000 of its cars for the robotaxi service and became Lucid’s second-biggest shareholder.
Lucid is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per car sold and its adjusted free cash flow was -$1.4bn in the quarter to the end of March. BNP Paribas analysts estimated in May that Lucid needed to raise about $2bn in outside capital over the next 12 months and $4bn by 2030.
The company delivered 3,953 vehicles during the second quarter, 19 per cent higher than a year earlier but still well below analyst forecasts of 4,600 units, indicating disappointing demand for its Gravity SUV despite releasing a more affordable version with a starting price of $79,900.
Last month, it announced it was laying off 18 per cent of its workforce, its second large round of lay-offs this year following a 12 per cent cut in February.
Lucid recently appointed Silvio Napoli, former boss of Swiss elevator manufacturer Schindler, as its new chief executive and also replaced its chief financial officer.
AlixPartners did not respond to requests for comment.

[274] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:52 UTC] Goldman Sachs-backed biopharma company Attovia Therapeutics files for US IPO
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/biopharmaceutical-company-attovia-therapeutics-files-us-ipo-2026-07-14/
Biopharmaceutical company Attovia Therapeutics on Tuesday filed for an initial ​public offering in the United States, seeking ‌to raise funds to advance the development of its pipeline.

Biotech IPO activity has been picking up ​amid improving investor risk appetite, with ​sleep-apnea drug developer Apnimed filing for an IPO ⁠on Friday and heart-disease drug developer Kardigan raising $400 million ​in an upsized IPO in June.

Attovia said it ​plans to use the IPO proceeds, along with existing cash, to advance the development of its lead drug ​candidates, fund research and development activities and ​for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2023, the ‌company ⁠develops biologic therapies for immune-mediated diseases using its ATTOBODY platform, with drug candidates targeting inflammatory skin conditions and inflammatory bowel disease.

Attovia is backed ​by Goldman ​Sachs Alternatives, ⁠Deep Track Capital, Frazier Life Sciences and venBio, each of which owns ​at least a 5% stake, according ​to ⁠its filing.

The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "ATTO."

Morgan Stanley, Leerink Partners, ⁠Citigroup ​and RBC Capital Markets are ​among the underwriters for the offering.

[275] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 20:52 UTC] Warsh Says Inflation Mission Not Accomplished, Hints at Options
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/warsh-says-inflation-mission-not-accomplished-hints-at-options
Warsh Says Inflation Mission Not Accomplished, Hints at Options

[276] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 20:53 UTC] OpenAI's first hardware device will be a speaker, Bloomberg News reports
URL: https://www.reuters.com/technology/openais-first-hardware-device-will-be-speaker-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-07-14/
OpenAI is planning to ​release a screenless ‌speaker as its first hardware product, ​Bloomberg News ​reported on Tuesday, citing ⁠people familiar ​with the matter.

The ​news comes just days after Apple (AAPL.O) sued OpenAI ​and two ​former employees , alleging misappropriation of ‌its ⁠trade secrets to benefit the ChatGPT owner's ​foray ​into ⁠consumer hardware, a dramatic escalation ​of already ​simmering ⁠tension between the two companies.

[277] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:00 UTC] Tech, Media & Telecom Roundup: Market Talk
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/tech-media-telecom-roundup-market-talk-5931cf15
Find insight on SK Hynix, Apple, Netflix and more in the latest Market Talks covering technology, media and telecom.

[278] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:00 UTC] Apollo Muscles In on Wall Street’s Turf With $300 Billion of Loans
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-07-14/jpmorgan-chase-goldman-sachs-face-new-competition-from-apollo-on-lending
Once a hard-charging private equity shop, Apollo is now competing with banking stalwarts like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs for blue-chip deals.

[279] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 21:01 UTC] IBM stock craters 25%, the worst day on record, after company issues second-quarter earnings warning
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/ibm-warns-second-quarter-earnings-fell-short-of-expectations.html
International Business Machines shares plummeted 25% on Tuesday after the hardware, software and consulting provider released preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of expectations.
The stock logged its worst day on record, sinking further than its previous worst day of Oct. 19, 1987, when shares fell 23.7%. Records track trading activity back to 1968, though IBM has been a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange since 1916.
The tech company reported adjusted earnings of $2.93 a share on revenue of $17.2 billion, below analysts' expectations for earnings of $3.01 a share and revenue of $17.86 billion, according to FactSet.
CEO Arvind Krishna blamed the shortfall on weakness in the software and infrastructure business, as clients shifted spending toward hardware purchases such as memory chips.
"In the last few weeks of June, we saw clients shift their quarterly capex spend toward servers, storage, and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases," Krishna wrote in a letter to IBM investors. "While we anticipated some supply chain related impact in our expectations, we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization."
"These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered. We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall," Krishna added.
In IBM's previous quarter, the company's software revenue grew 11% to $7.05 billion in the first quarter, helping lift the company to report stronger-than-expected results that returned an adjusted $1.91 per share versus $1.81 expected by analysts.
First-quarter revenue came in at $15.92 billion, also topping estimates of $15.62 billion.
Tuesday's slip comes as fears continue that the growth in artificial intelligence tools will disrupt the businesses of the biggest software companies.
"Mythos is making people pause to say, wait, how much do I need to spend on cyber? They're pausing on new deals until they know," Krishna told CNBC's Sara Eisen on Tuesday, referring to Anthropic's AI cybersecurity model. "We don't see our software being disrupted by AI at all."
Memory names such as Micron and SK Hynix have been among the latest beneficiaries of the buildout, as demand linked to running and processing AI workloads skyrockets.

[280] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 21:03 UTC] Wall Street has set a sky-high bar for companies to clear this earnings season. They just might pull it off.
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-has-set-a-sky-high-bar-for-companies-to-clear-this-earnings-season-they-just-might-pull-it-off-45731862?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Analysts have set a sky-high bar for second-quarter earnings. However, Piper Sandler thinks corporate America can still clear it.

[281] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:05 UTC] Energy & Utilities Roundup: Market Talk
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-utilities-roundup-market-talk-c3fe1657
Find insight on oil futures, Iberdrola, the U.S.-Iran war and more in the latest Market Talks covering energy and utilities.

[282] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:05 UTC] Foreigners bought $132 billion of U.S. securities in May, Treasury says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/foreigners-bought-132-billion-us-securities-may-treasury-says-2026-07-14/
Foreign investors bought a net $132 billion of U.S. ​securities in May, the Treasury Department said ‌on Tuesday in its monthly Treasury International Capital report.

The net inflow brings net long-term purchases ​by foreigners to $1.33 trillion for the ​last 12 months, Treasury said. Foreigners bought $134 ⁠billion of U.S. equities in the ​month, Treasury said, bringing the net foreign ​purchase in that sector over the past year to $909 billion -- during a roaring bull market in U.S. ​stocks.

Foreign residents decreased their holdings of ​U.S. Treasury bills by $43.5 billion, Treasury said -- a figure ‌that ⁠is likely to draw some scrutiny at a time when markets are focused on the U.S. inflation picture and what that ​likely means ​for the ⁠short-term interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

Net purchases of ​longer-term Treasury securities were $56.6 billion, Treasury ​said, ⁠and longer-term Treasury purchases over the past 12 months were $290 billion.

Overseas purchases of corporate ⁠bonds ​were $52.5 billion for the ​month and $449 billion for the past 12 months, Treasury said.

[283] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:06 UTC] Why China Can’t Build a Winning Soccer Team
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/why-china-struggles-at-football-the-limits-of-state-power-podcast
Why China’s top-down approach hasn’t translated to the world’s most popular sport.

[284] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:08 UTC] Auto & Transport Roundup: Market Talk
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/auto-transport-roundup-market-talk-de4e6bf7
Find insight on Delivery Hero, Hapag-Lloyd, Ryanair and more in the latest Market Talks covering auto and transport.

[285] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:09 UTC] Alcoa Receives International Approval for Gallium Production Project in Australia
URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/alcoa-receives-international-approval-for-gallium-production-project-in-australia-a2242d3e
Alcoa said it and the governments of Australia, Japan and the U.S. have reached a final investment decision to build a gallium production plant at the company’s Wagerup alumina refinery in Western Australia.

[286] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:09 UTC] Lionsgate Studios attracts takeover interest from Bollore, Banijay, sources say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/lionsgate-studios-attracts-takeover-interest-bollore-banijay-sources-say-2026-07-14/
Lionsgate Studios (LION.N) , ‌the entertainment company behind the "Hunger Games" and "John Wick" franchises, is exploring a sale and has attracted takeover interest from France's Bollore Group (BOLL.PA) , as consolidation accelerates across the media industry, three people familiar with the matter said.

The company, which has ​a market value of about $3.8 billion, has been working with an investment bank to evaluate ​inbound approaches, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the discussions are confidential. Sources warn ⁠a deal is not certain, and Lionsgate could still remain independent.

Banijay Group (BNJ.AS) , the television production company ​behind hits such as "Big Brother" and "Survivor" that earlier this year completed its merger with All3Media, is among other ​suitors that have considered a bid for Lionsgate Studios, two of the people said. A bid from Banijay may take time as the company remains focused on integrating All3Media, another source added.

Bollore wants to bolster the production capabilities of ​Canal+, the pay-TV company in which it holds a controlling interest.

Lionsgate and Banijay declined to comment. Bollore ​did not respond to a request for comment made outside of business hours.

The interest reflects a broader push by ‌European media ⁠companies to build scale and secure sought-after intellectual property as they compete with global streaming giants. Lionsgate Studios owns a catalogue of films and television series that includes "The Twilight Saga" franchises and the recent Michael Jackson biopic "Michael," which grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.

The discussions come as Lionsgate director and shareholder ​Mark Rachesky earlier this month ​transferred the roughly 10% ⁠stake he holds through his private equity fund into a newly created investment vehicle backed by RenWave Kore, according to a securities filing . RenWave Kore, founded ​in 2024 by Cody Kittle, a former portfolio manager at activist investor Elliott ​Investment Management, ⁠is backed by Sequoia Heritage.

The valuation sought by shareholders could make it difficult for bidders to reach an agreement, two of the sources said. One of them added that previous interested parties walked away because of ⁠price expectations. ​Investors are paying 26 times expected pretax profit for shares ​in Lionsgate, according to LSEG data, a premium to peer companies.

[287] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:09 UTC] Lionsgate Studios attracts takeover interest from Bollore, Banijay, sources say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/lionsgate-studios-attracts-takeover-interest-bollore-banijay-sources-say-2026-07-14/
Lionsgate Studios (LION.N) , the entertainment company behind the "Hunger Games" and "John Wick" franchises, is exploring a sale and has attracted takeover interest from France's Bollore Group (BOLL.PA) , as consolidation accelerates across the media industry, three people familiar with the matter said.

The company, which has ​a market value of about $3.8 billion, has been working with an investment bank to evaluate inbound approaches, ​the sources said, requesting anonymity because the discussions are confidential. Sources warn a deal ⁠is not certain, and Lionsgate could still remain independent.

Banijay Group (BNJ.AS) , the television production company behind hits such as "Big ​Brother" and "Survivor" that earlier this year completed its merger with All3Media, is among other suitors that have considered a ​bid for Lionsgate Studios, two of the people said. A bid from Banijay may take time as the company remains focused on integrating All3Media, another source added.

Bollore wants to bolster the production capabilities of Canal+, the pay-TV company in which it holds ​a controlling interest.

Lionsgate and Banijay declined to comment. Bollore did not respond to a request for comment made ​outside of business hours. Shares in Lionsgate jumped as much as 9% in after-hours trading following the report by Reuters on possible ‌takeover interest.

The ⁠interest reflects a broader push by European media companies to build scale and secure sought-after intellectual property as they compete with global streaming giants. Lionsgate Studios owns a catalogue of films and television series that includes "The Twilight Saga" franchises and the recent Michael Jackson biopic "Michael," which grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.

The discussions ​come as Lionsgate director and ​shareholder Mark Rachesky earlier ⁠this month transferred the roughly 10% stake he holds through his private equity fund into a newly created investment vehicle backed by RenWave Kore, according to a securities filing . ​RenWave Kore, founded in 2024 by Cody Kittle, a former portfolio manager at activist ​investor Elliott ⁠Investment Management, is backed by Sequoia Heritage.

The valuation sought by shareholders could make it difficult for bidders to reach an agreement, two of the sources said. One of them added that previous interested parties walked away because of price ⁠expectations. Investors ​are paying 26 times expected pretax profit for shares in Lionsgate, ​according to LSEG data, a premium to peer companies.

[288] [MarketWatch Top Stories | 2026-07-14 21:10 UTC] What IBM’s profit warning means: Hardware is ‘eating everyone’s lunch’
URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-ibms-profit-warning-means-hardware-is-eating-everyones-lunch-c6878824?mod=mw_rss_topstories
The company said the shortfall in its software and infrastructure business was tied to clients spending on memory ahead of price hikes.

[289] [CNBC Top News | 2026-07-14 21:12 UTC] Current and former employees sue Meta, alleging discrimination in using AI to conduct layoffs
URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/14/meta-lawsuit-layoffs-ai.html
A coalition of current and former Meta employees have sued the social media giant, alleging that the company used artificial intelligence in its latest round of layoffs in a way that was discriminatory.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, plaintiffs allege that Meta violated various protected-leave laws and discrimination acts related to pregnancies and disabilities, among others, and said they wish to pursue their claims individually in arbitration.
Attorneys representing the 26 unnamed workers said in a legal complaint filed in the United States Northern District Court of California that the plaintiffs were among the 10% of Meta's workforce cut in the company's May layoff round.
The plaintiffs allege that Meta's "constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems" failed to take approved absences into account when determining which employees to cut.
"Those tools draw on inputs—performance ratings, calibration scores, productivity and output metrics, 'AI-native' ratings, and AI-token consumption—that, by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability," the lawyers wrote in the filing.
The lawsuit accuses Meta of using metrics such as token consumption, which has become a proxy for general AI usage, in a way that targeted certain employees.
Courthouse News Service previously reported the lawsuit.
A Meta spokesperson told CNBC in an email that the "claims lack merit and are not based on facts."
"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI," the Meta spokesperson said in the statement.
The lawsuit underscores the rising anxiety about AI's impact on jobs and people with disabilities in the workforce.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a "preliminary injunction maintaining the status quo of their employment" at Meta, "pending an independent audit of the algorithmically assisted selection process and resolution of the merits of their claims in arbitration."
The lawsuit comes nearly a month after a federal judge in California ruled against tech firm Workday in a separate employee-related lawsuit involving the use of AI for hiring decisions. In that case, the judge ruled that Workday must face claims about the company's use of AI-powered job screening services that allegedly violated state and federal laws pertaining to employee discrimination.
Workday denied the allegations and said in a statement at the time that the AI recruiting software doesn't conduct hiring decisions "in California or anywhere else."
"Our technology looks only at job qualifications, not protected traits like race, age, or disability," Workday said in the statement. "We rigorously test our products as part of our Responsible AI program to confirm our tools do not harm protected groups."
WATCH: Meta rebound should continue through July, says 3Fourteen's Warren Pies

[290] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:15 UTC] Startup Mass-Producing Cheap Killer Drones Wins $500 Million Army Contract
URL: https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/startup-mass-producing-cheap-killer-drones-wins-500-million-army-contract-3c13ad2c
Neros, started by former drone-racing teens, makes Ukraine-style first-person-view drones that are cost-competitive with popular Chinese models.

[291] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:18 UTC] IBM Loses $69 Billion of Market Value in One Day in Latest AI-Fueled Selloff
URL: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ibm-stock-profit-warning-earnings-software-8652c06e
Shares of the corporate stalwart plunged 25% as AI purchases crowd out traditional tech spending in many companies’ budgets.

[292] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:18 UTC] Kirkland & Ellis trial win, $17 million fee award wiped out in computer chip trade secrets appeal
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/kirkland-ellis-trial-win-17-million-fee-award-wiped-out-computer-chip-trade-2026-07-14/
A U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a $40 million jury verdict for technology company Comet ​Technologies and an award of more than $17 million in ‌legal fees in a lawsuit accusing chip industry rival XP Power of stealing trade secrets.

Here are the details:

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th ​U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in the ​trade secrets lawsuit that Comet filed in 2020 against ⁠XP. The companies manufacture components used in making computer chips.

Comet, ​represented by law firm Kirkland & Ellis, prevailed at trial in ​2020 on some of its claims that XP stole trade secrets when three employees joined the company from Comet. XP, represented by Latham & Watkins, has ​denied any wrongdoing. The $40 million verdict included $20 million in punitive ​damages.

The appeals court, in a divided 2-1 order, said the federal judge who ‌presided ⁠over the trial wrongly informed the jury that XP had a burden to disprove a key part of Comet’s allegations. “XP did not invite the error, and Comet has not convinced us that ​the error was ​harmless,” Circuit ⁠Judge David Hamilton wrote.

In a dissent, Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay said the trial court’s instruction was ​incorrect but the jury was likely to reach ​the same ⁠verdict even if it had been instructed properly.

After the trial, Kirkland sought and was awarded compensation for the work of 18 attorneys who ⁠said ​they spent more than 15,400 hours ​on the case for Comet.

Lawyers for Comet and XP did not immediately respond to ​requests for comment about the appeals court order.

[293] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:22 UTC] Warren Calls for Probe Into Fed’s Outside Review of SVB Failure
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/warren-calls-for-probe-into-fed-s-outside-review-of-svb-failure
Warren Calls for Probe Into Fed’s Outside Review of SVB Failure

[294] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:29 UTC] Noem Courted by Critical Minerals Firms After DHS Ousting
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/noem-courted-by-critical-minerals-firms-after-dhs-ousting
Noem Courted by Critical Minerals Firms After DHS Ousting

[295] [Financial Times | 2026-07-14 21:30 UTC] UK teenagers face midnight curfew on using social media platforms
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/e3dc6768-8c8a-4e1e-9efc-a431b739a929
UK teenagers face midnight curfew on using social media platforms
British teenagers will face a midnight curfew on the use of social media platforms such as Snap, YouTube and TikTok as ministers seek to encourage digital downtime among under-18s.
A broader switch-off will be extended to addictive features such as autoplay videos, recommender feeds and infinite scrolling that are designed to keep teenagers hooked on social media.
Mandatory time limits on the use of AI, as well as restrictions on chatbots that offer mental health advice for under-18s, will also be introduced under new rules to be unveiled on Wednesday. However, teenagers will still be able to change their own settings.
Last month, the government unveiled a ban on under-16s using social media platforms in one of the last major policy moves by outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. His successor Andy Burnham will be anointed Labour leader on Friday and enter 10 Downing Street on July 20.
The curfew plan reflects concern that the ban for younger teenagers will lead to a sudden exposure to the full extent of social media as young people turn 16, with ministers keen to push for “healthy boundaries with technology”.
Ministers have clashed with Big Tech platforms over the plans to crack down on social media use, with executives at the US groups arguing that young people will also be restricted from valuable resources for learning and communication with friends and family.
However, ministers have still not decided an approach to regulating virtual private networks to stop teenagers using them, according to a person close to the plans. VPNs disguise a phone’s IP address, enabling users to access sites that are banned in their home country.
The first set of regulations on the social media restrictions will be submitted to parliament by the end of this year, with the ban on social media services for under-16s expected to be introduced next spring.
A government pilot involving more than 300 teenagers and parents across the UK showed that overnight curfews helped improve sleep and concentration.
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said: “Our consultation provided a clear message from parents and teenagers alike — even as young people gain greater independence at 16, they should still be protected from the most addictive online features that can have a harmful impact on their wellbeing.”
Media literacy skills will also be bolstered in schools, through classes and an updated school curriculum that will teach children to navigate new types of technology, including AI and chatbots, and identify misinformation, disinformation and violent or misogynistic content.

[296] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:33 UTC] Opinion | No Pain, No Gain in Iran Blockade
URL: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/no-pain-no-gain-in-iran-blockade-46860959
Trump’s war has a saving grace: Its goals are in alignment with energy realism.

[297] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:33 UTC] US Senate Democrats block $1.15 trillion defense bill over Iran war objections
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-democrats-block-115-trillion-defense-bill-over-iran-war-objections-2026-07-14/
U.S. Senate Democrats blocked a $1.15 trillion annual defense policy bill on Tuesday, citing ‌frustration with the Iran war and President Donald Trump's failure to consult with Congress about his decision to send U.S. forces into the conflict.

"Trump started this war without authorization, without a strategy, and without an exit," Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate's Democratic leader, said in ​a Senate speech announcing he would vote no.

The procedural vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, failed. ​Even though the yes votes outnumbered no votes by 50-46, the bill fell short of the ⁠60 votes needed to move ahead in the 100-member Senate.

The vote was along party lines. Every Republican voted in favor ​of moving ahead except for the chamber's Republican majority leader, John Thune of South Dakota, who voted no under Senate rules ​only in order to enter a motion to reconsider.

The bill had been expected to stall, after nine Democratic members of the Armed Services Committee voted against the NDAA when the panel considered it last month. The NDAA typically passes with strong bipartisan support.

Democrats are concerned that authorizing ​a huge Pentagon budget would be seen as approval of the war on Iran that began with strikes by the ​U.S. and Israel on February 28.

The vote came just as Trump the administration said it had reimposed a naval blockade of all Iranian ports ‌in the ⁠latest escalation of the conflict and began a fresh round of strikes.

Democrats also object to the Trump administration's push to increase military spending to a total of $1.5 trillion, even as social programs for Americans are being cut. Besides the $1.15 trillion authorized in the NDAA, Trump has asked for another $350 billion from Congress under the budget reconciliation process, which would allow the funding to ​pass without Democratic support.

In remarks ​urging support, Thune accused Democrats ⁠of putting politics ahead of security.

"It's the bill that helps ensure our military is ready today and prepared for tomorrow," he said.

This year's NDAA authorizes an unprecedented $1.15 trillion for defense, determining ​everything from how many ships, aircraft and missile systems are bought to pay raises for ​the troops and ⁠how to address geopolitical threats.

Historically seen by both parties as "must-pass legislation," the NDAA is one of the few major bills that always passes, having become law annually for more than six decades.

Despite the setback, it is early in the NDAA process. Each year, ⁠the House ​of Representatives and Senate pass their own versions of the NDAA, before ​Armed Services committee negotiators reach a compromise version that then comes up for a vote in each chamber.

If the compromise version passes, it would be sent ​to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.

[298] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:40 UTC] Trump prosecutor Jack Smith reviewed texts from 44 US lawmakers, Republican senators say
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-prosecutor-jack-smith-reviewed-texts-44-us-lawmakers-republican-senators-2026-07-14/
Former U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith's team reviewed text messages from ​44 Republican and Democratic members of Congress during his investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the ‌2020 election, according to two Republican senators.

The records came from subpoenas to the National Archives and Records Administration for text messages from government phones used by Trump and a range of his top officials and advisers from October 2020 until the end of his first term in ​January 2021.

The records Smith's team obtained included text messages that 40 Republican lawmakers and four Democrats exchanged with Trump ​officials, according to Republican Senators Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and ⁠Ron Johnson, the chair of a Senate investigative panel.

The new material underscores how many senior figures in the U.S. government ​were examined as Smith investigated Trump's attempts to reverse his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and his alleged mishandling of ​classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort during Biden's administration. Both cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election.

The officials included Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows and then-Vice President Mike Pence, who resisted Trump’s pressure to block congressional certification of the 2020 election results.

Grassley released the ​material the day before Todd Blanche, who defended Trump against both of Smith's cases, goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee on ​his nomination to serve as attorney general.

Justice Department officials under Trump have provided Grassley with a range of records as the president's allies ‌press claims ⁠that Smith’s investigations were improperly aimed at damaging Trump’s political prospects and swept up sensitive information irrelevant to those cases.

“Jack Smith has answering to do, and I intend to have him before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming months to hold him accountable,” Grassley said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ​disclosures. Smith has argued in court ​filings and in public ⁠testimony that his investigations followed Justice Department policy and were not influenced by politics.

Grassley alleged that a prosecutor on Smith’s team appeared to violate Justice Department protocol by viewing the records ​before a separate team screened them for potential legal privileges. The filter review team was ​set up to ⁠separate material involving attorney communications with clients, not members of Congress.

Grassley previously revealed that Smith obtained call logs from some Republican senators around the time of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. FBI Director Kash Patel and White House chief of ⁠staff Susie ​Wiles also had their phone records subpoenaed as part of the classified ​documents probe, Reuters has reported .

Subpoenaing phone records is a common step in federal investigations. Smith previously told a House committee that lawmakers’ phone records were necessary to ​investigate Trump’s pressure campaign to stop certification of his election defeat.

[299] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:45 UTC] US supporting efforts to revive Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, US official says
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-supporting-efforts-revive-iraq-syria-crude-oil-pipeline-us-official-says-2026-07-14/
The United States is supporting efforts by Iraq and Syria to revive ​a crude pipeline between the two countries, which ‌could reduce Iran's ability to block oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a State Department official said ​on Tuesday.

The U.S. expects American companies to play ​a role in advancing the construction of ⁠the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, which has been mostly out of ​service since suffering damage during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion ​of Iraq.

The revitalized pipeline would run from Iraqi oilfields near Kirkuk to Syria's western coast. It is one of ​several efforts by oil producers in the Middle ​East to lessen dependence on the strait, through which 20% of ‌the ⁠world's oil and gas flowed before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.

The United States has re-imposed a blockade of the chokepoint between ​Iran and ​Oman after ⁠strikes on ships in the strait that Washington blamed on Iran.

Bloomberg reported earlier ​on Tuesday that Chevron could play ​a role ⁠in rebuilding the pipeline.

“As a matter of policy we do not comment on third party statements or ⁠matters ​of a commercial nature," Chevron ​said in response to a Reuters request for comment.

[300] [TechCrunch AI | 2026-07-14 21:50 UTC] OpenAI’s new flagship model deletes files on its own, people keep warning
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/openais-new-flagship-model-deletes-files-on-its-own-people-keep-warning/
Users of OpenAI’s latest coding and cybersecurity-oriented flagship model, GPT-5.6 Sol, are posting horrifying accounts on social media, claiming the the model just up and deleted their files, data, even entire databases, on its own, without asking first.
“GPT-5.6-Sol just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac’s files,” wrote Matt Shumer, the founder and CEO of AI startup OthersideAI, maker of HyperWrite, in a now viral post on X.
“GPT-5.6 Sol just deleted my whole production database. That’s it. Not a joke. This had never happened to me before, with any other model, ever,” developer Bruno Lemos posted on X.
“Looks like I’ve gotten bit by Codex Sol’s overly ambitious system and it deleted some files it shouldn’t have. I have backups so I’ll be fine, but this is not cool, Sol needs to be toned down,” posted developer Joey Kudish.
A Reddit post has collected more examples.
True, a handful of users making such claims — even one as credible as Shumer — isn’t statistically reliable evidence that the model is solely at fault. Plenty of other variables can cause an AI system to misbehave.
But OpenAI itself flagged this risk before Sol ever shipped. Two weeks before OpenAI released GPT-5.6 Sol, the company published a system card for the model — the paper that documents model testing methods and results. Naturally, the system card largely extols the capabilities of Sol, as these reports typically do. But it also includes a warning of sorts (bold emphasis ours):
“In coding contexts, misalignment generally stems from a mix of overeagerness to complete the task and interpreting user instructions too permissively – assuming that actions are allowed unless they’re explicitly and unambiguously prohibited. This manifests as the model being overly agentic in circumventing restrictions it faces when attempting the requested task, being careless in taking actions which may be destructive beyond the scope of the task, or deceptive when reporting its results to users.”
In other words, OpenAI found that Sol has a tendency to take whatever actions it thinks gets a job done, even destructive ones, as long as those actions aren’t “unambiguously” prohibited. Then, it might lie about what caused it to do so.
OpenAI shared examples. In one case, the user told the Sol to delete three remote virtual machines (cloud-based computers), named 1, 2 and 3. But Sol couldn’t find those names in the place where it looked, so instead of stopping to ask, it decided to delete three other virtual machines, 5, 6, and 7, the paper notes. In doing so, it “killed active processes, and force-removed worktrees [the working files tied to a coding project]. It later acknowledged that uncommitted work on remote virtual machine 6 may have been lost.”
In short, it deleted the wrong machines, on its own, and only admitted what it did after the fact.
In another instance, Sol “used credentials beyond what the user had authorized.” Credentials are the usernames, passwords, or security keys a system uses to verify who’s allowed to log in. This incident occurred when Sol was working on a project and couldn’t read its cloud files. Rather than alerting the user to the problem, Sol went looking for the credentials on its own, found some sitting in a hidden local cache, and then used them without asking or authorization from the user.
The system card does promise that destructive behavior should be rare, although it also admits that GPT-5.6 Sol “shows a greater tendency than GPT-5.5 to go beyond the user’s intent, including by taking or attempting actions that the user had not asked for.”
It’s too soon to say how widespread these incidents — Sol deleting files, or sifting out credentials the user didn’t give it — really are. In the meantime, Sol users should be prepared to implement their own safeguards with the model, like using permission scoping (that doesn’t give access to production systems), maintaining backups, and staging rollouts.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

[301] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:50 UTC] 777 Co-Founder Josh Wander Among Latest Trump Pardon Seekers
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/777-co-founder-josh-wander-among-latest-trump-pardon-seekers
777 Co-Founder Josh Wander Among Latest Trump Pardon Seekers

[302] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:52 UTC] Moscow mayor says 340 Ukrainian drones sent towards the capital, most downed
URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/moscow-mayor-says-340-ukrainian-drones-sent-towards-capital-most-downed-2026-07-14/
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 340 Ukrainian drones had been dispatched to the area ​surrounding the capital over a 24-hour period and ‌most had been downed by anti-aircraft units far from the city.

"Most of them were neutralised by air defence ​forces on the outer approaches," Sobyanin wrote ​on Telegram. "More than 50 enemy drones were ⁠destroyed on their way to Moscow."

Ukrainian drones ​approach the Russian capital routinely and Sobyanin provides a ​running account of the numbers taken out by anti-aircraft units.

Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian infrastructure sites, mainly ​linked to the oil industry.

Ukraine's military said ​on Tuesday it had carried out drone strikes on the Salavat ‌petrochemical ⁠complex in the Urals and the Afipsky refinery in southern Russia. Attacks on oil infrastructure have contributed to gasoline shortages throughout Russia.

Russian forces have ​stepped up drone ​and missile ⁠attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks.

Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic ​missiles at Kyiv early on Tuesday, ​the ⁠fifth such attack on the Ukrainian capital this month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attacks damaged 16 ⁠sites ​in the capital, including a ​school and a business, while city officials reported several fires ​across the city.

[303] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:53 UTC] White House Unveils AI Clearinghouse for Cybersecurity Risks
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/white-house-unveils-ai-clearinghouse-for-cybersecurity-risks
White House Unveils AI Clearinghouse for Cybersecurity Risks

[304] [华尔街日报 | 2026-07-14 21:55 UTC] Opinion | Peter Navarro: America Can Break China’s Choke Hold on Critical Minerals
URL: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/peter-navarro-america-can-break-chinas-choke-hold-on-critical-minerals-5ee6ad4d
As we did during Covid, the government is helping U.S. companies to meet national-security needs.

[305] [Reuters | 2026-07-14 21:55 UTC] CMS proposes major Medicare physician payment overhaul to boost primary care
URL: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/cms-proposes-major-medicare-physician-payment-overhaul-boost-primary-care-2026-07-14/
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday proposed changes to Medicare's decades-old physician payment system, saying the updates would ​support the Trump administration's push to emphasize primary and preventive ‌care rather than treatment after patients become ill.

Here are some details:

The proposal would update Medicare's Physician Fee Schedule, which is used to pay doctors and other ​clinicians for services provided to beneficiaries.

CMS said the changes are ​intended to make payments more accurate by accounting for ⁠the time, resources and complexity involved in care.

CMS also said ​it wants to increase transparency around how physician payment rates are ​calculated and strengthen oversight of billing practices in cases where claims may not accurately reflect services provided.

The agency said the changes would move Medicare away from paying mainly ​for the volume of services and toward rewarding better outcomes ​for patients.

"We're proposing some of the most significant Medicare reforms in recent years ‌to ⁠strengthen primary care, expand accountable care, and modernize physician payment," CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in the announcement.

The proposed physician payment changes are designed to support primary care, preventive services and better ​coordination for people ​covered by Medicare, ⁠CMS said.

CMS said it would end traditional Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting in 2029 and move ​clinicians toward more specialty-focused reporting pathways.

The agency also proposed ​new ⁠reporting options for doctors who treat diabetes, high blood pressure and hospital patients,

The change would stop $2.38 billion in bonus payments from going to ⁠clinicians ​who are not in advanced value-based care ​programs, the agency said.

The proposal is open for public comment before CMS issues a ​final rule.

[306] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:56 UTC] Spies Accused of Cloning Canadian Think Tank’s Website to Gain Intel
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/spies-accused-of-cloning-canadian-think-tank-s-website-to-gain-intel
Spies Accused of Cloning Canadian Think Tank’s Website to Gain Intel

[307] [Bloomberg | 2026-07-14 21:56 UTC] US Sanctions Iran Oil Network, Crypto as Ceasefire Collapses
URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/us-sanctions-iran-oil-tycoon-s-network-after-ceasefire-collapses
US Sanctions Iran Oil Network, Crypto as Ceasefire Collapses