Sonay Kartal's dreams of becoming a WTA 1000 champion were ended on Sunday evening following defeat in the Wuhan Open final.
Despite being ranked 170th on the Tour, Kartal marched into the Chinese WTA 1000 final, defeating Belinda Bencic, Elina Svitolina, Jasmine Paolini and Jelena Ostapenko en route.
Maja Chwalinska, from Poland, defeated Kartal in the final, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Following Sunday's contest, Kartal posted a short message on social media.
"Leaving China with my head held high," Kartal, who has risen 121 places in the WTA rankings to world number 49, said in an Instagram post on Sunday.

#chinese

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.
This week, a debut **** le that will help a player for the next year, possible changes on the ATP Tour and the indoor version of Carlos Alcaraz.
If you'd like to follow our fantastic tennis coverage, click here.
The structure of tennis means that fairy-tale runs and surprise **** le wins can come back to loom over a player down the line. For Poland's Maja Chwalińska, who reached the French Open final as a qualifier earlier this year, the latter now means that the former is off her back.
Chwalińska's 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Britain's Sonay Kartal on Sunday at the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open in China was not just her first tour **** le. It was not just a remarkable feat for a 25-year-old who had played just 10 tour-level main-draw matches before 2026. It was also insurance for her future self.

#year #player

(Bloomberg) -- Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) shares jumped after the Financial Times reported that Starbucks Corp. has worked with advisers in recent months on a takeover proposal for the burrito chain.
Most Read from Bloomberg
UPS Worker Missed Email, Letting China Get F-35 Parts
Apple to Launch Doorbell, Lock, Thermostat Developed With LG
Dalio Says We're Nearing Point Where AI Bubble May Burst

#missed

Apple's 2.5B active devices and 1.5B paid subscriptions let it monetize AI without heavy data center spending, fueling a 9th straight EPS beat.
Microsoft's AI infrastructure spending surged 79% to $116B, shrinking free cash flow, while Apple's customers fund AI hardware themselves.
Siri AI awaits EU and China approval, iCloud+ upgrades haven't launched yet, and a $30B Broadcom chip deal gives Apple untapped upside catalysts.
Read More: Learn 7 ways to generate income with a $1,000,000+ portfolio (sponsor)
I added to my Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) position this month and expect to add more after the October 29 earnings report. The market has misunderstood Apple's AI strategy.

#Apple #broadcom

Michael Douglas, firmly in his smooth silver-fox era, has opened the door into secret compartments of his life. Douglas, 82, has just published an incredibly dishy, wildly entertaining, at times both hilarious and painful new memoir, One ****** uva Ride. It's a tale that spans generations of Hollywood royalty, from his father Kirk's rise to stardom to his own run of classic films as both producer and actor: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), The China Syndrome (1979), Romancing the Stone (1984), Wall Street (1987), Fatal Attraction (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), and Falling Down (1993), to name some of the biggest. Written with Shane Salerno, the book is one of those rare memoirs that both entertains and sheds light on a lost world of Hollywood of glamour and decadence, with lots of ****** and drugs and even some rock & roll.
To discuss all this, Douglas has invited me into his palatial apartment overlooking New York City's Central Park, one of several homes he owns and enjoys. He's a welcoming and gracious host, no servants or ****** istants bustling about. Just Douglas padding around in his socks, still as slim, handsome, and charming as ever. Douglas makes me a coffee, and we sit down in a living room with a view of his two Oscars, an Emmy, and other awards. Between Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, the trophy case is so large it fills up a corner of the massive living room.
More from Rolling Stone
Dolph Lundgren Discussed 'Legal Suicide' With Brother During Cancer Battle
People Think They Know Chloe Cherry's Story. Her New Memoir Aims to Prove Them Wrong

#michael

Michael Douglas isn't holding back.
In his explosive new memoir "One ***** uva Ride" (out now), the Oscar-winning "Wall Street" icon whisks us behind the curtain of his wild five-decade career, sharing revealing new anecdotes about "Fatal Attraction," "Basic Instinct," "The War of the Roses" and more.
The actor opens up about his 2010 throat cancer battle and strained early relationship with father Kirk Douglas. Douglas, 82, also details how he and his "Romancing the Stone" costar, Kathleen Turner, "fell hard" for each other while he was still married to producer Diandra Luker.
Here are some of the other biggest revelations from "One ***** uva Ride":
Early in the book, Douglas recalls his Oscar-winning work as a producer on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which led to him producing and starring in 1979's "The China Syndrome." During that time, the actor struggled in his first marriage to Luker and what he called a "dual life," which included excessive amounts of drugs and partying.

#winning #michael

Christina Zhu, the head of Walmart's China business, remembers when Chinese shoppers did not have much choice.
As a child, she watched her parents wake up at 4:30 a.m. on Sundays to go to the wet market. "They had to haggle, and high-quality produce wasn't always guaranteed," Zhu, born in 1973, recalled at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau in September.
Today, Chinese shoppers are "probably the group with the most choices [in the world]," and they have become "the most demanding customers," she said.
Meeting those rising expectations has become the defining challenge for retailers in China, and Walmart has managed it better than most. It entered China in 1996 with a Supercenter and a Sam's Club in Shenzhen. Three decades later, the U.S. retailer is thriving in the world's second-largest economy even as other foreign brands struggle.
China represents 3% of Walmart's overall business, but it is growing, generating $24.6 billion in sales in its past fiscal year, a 19.3% jump. Sales grew 20.7% last quarter, faster than the 5.9% reported by the company as a whole.

#China

A former Survivor contestant is being investigated by the FBI after allegedly disappearing with her teenage son, according to a report.
Jaime Dugan is accused of failing to return her 16 year-old son to her ex-husband Erik Huffman in August, and an Instagram account has been set up appealing for the boy's whereabouts.
The Daily Mail claims the FBI is now involved in the case, while Dugan has insisted she is not on the run.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, an FBI spokesperson would not comment on whether an investigation was taking place. However they did urge the public to call 911 if they saw Dugan.
The FBI are reportedly searching for Survivor: China contestant Jaime Dugan (pictured) after she failed to deliver her son to his father (CBS)

#dugan #erik #mail

Survivor: China alum Jaime Dugan reportedly failed to return her 16-year-old son, Harper, to his father, Erik Huffman, after a weekend visit in August
The FBI reportedly has opened an investigation into Dugan and her son has been declared a missing person
Dugan's ex-husband Erik has primary custody of Harper
An investigation is ongoing into Survivor: China alum Jaime Dugan.
Dugan, 41, reportedly failed to return her 16-year-old son, Harper, to his father, Erik Huffman, after a weekend visit in August, and the FBI has opened an investigation, per the Daily Mail. Erik — who Dugan met on Survivor: China in 2007, married in 2009 and split from in 2024 — has primary custody of Harper, the outlet reported.

#harper #survivor #reportedly #investigation

A TikTok posted by creator eriniveson on July 14, 2026, shows her describing punishments she says her parents used during her childhood. The video drew over 8.7 million views and about 1.1 million likes at the time of publication.
The creator, who grew up with her mother and stepdad, begins with a trigger warning before describing what she calls "completely legal things" her parents did. "The things that I'm gonna tell you in this video are just downright cruel," she said.
She said that when something broke and no one confessed, the siblings lined up, and whoever was responsible took the punishment while the others watched. The TikToker said she often took the blame for her younger sisters so they would not get in trouble. She recalls that her stepdad usually did not carry out the corporal punishment himself, but had her mother do it when she was home and stood by to supervise.
She said her room was searched regularly. "Privacy was a privilege, not a right," she said. After her stepbrother lost $5, her parents believed she had taken it, emptied her drawers onto the floor, and made her clean up.
Even doing chores had strict rules. "Do it right or do it twice," the creator remembered. She put away dishes that had spots from the dishwasher, so her mother, who collected antique china, emptied every cabinet and buffet, and the TikToker said she had to hand-wash and dry all of it.

#tiktoker #describing #million #punishment

Updated on: October 4, 2026 / 6:21 PM EDT / CBS News
The FBI arrested a suspected Chinese agent at Los Angeles International Airport after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president's U.S.-based son, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
Wanying "Heather" Zhang, an Irvine, California, realtor, was cuffed by federal law enforcement on Sunday before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China, from LAX, on a charge of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
Zhang's husband Edric Ding, a realtor at the same firm, told CBS News when reached by phone Sunday: "I don't know anything yet," and declined to comment further.
It was not immediately clear if Zhang has an attorney.

#sunday #told #angeles

Ming-Na Wen
You could say cooking is in Ming-Na Wen's blood.
The Annie Award-winning actor known for Mulan, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and The Book of Boba Fett grew up completely immersed in her family's Pittsburgh-based restaurant, Chinatown Inn, which has been in constant operation for the better part of a century.
While she ultimately pursued a career in show business, Wen never forgot her deep culinary roots. Reminiscences of that upbringing, both warm and complicated, informed the writing of her autobiographical cookbook, Have You Eaten Yet?: Family Recipes from a Restaurant Daughter (now on sale from S&S/Simon Element), described as "the ultimate love letter to food and family."
"It started off as a social media thing, where I'd be posting my food," she shared with me over Zoom. "I want to say this was eight years ago, and my fans wanted the recipes. I was like, 'Oh…I don't have recipes.' So, a few years later—because I was still posting my food and they were still requesting recipes—I talked to my manager about it. He's like, 'You should write a cookbook!' And I was like, 'Yeah, whatever…' But he got me a literary agent whom I love. She and I hashed it out, and it's taken about five years for it to come to fruition."

#restaurant #cookbook #love

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Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis, a top executive at Musk's Neuralink and the mother of four of his children, have abruptly parted ways, Zilis said Friday.
Zilis shared her breakup note with Musk on social media after he stopped following her on the platform the day prior.
"It's hard to go from in love to let go in a week with no warning, but that's just how it is sometimes," said Zillis, along with a "shrugging" emoji.
Accompanying the note was a screenshot of text messages they'd exchanged last week. In the messages, Zillis and Musk profess their love for each other before Musk proceeds to tell her why he hadn't invited her to a White House dinner with China's leader Xi Xinping.

#musk #note #keep #support

The winning entry of a prestigious scientific photography competition is being re-evaluated following criticism from other scientists that it was made with AI.
Nikon's annual Small World In Motion contest accepts photos and video taken using powerful microscopes, and has run annually for the last 15 years.
The winner was a short video submitted by Dr Ning Xu, a researcher at Tsinghua University in China, which claims to be footage of tiny, hair-like structures called cilia moving inside the airways of a child with a rare disease.
Xu did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but has posted online denying he broke the competition rules.
In a response to a post by Nikon on LinkedIn, he did not dispute using AI within the image processing but said he remained within the rules of the contest.

#within

On September 9, 2026, Reuters reported that CEO Brian Niccol's first two years as Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) CEO have succeeded in bringing customers back to the coffee chain. Comparable sales rose 7.9% in the fiscal third quarter for a fourth straight quarter of improvement, but his "Back to Starbucks" restructuring has raised costs and squeezed margins along the way. Global operating margin has fallen to 12.9% from 15.8% two years earlier. Niccol, who marks his second anniversary in the role, now faces pressure to convert the sales recovery into the sustainable profit growth investors are demanding.
Niccol's turnaround strategy has already restored customer momentum at Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX). The "Back to Starbucks" strategy reversed six consecutive quarters of declining comparable sales as the company focused on reducing wait times, simplifying menus, improving store ambiance, and increasing staffing. Starbucks has moved beyond the sales deterioration that preceded Niccol's tenure. It gives investors a stronger foundation for the next phase of the turnaround. If management can sustain traffic gains while improving productivity, the sales recovery could provide a path toward stronger earnings growth.
The China joint venture with Boyu Capital gives Starbucks a more capital-efficient way to participate in China's growth. Starbucks sold control of its China retail operations to Boyu. It retained a 40% stake and continues to own and license its brand and intellectual property. The structure reduces Starbucks' direct capital requirements while allowing it to retain economic exposure to the Chinese market. Reuters cited ****** ysts who said the arrangement leaves Starbucks well positioned to convert stronger organic sales growth into profit growth, which could support returns as the recovery progresses.
Starbucks now has an opportunity to turn its customer investments into margin expansion. The firm committed at least $500 million toward labor as part of the restructuring. Niccol prioritized staffing and store improvements to rebuild the customer experience. That spending helped help the sales recovery. But it also pushed global operating margins down to 12.9% from 15.8% over two years. With sales now improving, management can focus more heavily on productivity, cost control, and operating leverage. It creates an opportunity for stronger earnings if it can improve margins without damaging customer traffic.
Labor tensions could undermine Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)' recovery and keep costs elevated. Starbucks has yet to reach a first contract with its U.S. barista union. The union called for a consumer boycott in August. Negotiations or labor actions could disrupt store operations, increase labor costs, and create reputational pressure just as Starbucks tries to improve profitability. Therefore, investors face a risk that labor issues could offset some of the productivity gains management needs to expand margins.

#

Two years of Synopsys (SNPS) earnings calls show management changing what it explains. The company used to open on problems, some outside its control and some its own. The August 2026 call is built around a joint product with Ansys, agentic AI, and a new way to charge for its design IP. Most of that switch is earned, but parts of it are still a promise.
Synopsys Once Opened Its Calls With Bad News
Management used to point to underperformance in the IP business, where expected deals did not arrive, and to challenges at a major foundry customer that were having a sizable impact. The CEO said it plainly on an earlier call: "new export restrictions disrupted design starts in China."
None of that comes up on the August 2026 call. China does not come up. The closest thing to the old worry is that design starts outside AI have stopped declining.
Synopsys Now Leads With Multiphysics Fusion And Agentic AI

#China

Volkswagen announced a steep cut to its full-year profit outlook on Friday, citing roughly €10 billion ($11.5 billion) in one-time charges concentrated at its troubled Porsche division, amid mounting pressure from U.S. tariffs and a weakening Chinese auto market on the world's second-largest automaker.
The company said it now expects an operating return on sales of up to 1% for 2026, down from its previous guidance of 4% to 5.5%. Volkswagen also said full-year revenue is expected to fall to about €315 billion, from €321.9 billion in 2025.
The bulk of the charges — about €6 billion — stem from revised mid-term ******* umptions for Porsche, in which Volkswagen holds a 75.4% stake. The sports car brand has been hit by U.S. tariffs and a collapse in demand for foreign luxury vehicles in China. On top of that, Volkswagen said it would book a further €2 billion in impairments in the second half of the year, covering China-related writedowns as well as restructuring charges such as costs from early-retirement schemes and the pending divestiture of its Osnabrück plant in Germany, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Volkswagen stock closed down 5.6% following the announcement. Shares of Porsche and Volkswagen's top shareholder Porsche SE fell 3.3% and 4.9%, respectively.
The company cautioned that "further deterioration in the market environment, especially in China, as well as an accelerated shift in demand in favour of battery-electric vehicles" would drag down results, with its Audi and Volkswagen passenger car brands bearing the brunt. Volkswagen noted that its outlook ******* umes tariffs remain unchanged and does not account for possible future effects from the war in the Middle East.

#charges #tariffs #full

Volkswagen cut its 2026 operating-margin forecast to no more than 1 per cent, down from a previous range of 4 to 5.5 per cent.
Approximately €10 billion in special charges includes a €6 billion non-cash impairment connected with Porsche.
Volkswagen maintained its cash-flow outlook, but the downgrade highlights deeper pressure from China, restructuring costs and lower-margin electric vehicles.
Volkswagen AG (OTC:VWAGY) shares suffered their sharpest decline in months after the German automaker warned that Porsche's deteriorating outlook and additional restructuring costs would substantially reduce its 2026 profit.
Volkswagen's preferred shares fell as much as 7.5 per cent in Frankfurt on Friday before closing 5.6 per cent lower. Shares of Porsche AG declined 3.3 per cent, while Volkswagen's largest shareholder, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, lost 4.9 per cent.

#volkswagen #Margin #billion

Volkswagen has dramatically cut its 2026 profit outlook as deteriorating business in China, restructuring costs and a multibillion-euro writedown at Porsche pile pressure on Europe's largest automaker.
The German carmaker now expects an operating margin of no more than 1% this year, down from its previous forecast of at least 4%, according to Bloomberg. Volkswagen shares fell more than 7% following the announcement, dragging other automakers lower.
VW expects around €10 billion ($11.5 billion) in charges this year, including restructuring costs ****** ociated with workforce reductions and writedowns on Chinese ****** ets. The total includes a €6-billion writedown related to Porsche, reflecting revised long-term expectations for the sports-car maker.
Excluding the exceptional charges, Volkswagen said its operating margin would be around 4%.
China represents one of the biggest challenges. Volkswagen CFO Arno Antlitz said the market has contracted by around 20%, with no stabilization currently in sight. Chinese automakers are simultaneously taking domestic market share and expanding into Europe with competitively priced electric vehicles.

#porsche

Von Der Leyen's State of the Union address noted Europe needs to rebalance unfair trade, cut red tape, and strengthen its industrial and strategic autonomy.
But Euratex said it regretted that industrial competitiveness failed to muster as much attention as other issues in the address.
The trade body is calling on the Commission to match the political commitments with an equal sense of urgency on industrial competitiveness, and to place manufacturing sectors, such as textiles, more firmly at the centre of its agenda in the months ahead.
"Europe cannot build a strong defence, lead the green and digital transitions, or protect its social model on a weakening industrial base. Competitiveness is not just one chapter of the European project – it is the foundation all the others are built on; when we get that right, everything else becomes possible.", states Dirk Vantyghem, director general, Euratex.
Specifically, Euratex is urging action on trade-defence measures including stronger customs enforcement and imports monitoring for textile products, with particular regard to the trade deficit with China, which has "reached a tipping point."

#defence #state

On September 9, 2026, Reuters reported that U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) CEO Jim Farley criticizing the automaker's business relationships with Chinese battery maker CATL and Chinese automakers Geely and BYD as raising "profound concern."
It specifically flagged Ford's licensed CATL battery technology at its Marshall, Michigan plant, its joint venture with Geely in Spain, and its decision not to move Lincoln Nautilus production out of China until 2030. Ford responded that Duffy's letter was "a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines," noting that it owns the Marshall plant, controls its operations, and employs the workforce there, unlike companies that simply import Chinese-made batteries.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) can argue that its CATL partnership still solidifies U.S. battery manufacturing rather than becoming more dependent on Chinese imports. Ford owns and operates its Marshall, Michigan battery plant. It allows the company to manufacture batteries domestically while licensing CATL technology. That structure could help Ford expand its U.S. EV production capacity and reduce the need to import finished Chinese battery packs.
Ford's improving financial performance gives the firm more flexibility to manage the political pressure. The automaker raised its full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to $10 billion-$11 billion after second-quarter results exceeded expectations, with record Bronco sales and a stronger product mix supporting the improvement. Stronger operating earnings could give Ford more resources to adjust its battery strategy if policymakers impose more restrictions on Chinese technology.
The company's existing U.S. manufacturing footprint could become a competitive advantage if Washington tightens restrictions on Chinese automotive technology. Ford has already invested in domestic battery production instead of relying entirely on imported battery packs. Model e losses have narrowed for three consecutive quarters. If policymakers force automakers to cut Chinese supply-chain reliance, Ford can use its existing U.S. factories to adapt faster than rivals that depend heavily on Chinese parts.

#ford #catl #motor

Up until now, Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) top-tier AI chips – particularly its powerful GPUs – have easily been the best in the world. That's why they've been in such demand all over the world.
Well... all over the world, except for China. U.S. export controls on sensitive technology prohibit the company from selling its top-of-the-line GPUs and other AI chips to Chinese customers.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
That created an uneven playing field that's benefited Nvidia's main Chinese rival, Huawei. And an announcement Huawei made today may indicate that the Chinese chipmaker is about to make a serious play for Nvidia's crown.
Here's what was said and what it means for Nvidia investors.

#chips

Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) business is in an interesting spot. The company saw a significant sales rebound in the second quarter, with revenue rising 26% year over year to reach $22.5 billion. Recent reports also suggest that the company's share of the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market has risen sharply amid a substantial sales contraction for the overall industry. And while the company's net income fell 5% annually in the second quarter, the business still recorded net income of $1.11 billion in the period.
On the other hand, positive net income doesn't tell the whole story because the metric doesn't include capital expenditures (capex) that are recorded as ****** ets on the balance sheet. With Tesla betting big on its robotaxi project, Optimus humanoid robots, and other potential growth drivers, the company recorded $5.79 billion in capex in Q2. As a result, the business posted -$1.1 billion in free cash flow (FCF) in the period. With FCF coming up negative lately, the company's $43.5 billion cash position provides a valuable cushion.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Tesla posted substantial sales growth in the second quarter as some of the pressures facing the brand eased, higher gas prices encouraged EV purchases, and price cuts helped spur demand. On the other hand, it remains to be seen whether this sales growth momentum is sustainable -- and banking on the core EV business to be an earnings driver that can support the company's highly growth-dependent valuation seems unwise.
While Tesla has seen competitors based in the U.S., ****** an, and South Korea reduce their focus on the EV market, BYD and other China-based rivals are making inroads in the market and continue to bet heavily on long-term growth in the category. CEO Elon Musk appears to have a good grasp on the challenging competitive landscape and has been positioning robotaxis, humanoid robots, and semiconductor projects as the core elements of his company's growth strategy.

#NVIDIA

A woman from a low-income family in China crossed over into Hong Kong to get to a concert she had spent months saving up for.
It was a trip that Beijing’s vast surveillance apparatus didn’t miss. Now her family face the prospect of losing their government benefits for splurging on “high-end consumption.”
The incident has sparked massive debate across Chinese social media over whether those receiving benefits are also entitled to small luxuries. It’s also a reminder of the staggering extent of the Chinese government’s surveillance system, one turbocharged by advances in AI and the embrace of digital payments.
The story first surfaced in a post on popular site Red Note in early September by a user who said they were the young woman’s cousin.
The woman, surnamed Huang, had “worked hard doing manual labor and saved up from the subsidies” to pay for the concert ticket and expenses of traveling to Hong Kong, around 235 miles (380 kilometers) from her home in Jiangxi province, the post said.

#hong #family #government #benefits

The biggest return in the U.S. market this year came from the cost of moving oil across the ocean.
The Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF (BWET) has climbed about 3,600% since the start of the year. That makes it the top-performing non-leveraged fund in the country, ahead of every AI and energy trade that grabbed headlines.
BWET now trades near $726 a share, up from under $20 in January. The huge increase traces back to one event that reshaped global shipping, and it carries a warning for anyone tempted to buy in now.
BWET tracks the price of moving oil by sea. It does that by holding short-dated freight futures, which are contracts that lock in the future cost of renting an oil tanker.
About 90% of the fund follows shipping agreements with the biggest tankers on the route from the Middle East to China. Those agreements lift BWET whenever hiring rates increase.

#cost #agreements

By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Development Finance Corp on Wednesday approved a $500 million trade financing facility that will help U.S. companies access emerging markets in ‌South America, Southeast Asia and Africa, the agency's chief executive, Ben Black, said.
The facility, ‌approved by the DFC's board, will offer counter-guarantees in partnership with the World Bank's International Finance Corp, its private-sector arm, and its Global Trade Finance Program, Black told Reuters.
"The goal is trying to expand the program and further grow U.S. exports," he said in an interview.
Under Black's leadership, DFC has expanded its investment cap to $205 billion and shifted its focus from traditional poverty alleviation toward mining, extractive industries, energy and digital infrastructure, ‌with an eye to countering ⁠China's global influence and securing vital supply chains for the U.S.

#trade #global #program #approved

Interested in Qualcomm Incorporated? Here are five stocks we like better.
Qualcomm trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 22, well below rivals like NVIDIA, Broadcom, and AMD, despite its ties to the AI boom.
Analysts, including Rosenblatt Securities with a $235 price target, see upside from Qualcomm's expansion into AI data centers, automotive chips, and on-device AI processing.
Apple's shift to in-house modem chips and a sluggish Android market in China threaten to offset Qualcomm's diversification gains, keeping its consensus rating at Hold.
There's a certain irony in a stock that has just rallied hard still being written off, yet that's exactly where chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) finds itself right now. After a brutal 44% slide through much of the summer, its shares staged an impressive comeback, climbing around 30% since the start of August.

#incorporated

On August 25, Aptiv (NYSE:APTV) said it will support NVIDIA's newly announced Jetson Orin Nano 2 processor, extending a partnership that already covers the more powerful Jetson Thor platform. The move puts Aptiv squarely inside the buildout of "physical AI," the term for machines like drones, robots, and industrial systems that need to sense and react to the real world in real time. For a company still just months removed from spinning off its electrical distribution business, betting on edge robotics is a statement about where it thinks the next decade of growth actually lives.
NVIDIA's Jetson Orin Nano 2 packs 78 TOPS of processing power into an 8GB, 8-core Arm chip that doubles the inference speed of its predecessor while cutting power draw by 40% at equivalent performance. That kind of efficiency gain matters for battery-powered devices like delivery drones and mobile robots, where every watt saved extends run time. Aptiv isn't just supplying compute support; it is layering in its PULSE surround-view camera and radar system for 360-degree sensing, its Gen 8 radar for object detection in tough conditions, and Wind River software to handle the unglamorous but essential work of long-term maintenance and security updates. That full-stack approach is the pitch: instead of stitching together sensors, chips, and software from separate vendors, customers get one partner who can carry a device from prototype to a fleet running in the field.
The timing lines up with what Aptiv reported in its second-quarter results on August 4, 2026. Revenue reached $3.3 billion, up 2%, while adjusted EBITDA climbed to $613 million from $547 million a year earlier, pushing margins to 18.7% from 17.1%. CEO Kevin Clark pointed to double-digit growth in non-automotive revenue, progress moving robotics from partnership talks to actual commercial deployments, and a major drone industry win secured in early July. North America sales rose 10% and Asia Pacific grew 6%, including 5% growth in China, giving the company some geographic momentum to lean on as it chases this new business line.
The quarter wasn't clean underneath the headline numbers. Free cash flow came in at just $12 million in the second quarter, down from $219 million a year earlier, and the first half of 2026 actually posted negative free cash flow of $196 million versus a positive $264 million a year ago. Operating cash flow from continuing operations fell to $82 million for the first half, down sharply from $531 million. Management also flagged automotive demand and customer mix as an incremental headwind, a reminder that Aptiv's legacy business still carries real weight even as it chases robotics and drones. EMEA revenue dropped 8%, and South America fell 4% in the quarter, both drags even as North America and Asia Pacific grew.

#jetson #robotics

"I am the house now," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told traders last week, as he defended the administration's increasingly interventionist approach to the bond market. He added that he had "asymmetric information" about what policymakers would do next and dared investors: "bet against me if you want."
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh might effectively take the other side of the bet.

It's been a hot American summer. Oil is hot, hovering around $110 a barrel. Bond yields are hot, too: the 10-year Treasury yield has pushed above 5%, around its highest level since 2007. Credit markets are running hot as well: U.S.-dollar debt issuance to finance AI and data-center development reached $308 billion through July. And all that borrowing is competing with U.S. national debt, which crossed $40 trillion less than a month ago. Stocks, despite a rough few days, are still up roughly 11% this year. Inflation, meanwhile, remains above 3%.
Put all that heat together, and the Federal Reserve is staring down a question it hasn't seriously confronted in three years: Is the U.S. economy actually overheating? Markets are betting the Fed thinks the answer is at least "maybe." Traders have priced a quarter-point hike Wednesday with near certainty.
But whether Wednesday amounts to a one-time course correction or the beginning of a new tightening cycle depends on what, exactly, is making the American economy hot. The last time the Fed began raising rates, in March 2022, Jerome Powell's Fed ultimately raised its benchmark rate by 525 basis points over 16 months.
Mohamed El-Erian, Wharton professor of practice and chief economic adviser at Allianz, parsed the current fervor and anxiety into four questions on X Tuesday: whether oil-supply disruptions persist, with China potentially acting as a "swing consumer"; whether Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intervenes again to influence long-end yields; whether this week's hike proves "one and done" or the beginning of a cycle; and how markets balance AI's enormous promise against its enormous risks.

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Small modular reactors, or SMRs, are essentially miniature nuclear power plants. They can be built faster than larger conventional nuclear facilities. And while typically more expensive on a per-megawatt basis, upfront capital investment can also be much lower than that of traditional nuclear plants.
While the concept of SMRs has been around for decades, only two SMR systems have ever been commercialized -- one in Russia, the other in China. Both of those systems are relatively small in generating capacity.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
A new age for SMRs, however, is upon us. The AI industry needs more power quickly to support scaling trillions of dollars in data center infrastructure. Nuclear power can provide large amounts of stable baseload power with minimal refueling needs. And while SMRs are typically higher cost on a per-megawatt basis, the speed of construction of these smaller nuclear systems is highly attractive in today's environment.
The European Investment Bank -- the lending arm of the European Union -- is recognizing the potential of SMRs. On Sept. 4, the group announced a €40 million loan to Steady Energy, an SMR developer based in Finland. According to Reuters, "The loan is the first in a pipeline of SMR investments the EIB has planned."

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