By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices accelerated in August, while a key measure of underlying inflation posted its largest increase in four months, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week.
The Labor Department's Consumer Price Index report on Friday followed strong readings in several components of the Producer Price Index released on Thursday that feed into the Personal Consumption Expenditures price indexes, the ‌inflation measures the U.S. central bank tracks for its 2% target. The two reports led economists to think that PCE inflation excluding the volatile food and energy categories picked up in August.
Financial markets initially priced in a 91% ‌chance of a quarter-point rate hike at the Fed's meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, before settling back to 87%, CME's FedWatch tool showed. That was up from 72% on Thursday. The Fed's benchmark overnight interest rate is currently in a 3.50%-3.75% range.
Most economists said the firmer inflation readings, combined with signs of the labor market regaining its footing in August, would compel Fed officials to raise borrowing costs not only next Wednesday, but possibly again in October or December.

#Consumer

US natural gas production is projected to reach a record high of 111.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2026, up from 107.6 bcfd in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). By 2027, domestic supply is expected to hit 115.9 bcfd.
But that's only half the story.
Over the next two years, US natural gas supply and demand will both rise to record levels, the EIA states in its Short-Term Energy Outlook.
Domestic gas consumption is projected to rise from a record 91.9 bcfd in 2025 to 111.7 bcfd in 2026 and 115.9 bcfd in 2027.
The agency said increased drilling efficiency, rising electricity demand, and expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity continue to drive production despite selective capital spending by producers.

#bcfd #record #production #demand

Annual U.S. cancer deaths tied to alcohol consumption more than doubled over a three-decade period, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
The findings, published in The Lancet Regional Health — Americas and presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, revealed that alcohol-attributable cancer deaths jumped from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023.
Researchers ******* yzed more than 30 years of data from the Global Burden of Disease study to track the trends.
Beer, Wine Or Liquor? Massive Study Reveals Which Was Linked To Lower Death Risk
While alcohol has long been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, surveys show that awareness of its link to cancer remains limited.

#study

Prosper Stars & Stripes, a long/short equity fund, recently released its second-quarter 2026 investor letter. The letter can be downloaded here. In Q2 2026, the portfolio delivered a strong net return of +30.1% compared to the Russell 2000 Index's +21.5% return and the HFRX Equity Hedge Index's +10.3% return. The long book drove performance, generating a 43.2% gross contribution, while average net exposure remained relatively modest at 47%. U.S. economic growth remained resilient despite inflation concerns, elevated energy prices, and geopolitical uncertainty. Markets rallied sharply after easing U.S.-Iran tensions pushed oil prices lower, supporting renewed risk appetite. Small-cap equities benefited significantly, with Information Technology, Industrials, and Health Care leading gains, while Energy declined as crude prices fell. Year to date, the Composite returned +23.7%, slightly ahead of the Russell 2000's +22.6% and well above the HFRI Equity Hedge Index's +9.7%. Additionally, you can review the Portfolio's top 5 holdings to see its best picks for 2026.
In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Prosper Stars & Stripes highlighted Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ). Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ), provides ultra-low-power semiconductor solutions, contributed to the portfolio's long book during the quarter. On September 09, 2026, Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ) closed at $63.78 per share. Over the past quarter, Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ) declined 0.89% and its shares gained 74.38% over the past 52 weeks. Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ) has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, and its stock has traded within a 52-week range of $22.12 to $91.61.
Prosper Stars & Stripes stated the following regarding Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:
"Ambiq Micro, Inc. (NYSE:AMBQ) was the second-best contributor to our long book during the quarter. Ambiq is a fabless semiconductor company that designs ultra-low power systems-on-chip (SoCs) for edge AI applications. The company's proprietary design approach delivers two to five times lower power consumption than competing solutions, a decisive advantage in battery-constrained devices like wearables, where customers include Garmin, Google, and Huawei. In semiconductors, we look for companies levered to two enduring themes: lower power consumption and miniaturization. In January, the company raised equity, signaling a step-change in revenue growth. After posting 2% year-over-year revenue growth in Q4 2025, the company reported 59% growth in Q1 2026 and guided for 75% growth for Q2. We ascribed a high single digit multiple of sales to the shares, but as the price met our bullish targets, like many stocks in this part of the market, we exited our position."

#micro

India needs to expand biofuel production and consumption to boost its energy security as crude oil prices soar amid the Middle East crisis, according to Tarun Kapoor, an adviser in India's Prime Minister's Office.
"The future of biofuels is about maximizing value from every available resource," Kapoor said at the India Sugar and Bio-Energy Conference.
"From ethanol and compressed biogas to new applications in transport, industry and energy, we must expand the market and fully utilize the capacity we have created," the PM office's adviser said.
India, the world's third-largest crude oil importer, which depended on the Middle East for nearly half of its crude oil imports before the war, has been paying a high price for alternative crude supplies since the Iran war began.
India launched in June a new fuel blend with an 85% ethanol component as part of the fuel flex mobility program to reduce dependence on imported oil.

#kapoor

U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% from the month before in August, the Labor Department estimated Sept. 11, in line with forecasters' expectations.
A spike in gas prices drove the increase, rising 3.9% over the month as the Iran war further limited the global oil supply. Over the year, prices for all items rose 3.4%, matching July's pace. That was still enough to surpass workers' paychecks, which rose on average 3.1% over the same period.
After reaching a peak of 9.1% in 2022, year-over-year inflation had made its way back to 2.4% at the start of 2026. It jumped to 3.4% in March driven by rising oil and gas prices following the start of the war. After hitting 4.2% in May, it slowed to 3.5% in June and to 3.4% in July.
It, along with the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, remain above the central bank's 2% annual target.
The Fed typically raises its benchmark for interest rates across the country to help tame inflation and lowers it to stimulate the job market. After Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said Aug. 28 policymakers' focus should be on rising prices and U.S. employers added a surprising 162,000 jobs last month, markets are betting on a rate hike after the Fed's next meeting on Sept. 16. However, one is not guaranteed.

#rising

STILLWATER — Last Saturday, Seth Storey walked into the Stillwater Raising Cane's and ordered a 25-finger tailgate platter. It costs $41.99 and feeds 6-8 people, but Storey wasn't sharing.
At 9:02 p.m., Storey sat down at a booth with an aluminum pan full of chicken and couldn't leave the restaurant for 24 hours. For every tender he ate, one hour came off his clock.
The first 30 minutes went OK as Storey powered through 12 tenders. At the 15 tender mark, his consumption started to slow down. He gagged attempting to swallow tender 18 and nearly threw up. The bathroom would ultimately call three times — once to throw up.
Even the tasty Raising Cane's sauce didn't make things better.
"It didn't help with the flavor and it just kind of tasted like nothing," Storey said. "Like definitely toward the end, I was just sick of the taste."

#storey #didn 't

When the New York Giants hired John Harbaugh as their next head coach back in January, many knew what was coming. The ship would be tightened quickly. Discipline would return, as would professionalism.
That doesn't apply only to players and coaches, though. Harbaugh has clamped down on certain access, such as video sharing and in-practice social media use, outlining the team's strategy. He sees them as corporate secrets, not for public consumption.
On Wednesday, Harbaugh took things a step further. When the Giants' media scrum began asking questions that he felt cut too close to the bone, he laid down the law.
"Let me just say this. I can just say this right now. We can put a stop to all these questions because I'm not going to tell you who's playing in the game," Harbaugh said in response to specific players' participation in practice and their status for this week's game versus Dallas," he said.
"I'm not going to tell you who's starting. I'm not going to tell you what package we have in. I'm not going to tell you what plays we're running. I'm not going to tell you any of that, okay? So, we can make it great and have a great press conference, or we can make it uncomfortable. But I'm not going to tell you because when you know, the Cowboys know, or every other team we play knows. And that's not in the competitive interest of our football team. Does that make sense? So, I think you can respect that."

#going #Giants #players #down

By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices increased in August amid higher costs of goods, airline fares and hospital services, boosting the chances of an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next week.
The report from the Labor Department on Thursday followed news last week of a sharp acceleration in job growth in August. Airline fares and hospital services ‌are among the components that go into the calculation of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Indexes, the inflation measures tracked by the U.S. central bank for its 2% inflation target.
August's Consumer Price ‌Index data on Friday could shed more light on the inflation picture and further shape interest rate expectations for next week.
"This report points to cost increases in the pipeline and will support the case of those on the Committee who want to hike rates now," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.

#inflation #august #airline #interest

GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB) reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $286.3 million, up 21% year over year, as gross bookings reached a company record. Annual recurring revenue, or ARR, is the annualized run rate of subscription revenue at period end and excludes professional services. GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB) defines Net ARR as the change in ARR between periods on a bookings basis, measured by opportunity close date. Quarterly Net ARR grew more than 40%, which does not mean total ending ARR grew at that rate.
Dollar-based net retention was 117%, the same rounded figure as the first quarter. GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB) said the underlying rate accelerated sequentially, although it declined from 121% one year earlier. Customers generating more than $100,000 of ARR increased 17% to 1,571. Current remaining performance obligations, or contracted revenue expected to be recognized within 12 months, rose 20% to $744.7 million. Total remaining performance obligations increased 16% to $1.2 billion.
Record bookings and management-reported sequential improvement in dollar-based net retention create a credible path to future subscription revenue. First orders more than doubled, while first-order Net ARR grew nearly 40%. Deals worth at least $500,000 increased more than 150%, and the Ultimate tier reached 59% of ARR after growing approximately 35%.
AI and consumption products are gaining early traction. Duo Agent Platform paid consumption run rate grew roughly 50% sequentially. GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB) defines paid consumption run rate as a point-in-time annualized measure of credit and Flex commitments plus paid on-demand consumption, excluding trials and promotional credits. It exceeded $40 million, up from $15 million entering the quarter, but is not revenue or ARR. The increase included Flex, where existing subscription dollars can enter the commitment pool, so it was not necessarily incremental consumption demand.
GitLab Flex attracted more than 130 customers and over $20 million of commitments during its first six weeks, with most occurring at renewal. Flex lets customers allocate one commitment across seats, credits, and eligible consumption products, potentially reducing procurement friction as AI-driven activity grows.

#revenue #consumption #gtlb #first

Google's Arkansas data-center buildout is providing a rare look at the price of AI electricity. Documents reported on September 1 show Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) agreeing to pay $526 million toward the Cypress Solar project and another $190 million for transmission upgrades. Those commitments benefit Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), the regulated utility responsible for turning Google's computing ambitions into reliable power. The arrangements also reveal why electricity, not chips, may become the next constraint on AI growth.
Photo from Entergy website
Cypress is expected to pair 600 megawatts of solar generation with 350 megawatts of battery storage and cost about $1.6 billion. For Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), a large customer helping fund generation and grid work can expand its rate base while reducing the burden on existing customers. The bull case is that data centers create years of visible load growth, supporting capital investment and earnings without forcing the utility to speculate on which AI model wins.
The bear case sits inside that same promise: huge projects can face construction delays, cost overruns, regulatory scrutiny, and uncertainty over how much demand ultimately materializes. Utilities must build for peak reliability, not optimistic averages. If Google's consumption projections prove too high or technology becomes more efficient, Entergy could be left defending expensive infrastructure. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), meanwhile, is absorbing a major power bill before the ***** ociated AI revenue is guaranteed.
Alphabet's advantage is that it can spread infrastructure costs across search, cloud, advertising, and internal AI products. Google Cloud's rapid growth suggests demand is real, and direct participation in power projects may secure capacity rivals cannot easily obtain. Yet the commitment also makes the economics of AI more capital intensive. Every dollar devoted to generation and transmission raises the hurdle for returns, while electricity contracts can lock a hyperscaler into long-lived obligations.

#entergy #electricity #Growth #corporation

The U.S. power grid is entering a period unlike any it has experienced in decades. Rapid electrification, domestic manufacturing, and the exponential growth of artificial intelligence are reshaping electricity demand. A recent report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, projects that data centers alone could account for between 9.5% and 15.3% of total U.S. electricity consumption by 2030. More broadly, U.S. electricity demand is projected to grow by approximately 15% to 20% by 2035—roughly 80–110 GW of firm capacity—underscoring the scale of new generation that will be needed. Against this backdrop, executives across the utility, independent power producer, industrial, and technology sectors are making investment decisions that will shape the grid for decades.Safety is foundational to any nuclear project and is subject to rigorous review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). But the commercial and execution risks utilities must weigh extend well beyond safety: reactor design, constructability, supply chain readiness, licensing progress, workforce depth, operability, performance, and reliability.Advanced reactors are often discussed as a single technology class, yet the commercial and execution risks ******* ociated with individual designs differ substantially. As these technologies move toward commercial deployment, evaluating them requires a more comprehensive ******* sment of their technology, deployability, and commercial merits—and, importantly, the extent to which each design reduces or eliminates risk across multiple dimensions over the full project lifecycle. That ******* sment begins with three structural questions.
Capital efficiency is more than the magnitude of overnight capital cost (OCC). It encompasses how effectively capital is deployed and the capital intensity over time—especially before the commercial operation date (COD)—as well as post-COD costs: fuel, refueling outages, major projects and refurbishment, labor and other operations and maintenance (O&M) expenditures, and ultimately decommissioning. OCC offers only a partial view, since financing costs can account for a significant portion of total project cost. A smaller, simpler, faster-to-build design may achieve superior unit economics compared with higher-output designs that initially project a lower $/kW, once financing and schedule are considered. This amplifies the importance of long-lead materials, supply chain certainty and resilience, workforce and learning effects, and constructability in determining overall project cost and capital exposure.Utilities should also examine how fundamental reactor design choices affect both construction and lifecycle costs. Designs with high inherent safety that employ passive safety features—placing the plant into a safe condition through the natural laws of physics rather than relying primarily on active systems or operator intervention—can reduce reliance on multiple trai

Boston, Massachusetts-based American Tower Corporation (AMT) is a leading global real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on communications infrastructure, primarily owning and operating wireless communications towers and other critical telecom ******* ets. With a market cap of $87.1 billion, the company leases antenna sites on multi-tenant towers for a diverse range of wireless communications industries, including personal communications services, paging, and cellular.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as "large-cap stocks," and AMT perfectly fits that description, with its market cap exceeding this mark, underscoring its size, influence, and dominance within the specialty REIT industry. With a large, geographically diversified portfolio of communications sites, American Tower benefits from the growing demand for wireless connectivity and data consumption. Its ******* et-heavy infrastructure business also generates recurring, long-term rental revenue, making AMT a key player in the global digital infrastructure ecosystem.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says His $3.5 Billion MediaTek Deal Is 'Not Circular' Because 'They Do Their Own Business'
Strategy's Strategy Appears to Have Failed, and the Outlook of MSTR Stock Is Unfavorable
A Potential ******* eX Deal Could Meaningfully Accelerate Growth for Technip Stock

#wireless #tower #business

Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller made two very different-looking AI purchases in the second quarter that share one underlying thesis. Duquesne Family Office increased its Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) position by 1,083% to 541,600 shares and opened a 72,900-share stake in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD). One company rents computing capacity through AWS; the other supplies accelerators and server processors. Together, the positions give Duquesne exposure to an AI infrastructure platform and a credible alternative chip supplier, although the filing does not disclose Druckenmiller's rationale.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) offers the demand platform. AWS revenue grew 36.7% in the second quarter, while Amazon's capital-spending trajectory approached roughly $220 billion. The bull case is that its cloud customer relationships, custom silicon, and enormous infrastructure base let it capture AI usage across models and chips. The bear case is that depreciation, power, and construction costs arrive before utilization. Even strong cloud growth must eventually produce returns on a spending program larger than many national economies.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) offers more direct operating leverage. Its data-center revenue more than doubled, and customers want an alternative to Nvidia for accelerators and CPUs. If AMD's software improves and hyperscalers deploy Instinct at scale, revenue can grow faster than the broader infrastructure market. Yet it must compete against an entrenched platform while also funding an aggressive roadmap. A second-source narrative is valuable, but only sustained deployments turn it into durable margins.
The common exposure works because Amazon can profit from rising AI consumption regardless of which merchant chip gains share, while AMD can benefit if that consumption creates room for multiple suppliers. The risks also interact. Amazon's own chips could limit AMD's opportunity, and slower cloud utilization would pressure both the buyer of infrastructure and the seller of processors. Both positions could benefit if the market grows faster than those internal conflicts.
Hedge funds moved in the same direction. Amazon ownership rose to 369 funds in the second quarter from 353, while AMD ownership jumped to 164 from 134. Arrowstreet Capital increased its Amazon position 24% to 40.3 million shares, and Marshall Wace raised its AMD common-share stake 3% to 3.9 million shares. As of August 14, 40.1 million AMD shares were sold short, equal to 2.47% of the float and 1.5 days of trading volume. The modest short-interest snapshot shows limited reported short positioning in AMD; it does not resolve whether AMD can capture enough of the spending Amazon is helping unleash.

#amazon #shares

Our ****** ysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here.
Achieved the largest gross bookings quarter in company history, driven by a 30% increase in sales capacity and a 10% improvement in rep productivity.
First order count grew more than 100% year-over-year, validating a strategy to land customers at any entry point, as over half of current $1 billion-plus run rate revenue originated from initial orders under $5,000.
Introduced 'Flex' to eliminate procurement friction, allowing customers to dynamically allocate a single dollar commitment between seat-based subscriptions and new consumption products.
Observed a stabilization in SMB and mid-market segments, with performance exceeding internal targets for both expansion and new customer acquisition.

#tell #observed

Interested in GitLab Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better.
Strong Q2 performance: GitLab reported revenue of $286.3 million, up 21% year over year, while non-GAAP operating income reached $42.6 million. Net ARR growth accelerated 42%, and the company raised its full-year revenue outlook to $1.129 billion-$1.133 billion.
Enterprise demand strengthened: First orders more than doubled to approximately 1,700, new-logo net ARR rose 39%, and deals worth at least $500,000 increased more than 150%. Dollar-based net retention improved to 117%, while current RPO grew 20% to $744.7 million.
Flex and AI adoption are expanding: More than 130 customers committed over $20 million to GitLab Flex within its first six weeks, helping paid consumption run rate rise to more than $40 million. Duo Agent Platform paid consumption grew about 50% sequentially, though broader Flex adoption could shift up to $13 million of fiscal 2027 revenue into future periods.
GitLab's Price Recovery Gains Traction—Time to Get On Board?

#first #grew #adoption

Saudi Arabia's power stations, desalination plants, factories and farms consume more than 1 million barrels per day of liquid fuel that the kingdom aims to displace by 2030. Natural gas and renewables will provide most of the replacement energy. Nuclear power could reduce domestic oil consumption further after 2030 as electricity demand continues to grow.
On July 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed a 30-year civil nuclear cooperation agreement, clearing the way for U.S. companies to potentially supply the kingdom with reactors, nuclear materials and technical services. Similar agreements with Turkey and the UAE entered into force in June 2008 and December 2009, respectively.
The commercial opportunity is in Saudi Arabia's search for additional generating capacity. The IEA estimates that the kingdom's electricity demand grew by 3.8% in 2025 and forecasts average annual growth of 3.1% through 2030.
Related: U.S. Shale Producers Lose Bid to Kill Oil Price-Fixing Case
Saudi consumption of crude oil and fuel oil for power generation rises sharply during the summer, when air-conditioning demand peaks. Combined burn reached 1.42 million b/d in June 2024, according to the EIA. It fell to an average of 678,000 b/d in January and February 2025 (the lowest level for that period since 2016) with February alone registering an 11-year monthly low of 589,000 b/d. Reducing domestic oil-fired generation can leave more petroleum available for export or other uses.

#demand #february #million #fuel

Sam Altman said concerns about AI water use were overblown but hard to shake.
He said an average modern data center uses as much water as a large office building.
He also said ChatGPT queries use far less water than it takes to grow a single almond in California.
Sam Altman says concern about AI water usage is a "meme" that doesn't actually hold any water.
The OpenAI CEO was asked to respond to resistance to AI, including concerns about water consumption, on the premiere episode of the Sources podcast with Alex Heath, published Tuesday.

#concerns

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) is substantially completing the Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion, with contractor Bechtel handing over the seventh and final liquefaction train. The project adds more than 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG capacity, lifting Cheniere's overall production capacity to roughly 56 mtpa, an increase of more than 20%.
The timing is favorable because Cheniere is entering a period of higher production while global LNG demand remains strong. In its latest quarterly results, Cheniere raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $7.9 billion-$8.4 billion, from $7.25 billion-$7.75 billion previously. The company also said it expects higher exports as its expansion projects ramp up. The company is not finished expanding Corpus Christi. It is also developing Midscale Trains 8 and 9, while the U.S. Energy Department has authorized additional exports from those trains.
The biggest positive is that Cheniere now has additional LNG capacity coming online at an established export facility. The completion of Stage 3 allows Cheniere to increase volumes without having to build an entirely new LNG terminal from scratch. The company expects increased exports next year as it benefits from a full year of production from its expansion projects. That creates a relatively straightforward growth path: more LNG volumes can generate more revenue, while the existing infrastructure and long-term commercial arrangements can support attractive cash generation.
Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) is positioned to benefit from continued growth in LNG consumption, particularly in Europe and Asia. U.S. LNG deliveries to Asia reached a quarterly record of 11 million metric tons in Q2 2026, while Cheniere continues to see strong demand and competitive pricing in new contract negotiations. The company's scale also gives it an advantage as global buyers seek reliable LNG supplies. The U.S. has become the world's largest LNG exporter, with Cheniere playing a central role in that export growth.
The completion of Stage 3 further increases the gap between Cheniere and competing U.S. LNG exporters. The project takes Corpus Christi's production capabilities to a much higher level and gives Cheniere greater exposure to international LNG demand. This scale can also improve the company's ability to serve customers across different markets and capture attractive destination pricing. Cheniere has historically used strong cash generation to return capital to shareholders while continuing to invest in expansion. The company is balancing shareholder returns with investments in additional production capacity.

#production #capacity #company

Federal Reserve governor Michael Barr said Tuesday that if inflation doesn't come down adequately, the central bank should raise interest rates.
Ahead of the Fed policy meeting in just over two weeks, Barr said the outlook for inflation and the economy will top the agenda.
"If trends in the data give me some confidence that inflation is moderating on a path to 2%, then I think we can take a bit more time to ***** s our policy stance," Barr said, according to prepared remarks. "However, if inflation appears not to be moderating sufficiently, then I think we should act decisively to raise rates."
The Fed will get two more readings on consumer and wholesale inflation next week before the meeting on Sept. 16. Recent inflation data has been mixed, with back-to-back cooler reports on the Consumer Price Index for June and July and one stickier report on the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index.
Still, Barr said inflation remains too high, pointing to a series of shocks — from tariffs to the conflict in the Middle East to the rapid AI build-out — that "pushed us off course."

#raise #policy #meeting #moderating

Payton Tolle is one of the best stories of the 2026 season. A thoughtful prospect writer brought him to my attention early last year, knowing my affinity for a good four-seamer, a thick 'stache and a mien that would be equally at home on a small fishing boat off the coast of Bangor in 1890 as he is on a pitching mound. Tolle wears his emotions openly across his face and through his body; the joy, the devastation, the playfulness. To be pitching at the level that he is requires skill and effort, but part of Tolle's charm is the authenticity woven within all that baseball work. Maybe this won't resonate to anyone else, but there are a lot of guys who present as baseball players first and humans as a secondary classification. Tolle is distinctly a human playing baseball, and it's one of the highest compliments I can pay (see also: Gutierrez, Franklin or Wilhelmsen, Tom, among others).
It came as little surprise, then, when Tolle cited the Turnpike Troubadors as one of his favorite musical acts. There's the Oklahoma connection, of course, with both hailing from the Sooner State, but that same authenticity runs through every song Turnpike performs. And that's courtesy of Evan Felker, the band's lead singer and one of the finest songwriters of the generation.
No one here needs to read any more about the Seattle Mariners today. Honestly, we're all probably good for the rest of the year on consumption of Mariners content, but regardless of their record this is still a community, and community means continuing showing up for one another. In gratitude for you all, I offer a selection of some of my favorite Turnpike Troubadors lyrics and songs. I hope that in the ragged place baseball usually occupies, maybe they'll prompt that thrum of recognition in your chest that only good art can inspire.
"Come back from the dark somehow
Finally living in the here and now
No sign of a thundercloud following you
Don't take it personal, the world don't turn around you
Hold on to the moment like it's heaven passing through" – Heaven Passing Through
View Link

#good #troubadors

The Indian cricket board's reluctance to seek better price discovery ahead of the upcoming IPL and home bilateral media rights tender is weighing heavily on the industry.

With about six months to go before the final IPL edition of the 2023-27 rights cycle begins, there is growing concern among cricket's biggest stakeholders that the absence of a credible bidder other than JioStar will prevent an accurate ******* sment of the property's value, and, in turn, deny the market the competitive tension that has driven IPL rights upwards for a decade.

That sentiment was echoed by none other than Uday Shankar, the media entrepreneur who serves as vice-chairman of JioStar, at the recent ET World Leaders Forum.

"Ten years ago, you would have multiple and serious media companies (around four) competing for major sports rights. You'd have four or more companies genuinely fighting for properties. Today, increasingly, it feels as if we are the only ones standing. And that's not healthy," Shankar said.

"The fundamental issue is that the cost of the rights has risen dramatically. But the ability to monetise those rights hasn't necessarily risen at the same rate. The value of sports is enormous, but the rights holder, broadcaster and platform all need to participate in a sustainable ecosystem," he added.

The worrying part of this narrative is the absence of a Plan B for Indian cricket. That JioStar will bid healthily for the IPL is a given: its subscription numbers are heavily leveraged against cricket consumption. What is baffling is the BCCI's inability to bring more participants to the table.

Players such as YouTube and Netflix have been engaging aggressively with sport in the West. YouTube's move into rights aggregation and bundling has, in fact, become an industry trend of its own.

YouTube increasingly treats sport not as a series of standalone rights acquisitions but as the anchor of a broader pay-TV and subscription ecosystem. Its seven-year deal for exclusive US distribution of NFL Sunday Ticket — worth a reported $2 billion a season — works both as a value-add for YouTube TV subscribers and as a standalone product sold through YouTube channels.

Average revenue per user in the West bears little resemblance to what the subcontinent generates, which complicates the ******* umption that volume alone wins the argument. Even so, Indian cricket remains the only market in this part of the world worth a player like YouTube testing the waters in.

More recently, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told The Economic Times that the streaming giant was interested in live sport, including cricket, but had no intention of becoming a "conventional full-season sports broadcaster".

If so, a property like the IPL sits squarely in Netflix's territory. The storytelling potential of an India-first sports property speaks to a billion-plus domestic audience, a vast global diaspora, and to markets where cricket remains one of India's most effective export

On the Mad Money episode aired on August 26, Jim Cramer recently highlighted Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) after a massive post-earnings rally driven by a blowout quarterly report and a major expansion of its AI partnership with Anthropic. He stated:
Look at the stock of Salesforce run. After the close, the cloud software kingpin reported a gigantic blowout quarter. Also rolled out a major expansion of their partnership with Anthropic where they'll be embedding their customer relationship management software in Anthropic's Claude. Wall Street was terrified that companies like Salesforce will be eaten alive by AI competition. But this partnership puts these worries to bed, maybe permanently.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) delivered a powerful second-quarter financial report for fiscal 2027. The company posted record quarterly revenue of $11.35 billion, representing an 11% year-over-year increase. More impressively, adjusted earnings per share reached $5.90, although $2.53 per share of the result came from gains on strategic investments. Backed by surging cash flow generation and strong demand for its cloud ecosystem, management raised its full-year fiscal revenue guidance to a range of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion.
The core catalyst behind the recent market enthusiasm is a major expansion of Salesforce, Inc.'s (NYSE:CRM) strategic alliance with Anthropic, highlighted by the introduction of "Claudeforce". The integration embeds Claude's advanced reasoning models directly into Salesforce's Agentforce platform and Slack, while launching a specialized "Salesforce in Claude" plugin featuring 37 prebuilt sales skills. By allowing sales teams to ***** yze live customer data, update pipelines, and execute governed actions natively within Claude, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is bridging the gap between conversational AI and enterprise workflows. Rather than falling victim to AI disruption, the company is taking the driver's seat in how companies automate their daily work.
Despite the celebratory market reaction, structural challenges remain for the cloud software leader. While headline figures appeared strong, the year-over-year revenue growth of 11% shows a maturing SaaS profile when compared to high-flying hardware and semiconductor peers. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the company's non-GAAP earnings beat was driven by a one-time paper gain of roughly $2.6 billion from marking up its strategic investment in Anthropic; stripping out this non-operational valuation gain reveals a much tighter beat. It is also important to note that the potential margin drag from enterprise token consumption costs and execution risks could be high as Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) works to prove customer adoption and sustained monetization of its agentic workflows.

#salesforce #earnings

USC debuted its latest concession stand item, which could take over the College Football landscape: the Trojan Beer Sword.
The item is meant to consume its namesake, letting fans pour their beer of choice into the top and fill it up.
It has a red plastic handle with a vertical sword grip, while the "blade" is a clear plastic tube that looks quite long and features the infamous USC logo.
Rather than the top of the sword being round, it is shaved off to be quite pointy, allowing the drinker to put their mouth on the tip and tilt it up for easy consumption.
Aug 29, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; A general overall view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum peristyle and Olympic torch. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

#angeles #beer #college #trojan

The stock market saw solid gains for the major indexes, rebounding off their 21-day moving averages, though small caps fell slightly toward their 50-day line. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh leaned hawkish in his Jackson Hole speech, and markets generally seemed to like it. Nvidia (NVDA) surged on booming earnings and blowout guidance, but many chip and AI hardware plays struggled. Negative earnings reactions to Marvell (MRVL) and Everpure (P) didn't help. Meanwhile, Salesforce (CRM), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Okta (OKTA) and Elastic (ESTC) were big software earnings winners, fueling a bisector move. Youth apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) skyrocketed while ****** 's Sporting Goods (DKS) dived.
The major indexes rose solidly off their 21-day moving averages, not far from record highs, though small caps retreated toward their 50-day line. Fed Chief Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech got a generally positive reaction. Nvidia (NVDA), Salesforce (CRM), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Okta (OKTA), Elastic (ESTC) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) were among the notable earnings winners. Crude oil prices and the 10-year Treasury yield fell, though they came off weekly lows.
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, coming off his July 29 news conference that left Wall Street doubting his inflation-fighting credibility, turned the page with Friday's address at the annual Jackson Hole, Wyo., monetary policy conference. Warsh said his perception is that the economy has strengthened, allowing the Fed to focus on achieving its 2% inflation target. Citing strong business capital spending and strong profit growth, with the exceptions of housing and agriculture, Warsh said he would be "hard pressed to describe broad financial conditions as restrictive." Reaction to his address lifted odds of a Sept. 16 Fed rate hike to 56% from around 35% on Thursday, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The latest inflation data may have added to pressure on Fed Chair Warsh to set a hawkish tone on Friday. The PCE (personal consumption expenditures) price index topped forecasts with a 0.2% rise that kept the 12-month headline inflation rate at 3.7%. Core inflation held at 3.3%, though the figure was 3.344% when unrounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. Q2 GDP growth was unrevised at an unimpressive 1.5%, but the underlying measure of growth was revised to a sizzling 4.2% from 3.9% initially. That reflects final real sales to private domestic purchasers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it expects to revise payroll growth in the year through March down by 79,000 overall and 178,000 for the private sector. That would leave 12-month gains of 195,000 overall and 321,000 for private employers.
AI chip leader Nvidia (NVDA) posted a beat-and-raise fiscal second-quarter report and gave a bullish forecast for next year. Nvidia stock jumped on the news. Adjusted earnings surged 112% year over year. Sales soared 106% to $96.2 billion, the fourth straight quarter of accelerating revenue g

Transcript:
Caroline Woods:
Joining us now is Anastasia Amoroso, managing director chief investment strategist at partners Group. Anastasia, great to have you on your first time here.
Anastasia Amoroso:
Yes. Happy to be here.
Caroline Woods:
So great to have you. So let's kick things off by getting your kind of overall market view. You know we are looking at green arrows across the board today. The S&P 500 less than 2% away from all time highs. Is this market on solid footing or are investors getting a little too comfortable?
Anastasia Amoroso:
No, I think it is, broadly speaking. And when I look at the economy, I see many pillars of support they're building for this economy. It used to be that maybe you could rely on the corporation or your hyperscale or consumer, but now we have all of those things working for us. For example, when you look at consumption, it is still up nicely year over year, even though we did give a little bit of it back in July post the World Cup, I should say.

#amoroso

Updated Aug 26, 2026, 5:43 pm EDT / Original Aug 26, 2026, 6:04 am EDT
Stocks traded modestly lower Wednesday
ahead of Nvidia’s earnings report and after the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, for July revealed
inflation was a bit stronger
than expected.
Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

#updated #original #wednesday #reserved

Jim Cramer warned on August 24 that mounting political and community backlash against data center power consumption could directly impact equipment suppliers like GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV). He noted:
What happens if the hyperscalers get their act together and offer a code of conduct instead of being out there all by themselves cutting deals that are now regretted? Stranger things have happened than a code of conduct. It must happen if this issue is going to be tempered… I can't believe they haven't figured that out. That's why you have to look at certain companies that were thriving because of data centers, companies like the biggest turbine company that turns natural gas into power. That's GE Vernova. Now, we own it for the Charitable Trust and I now feel that the market won't pay up for its order book because maybe it's gotten soft. I don't want to get rid of it but I don't want to take a beating either.
GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) is fundamentally reshaping the grid for the AI era, and its second-quarter 2026 results validate that dominance. Revenue climbed 22% year-over-year to $11.1 billion, but the real story was the order book. Total Q2 orders surged 88% organically to a record $24.2 billion, as data centers scramble for heavy-duty and aeroderivative gas turbines. The runaway demand pushed the company's total backlog to a staggering $176 billion. Management is highly confident in this trajectory, aggressively raising full-year free cash flow guidance to a massive range of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion and cementing GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) as a solid cash-generating AI infrastructure play.
Despite the top-line explosion, GE Vernova Inc.'s (NYSE:GEV) Q2 diluted EPS of $2.47 missed consensus estimates, while margin pressure persisted in parts of its business, particularly Wind, where organic orders fell 40%. More importantly, as Cramer admitted about his own stake in the Charitable Trust, he now feels the market might refuse to pay up for the company's massive order book if it starts to soften. With local governments imposing stricter regulations and higher compensation requirements on data centers, the pace of hyperscaler expansion is facing real bottlenecks. If developers are delayed by political pushback and grid limitations, the company's delivery timelines and following revenue recognition could stretch further out, which could test investor patience.

#billion

By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The dollar advanced on Wednesday after a batch of U.S. economic data, including a reading on inflation, that slightly pushed up expectations for a rate hike from the Federal Reserve ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers this week.
The Commerce Department ‌said the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index increased 3.7% in the 12 months through July, unchanged from June and slightly above the 3.6% estimate of economists ‌polled by Reuters. On a month-over-month basis, PCE rose 0.2% versus the estimate calling for a 0.1% increase, after falling 0.1% in June.
"Overall, because the headline was warm enough to prevent a dovish victory, those details weren't really strong enough to hand the hawks a clear win, so I wouldn't chase the rally at all," said George Vessey, lead FX and macro strategist at Convera in London.
"But I wouldn't fade it aggressively either, we've got loads of competing narratives driving FX at the moment, particularly the dollar, haven't we, so it's hard to have a strong conviction in either direction right now."

#reuters #estimate

Following global football is no longer confined to watching a match for ninety minutes on a weekend afternoon. The modern supporter operates within a continuous cycle of information consumption, tracking tactical breakdowns, injury updates, and transfer market movements throughout the entire week. The transition from physical matchday attendance to a borderless digital ecosystem has fundamentally altered how the sport is covered. This intense demand for constant, high-quality ****** ysis has transformed digital sports publishing, turning fan platforms into comprehensive databases of football knowledge. Rather than relying on simple fixture lists, audiences now evaluate passing networks, expected goals, and historical rivalries to gauge how upcoming matches might unfold. This structural shift in fan behaviour requires publishers to deliver nuanced reporting that goes far beyond basic scorelines, catering to a global readership that treats football ****** ysis with serious ****** ytical rigour.
The appetite for detailed pre-match information has created a natural crossover with online sports markets. Fans who spend hours reading about team formations, defensive vulnerabilities, and managerial strategies routinely apply those insights in practical scenarios. An in-depth understanding of how a Thursday night European fixture might cause squad fatigue ahead of a Sunday domestic clash is exactly the type of context that informs ****** ytical viewing. This precise evaluation of probabilities and match dynamics aligns seamlessly with the mechanics of modern sports wagering, where split-second decisions rely on preliminary research.
Supporters apply this football literacy directly to live sports markets through Virgin Bet ZA, navigating dynamic in-play scenarios with knowledge of player absences and tactical shifts. The integration of data into the spectator experience means that betting is increasingly driven by objective ****** ysis rather than sheer loyalty or guesswork. Bettors rely on injury reports, historical head-to-head statistics, and form guides to build a complete picture of an upcoming contest. Consequently, sports publishing serves a dual purpose, acting as an essential resource for both the traditional fan and the informed punter looking to test their reading of the game against real-time market fluctuations.
Behind the tactical debates and the sophisticated sports markets lies a commercial engine that continues to break historical records. The financial scale of elite football dictates squad depth, transfer market dominance, and ultimately, competitive success across major domestic and European competitions. Broadcast rights, global merchandising, and lucrative corporate sponsorships have elevated top-tier clubs into massive multinational enterprises. "The 2024/25 season set another new record, with the top 20 Money League clubs generating over €12 billion in revenue for the first time." — Deloitte.
With the top 20 earning clubs collec