I've been writing about Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) for years, and my conviction has never been higher, because the company keeps doing the boring, hard things that compound over time: It protects its brands, invests in innovation, and quietly returns a lot of cash to shareholders even when the environment is rough.
Fiscal 2026 was not a blowout year for Procter & Gamble. Net sales grew 3%, organic sales rose 1%, and core earnings per share increased 1%. That's the kind of result many investors would shrug at. What matters to me is that those numbers landed right inside the company's guidance in a year that featured currency swings, higher energy and transportation costs, and uneven demand across regions.
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 »
P&G's strategy is deliberately simple. It focuses on daily use categories where performance drives brand choice and seeks to deliver superiority in product, packaging, communication, retail execution, and value. It pairs that with what it calls "constructive disruption" and a heavy dose of productivity, meaning it constantly looks for ways to do the same work with fewer resources. The result is a business that rarely looks spectacular quarter to quarter but, over many years, keeps nudging growth and margins in the right direction.
This is not a sleepy soap company. In April, Procter & Gamble was named the top household products company on Fortune's America's Most Innovative Companies list for the third year in a row, with product innovation singled out as its biggest strength.

#signal #conviction #flashing

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hao-Yu Lee drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning with a pinch-hit single and the Detroit Tigers beat the San Fracisco Giants 3-1 on Sunday in the rubber game of their series.
Spencer Torkelson singled off Sam Hentges (1-4) after Lee's base hit scored automatic runner Riley Greene for a 2-1 lead. Max Clark's groundout added an insurance run.
Kenley Jansen (3-4) struck out the side in the ninth for the win. Tyler Holton pitched a perfect 10th for his second save as the Tigers finished 7-2 on a three-city trip to the West Coast.
Detroit starter Troy Melton allowed an unearned run on four hits and a walk over six-plus innings, striking out five. The right-hander hasn't permitted an earned run in his last 20 innings. Melton has given up two runs or fewer in 12 of his 13 starts this season.
Logan Webb yielded one run on four hits and a walk over eight innings for the Giants, throwing 100 pitches.

#Giants #melton #walk #francisco

United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) shares surged in premarket trading on July 28 after the package-delivery company reported a second-quarter beat and raised its 2026 outlook. Revenue reached $22.83 billion, above the $21.81 billion consensus estimate, while adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share exceeded the $1.66 estimate. UPS now expects full-year revenue of approximately $91.2 billion, up from $89.7 billion, and adjusted earnings of approximately $7.22 per share.
The more important development was operational. Eighteen months after announcing an accelerated reduction in lower-margin Amazon volume, UPS said it had completed the planned "glide down" and the related phase of its network reconfiguration. That did not end the Amazon relationship: Amazon had accounted for more than 13% of UPS revenue at its peak, but its contribution had fallen to 8.8% by the end of the first quarter.
That strategy was always supposed to make UPS smaller before making it more profitable. The second quarter offered the clearest evidence yet that the second part may finally be starting. U.S. Domestic average daily package volume fell 3.3%, but revenue rose 6% as revenue per piece increased 9.3%. Adjusted domestic operating profit increased 21%, lifting the segment's adjusted margin to 8% from roughly 7% a year earlier.
Still, the margin remains well below the International segment's 12.4%, and fuel surcharges contributed to the stronger revenue-per-piece result. The core tension is whether UPS has created a durably more profitable domestic network, or whether fuel surcharges and temporary restructuring effects made one quarter look better than the underlying cost structure.
The bull case is that UPS has begun to prove the logic behind sacrificing Amazon volume: fewer packages can produce more revenue and profit when the packages that remain carry better yields.

#revenue #Margin

Go Rays!
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#fewer #create #articles

Warriors star named one of most overpaid players at his position originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Well, this isn't necessarily a list that Golden State Warriors star forward Jimmy Butler wanted to be on.
Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report recently named Butler as one of the most overpaid forwards in the entire NBA, largely due to the fact that he'll be sidelined for a large chunk of the upcoming 2026-27 season due to a knee injury.
Butler will make over $58 million for the upcoming campaign, but will likely be available for fewer than half the games. The star forward is set for unrestricted free agency next summer.
"This is mostly a technicality, as Butler underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL on Feb. 9, 2026 and therefore figures to miss half of the upcoming season. Considering he'll be 37 before the campaign even starts, it's hard to imagine that shelf-time estimate is on the low end, and it's also tough to envision him sustaining the level of play he showed last year," Hughes wrote.

#butler #star #Warriors

After that brutal road trip, these last two wins have been a massive boost for the Nats. Now they will look for only their second sweep of the season this afternoon against the Reds. The only other sweep was against another NL Central team in the Brewers, so maybe that is a good luck charm.
The Nats actually have the same 9 players in the lineup today. However, the order is mixed up a bit. Jose Tena will be up in the 3 spot, while Dylan Crews moves down to the 5 hole. Keibert Ruiz will also move down in the order. The Nats have a bullpen game today which will be started by Brad Lord, but all hands are on deck.
The Reds are making a couple changes with a righty opener on the mound. Hector Rodriguez will return to the lineup. Tyler Stephenson will also be the catcher in this one. Left handed JJ Bleday will move up in the lineup while righties like Eugenio Suarez and Dane Myers will move down. The veteran sinkerballer Brady Singer is on the **** p.
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#move #reds #only #order

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Weeks before voting ended in California's primary for governor, Los Angeles-based influencer Shaka Smith took to Instagram to tell his more than 700,000 followers whom he was voting for and why.
"Healthcare shouldn't bankrupt you, housing should not feel impossible, polluters shouldn't pass their bill to us and artists should not be replaced by AI," Smith said. "That's why I'm supporting Tom Steyer for governor."
But Smith started the video with a disclaimer: "This is an ad, and honestly, I wish more political content said that first." His caption specified that he was paid by Steyer's campaign.
California is one of two states, along with Texas, that have passed policies requiring content creators to say if they've been paid by a political campaign to post, and the Golden State is considering cracking down by fining people who don't.
Campaigns have long worked with celebrities and major influencers to win over voters, but now they are teaming up with smaller creators — sometimes with fewer than 100,000 followers — to reach more tailored audiences. That has sparked debates about whether disclosure rules for political advertisements should apply to content creators, who are expected to play prominent roles in the upcoming midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

#political #voting #shouldn 't #campaign

One sad part of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and **** ss of Sussex, doing fewer outings since leaving behind their royal duties is that royal fans can't see more of their chic outfits. The two are always impeccably dressed, even when they aren't doing anything too special. This was especially true around the time that Harry and Meghan got married when they were working royals, going to other royal weddings, dinners, and more.
Thankfully, Meghan and Harry's wardrobes still have the same great style even while living in the U.S. and focusing on raising their two kids, Archie and Lilibet. It's one thing about the lavish world of British royals that they seem to have brought over to their more private lives when they moved away. On the rare occasions that Meghan and Harry have attended formal events and holiday celebrations, or visited other countries, over the years, they've had plenty of fantastic matching outfits.
Some couple's past matching outfits were super cohesive, with the spouses wearing the exact same color. Other times, Meghan and Harry wore more subtle complementary attire in similar shades and clothing items. But overall, the two have definitely proven that they have couples' clothing mastered. Here's a look at some of the best matching moments from one of the most popular celebrity couples out there.
Read more: Things Kate Middleton Couldn't Do After She Married Prince William
Wpa Pool/Getty Images

#outfits #doing #even

Fewer cargo theft reports did not mean smaller losses during the second quarter, according to Verisk CargoNet's ******* ysis. The intelligence network documented 677 incidents across the United States and Canada. That total fell 26% from Q2 2025. It also dropped 14% from the previous quarter.
Estimated cargo losses nevertheless climbed to $304.6 million during the three-month period. That figure more than doubled the $135.7 million reported during Q2 2025. The average reported commodity value reached $564,009. Several multimillion-dollar thefts involving metals and enterprise technology heavily influenced that average.
"Lower incident volume should not be mistaken for lower risk," Keith Lewis, Verisk CargoNet's vice president of operations, said. "The groups driving the largest losses are not necessarily trying to steal more freight; they are trying to identify the right shipment." Lewis pointed to metals and enterprise technology as areas attracting organized theft groups. Those shipments can offer major value and established resale opportunities.
Scott Cornell, EVP, Crime and Theft Specialist at SPG Cargo & Logistics and chair of TAPA Americas, discussed the results during a recent FreightWaves interview. He described the decrease as welcome news after years when theft activity stayed elevated. Cornell also urged the industry to avoid treating one quarter as proof of a broader shift. "It's not going to be a trend until we see it for maybe two or three quarters consecutively," Cornell said.
Cornell noted that cargo theft numbers have historically moved up and down. He said recent law-enforcement arrests could be contributing to the quarterly decrease. Those efforts included operations in New York, New Jersey, California and Canada, along with FBI and Homeland Security cases. Cornell called the results from law enforcement and private-sector cooperation encouraging.

#theft #lower

ARLINGTON, Texas — Missing: The Baltimore Orioles' offense, last seen before the trade deadline.
Another night of frustrating results at the plate was to be expected Saturday with Jacob deGrom on the mound for the Texas Rangers. Yet despite driving his pitch count up enough to force Texas to go to its bullpen after five innings, the Orioles still struggled to string together any kind of rally in a 5-1 loss to the Rangers.
It's the Orioles' third straight game with one run or fewer and fifth in their past seven overall.
The loss ensured Baltimore (56-61) would lose its series in Arlington and drop the club to three games back in the American League wild-card race.
A solo home run by Jackson Holliday off deGrom in the first inning was the only run the Orioles pushed across. They had six hits and drew three walks but finished 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position to strand six men on base.

#degrom

It's game 2 of the St. Louis Cardinals 3-game series hosting the Colorado Rockies Saturday night. Matthew Liberatore will start for the Cardinals while the Rockies will give the ball to Kyle Freeland. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15pm central time and the game broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.
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#liberatore

The worst people you know have taken the fear-mongering over transgender athletes and the WNBA all the way to its most illogical conclusion.
To be clear, there has never been a transgender athlete in the WNBA. Ever. There are no transgender athletes competing in the NWSL or other major women's pro sports leagues in the United States either. There is now a very clear Olympic ban on transgender athletes competing in female competitions. The Supreme Court has upheld state bans. And the NCAA reported in 2024 that there were fewer than ten trans athletes competing across the entirety of college athletics.
However, Sophie Cunningham's comments on trans athletes were a bat signal for the anti-trans machine to kick into overdrive. The last couple of weeks have been an incredibly predictable culture wars saga with Riley Gaines showing up for photo ops, Fox News suddenly finding an interest in the WNBA against the wishes of their own hosts, and the entire facade being used as an opportunity for hateful rhetoric to flourish.
But the absurdity was taken to a whole new level on Friday when NBA veteran turned political opportunist Enes Kanter "declared" himself eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft. He was followed by Minnesota Senate candidate and all-around weird dude Royce White, who did likewise.
This, of course, is stupid. It's nothing more than an idiotic stunt designed to get 15 minutes of attention for their grift and bring increased abuse and mockery to the real transgender community.

#transgender #athletes #competing #ever

Until the UCLA Bruins are in College Football Playoff contention, which has yet to happen in the CFP era, all UCLA fans can do is root for the demise of the rival USC Trojans. USC also has yet to make a CFP appearance but that might change in 2026.
The Trojans went 9-4 last season and added another strong recruiting class, which should only help USC's depth while giving head coach Lincoln Riley fewer excuses for missing the playoffs.
Riley has been able to churn out strong offenses, the big questions for the Trojans reside on the defensive side of the ball. While UCLA had the worst scoring defense in the Big Ten last year, USC wasn't too far behind with the eighth-worst defense in the conference.
With the USC defense being the question mark, Trojans Wire writer Matt Zemek discussed whether or not he believes that the Trojans' defense can take a step in 2026 under first-year defensive coordinator Gary Patterson.
"I am skeptical about the defense. It got bullied last year by the best opponents on the Trojans' schedule. Lincoln Riley coaches soft defenses. It is what it is. That's his track record. USC fans don't like it, but they really can't argue the point, either. Lincoln Riley has to prove he can field a team with a snot-knocking defense," Zemek said. "Until that's proven, Riley and USC by extension have simply not earned the benefit of the doubt. The defensive line is easily the most important position group. Jahkeem Stewart is the headliner, but even if he plays well, he can't do it himself. USC's defense was bad even when Tuli Tuipulotu was playing elite ball in 2022. It can't be one guy. It takes a village, as the saying goes. The jury is out on whether USC has that village in 2026. Those guys have to prove the skeptics wrong, and I'm one of the doubters."

#defense #riley #year

Good morning Birdland,
Well, it was yet another putrid night for the Orioles offense. They have scored one run or fewer in four of their last six games. Their record in those four games? 0-4. Tough to chase down a wild card spot with a lineup that disappears far too often,
The problem wasn't even getting runners on base. They had seven hits, three walks, and five at-bats with runners in scoring position. But they wasted almost all of those chances. Pete Alonso struck out with the bases loaded in the fifth, and Leody Taveras was punched out in the sixth with two runners on base.
Christian Franklin came up clutch with a ninth-inning double into the right field corner that nearly scored Taveras from first base. But the Rangers executed a perfect relay to apparently nab him at the plate. It was close, and O's manager Craig Albernaz challenged, but (despite some evidence to the contrary) the called was upheld anyway.
It's a shame because the Orioles got a really good Shane Baz start in the loss. He was the only pitcher that Albernaz used. He tossed all eight innings, allowed the two runs on three hits, a walk, and nine strikeouts. Both runs he gave up came on a Joc Pederson homer in the sixth.

#runners #albernaz #games #hits

WNBA MVP race rankings: A'ja Wilson vs. Olivia Miles debate is on with Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers lurking originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Award season is fast approaching in the WNBA. With a little more than one month left in the season, now is the time for the league's greatest talents to play for the sport's finest pieces of hardware.
No accolade glistens as brightly as the MVP. A'ja Wilson has had something of a stranglehold on the prize in recent years, capturing four in the past six years. A fifth looks on the horizon, although she's facing strong competition from a handful of notable youngsters, namely Olivia Miles and Caitlin Clark.
Recent history tells us that MVP races can be difficult to predict. Wilson beat Breanna Stewart by eight first-place votes in 2022. Stewart won the award in 2023 despite earning fewer first-place votes than Alyssa Thomas, while Wilson stormed away with the prize after a late-season surge last year. While the calendar is shrinking, votes haven't yet been cast. Surprises could be on the way, especially if someone further down the rankings makes a splash.
With that, here's a look at what the MVP ladder looks like heading into the stretch run.

#wilson

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Hmm, this feels soft.
The American private sector added 44,000 jobs in July, which is the hiring equivalent of a shrug. Economists wanted 75,000. June got revised down to 95,000. It's the weakest month since January.
Education and health services accounted for 36,000 of those 44,000 jobs. Strip out that sector, which hires on demographics and reimbursement schedules with no interest in the business cycle, and the rest of the private economy added 8,000. For, like, the entire country.
Financial activities and professional services covered most of the rest but trade and transportation shed 8,000, mining lost 6,000, manufacturing scraped up 2,000, construction found 1,000, and goods production fell 3,000. The companies hiring hardest had fewer than 50 employees, which is not how a confident economy behaves.

#Jobs #economy

Myles Lewis Skelly has emerged as a transfer target for Manchester United as they search for a long-term replacement for Luke Shaw this summer.
Shaw is entering the final year of his contract at the club, and United reportedly do not have an appetite to offer him an extension. This situation has encouraged them to explore options for a new left back, with Lewis Skelly now among the players they are considering.
The Red Devils previously attempted to sign Lewis Hall from Newcastle United but were unsuccessful, leaving them to focus their attention on other targets. Lewis Skelly has now become a player of interest as they look to strengthen that position.
Arsenal could potentially face pressure if the defender continues to receive fewer minutes than he would like, as other clubs may attempt to take advantage of the situation. However, the Gunners have not indicated that they are willing to allow him to leave.
As reported by Football Insider, ****** nal have informed United that Lewis Skelly is not for sale. The club recognise his quality and do not want to strengthen a direct rival by allowing him to move to Old Trafford.

#lewis #myles

Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner has established himself as one of the league's premier interior defenders, and Pro Football Focus' latest rankings back that up.
The **** ytics outlet slotted the Rams defensive tackle at No. 9 in its top 32 interior defenders ahead of the 2026 season, highlighting his continued growth as a pass rusher.
Turner has developed into a really strong pass-rusher from the defensive interior, and is still just 27 years old. He has totalled 50, 62 and 69 pressures in each of the past three seasons, respectively, and set a career-high with an 83.9 PFF pass-rush grade last year. He's been solid against the run too, with a PFF run-defense grade above 66.0 in each of those three seasons.
Turner's pressure numbers have climbed every year since entering the league, and last season's career-best grade suggests he's still trending upward rather than plateauing. Combined with steady run-defense marks, PFF's ranking reflects a player who has become a well-rounded force up front rather than a one-dimensional rusher. In terms of raw production, Turner tallied seven sacks in 2025 (fewer than the eight and nine he had in his first two seasons, respectively), with 48 combined tackles, nine tackles for a loss, one interception and 14 quarterback hits.
The recognition stands in contrast to how Turner fared in a separate survey last month. ESPN polled NFL coaches, executives and scouts on the league's top defensive tackles, and Turner didn't crack the top 10 or even land among the honorable mentions, instead landing in the "also receiving votes" tier alongside players like Cameron Heyward and Kenny Clark.

#interior

Here is the paradox at the center of Broadway economics: the production that just broke the box-office record for a filmed stage musical was not built by anyone with the authority to greenlight it. It was built over 19 years by a Vermont folk singer who kept handing control to other people.
On the last weekend of July, the live capture of Hadestown opened on fewer than 2,000 screens. It took in $10.2 million, the largest opening ever recorded for a filmed Broadway musical, ahead of Hamilton. The distributor had booked it as a five-day event. Within 72 hours it announced an indefinite run. Its strongest per-screen results came from Huntsville, Salt Lake City, Eugene, and Boise: markets with no Broadway house at all.
I have spent a career focused on how the screen reshapes commerce—as President and CEO of The Museum of Television & Radio (now The Paley Center for Media), as Harvard Law School's inaugural Visiting Professor of Entertainment and Media Law, and as a management consultant on entertainment and media industry strategies. What Anaïs Mitchell built with Hadestown is the clearest working refutation I have seen of the instinct that destroys founder-led ventures in various market sectors.
The operational reality is unforgiving. A modern Broadway musical is a highly capitalized joint venture requiring upwards of $15 million against a weekly burn rate that can approach $700,000. The people who put up that money are not patrons of the arts. They are investors, and the directors, general managers, and marketing leads they hire are the operators who convert a creative vision into a going concern. Broadway posted the highest-grossing season in its history in 2025–2026, roughly $1.9 billion, and only six new musicals opened all year. More money is chasing fewer bets.
The industry's default bet is a famous name. Elton John's Tammy Faye and the Avett Brothers' Swept Away both took that bet recently, and both closed within weeks of opening. Neither was a failure of talent. Both were failures of organizational architecture. The creative founders believed that dominance in one market guaranteed fit in another, and they overruled the operators who knew better.

#hadestown #people

Up until July 20th, Yankees trade acquisition Ryan Weathers was sporting a disappointing 4.40 ERA in 102.1 innings. His four-seam fastball was getting battered, and he was allowing too many home runs to have a chance at sustained success. Baseball, however, is a game of adjustments. The talented left-hander has allowed just one earned run in his last three starts and 18.2 frames, with 13 hits, no homers, five walks, and 17 punchouts. He seems like a completely different pitcher, much less vulnerable, and has dropped his season ERA to 3.79 over that span.
What changed? Well, if you have a fastball that has surrendered a .628 xSLG (expected slugging percentage) and a .408 xwOBA, you just don't throw it very often, as our own Peter Brody suggested a few weeks ago. The writer prescribed more sinkers and fewer four-seamers as the recipe for success. Let's see Weathers' pitch mix in his last start on Tuesday, when he held the St. Louis Cardinals scoreless for six frames, conceding just four hits and a walk while fanning six:
Changeup: 30 percent
Sinker: 25 percent
Sweeper: 24 percent

#weathers #fastball #frames

Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts have agreed to a 2-year, $44 million contract extension, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The deal can reach as high as $47 million based on incentives. Taylor, 27, is guaranteed $39 million.
Taylor, a three-time Pro Bowler and former rushing champion who led the NFL with 18 rushing touchdowns last season, was scheduled to play on the final season of a three-year, $42 million contract in 2026. Now he has his third contract with the franchise that will take him through the remainder of his prime.
Taylor's been one of the game's most productive players throughout his six-season NFL career. He led the league in rushing and rushing touchdowns in 2021 with 1,811 yards and 18 scores en route to first-team All-Pro honors.
Outside of two seasons in which he was limited to 11 games or fewer, he's remained among the league's rushing leaders with 1,169-plus yard on the ground in four of his six seasons.

#rushing #contract #year #jonathan

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McDonald's grew U.S. comparable sales 0.8% last quarter, missed estimates, and by Tuesday morning Joe Erlinger was no longer running the American business after almost 7 years. Skye Anderson, a 26-year company lifer, gets it now, with a mandate to bring "focus and urgency" to the home market. Reassuring to learn those were previously unavailable.
CEO Chris Kempczinski told ******* ysts the strategy is fine and the execution wasn't, which is corner office speak for "I asked for someone's head, and I'm now holding it up for the cameras."
At the clogged heart of McDonald's problems is that it launched so many new items that it clogged its own kitchens, slowed service, and annoyed customers. The World Cup marketing push landed with a thud. And fewer than 65% of US restaurants sold the sub-$3 value lineup at the prices corporate recommended, which made the centerpiece of the big turnaround effectively optional. Those operators skipped it because their margins have been chewed through by the same inflation hitting the people in the drive-thru. It's hard to discount your way out of a soft patch when the folks actually running the fryers can't afford to play along.
One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here.

#NVIDIA #analysts

Aug. 5—Happily naming off numerous players on his roster, Fairmont head coach Dave Miller feels his team is in a solid place heading into 2026.
Better than how last season played out. Coming off its first-ever GWOC ******* le in 2024, Miller believes there may have been some complacency after getting to the top.
"They kind of just thought they could show up whenever and it would work out, and it didn't," he said. "I've charted it. This group, their average has been 56 workouts. That's the average. A year ago it was 35."
While Fairmont knocked off league champ Springfield in the regular season, all six of their losses come by seven points or fewer — including a first-round playoff defeat in the final seconds at Lebanon.
The Firebirds have become a playoff mainstay under Miller's watch, making it in each of the past six seasons and eight times in his 10 years in charge.

#miller #average

The surprise: Wall Street expected Ford's Q2 2026 earnings to fall about 5% year over year. Ford instead posted an increase. The stock jumped more than 6% after the report.
The quarter's story was Ford making more money on fewer sales. Wholesale volumes dropped 12% year over year, but revenue fell just 4%, because Ford sold a richer mix of high-margin trucks, off-roaders, and hybrids. Adjusted EBIT rose 17% year over year.
Ford raised full-year 2026 adjusted EBIT guidance, the second raise this year.
Bull case: The real reason to own Ford is Ford Pro, its commercial fleet business, and it's the strongest ******* et any legacy automaker has. Pro sells to construction firms, delivery companies, and contractors — customers who keep buying through inflation and fuel spikes because a plumber can't stop showing up to jobs. Those buyers are far steadier than the average consumer, who is pulling back right now. And Pro isn't just vans. It's an entire infrastructure of service centers, parts, and fleet software that builds a real moat. Fleet managers won't switch to unproven rivals without a big reason, so undercutting Pro means rebuilding that whole ecosystem. Even in a weak quarter dragged down by a plant fire, Pro posted a 9.7% EBIT margin, roughly double Ford Blue's 4.4%.
The second leg is the shift to higher-margin, recurring revenue. Ford Pro paid subscriptions hit 1.6 million in Q2 2026, up 50% year over year, and BlueCruise ******* isted-driving now makes up half of retail services revenue. Software margins beat metal by a wide gap, and if Ford hits its target of 8% margins on services by 2029, that flywheel starts to move the whole company.

#ebit #revenue #Margin

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Agentic AI is exceeding expectations around productivity and satisfaction at work, according to data from Accenture's Pulse of Change report released last week, which surveyed 3,000 C-suite leaders and 3,000 non-C-suite employees. More than two-thirds of C-suite respondents said the effect of agentic AI has been greater than expected on employee productivity, and about the same number of employees said they're overall more satisfied with their jobs overall.
Though most companies are seeing some positive impact, fewer say they're seeing sustained business value — impact that can be reported to a company's board — from their AI investments. Just 23% of companies said they saw reportable business value in the July survey, down from 32% earlier this year.
The dip follows a theme executives are seeing in 2026, where companies are trying to apply the technology to as many places as possible, rather than in targeted ways, Muqsit Ashraf, industry and enterprise global lead at Accenture, told CIO Dive. "Companies have rolled out the tools and copilots, and that produces local productivity, but it doesn't produce enterprise-level PnL impact," he said.
Nearly every enterprise is using AI in some capacity, but only the organizations that redesign their work around it can recover the millions spent on the technology.

#dive #daily

Inheriting an annuity comes with a deadline that's easy to miss. Your contract typically offers multiple payout options, including a choice that stretches distributions across your lifetime. The window to elect that option stays open for only one year. The wrong election or a delayed decision compresses your inheritance and tax bill into far fewer years.
Nonqualified annuities purchased outside an IRA or employer plan follow Section 72(s) of the Internal Revenue Code, not the SECURE Act's inherited IRA rules.1 That means you don't automatically get a 10-year withdrawal window. Instead, federal law creates two potential paths for distributing the contract.
Payout Path
General Timeline
Main Requirement

#payout

ORLANDO — There is no easy road through a Power Four schedule, but perhaps UCF will experience fewer ****** ps this fall.
In a story that published Aug. 5, USA TODAY's Jordan Mendoza believes the Knights have the seventh-easiest schedule in major college football for the 2026 campaign. UCF faces two teams ranked in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
"The Knights will travel to play No. 24 Houston on Oct. 3 and then host No. 15 BYU on Oct. 24, but after that, there's no ranked opponent left," Mendoza wrote. "The road game at Pittsburgh won't be easy, but Scott Frost has a chance to recapture some magic in Orlando."
UCF went 5-7 last year, including an 0-5 mark away from the Acrisure Bounce House. The Knights have won just seven conference games since joining the Big 12 in 2023.
Texas Tech, Kansas State and Utah are ahead of the Knights on the list, which does not feature a single team in the SEC or Big Ten. Those two leagues account for 17 of the 25 ranked teams to begin the year.

#ranked #road #year

Stade Brestois 29 have officially announced the signing of Joseph Nonge (21) from Turkish club Kocaelispor in a deal estimated to be worth around €600k.
The Belgian midfielder has signed a three-season contract with Les Pirates. An option for a one-year extension has also been included in the deal.
Having come through the youth ranks at RSC Anderlecht's academy, Nonge joined Juventus in 2021 to continue his development. On loan at ESTAC Troyes in 2024, the Jette-born player made six appearances there before being recalled by the Bianconeri and sent to Switzerland, where he spent the second half of the season with Servette FC (five appearances).
A free agent last summer, the Belgian Under-21 international (four caps) chose to move to the Turkish top flight, where he made no fewer than 25 appearances (29 matches and one goal in all competitions) during the 2025-26 season.
GFFN | Léo Aschi

#deal

Welcome to Day 5 of Denver Broncos training camp!
Denver will kick off practice at 10:00 a.m. MT at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit this morning. The practice session is expected to last about two hours.
Due to construction at the facility, attendance will be limited to about 1,000 fans, and tickets are required to attend. Free tickets for the 14 open practices became available on July 1 and were quickly claimed. (Tickets are sometimes returned, though, so fans should check Ticketmaster for potential available tickets before practice.) Ticketed fans will be seated in covered bleachers on the north side of the practice fields.
Gates to parking will open at 8:00 a.m. MT, and gates to the practice field will open at 9:00 a.m. MT. Fewer than 300 parking spots will be available at Dove Valley Regional Park on a first-come, first-served basis. The team has encouraged fans to use ride-sharing options due to limited parking availability.
An X List by TheBroncosWire

#open #available #parking #Broncos

SEATTLE (AP) — It's only fitting that the last Detroit Tigers starter to match Troy Melton's most recent feat is no longer on the team.
Melton's latest strong outing, which came in an 8-0 victory against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night, made it back-to-back starts of seven innings with three or fewer hits allowed. The previous Tigers starter to do that before Melton was Tarik Skubal, who is now employed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Melton doesn't have the resume as Skubal, the two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner. But since coming off the injured list in late May, Melton has been even better than his former teammate, and again looked like one of baseball's best pitchers Tuesday.
Even after Detroit dealt away Skubal and former No. 1 overall draft pick Casey Mize, Melton said he hasn't felt any added pressure to step up in the starting rotation.
"I'm just trying to get people out," Melton said. "Yeah, obviously (we) lost two pretty good players. So, got to find a way to replace them however we can."

#melton #skubal #Seattle