Property and casualty insurer Progressive (NYSE: PGR) is probably best known for selling auto insurance. That's a highly competitive segment of the industry, but the company has proven its chops, reporting a strong combined ratio of 87.3% in the second quarter of 2026. Is the roughly 10% pullback from the 52-week high, and about 25% drawdown from 2025's peak, as of this writing, enough to make the stock a buy? Probably not if you are a value investor.
The combined ratio is a measure of profitability in the insurance sector, with numbers below 100% indicating that a company is earning more from premiums than it costs to support those premiums and cover claims. Progressive has a strong history of running its business well on this front. Basically, it is a good business. But paying too much for a good business can turn it into a bad investment, as Benjamin Graham was fond of saying (Graham notably helped train Warren Buffett).
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 »
So the real question here is whether the drawdowns noted above were sufficient to make Progressive's valuation attractive. The answer there isn't clean cut. For example, the price-to-sales ratio of 1.4x is in the middle of the historical range of roughly 0.5x to 2.2x. If anything, the P/S ratio is kind of toward the high side. The same general story holds with the price-to-book ratio. So these two metrics hint at a stock that isn't expensive, but it also isn't trading at bargain-basement prices.
The price-to-earnings ratio is a bit more positive, with the 11.1x P/E toward the lower end of its historical range. And the average insurance company has a P/E ratio of around 11.8x, so this makes Progressive look reasonably priced. Only Progressive's P/B ratio is 3.7x compared to the industry average of 1.7x, so the broader industry comparison still isn't a clear-cut win.

#ratio #progressive

While it's extremely difficult to predict a stock market pullback, there are certainly harbingers that the market could be in for a rough ride over the coming month. The September-October period ahead of U.S. mid-term elections is historically a volatile one. In fact, Cantor Fitzgerald notes that the S&P 500 index has fallen by 5% or more during these two months in 15 of the past 24 midterm election cycles.
At the same time, two major market valuation indicators point to stocks being at extremely frothy valuations. The S&P 500 Shiller CAPE (cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings) ratio is at over 40 times for the first time since before the dot.com market crash. The so-called Buffett indicator (U.S. stock market value divided by gross domestic product), named after Warren Buffett, is over 230%, well above the 120% where the market is considered overvalued. Throw in a war and a stressed consumer, and the ingredients for a market pullback are there.
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 »
There is no guarantee of a big market dip, and even if there were one, I wouldn't panic. Instead, I'd view it as a strong buying opportunity. AI has changed the equation, leading to big productivity gains that are just beginning, and stocks are generally cheap on a forward basis. The market today is very different than in the past. The S&P 500 is no longer led by cyclical and financial companies. Instead, it's dominated by large tech companies with strong balance sheets that produce enormous operating cash flow.
Let's look at five exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to scoop up if the market dips in the coming month.

#NVIDIA #time #pullback

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday granted Paramount Skydance's request to allow Middle Eastern royal families to hold a substantial stake in a merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery.
Foreign investors, including the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, are slated to indirectly own nearly 50% of the equity in David Ellison's proposed mega-studio. That will give them a hefty stake in CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, HBO and two historic Hollywood film studios.
Paramount also asked the commission, led by President Trump's appointee Brendan Carr, to allow the foreign investors to eventually take on an even bigger stake because the company expects that it will need more capital to run the merged entity after closing the highly leveraged deal.
The FCC's Media Bureau granted Paramount's petition. Ellison needed FCC approval because the deal will change the ownership structure of CBS.
As part of the Communications Act of 1934, Congress placed restrictions on foreign ownership of broadcast outlets because of concerns about national security. Current rules prevent foreign investors from owning more than 25% of a company that holds a U.S. broadcast license — unless the FCC determines that foreign ownership would serve a public interest.

#stake

With a dividend yield of 4.3%, Ford (F) is among the highest-yielding constituents of the S&P 500 Index ($SPX). That number would look even more compelling considering Ford's dividend yield is over four times what an average S&P 500 Index constituent pays.
However, a bit of number-crunching tells a different picture. Dividend yield is basically a function of the per-share dividend, which is the numerator in the equation, and the stock price, which is the denominator. Dividend yield rises when the company raises its dividends or the share price falls. More often than not, the latter is true for companies that have a very high dividend yield.
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The S&P 500's dividend yield is near its historical lows. Two factors can be blamed for the dip in the world's most popular index's dividend yield. First, tech companies' share in the market-cap-weighted index has soared amid the artificial intelligence (AI) driven rally. Mega-cap tech companies are known to be frugal with dividends, and their rising weightage in the index pulls down its dividend yield. Second, while the annualized dividend per share of the S&P 500 has continued to rise over the years, the increase has been much lower compared to the surge in stock prices.
In contrast, Ford's quarterly dividend has been static since July 2022, when the company raised the payout by 50% to $0.15. Notably, while Ford paid special dividends in the preceding three years to reach its payout targets, it hasn't raised its payout for over four years. Its dividend yield is still high because of its underperforming stock, which has essentially gone nowhere in the last five years and trades 46% below its October 2022 highs.

#Dividend #yield #Share #dividends

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Killing endangered animals while logging a forest or building a dam would not be considered illegal unless the animals were specifically targeted, under a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act by President Donald Trump's administration that marks a sea change in how the landmark environmental law is enforced.
A directive sent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees this week says imperiled animals or plants must be intentionally targeted for their killing to be considered illegal.
That's a sharp turnaround from past practice at the wildlife service, which historically held people liable even for accidentally harming protected species such as grizzly bears, manatees and spotted owls.
Experts said the change would allow timber companies to log forests in the Pacific Northwest even if they knew that doing so could kill imperiled birds nesting in the trees, or for developers to build a dam knowing it would kill salmon.
"This cuts against the entire history of the Endangered Species Act," said Dan Ashe, who led the Fish and Wildlife Service under former President Barack Obama.

#species #president #killing

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The Federal Reserve — the country's central bank — periodically adjusts its target rate to keep the economy running smoothly and consumer prices in check. When the federal funds rate moves up or down, so do the interest rates on bank accounts and loans.
In other words, changes in the Fed's rate impact how much your savings can grow and how much you pay to borrow money.
So how does today's federal funds rate compare to past years? Here's a look at historical Fed interest rates so you can better understand how your bottom line is affected.
The federal funds rate is set by the Federal Reserve and dictates what a bank can charge another bank for ultra-short-term loans (usually overnight) in order to meet reserve requirements. It's expressed as a range, and financial institutions can negotiate a specific rate between each other within that range.

#reserve #funds #rates #range

Walmart exists to serve, said David Guggina, the president and CEO of its U.S. division.
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#david #fast #pass #Trump

Bunker fuel prices for ships remain at historically elevated levels, keeping pressure on vessel operating costs even as the marine-fuel supply squeeze that followed disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has eased at major fueling hubs.
In Singapore, the world's largest bunkering center, very-low-sulphur fuel oil, or VLSFO, was ******* sed at about $908 per metric ton this week, while marine gasoil (MGO) stood at $1,448 per ton and high-sulphur fuel oil at roughly $770 per ton, according to ******* yst Ship & Bunker.
At Rotterdam, Europe's busiest port, VLSFO was about $731 per ton, compared with $804 per ton in Houston and $1,005 per ton in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
The premium at Fujairah, the Middle East's principal bunker hub, shows the continuing impact of constrained traffic and supply-chain disruption in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Bunkering activity at Fujairah has recovered to about 40% of its prewar level, according to industry comments reported from the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference, but remains well below normal.
Costs still far above January

#fuel #strait #hormuz #supply

Some offers on this page are from advertisers who pay us, which may affect which products we write about, but not our recommendations. See our Advertiser Disclosure.
The Federal Reserve — the country's central bank — periodically adjusts its target rate to keep the economy running smoothly and consumer prices in check. When the federal funds rate moves up or down, so do the interest rates on bank accounts and loans.
In other words, changes in the Fed's rate impact how much your savings can grow and how much you pay to borrow money.
So how does today's federal funds rate compare to past years? Here's a look at historical Fed interest rates so you can better understand how your bottom line is affected.
The federal funds rate is set by the Federal Reserve and dictates what a bank can charge another bank for ultra-short-term loans (usually overnight) in order to meet reserve requirements. It's expressed as a range, and financial institutions can negotiate a specific rate between each other within that range.

#federal #funds #rates

Teck Resources Ltd (NYSE:TECK) stock's pullback from its Sept. 8 record high of $72.56 has found support at the 60-, 80-, and 100-day moving averages. The 100-day trendline in particular is a historically bullish signal that presents an intriguing 'buy the dip' angle.
Per Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative ******* yst Rocky White, TECK has traded within 0.75 times the 100-day moving average's 20-day average true range (ATR) after spending at least 80% of the previous two weeks and 80% of the prior 42 trading sessions above the trendline. This setup has occurred eight other times over the last decade, after which the stock was higher one month later 75% of the time, averaging a large 13.8% gain.
Short interest accounts for a healthy 7.5% of the stock's available float, leaving ample sideline buying power should some of these bearish bets begin to unwind. TECK's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 28.4 also sits in "oversold" territory, which often precedes a short-term bounce.
Plus, TECK's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at 81 out of 100, suggesting the shares have tended to outperform options traders' volatility expectations during the past year.

#resources

Brace for minor market tremors now that the Fed has hiked interest rates by 0.25%.
Although if history holds up, any losses could prove short-lived.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has declined by an average of 4.0% over the six weeks following the first Fed rate hike of a cycle across seven such episodes since 1988, per new ****** ysis from strategists at The Kobeissi Letter.

Stocks recovered all of those losses over the next five to six weeks on average.

In the six months following the first interest rate hike, the S&P 500 returned 4% on average. After 12 months, the S&P 500's average gain tallied 9%. Positive returns have occurred in every episode except 2022 over the 12 months.

"Fed rate hikes have historically been great buying opportunities," the strategists added.
Read more: Follow live coverage of the Fed meeting
The decision by the Fed to lift rates comes as sticky inflation readings — from the CPI to PPI — and rising energy costs force central bankers back into tightening mode. The rate hike marks the central bank's first interest rate increase since July 2023.
Investors are also focused on the updated economic projections and the Fed's "dot plot" to gauge future moves on rates — said dot plot didn't rule out one more hike this year. A hawkish dot plot as was received and follow up commentary from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh could further elevate borrowing costs and pressure stocks initially around the world.

#rate #hike #first #plot

Federal officials acknowledge that President Donald Trump’s planned triumphal arch will unavoidably harm historic sites if built as planned, but they say the project must move forward, according to a National Park Service document and emails obtained by The Washington Post.
Trump’s 250-foot-tall proposed arch would be built in Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington’s boundaries near Arlington National Cemetery. Historic preservationists, veterans groups and others have called on the administration to shrink the monument’s planned size or build it elsewhere, warning that the towering structure would overshadow the cemetery, interrupt the solemn corridor that was intended between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, and create other disruptions.
National Park Service officials agree that the arch would adversely affect the cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial and several dozen other historic sites.
The “adverse effects cannot be fully avoided,” Park Service officials wrote in a document circulated Tuesday and obtained by The Washington Post. But, they said, the project cannot be constructed somewhere else because “the proposed location at Memorial Circle is central to the undertaking,” according to the NPS document.
The document is a proposed agreement that the administration wants local historic-preservation officers to sign onto as part of a federally required process to offer feedback on the project.

#national #document

Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has been on a historic run over the past five years, outperforming similarly sized peers in the pharmaceutical industry and becoming the first healthcare stock to reach a $1 trillion market cap. The company's diabetes and weight-loss portfolio has been the main engine behind its terrific performance of late, and it remains strong. During the second quarter, Eli Lilly's revenue jumped 48% year over year to $23 billion, while adjusted earnings per share rose 33% year over year to $8.38.
Sales from Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, a diabetes medicine, soared 91% year over year to $9.9 billion, while sales of Zepbound, approved for weight loss and obstructive sleep apnea, grew 46% to $4.9 billion. Can anything stop Eli Lilly's momentum? Here's one thing that might do so.
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 »
Eli Lilly generates most of its revenue from Mounjaro and Zepbound, which have the same active ingredient, tirzepatide, a medicine that mimics the action of the GLP-1 and GIP gut hormones. In the second quarter, sales from these two medicines accounted for almost 65% of the company's top line. Eli Lilly also markets Foundayo, an oral GLP-1 approved for weight loss, although it was approved in April and doesn't yet contribute much to its financial results.
Still, the point is that Eli Lilly's lineup is concentrated at the top, with just a couple of brands responsible for most of the recent momentum. Other pharmaceutical giants are well aware of Eli Lilly's GLP-1 success, and they are seeking to launch competing therapies.

#lilly #sales #loss #billion

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) stock has struggled recently, shedding 16.6% in the last week alone. The shares have seen some volatility since their April-June rally peaked at a June 30 record high of $438.50. LRCX was last seen down 2.3% at $267.22 today, though it still boasts a roughly 56% year-to-date lead. Plus, the recent pullback has found support at the 200-day moving average, a trendline with historically bullish implications.
Per Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative ***** yst Rocky White, LRCX has traded within 0.75 times the 200-day moving average's 20-day average true range (ATR) after spending at least 80% of the previous two weeks and 80% of the prior 42 trading sessions above the trendline. This setup has occurred five other times over the last decade, after which the stock was higher one month later 80% of the time, averaging a 6.9% gain.
Furthermore, LRCX's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 28.7 sits in "oversold" territory, which often precedes a short-term bounce.

#Stock #Research

Shares of Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock are inching 0.4% higher to trade at $211.72 this afternoon, taking a breather after five-straight losing sessions, including yesterday's AI-induced selloff of 3.4%. The equity is still up 13.3% in 2026, however, and a rebound could soon be on the way, per a historically bullish trendline.
According to Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative ***** yst Rocky White, NVDA is trading within 0.75 times the 126-day moving average's 20-day average true range (ATR), after spending at least 80% of the previous two weeks and 80% of the prior 42 trading sessions above that trendline.
This setup has appeared 11 times over the last decade, after which the stock was higher one month later 82% of the time, averaging a 6.2% gain. From its current perch, a move of this caliber would put the equity just shy of $225.
NVDA sports a 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) that stands higher than 83% of readings from the past year. Should this bearish sentiment begin to unwind, it could trigger a new round of tailwinds for the shares.
Options are looking affordable as well. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 34% stands higher than just 2% of all other readings from the past year. In other words, near-term option traders are pricing in low volatility expectations at the moment.

#NASDAQ #cboe #phlx

On September 10, a caller outlined a detailed financial thesis showing Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) reaching $1,400 and asked whether the **** ysis held water. In response, Mad Money host Jim Cramer said:
I mean, that's a remarkable **** ysis. It's spot on in every single number. Every single thing you said is true, which is why my Charitable Trust owns it, and why we are buying it aggressively. And by the way, can I just say if you listen to what… [the caller] said, he put some money away. He was fortunate enough to have money, which I know not everybody can have, but he had money. He put it in an individual stock. Now, if he put it in an index fund, he'd make some money, but he got really rich. And part of my job is not just to get you rich, but to hopefully get you really rich.
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) stands as one of three primary global manufacturers of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory, positioning it at the center of the ongoing expansion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Because advanced AI workloads require significantly higher memory bandwidth, demand has surged for Micron's High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM3E) architecture, which is integrated directly into top-tier AI graphics processors and data center accelerators. With memory production capacity for advanced AI chips remaining constrained industry-wide, Micron has secured long-term purchase agreements that cover its HBM output through 2026 and into 2027, providing visibility into top-line revenue growth.
Driven by accelerated AI server adoption and broader pricing recovery across traditional DRAM and NAND markets, it reported extraordinary growth in fiscal Q3. Revenue surged to $41.46 billion, more than quadrupling the $9.30 billion generated in the same period last year and stepping up sharply from $23.86 billion in the prior quarter. The company demonstrated exceptional operating leverage during the period, posting GAAP net income of $28.24 billion ($24.67 per diluted share) and non-GAAP net income of $28.86 billion ($25.11 per diluted share). Operating cash flow also scaled quickly, reaching $25.39 billion compared to $11.90 billion in the prior quarter and $4.61 billion in the prior-year period.
Despite its strong position in the AI supply chain, Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) operates in a historically cyclical memory industry with some operational and market risks. Memory chip pricing remains sensitive to industry-wide supply-and-demand imbalances, where oversupply can rapidly compress profit margins during broader downturns in consumer electronics demand or corporate IT spending.

#billion #memory #NASDAQ #industry

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) market's August numbers look flawless on the surface, until you look at where the money actually went.
The industry held $16.4 trillion in ******* ets through August 31, 2026, with $180 billion in fresh capital pouring in that month alone, 3.8 times the historical August average and the strongest August on record for fund inflows, State Street reported.
New fund creation has been equally prolific, with 1,023 ETFs debuting in the first eight months of 2026, a 52% jump from the previous year's pace.
Active strategies represent more than 80% of the year's new products, and about 25% of August's 134 launches used leveraged or inverse structures, FactSet noted.
Among August's new launches were 18 single-stock ETFs, most of them targeting semiconductor companies to tap into the artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout.

#august #state #street #exchange

If you bought Meta Platforms (META) for its advertising engine, the engine still runs: revenue rose 28% year over year in the June 2026 quarter, and its Advantage+ automated campaigns keep growing. What has changed is where the cash goes afterward. The question for a holder is whether Meta is still the business you bought.
Over the twelve months through the June 2026 quarter, capital spending took 39.1% of revenue, against 18.5% across Meta's history. That money buys servers, data centers and network infrastructure. In late July 2026, Meta also announced a venture with BlackRock to develop a 1 gigawatt data center in El Paso, Texas. The plan is to keep going: management narrowed its 2026 capital-spending range by lifting the bottom of it.
Less cash is left over. TTM free-cash-flow margin is 18.0%, against 32.8% across its history, so on each dollar of sales Meta keeps a little more than half the free cash it used to.
Borrowing fills part of the gap. Debt has risen to 25.0% of total ******* ets, against a historical 7.0%, and the CFO says Meta is adding more debt to lower its cost of capital. Meta still holds more cash and marketable securities than debt.
Together, those three readings are the most unusual combination Meta has shown in 14 years. Taken with the 2026 spending floor that management has raised, the combination reads as a change in the business rather than one quarter of noise.

#quarter #spending #bought #engine

Listen and subscribe to Power Players with Brian Sozzi on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
The ballooning US debt pile is akin to a ticking time bomb for the country, in part because it weakens national security, billionaire Carlyle Group (CG) co-founder David Rubenstein warned.
"We have, as everybody now knows, $40 trillion of debt. Now, historically, if you go back over the last, let's say, 300 or 400 years, whenever a country paid more interest on its debt than it did for its national security, that's a sign of weakness in the country. Right now, we've crossed that threshold," Rubenstein said in a new episode of the Power Players with Brian Sozzi podcast (see video above or listen below).
"We're now paying more in interest every year than we are paying on our national defense, and we're paying a trillion dollars in interest, a little bit more than that now, but we pay about a trillion dollars in national defense," he added. "And as that continues, the interest goes up, and the money available for defense goes down. That tends to weaken your national security."
The numbers surrounding the debt situation are ever more staggering.

#country #defense

If you bought Meta Platforms (META) for its advertising engine, the engine still runs: revenue rose 28% year over year in the June 2026 quarter, and its Advantage+ automated campaigns keep growing. What has changed is where the cash goes afterward. The question for a holder is whether Meta is still the business you bought.
Over the twelve months through the June 2026 quarter, capital spending took 39.1% of revenue, against 18.5% across Meta's history. That money buys servers, data centers and network infrastructure. In late July 2026, Meta also announced a venture with BlackRock to develop a 1 gigawatt data center in El Paso, Texas. The plan is to keep going: management narrowed its 2026 capital-spending range by lifting the bottom of it.
Less cash is left over. TTM free-cash-flow margin is 18.0%, against 32.8% across its history, so on each dollar of sales Meta keeps a little more than half the free cash it used to.
Borrowing fills part of the gap. Debt has risen to 25.0% of total **** ets, against a historical 7.0%, and the CFO says Meta is adding more debt to lower its cost of capital. Meta still holds more cash and marketable securities than debt.
Together, those three readings are the most unusual combination Meta has shown in 14 years. Taken with the 2026 spending floor that management has raised, the combination reads as a change in the business rather than one quarter of noise.

#meta #cash

Listen and subscribe to Power Players with Brian Sozzi on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
The ballooning US debt pile is akin to a ticking time bomb for the country, in part because it weakens national security, billionaire Carlyle Group (CG) co-founder David Rubenstein warned.
"We have, as everybody now knows, $40 trillion of debt. Now, historically, if you go back over the last, let's say, 300 or 400 years, whenever a country paid more interest on its debt than it did for its national security, that's a sign of weakness in the country. Right now, we've crossed that threshold," Rubenstein said in a new episode of the Power Players with Brian Sozzi podcast (see video above or listen below).
"We're now paying more in interest every year than we are paying on our national defense, and we're paying a trillion dollars in interest, a little bit more than that now, but we pay about a trillion dollars in national defense," he added. "And as that continues, the interest goes up, and the money available for defense goes down. That tends to weaken your national security."
The numbers surrounding the debt situation are ever more staggering.

#interest #power

The college football world watched one specific matchup in Week 2 that had been circled on the calendar since last year. Ohio State and Texas had a score to settle after the Buckeyes embarrassed the Longhorns in last season's College Football Playoff. Texas got its revenge with a thrilling, historic comeback that helped this highly anticipated contest live up to the hype.
However, just as notable was the behavior of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian after the game.
Following Texas' dramatic victory, ESPN's Holly Rowe approached Sarkisian for an instant reaction interview. Sarkisian, however, blew off Rowe and walked away from the interview.
MORE: Steve Sarkisian sends defiant message after leading Texas past Ohio State in historic stunner
Two prominent ESPN ****** ysts, Stephen A. Smith and Paul Finebaum, ripped Sarkisian for treating one of the best sideline reporters in the business that way. Stephen A. Smith addressed the situation on First Take.

#Football

The Los Angeles Dodgers, seeking a third straight World Series crown, booked their playoff berth Monday with a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
With a 91-59 record and 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Dodgers are now ****** ured of at least a wild card series place, as they pursue a historic three-peat as MLB champions.
The Dodgers are currently in position for one of the National League's top-two seeds -- who receive first-round byes and hosting rights in the division series -- along with the Milwaukee Brewers, who are also ****** ured of post-season action.
Over in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays have already qualified.
The free-spending Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series and triumphed over the Toronto Blue Jays last year.

#series #World

Bakersfield High football coach Cody Stone calls it the "relief syndrome." It's the feeling one has by passing a tough test on the field. Stone, as he's stated each week after a Drillers' victory, doesn't believe in that kind of thinking.
So it's no surprise that BHS' 46-14 victory over Clovis West last Friday continued that approach. But scoring 46 points against a top five team in the CIF Central Section makes it harder to downplay.
"I was happy, not just with our kids, but our entire coaching staff," he said. "I was pleased with the way the kids executed the game plan. Our coaches held the kids to a high standard.
"Clovis West is a very historic program. They have a great coach, great talent, but our kids came out and got on them pretty quick. What I think our coaches liked most was that our kids came out and never let up."
He and his staff also enjoyed seeing players support each other. More than once on a long touchdown run, teammates escorted each other and celebrated in the end zone.

#kids #high

Florida football is 2-0 for the first time in five years, and Vernell Brown III is a big reason why.
The sophomore wide receiver leads the Gators in receptions (9), receiving yards (160) and touchdowns (2).
Monday, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) honored Brown for his historic performance in UF's 52-3 win over Campbell.
Brown was named the conference's co-Special Teams Player of the Week, sharing the award with South Carolina's Vicari Swain.
The Gator legacy returned back-to-back punts for touchdowns in the second quarter vs. the Camels for 64 and 70 yards. This made him the first UF player since Jacquez Green vs. Kentucky in 1996 to have two punt return TDs.

#yards

Bob Mackie had strong feelings about Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe's historic dress.
The legendary fashion designer, whose death was announced Sept. 14 at age 87, sketched the original design at the start of his career while working as an ***** istant to French-born costumer Jean Louis.
Monroe made American history in 1962 when she wore the nude shimmering gown during her performance of "Happy Birthday" for then-President John F. Kennedy. The dress and her serenade were never forgotten.
So much so that 60 years later in 2022, Kardashian worked with the owner of the dress, Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum, to wear the bling-encrusted gown to the Met Gala, acknowledging that she slimmed down dramatically to fit into it.
Mackie called Kardashian's wearing of the skin-tight gown a "big mistake," telling Entertainment Weekly that Monroe was "a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess." He went on to describe her as "just fabulous," noting that the dress "was designed for her."

#dress

James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, once described parents who refused to acknowledge their children's gender identity as potentially engaging in "abusive" behavior.
"I think there are some folks that would think that if you deny your child's gender identity, that's incredibly harmful. And whether or not we label it with the term abuse, it's abusive for sure," Talarico said while speaking at a committee hearing in the Texas Legislature in 2019.
Talarico's resurfaced comments add to a growing pile of past remarks that cut against his efforts to paint himself as a moderate on issues like gender, policing and border security as he attempts to win over Texas, a historically Republican-leaning state.
Talarico Says He 'Missed The Mark' As He Backtracks On Controversial Woke Statements
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a campaign rally at the Cailloux Theater on Aug. 31, 2026, in Kerrville, Texas. Talarico is in a close race against Republican Ken Paxton ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

#gender #democratic #senate #abusive

The week 1 game between Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers produced a 59-37 game in which Bears dominated the Panthers defense. In the high-scoring game, Bears quarterback did something interesting after the game while he was shaking hands with the Panthers head coach Dave Canales.
Interestingly the conversation was covered as the fields were mic'd up. The brief exchange of words now went viral and made headlines.
In the record-breaking 59-37 Week 1 blowout of the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams delivered one of the most talked-about postgame moments of the early 2026 NFL season. During the handshake line after the Bears' historic 96-point combined scoring, the mics on the field caught his exact words in Dave Canales' face. "Y'all are a great defense man," Caleb Williams said.
Feb 18, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams watches in the second half of the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Southern California Trojans at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
It's a short, deadpan six-word line. No sarcasm in tone, no raised voice. It was a calm, straightforward compliment delivered right after Carolina's defense surrendered 59 points, 552 total yards, and multiple explosive plays.

#bears #Chicago #caleb

A pre-Christmas visit from Ed Cooley. A New Year's trip out West.
A Super Bowl Sunday showdown at Villanova. A Friday night fight at Madison Square Garden with Rick Pitino and St. John's.
For all the talk about the UConn men's basketball team's historically difficult non-conference schedule, it's easy to forget that the Huskies' Big East slate will yield plenty of challenges as well. Thanks to improved spending by several teams, the league figures to be deeper and more talented than last season, when it earned just three NCAA Tournament bids for the second time in three years.
The Huskies' 2026-27 Big East schedule was released on Monday. Here's a breakdown, with times and venues still to be determined:
Hoyas are the only Big East team whose 2026-27 roster still isn't up on their website, fwiw.

#east #christmas #cooley #bowl

Oil prices (BZ=F, CL=F) are solidly back over the $100 per barrel mark. The August payrolls report showed the US economy added three times as many jobs as expected. Consumer pricing data showed "core" pricing ticking up faster than expected.
In other words, the case has grown increasingly strong for the Federal Reserve to issue its first rate hike in three years on Wednesday, as markets price in roughly a 90% probability of a quarter-point hike.
If equity market performance remains true to historical precedent, that could spell an upcoming trough for stocks, Goldman Sachs **** ysts led by Ben Snider wrote over the weekend.
Looking at history, the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) index has seen an average three-month return of negative 2% at the start of a Fed hiking cycle throughout the past few decades, Goldman noted over the weekend.
That's primarily for three reasons.

#goldman