On August 5, Kinetik Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNTK) reported the strongest quarterly results in company history and raised its full-year 2026 guidance. The Permian-focused midstream operator posted net income, including noncontrolling interest, of $123.1 million for the quarter ended June 30, while Adjusted EBITDA climbed to $280.8 million. Management didn't stop at celebrating the number. It used the quarter as the launchpad for a string of expansion decisions that stretch out to 2028.
The Midstream Logistics segment, Kinetik's largest, grew Adjusted EBITDA 35% year over year to $204.8 million in the second quarter, even though processed natural gas volumes held flat at 1.74 Bcf/d. That flat number actually undersells the quarter. It came despite roughly 250 million cubic feet per day of gas that had been shut in because of weak Waha-area pricing, with stronger natural gas liquid recoveries, condensate yields, and favorable commodity spreads carrying the segment instead.
Management is betting the growth continues well past 2026. In May, Kinetik reached a final investment decision on Kings Landing II, a roughly $260 million project that will lift sour gas processing capacity across the company's Delaware North complex above 700 MMcf/d and push total system capacity to 2.7 Bcf/d when it comes online in mid-2028, earlier than previously communicated. The ECCC Pipeline, which links the system's northern and southern halves between Eddy and Culberson Counties, is now in service, and right-of-way work has already begun on a follow-on expansion for 2027.
Kinetik also locked in new firm Gulf Coast access for residue gas starting in 2027 and signed fresh natural gas liquids transport agreements, both aimed at getting better prices for the gas it moves. On the back of that momentum, Kinetik raised its full-year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $1.04 billion to $1.1 billion, a 7% ***** p from the guidance it issued in February.
Not every part of the business is moving in the same direction. The Pipeline Transportation segment posted Adjusted EBITDA of $83.0 million in the quarter, down 14% year over year, a decline the company attributes to last year's divestiture of its equity stake in EPIC Crude Holdings. That sale removed a source of cash flow the rest of the business now has to make up for. Kinetik also expects gas curtailments to keep running at an average of 25 million cubic feet per day through the second half of 2026, on top of the Waha-driven shut-ins that already weighed on the quarter. Its own pricing ***** umptions underline the regional problem: the company is now modeling Waha Hub natural gas at negative $0.26 per MMBtu for the full year, meaning gas in parts of the Permian is priced so low that moving it out of the basin is the whole game.

#natural

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French manufacturing giant Vallourec has secured the entire carbon-steel line pipe and external coating scope for Petrobras's Sepia 2 offshore development, covering roughly 130 kilometers of subsea infrastructure.
The contract strengthens its position in Brazil's technically demanding pre-salt market and gives investors another reason to believe the group's offshore order book still has room to grow.
Vallourec shares rose around 6% after the premium pipe manufacturer announced a major contract with Subsea7 for the Sepia 2 project in Brazil's Santos Basin.
The agreement covers roughly 130 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines, representing more than 15,000 tonnes of carbon-steel seamless line pipe designed for highly corrosive environments.

#pipe #vallourec #roughly

Cipher Digital (NASDAQ: CIFR) stock is roaring higher on Wednesday. The company's share price was up 13.9% as of 10:35 a.m. ET. At the same point in the daily session, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
After recent sell-offs driven by concerns about the potential for increased regulation in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, stocks in the category are seeing some rebound trading in today's session. In addition to that bullish catalyst, Cipher Digital stock is getting a big boost from news connected to its Texas data center projects.
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 »
The potential for AI to create dangerous outcomes has been a center-stage news item and point of political discussion recently, and increased focus on the topic has powered some valuation pullbacks for artificial intelligence companies. Calls for increased regulation of the AI industry have caused concerns among investors that growth in the category could be impeded, but stocks in the ******* e are broadly seeing some rebound momentum in today's trading.
Before the market opened this morning, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) published an update through its Batch Zero evaluation framework indicating grid capacity of up to 3.2 gigawatts for Cipher's data centers in the state. The update bodes well for the scaling of the company's AI compute business, and investors are bidding up the stock today in response.

#NVIDIA #Stock #increased #flashing

On September 14, American Battery Technology Company (NASDAQ:ABAT) held its fiscal year 2026 earnings call, and for once the numbers matched the ambition. Revenue at its flagship recycling facility jumped more than 400% to $21.7 million, and the company posted its first-ever adjusted gross profit. But on the same call, CEO Ryan Melsert disclosed a federal directive that could choke off exports of one of the plant's key products, black mass, a reminder that ABAT's fortunes are still tied tightly to Washington.
Revenue jumped over 400% year over year to $21.7 million, fueled by higher throughput at the company's first recycling facility and increased sales of byproducts. Cost of goods sold rose only 67% over the same stretch, evidence that fixed costs are spreading across a much bigger volume of material. Even more telling, operating cash spend actually fell 16% even as throughput at the plant more than quadrupled. That combination pushed American Battery Technology to an adjusted gross profit of $1.7 million, a sharp turnaround from the $6.2 million loss it posted a year earlier.
The balance sheet tells a similar story. Cash climbed to $49.5 million as of June 30, 2026, and total ***** ets reached $133 million, up sharply from the prior year. The company also erased all of its long-term debt during the year, leaving it with a clean balance sheet heading into a period of heavy capital spending.
Growth plans are already in motion. A second recycling facility planned for the Southeast U.S., designed to process 100,000 tons of batteries a year, is backed by a $150 million grant from the Department of Energy, and a separate $10 million DOE grant is funding three next-generation recycling technologies. On the mining side, the Bureau of Land Management certified the company's plan of operations for its Tonopah lithium project in Nevada, home to an identified 21.3 million tons of lithium hydroxide, including 2.7 million tons of proven and probable reserves. The project also won a FAST-41 priority designation, intended to speed up federal permitting.
The clearest risk surfaced on the call itself. The US Department of Commerce issued a directive that effectively bans the export of black mass, the concentrated metal byproduct of battery recycling, unless a company obtains a specific exception. American Battery Technology has submitted a request for that exception, but as of the call, Commerce had not issued a formal response, and the company is storing black mass at its facility in the meantime.

#company #recycling #black

Billionaire Ray Dalio's Bridgewater **** ociates has disclosed several new picks in its Q2 filings. In this article, we are going to focus on two non-AI stocks in which the fund opened new stakes in the June quarter.
Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) is the larger of the two. Bridgewater bought about 108,700 shares worth roughly $32.1 million, a 0.13% portfolio weight. Toy company Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) was another notable new pick as the fund bought a stake worth about $20.8 million in the company.
Let's focus on VMC in this article and see whether the stock is a decent buy-the-dip opportunity. It's down about 14% so far this year.
Vulcan Materials is a major producer of construction aggregates in the US. Aggregates are crushed stone, sand and gravel, the base material under roads, bridges, foundations and parking lots. Demand for these materials comes from public infrastructure, private non-residential and residential projects.
The bull case

#bridgewater #vulcan

First Au has announced the proposed acquisition of Javelin Minerals through an all-scrip, off-market takeover offer, which would combine the companies' respective gold projects in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
The two companies have entered into a binding takeover implementation deed, with the deal recommended by Javelin's board, subject to customary conditions including an **** sment by an independent expert.
Under the agreement, First Au's Riverina East and Gimlet gold projects will be merged with Javelin's Eureka and Coogee projects, all located near Kalgoorlie.
The enlarged group would hold total reported mineral resources of around 350,600oz of gold across the combined brownfield sites.
Under the terms of the offer, Javelin shareholders will receive 11.7647 newly issued First Au shares for each Javelin share.

#first #javelin #Gold #takeover

Minerals 260 has secured commitments to raise $178.2m (A$250m) before costs via a two-tranche share placement to fund the next stage of development at its Bullabulling Gold Project in Western Australia (WA).
The company said the funds, raised at A$0.88 per share, will allow it to advance construction and exploration activities at the site, which is located 65km west of Kalgoorlie.
The placement, involving the issuance of 284,090,910 fully paid ordinary shares, includes a A$30m cornerstone investment from the Franco-Nevada Corporation.
According to Minerals 260, the issue price matches the company's closing share price on 11 September 2026 and represents a 3.5% premium to the ten-day volume-weighted average price of A$0.85.
Existing institutional shareholders participated in the placement alongside new domestic and international investors.

#western #kalgoorlie

Broadcom trades at $339 versus a Wall Street consensus target of $532, a 55% gap that formed after shares fell 13.7% in one month.
Hock Tan projects AI revenue reaching $115 billion in FY2027 and $230 billion in FY2028, despite an Anthropic slowdown report triggering the recent selloff.
Customer concentration among a handful of hyperscalers means a single negative headline can move AVGO 10% in an afternoon, making position sizing critical.
Read More: Learn 7 secret wealth tips high net worth investors use that most investors miss (sponsor)
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) closed most recently at $339.27, while Wall Street's consensus 12-month price target is $531.85. On a market cap of roughly $1.6 trillion, that gap works out to well above 56%, a rare dislocation for a mega-cap that just posted record numbers.

#wall #billion

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point at its meeting Wednesday, which would mark the first increase since July 2023, according to CNBC. CME Group's FedWatch tool showed traders placing odds above 90% on a hike, an outcome that would set the federal funds rate target range at 3.75%–4%.
That would follow a period in which the FOMC reduced rates on six separate occasions totaling 175 basis points from July 2023 through early 2026, according to CNBC. Since then, a string of discouraging inflation readings, a firm labor market, and crude oil prices rising back above $100 a barrel — driven by the conflict involving Iran — have shifted the calculus toward tightening.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's remarks at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium helped accelerate that shift, according to CNBC. As recently as a month ago, futures markets put the probability of a hike at only 36%.
The path to Wednesday's expected decision reflects a committee that had been moving in a hawkish direction for months. At the June meeting — Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first — the committee voted 12–0 to hold rates steady, but the Fed released projections showing nine of 18 officials favored at least one rate hike before year-end. Consumer prices had risen 4.2% year-over-year in May, a three-year high. Warsh said at the time that the Fed's commitment to bringing down inflation was "strong, unanimous, and unambiguous."
Minutes from the July meeting, when the committee held rates steady on a fractured 9–3 vote, showed hawkish sentiment extended beyond the three dissenting regional bank presidents who had pushed for an immediate increase. The minutes indicated that "some policy firming would likely be warranted" if inflation remained persistent, driven by factors including AI-fueled demand, Middle East energy disruptions, or tariff pass-through.

#cnbc #hike #rates #inflation

The Federal Reserve's September policy meeting kicked off Tuesday morning, and markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday amid persistently high inflation.
Such a move would mark the Fed's first increase in the fed funds rate since 2023, when the Jerome Powell-led central bank concluded its post-pandemic hiking campaign. However, inflation has now remained above the Fed's 2% target for more than five years, with the war in the Middle East serving as the latest driver of higher prices.
As Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said in his Jackson Hole Symposium speech in August, "We have work to do."
Still, a hold isn't entirely off the table — even as traders price in a 92% chance of a Fed rate hike, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has been adamant about not providing markets with forward guidance on interest rate decisions, preferring that officials have a "good family fight" over the data at FOMC meetings.
In addition to the intrigue over whether the Fed will hike rates, markets will closely scrutinize the Fed's Summary of Economic Projections, the so-called dot plot, for clues about monetary policy in the next few years.

#rate #warsh #interest #inflation

Sept 16 (Reuters) - A majority of younger U.S. healthcare workers plan to explore new jobs within the next year, even ‌as many want long-term stability with a single employer, a survey ‌released on Wednesday found.
The findings highlight a retention challenge for U.S. healthcare employers already facing a projected shortage of nearly 500,000 workers by 2038, as an aging workforce and rising demand put pressure on staffing.
About 70% of Generation Z healthcare workers, generally those born between 1997 and 2012, said they expect ‌to explore new roles ⁠over the next year, according to the survey by Harris Poll, commissioned by education services company Strategic Education ⁠and Workforce Edge.
Yet 65% said they ultimately hope to remain with one employer for five years or more, while nearly all said job stability was important to them.
Across all age groups, 59% of healthcare workers said they expect ‌to seek a new role over the next year, the survey found.

#survey

Moscow is preparing for a final test of a new ballistic missile capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away and potentially maneuvering in ways that could challenge Ukraine's already strained air defenses, a defense ******* yst warned Monday.
The warning comes as Ukrainian military officials said that Russia could conduct the test in the coming months and potentially in live-fire strikes.
"According to our estimates, Russia plans to conduct final tests of a new type of ballistic missile with a range of up to 800 km by the end of this year," Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), said at a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council, according to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
"If, for instance, this 800-kilometer missile has more advanced maneuverability, well then that's going to create greater problems for Ukraine in that they're going to need the more sophisticated interceptors to get them," Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.
Russia Deploys North Korean Missile Unit To Ukraine; Moscow-pyongyang Axis Deepens: Report

#ukrainian #defense #ballistic

During the September 10 episode of Mad Money, a caller questioned whether recent vertical integration by industrial competitors and market selloffs warranted a lower valuation for Howmet Aerospace Inc.'s (NYSE:HWM) economic moat, or if demand remained strong enough to make the pullback an overreaction. Jim Cramer replied:
Now, look, I'll tell you, here's the problem… It's a fastener company, and it frankly is, most times, very commodity-oriented business, and it happens to sell at 44 times earnings, and we don't want to pay that for commodities even though the business is strong. I think people are saying, "Wait a second, that's too much to pay, and I'm going to wait till it goes lower." And if you look at the chart, it does seem like it is going lower.
Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM) occupies a sole-source or primary-supplier position across critical narrowbody and widebody aircraft programs, providing single-crystal turbine blades, advanced structural castings, and **** anium fasteners. Approval and qualification requirements, manufacturing complexity, and a limited supplier base can make alternative sources difficult to establish quickly. That gives the company strong pricing power on both new plane parts and higher-margin replacement spares.
The structural advantages of Howmet Aerospace Inc.'s (NYSE:HWM) business model can be seen in its Q2 financial results. Revenue surged over 24% year-over-year (21% organically) to $2.55 billion, driven by a 28% jump in commercial aerospace revenue, a 38% expansion in industrial gas turbines, and an 11% gain in defense aerospace. The core Engine Products division recorded third-party sales of $1.37 billion, up 32% year-over-year, while segment adjusted EBITDA margins expanded by 470 basis points to 37.7%.
Despite its market positioning, Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE:HWM) carries valuation risks that advise a cautious approach. Trading at elevated EV/EBITDA and forward P/E multiples relative to traditional industrial peers, the stock leaves little margin for operational missteps. Capital expenditures are projected to exceed $500 million in 2026 as the company builds out production capacity for next-generation engine components and gas turbines, reducing near-term free cash conversion flexibility.

#lower #ebitda

The Diamondbacks claimed outfielder Jesus Sanchez off waivers on Monday, Sept. 14, adding another left-handed bat to a position-player group that has struggled against right-handed pitching.
Sanchez, who is expected to join the team on Tuesday, Sept. 15, will not be eligible for the postseason, but general manager Mike Hazen said the club is looking to jump-start the offense against righties.
"It's been an area of struggle for us this year, and most of the internal guys that we have to call up, they're all right-handed," Hazen said. "I think the additions of Pavin (Smith) and now Jesus are a way for us to try to spark the offense a little bit from the left-handed side.
"We face all righties all the way through, pretty much, projecting it out — unless something changes — and so we're looking for any sparks that we can get."
Sanchez, 28, hit .260/.318/.416 with eight homers in 269 at-bats for the Toronto Blue Jays before being designated for ***** ignment on Friday, Sept. 11. He hit .276/.333/.448 against right-handed pitching.

#hazen

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur says he's open to making changes to an offensive line that had no answers for Minnesota's furious pass rush during another fourth-quarter collapse.
But he noted the importance of settling on a starting five soon to build cohesiveness. Green Bay's offensive line was a major concern throughout training camp, in part because injuries prevented the projected starters from working together very often.
"Whatever we do, we need to make sure that we find continuity as quickly as possible," LaFleur said Monday, a day after the Packers' 39-22 loss to the Vikings. "I think that's part of the problem, is we've had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup. I'm not making excuses. It is what it is. You've got to find a way to get it done.
"But I do think the more guys play together, typically the better they play together."
The offensive line's failings played a major role in Green Bay blowing a 22-10 lead, continuing a habit that haunted the Packers last season.

#making

The Seattle Seahawks are 1-0, so it's time to start scouting their next opponent.
The Arizona Cardinals shocked the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1 with a 26-14 win in which Mike LaFleur became the franchise's first non-interim head coach to win their first game in charge. The matchup was projected as one of the opening week's most lopsided in favor of Jim Harbaugh and Los Angeles, who were coming off an 11-6 record in 2025. Los Angeles made the playoffs and lost to the eventual AFC champion New England Patriots in the Wild Card round, albeit without either of their starting offensive tackles—Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt—who were both expected to boost the offense upon their return this season. Arizona's defense had other ideas, and became one of the biggest surprises of any unit across Week 1's Sunday slate, while their offense simply looked more talented and outplayed LA with complementary football. That's what the Seahawks will be looking for in Week 2.
The Cardinals defense played with an energy that stifled Justin Herbert and new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, who only held the ball for 51 plays and 22:29. Arizona ran 21 more plays and had the ball for 15:02 more of the game (more than an entire quarter?!) When watching this game, the attitude from Arizona's defense seemed to disregard the stature of its opponent. LaFleur retained defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, who Phoenix-based sports radio host John Gambadoro credits for helping set the temperature.
It's easy to see Rallis' results. The intensity of the defense that showed up on tape is just as evident on paper. His Cardinals defense ranks second to last in blitz rate so far this season, yet they held McDaniel and Herbert to a measly 2-for-8 on third downs and 0-for-3 on fourth downs. Their front seven was far more formidable than the Chargers on the day, producing 17 pressures on 55 snaps while LA could only muster 12 on 75 opportunities. On the flipside, the Cardinals' offensive line has been projected as their downfall this season. The Seahawks have a clear opportunity to establish their presence as a physically dominant team if they kill the Cardinals momentum. This will be the game for elite run blockers like AJ Barner and run stoppers like Uchenna Nwosu to put the new age film community on watch.
Offensive talent is far from the problem in Arizona. Trey McBride is the best tight end in football. They've got two running backs in Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Allgeier who can both be a problem for any team. Marvin Harrison Jr. was a matchup nightmare against the Seahawks last season. In Week 3, he had one of the best battles against Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen of any wide receiver all year. When partnered with a seasoned veteran quarterback with a quick release, they were able to make life easy on their OL. Jacoby Brissett looked like at least an average starting QB, completing 27/37 passes for a respectable 73.0% completion rate while taking only 1 sack on 39 dropbacks. Loo

On August 6, PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT) reported second-quarter results for the period ended June 30, and buried in the numbers was something the plastics recycler has chased for years: an actual branded product on store shelves. Select Downy detergent caps made with PureCycle's PureFive resin entered commercial production for Procter & Gamble during the quarter, the first tangible sign the company's purification technology can clear a major consumer brand's supply chain. Revenue came in at $4.5 million, up roughly 173% from a year earlier and the sixth straight quarter of sequential growth.
The Downy win was not an isolated event. PureCycle said select Tide caps are scheduled for retail production in the third quarter, with Vicks ZzzQuil PURE Zzzs child-resistant lids targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. Seven customer conversions took place during the quarter, alongside six new commercial partnerships spanning closures, automotive, film, and food packaging, including Amcor, Motherson, and Innovia Films. Regulation is doing real work here too. New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection approved PureFive as post-consumer recycled content, a decision that arrives as the state's food contact exemption expires in January 2027 and its recycled content requirement climbs to 20%, while California's SB54 is already in effect.
Operationally, the Ironton facility's planned turnaround finished ahead of schedule and under budget, with more than 170 reliability and rate projects completed and inspections showing no corrosion on major equipment. On-site compounding, commissioned in April, is now running 24 hours a day, five days a week, with plans to expand to seven by the fourth quarter. PureCycle also picked up ISO 9001:2015 certification in May and closed the quarter with $236.9 million in total liquidity after a June capital raise.
The other side of the ledger is harder to ignore. PureCycle posted a net loss of $142.2 million for the quarter, and adjusted EBITDA actually widened to a loss of $31.7 million from a loss of $27.8 million a year earlier, a shift the company attributes to smaller non-cash addbacks rather than weaker operations. PureFive production fell to 4.5 million pounds for the quarter, a direct result of the planned turnaround, even though output was still up about 32% from a year ago. Growth is not coming cheap either. Full-year 2026 project spending guidance was raised to a range of $45 million to $50 million, up from the prior $39 million to $45 million.

#year #loss

After securing a 48-20 victory over Arizona State to improve to 2-0 in 2026, Texas A&M will now turn its attention to a talented SEC foe with an offensive mastermind at the helm.
First-year head coach Will Stein and the Kentucky Wildcats will travel to College Station for a showdown against the Aggies on Saturday, marking the first contest between the two programs since 2018 and just their fourth matchup ever.
The Wildcats had No. 10 Alabama reeling in Lexington in Week 2, but were unable to close things out, leading to a 45-17 loss to the Crimson Tide. Among the many storylines in this game is the return of former Aggie defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, who is calling the shots for Kentucky's defensive unit.
Texas A&M's performance against Arizona State was solid, but there is still much to be desired, especially offensively. As was projected all offseason, the Aggies' offensive line struggled to establish dominance in the trenches, with a plethora of new pieces in the unit. That is something they must improve upon moving forward, as they open SEC play this weekend.
Here is everything Elko said during his weekly press conference, ahead of Saturday's matchup against Kentucky:

#matchup

On September 10, Shoe Station Group (NASDAQ:SHOE) held its first earnings call under its new name, and the numbers told a story of a company still finding its footing. Second quarter net sales fell 7.2% to $284.3 million from $306.4 million a year earlier, with comparable sales down 7.1%. But buried in the report was a sharper signal: August comparable sales improved to a 2.7% decline, a real jump from the second quarter's pace, and management is pointing to store-by-store product changes as the reason why.
Shoe Station's turnaround argument rests on giving up the idea that every store should look the same. Interim CEO Clifton Sifford said the company had been running nearly identical ***** ortments across its stores even though its two banners serve very different customers, and that approach stopped working. The shift already shows up in the numbers. Once the company localized its athletic ***** ortments ahead of back-to-school, adult athletic sales moved from a low single-digit decline in the second quarter to a low single-digit increase in August.
Running shoes comped positive in both men's and women's categories, and men's work boots, a replenishment category with loyal repeat buyers, grew 2%. Management believes this fall's boot lineup is the best it has fielded in years, heading into what Sifford expects to be a bigger nonathletic fashion cycle. E-commerce sales grew 18.8% even as store traffic fell, and in-store conversion actually improved, evidence that customers who show up are buying; they just are not showing up in the same numbers yet. The company also ended the quarter debt-free with $131.6 million in cash, up $39.7 million from a year ago, giving it room to fund the localized rollout without straining the balance sheet.
The flip side is that the entire second quarter was ugly across the board. Shoe Carnival branded stores, still 63% of revenue, saw sales fall 6.5%, while the newly converted Shoe Station banner dropped 8.4%. Gross profit margin fell 690 basis points to 31.9%, a mix of a promotional footwear market and management's decision to accelerate liquidation of aged inventory, trading margin for cash. That combination cut net income to $6.3 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, down from $19.2 million and $0.70 a year earlier.
Management is not projecting relief anytime soon. Sifford said plainly, "We are not ***** uming the environment improves," and CFO Kerry Jackson noted that gross margins in fiscal August were still running below last year's levels at a pace comparable to the second quarter. Full-year gross margin guidance of 32.5% to 32.7% implies 390 to 410 basis points of compression for the year. Store impairment charges reached $6.7 million on 11 stores year to date, and management has already conceded that the core problem is not price, since conversion rates rose while total customer visits kept falling. That points to a marketing and trust problem rather than a demand problem, and fixing it will take more tha

On September 10, Designer Brands (NYSE:DBI) reported second-quarter results that pushed full-year earnings guidance sharply higher, even as net sales slipped 1% year over year to $730.6 million. Adjusted operating income reached $39.4 million for the quarter, and management raised its adjusted diluted earnings per share outlook to a range of $0.47 to $0.52, up from $0.28 to $0.38. That kind of upward revision usually calms skeptics. Here, more than a third of the float is still sold short.
The clearest story in this report is a company reorganizing itself around its own brands rather than its stores. Brand portfolio sales climbed 18% in the quarter to $86.3 million, and the growth showed up on the bottom line too, with year-to-date adjusted operating income of $58.8 million, more than doubling what Designer Brands produced over the same stretch last year. Topo grew revenue more than 24% during the quarter, and management now expects the brand to clear $100 million in 2027. Jessica Simpson sales rose about 24% as well, with growth across every major account, and intercompany sales between the brand and retail segments rose by double digits, a sign the two sides of the business are reinforcing each other rather than splitting the same customer dollar.
Profitability improved even where the headlines are less flashy. Gross margin expanded 430 basis points to 47.9%, and while $20.2 million in tariff refunds accounted for much of that, the company still added 150 basis points of margin from better ***** ortment and inventory management alone. Merchandise margin in retail widened 140 basis points, with 100 of those points coming from less markdown activity, meaning more inventory is selling at full price. Debt fell by $93 million to $423.1 million compared with a year earlier, and total liquidity stood at roughly $198 million, funding room for projects like the Topo sourcing integration and the new Edit at DSW store-within-a-store pilot without leaning further on the balance sheet.
The retail side of the business is still the drag. CEO Doug Howe said sandals, the company's largest seasonal category, "were pressured by early weather-related headwinds and never fully rebounded," and that alone accounted for roughly 200 basis points of the retail segment's 2% sales decline. Comparable sales fell 2.6% in retail and 2.4% companywide, and the segment battled a sequential traffic headwind even as average unit retail and average dollars per sale held firm. Strip out the brand portfolio's 18% growth, and the underlying store business is still shrinking.

#million #brands

Ja'Marr Chase, George Pickens and other fantasy football bad beats not to worry about appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Week 1 can make fantasy managers question an entire summer of research. A first-round receiver disappears, a breakout candidate misses his projection and suddenly the trade block looks tempting. The better approach is to separate disappointing box scores from genuinely concerning roles. Ja'Marr Chase and George Pickens hurt lineups in Week 1, but neither performance provided a good reason to panic.
Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images
Chase delivered the most shocking dud of the opening weekend, catching two of four targets for only 12 yards in Cincinnati's 33-27 victory over Tampa Bay. He finished behind Mike Gesicki, Tee Higgins and Chase Brown in targets despite entering the week as fantasy football's consensus top wide receiver.
The four targets were frustrating, but the result looks more like an outlier than a changing offensive hierarchy. Chase's 3.2 PPR points represented the second-worst fantasy performance of his career. He has also averaged 5.5 fewer fantasy points in September than during every other month, demonstrating that slow starts are nothing new.

#fantasy #george #receiver

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts spent an entire offseason reshaping the defense.
They signed multiple free agents to beef up the defensive line. They drafted two linebackers they projected as potential starters. They waited for two promising defensive backs to get healthy after training camp injuries cost each their entire 2025 seasons.
But on Sunday, it didn't look like a new and improved unit. Instead, the Colts allowed 506 total yards and 202 yards rushing in another troubling season-opening loss.
"This is a good gut check for the entire team, every single one of us," Pro Bowl defensive tackle and team captain DeForest Buckner said after an underwhelming reintroduction in a 41-23 loss to Baltimore. "We've got to be better, including myself. We've got to be better each and every day, have a sense of urgency and move on to the Chiefs."
It's a familiar refrain for Indy fans, who have celebrated just one opening-day win in the past 13 years. And to many, this one seemed like more of a dud than the promised fresh start. They responded with a cascade of boos as they watched more of the same.

#we 've #loss

Jalen Hurts is lending his voice to Ryan Clark's next chapter in sports media.
The Eagles quarterback joined Odell Beckham Jr. in helping narrate Clark's announcement for The Pivot Sports, a new extension of the media brand Clark has built alongside former NFL players Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder. The Pivot Sports was scheduled to premiere Monday at 2 p.m. EDT on the podcast's YouTube channel. Clark announced the launch through social media, thanking supporters who encouraged him following his departure from ESPN and describing the project as something created for those who continued backing him.

#clark #hurts #Eagles #odell

Princess Charlotte has revealed a new sporting passion, and it has a surprisingly strong connection to her royal family history. The 11-year-old princess has been seen showing off her cricket skills in family footage released by the Prince and Princess of Wales, drawing attention to a sport that was once a favorite of her great-grandfather, Prince Philip.
Prince Louis reveals what Princess Charlotte really thinks of his surprising new skill (@ Karwai Tang)
Now cricket is also getting an upgrade at Sandringham, King Charles III's private Norfolk estate, and the location of Anmer Hall, the Prince and Princess of Wales' country home. Plans call for improvements to the estate's cricket ground, creating an intriguing link between Charlotte's newfound enthusiasm, her grandfather's royal estate, and a sporting tradition that stretches back generations.
According to an exclusive report in The Sun, the Sandringham and Dersingham Cricket Club, which has long used the cricket ground on the royal estate, is planning to install an all-weather artificial surface.
A planning application submitted to the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk details the £9,000 project, which is designed to extend playing hours and help protect the natural grass during periods of heavy rain or intensive use.

#Cricket #prince #norfolk

Democratic state parties announced Monday that they are launching an operation for the midterm elections they're calling the "New Battlefield Project," intended to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in case armed federal officers show up.
Activists are planning mass protests if the Trump administration tries to interfere with voting or ballot counting. And legal scholars are distributing white papers advising judges what they should do if the government tries to seize ballots.
The unprecedented efforts are in response to President Donald Trump's equally unprecedented moves to interfere in this year's midterm elections, which include attempts to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements to register to vote and directing the Postal Service to play a central role in deciding which voters should get a mail ballot.
The anxious contingency planning as voting gets underway has become a marker for how fraught democracy has become in the country that once stood as an example to the world.
"We have never prepared for an election sabotage event like we have now," said Ezra Levin of the left-leaning group Indivisible.

#interfere

By Kristina Cooke and Ben Kellerman
Sept 14 (Reuters) - Immigration arrests in the U.S. have soared in recent months, aided by more local law enforcement cooperation with ICE, increased use of technology to track and process people, as well as enhanced data sharing between federal agencies.
But the mass arrest campaign this summer did not lead to a commensurate increase in deportations -- according to preliminary U.S. government data reviewed by Reuters -- a ‌reflection of the legal and logistical limits faced by President Donald Trump as he attempts to hit his mass deportation goals.
Even as arrests jumped to nearly 51,000 in August, setting a record for a third straight month, deportation ‌numbers held mostly steady, averaging around 1,200 per day, the preliminary government data showed.
About the same number of people were deported per day in May, for example, when there were around 19,000 fewer arrests, according to arrests data obtained by the Deportation Data Project through a public records request and ****** yzed by Reuters.

#arrests #government

José Luis Esparza Güicho — a 37-year-old Mexican content creator known online as "El Piturris" — was shot and killed while working at a taco stand on Sept. 10
Esparza's death is being investigated as a homicide, the Sonora State Attorney General's Office said
The content creator maintained a following of over 30,000 on Instagram, where he shared photos and videos from his life in Mexico
José Luis Esparza Güicho — a Mexican content creator known online as "El Piturris" — was shot and killed while working at a taco stand on Thursday. He was 37.
Esparza, who maintained a following of over 30,000 on Instagram, was "attacked with firearm projectiles" on Sept. 10 at a taco stand in Ciudad Obregón, a city in northern Mexico, by a suspect who allegedly "fled on a motorcycle" with another individual, the Sonora State Attorney General's Office said in a translated statement.

#esparza #stand

Aran Murphy had his first viral moment. After hitting the red carpet for his new show, Youth, social media users pointed out how similar the 19-year-old up-and-coming actor's mannerisms are to those of Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, Aran's father. "I knew who his dad was before I even heard him," adds one commenter underneath Aran's video interview, which took place on September 11.
Aran has a big year ahead, with a number of projects set to hit the small and big screen. Keep scrolling to get to know Cillian's sons, Aran and Malachy, whom he shares with his wife, artist Yvonne McGuinness. Though Cillian famously avoids the spotlight, he's shared several details about his family life and his son's career over the years.
Aran is Cillian's youngest son, born in July 2007. After spending the first few years of his life in London, Aran moved with his family to Dublin in 2015, per The Telegraph.
Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images
Aran caught the acting bug early. He was 11 years old when he made his acting debut in the one-boy play Hamnet — not to be confused with the award-winning 2025 film. Cillian praised Aran's approach to acting during an interview with The Guardian.

#aran #cillian #acting

Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey's planned reunion will no longer happen after their exits from a new project. The two stars previously appeared together in the blockbuster Wicked franchise, playing Glinda and Prince Fiyero Tigelaar, respectively.
The London revival of the popular musical Sunday in the Park With George has been canceled following Grande and Bailey's exits, according to Variety. The planned 2027 production will no longer proceed as previously thought.
"Empire Street Productions will retain the rights with a view to presenting the production in 2028. Further details will be announced in due course."
The revival was set to take place at London's Barbican Centre next summer. Ariana Grande was supposed to play both Dot and Marie. Bailey was set to star opposite her as George Seurat.
Moving forward, Ariana Grande will be busy with her upcoming The Eternal Sunshine Tour. She will also appear on the big screen in a new movie. The 33-year-old will feature alongside Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in the comedy Focker-In-Law. It's set to hit theaters on November 25, 2026. Despite her plans to take a break, Grande will appear in the promotional events for the movie.

#planned #previously

Argentina's state-controlled energy company YPF is close to signing several LNG sales agreements for its planned Argentina LNG project as it races toward a final investment decision later this year.
YPF CEO Horacio Marín said at the Gastech conference in Bangkok that the company expects to sign two or three LNG contracts covering between 0.5 million and 1.5 million tonnes per year each. YPF aims to have the agreements secured before partners make a final investment decision in November.
The $24-billion Argentina LNG development, backed by YPF, Italy's Eni and Abu Dhabi's XRG, is designed to turn the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation into a major source of LNG for international markets.
The initial development will feature two floating LNG facilities with combined capacity of 12 million tonnes per year, with potential expansion to 18 million tonnes. A dedicated 527-kilometer pipeline will transport gas from Vaca Muerta to the Atlantic coast in Río Negro province. YPF says the development will also include gas treatment and liquids infrastructure.
Eni and XRG each hold approximately 32% interests in the upstream blocks feeding the development, with YPF holding 36%.

#development #year #tonnes #muerta