A slate of second-quarter earnings could present the clearest corporate scorecard of the Iran conflict’s impact to date. US oil majors and refiners are expected to report record profits as higher crude and fuel prices “trigger a wartime windfall,” The Financial Times reported, likely boosting US President Donald Trump’s case ...
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Markets reassess post-truce optimismMarkets reassess post-truce optimism
The fading prospect of a durable US-Iran ceasefire is forcing investors and energy companies to reassess their post-truce optimism and brace for prolonged instability in the Middle East. Qatar is delaying plans to ramp up LNG production after attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz renewed fears of shipping ...
Prediction markets hit a federal snagPrediction markets hit a federal snag
An SDNY judge dealt a blow to Kalshi and Polymarket this week, ruling that New York’s gambling regulations do apply to Kalshi’s sports-event contracts, and making it all but inevitable that the states will be squaring off against prediction markets operators at the Supreme Court in the future. The decision ...
The mistrust of AI labs bubbles overThe mistrust of AI labs bubbles over
Liz’s view A few weeks ago, an Anthropic executive was asked a question on every CEO’s mind: Why should we trust that you won’t steal our business? “It’s a fair question,” Syed Mohiuddin, Anthropic’s head of healthcare, said at a venture-capital event I attended last month on Cape Cod. “Because ...
Big Tech spending soarsBig Tech spending soars
A chart this week from Bank of America ricocheted around Wall Street and Silicon Valley, capturing the “generational transfer” of profits in the AI ecosystem. Huge capital expenditures are collapsing big tech companies’ free cash flow, a metric prized by shareholders. Meanwhile, the less sexy companies that make the processing ...
Starbucks starts vibe coding enterprise stackStarbucks starts vibe coding enterprise stack
One of the biggest things going for Salesforce, Workday, and the other SaaS companies threatened by AI has simply been inertia. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told us in May that the market was overreacting, at least in the short term, to the SaaSpocalypse. “It’s easy for me to vibe code ...
Blue Origin plays catch-upBlue Origin plays catch-up
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space startup, is seeking to raise $10 billion at a $130 billion valuation, Semafor confirms, hoping to play catch-up with Elon Musk in the space race. Given SpaceX’s head start, record of smooth launches (something Blue Origin has struggled with lately), and huge funding advantage, here ...
UN says RSF attacks in Sudan conflict amount to genocideUN says RSF attacks in Sudan conflict amount to genocide
The UN said actions carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s civil war amounted to a genocide, with experts warning of further mass atrocities. Human rights investigators said the RSF encircled El Fasher in an attempt to starve its population, while survivors described being raped in rooms ...
Saudi-UAE border trade slows amid tensionsSaudi-UAE border trade slows amid tensions
The News Firms moving goods across the border from the UAE into Saudi Arabia are complaining of delays lasting up to several days in some instances, in a sign of the simmering tensions between the Gulf’s largest economies. Delays at the border have been getting worse in recent months, according ...
Mexico makes first LNG shipment to AsiaMexico makes first LNG shipment to Asia
The first shipment of Mexican natural gas to Asia is en route, evidence of the reshaping of global energy markets. Mexico’s new LNG export terminal is one of several developments on the Pacific coast of the Americas, with confidence in traditional export avenues waning. Five years ago, the two main ...