AI Price War Breaks Out: Meta Unveils Paid AI Model For First Time, Will Be “Among Most Affordable Options” Shortly after a leaked Meta memo revealed the company was planning on putting an AI chip into production in September as it looks to double computing capacity to 14Gigawatts, the company also unveiled a version of its most advanced artificial intelligence model, Muse Spark 1.1, that includes a new paid tier for developers, […]

Qatar Halts Push To Ramp Up LNG Production After Hormuz Tanker Strikes Less than a month after Reuters reported that QatarEnergy was ready to resume LNG production ​at its Ras Laffan LNG plant “very quickly” ‌and expected to reach within a month full output of facilities unaffected by Iranian strikes, this morning Bloomberg reports that Qatar is pausing efforts to rapidly revive production at the world’s largest LNG […]

Leaked Meta Memo Shows AI Capacity Doubling To 14 Gigawatts Meta shares fell 4.3% at Thursday’s open after Reuters reported the contents of an internal memo laying out the next phase of the company’s AI infrastructure program. The stock has clawed back part of the loss through the morning but stayed solidly red while the tape digested the same question it has been chewing on for nine days: is Meta the hyperscaler that just […]

US Existing Home Sales Unexpectedly Dropped In June, Just Off Record Lows After an ugly Spring selling season, existing home sales have rebounded in Q2 (so far) with expectations for another 1.0% MoM increase in June. However, that was not to be with US existing home sales tumbling 2.4% MoM in June (although May was revised up to a +3.7% MoM gain from +3.2%). That slowed the annual improvement in sales to +2.75% YoY… Overall, […]

The Choice To Go Up Or Down The Escalation Ladder Now Lies With Iran By Michael Every of Rabobank “It ain’t over till it’s over, but…” The US hit Iran for a second night along Hormuz, in southern cities, near a nuclear site, and a railway bridge in the northwest. The message from VP Vance was to stop striking ships in Hormuz or get hit back harder. From Trump, it was that Iran are “liars” and “scum” and the MOU is […]

Bloom Energy Defends Supply Chain, Calls Hunterbrook Report “False And Misleading” Bloom Energy is responding forcefully against allegations made by short seller Hunterbrook Capital, rejecting the firm’s claims about its accounting, supply chain and growth prospects a day after a report sent shares sharply lower. The clean energy company said Thursday that Hunterbrook’s assertions regarding its financial reporting and access to […]

Porsche Sales Tumble To Weakest In Six Years As Chinese Demand Plummets Days after Germany’s top financial newspaper, Handelsblatt, reported that Porsche AG is planning more than 4,000 job cuts, the sports-car maker on Thursday revealed first-half sales figures that were the weakest in six years, with its China business falling off a cliff. For the January to June period, Porsche reported 122,306 vehicle deliveries across global […]

Return To War: Iran Fires Ballistic Missiles At Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, After US Struck 170 Iranian Targets Just as the US nighttime strikes were significantly bigger than prior rounds in June, so has Iran’s ‘retaliation’ been bigger – chiefly on Gulf states and American bases there. In the overnight and Thursday daytime hours, Iranian ballistic missiles and drones have targeted Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and even faraway […]

Canada Just Admitted Justin Trudeau’s Climate Agenda Was A Scam Authored by Andrew Moran via LibertyNation.com, Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave Canada a lost decade. A key contributor to the country’s stagnation was the Liberal government’s obsession with climate change and its ushering in of green energy policies that were disastrous for a nation rich in natural resources. To make Canada great again, Prime Minister […]

‘Slow Hire, No Fire’ Economy Continues As Jobless Claims Remain Near Record Lows The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell to to 215k last week (versus 217k exp), remaining near multi-decade lows… California and Missouri saw the biggest increase in initial claims while New Jersey and Connecticut saw the largest decline… Continuing jobless claims ticked higher (highest since March) but […]

Futures Rise, Oil Drops As Markets Ignore Latest Middle East Airstrikes Futures are higher (although off session highs), and oil erased overnight gains as the market moved past the latest Middle-East flare up which saw the US military strike 90 Iranian targets for a second day and Tehran retaliated against American allies in the Persian Gulf. And like during previous escalations, this time nobody believes it will last. As of 8:00am […]

SK Hynix’s US Offering Reportedly Seven Times Oversubscribed The KOSPI struggled for direction overnight, erasing most of an opening rally that briefly pushed the South Korean main equity index up as much as 4.1%. The real strength was in memory stocks, with SK Hynix surging as much as 10% as investors piled back in. This move comes as Bloomberg reports the company’s US ADR listing is more than seven times oversubscribed, […]

Biden Defender JB Pritzker Now Claims Trump Has ‘Dementia’ Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, one of President Joe Biden’s most vocal defenders when the former president faced questions about his mental acuity, is now claiming President Donald Trump has dementia. Pritzker made the remarks during a June 29 interview with CNN host Caitlin Collins while discussing Trump’s criticism […]

“We’re Gonna Win Someday”: Graham Platner Suspends His Senate Campaign Update: Graham Platner, the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, announced Wednesday that he’s suspending his campaign. The move comes two days after Politico reported allegations of rape against him by a former girlfriend. He posted an emotional video explaining his decision. “And I just want to make it clear this is all false,” Platner said. […]

Canada Just Unleashed Its Fastest-Growing Oil Boom In A Decade Who says price isn’t a rationing mechanism? Rather than sink billions into long-term oil sands projects, Alberta energy companies are increasingly chasing the Clearwater formation, a conventional heavy oil field that allows producers to capitalize on rising crude prices far more quickly, according to Bloomberg. The surge in activity has been significant. Alberta […]

Cocoa Prices Rally As Jefferies Warns Of “Perfect Storm” In West Africa Cocoa futures in New York have doubled since the start of March and have now climbed back toward levels not seen since late 2025, around $6,000 a ton, as Jefferies analysts warn that a “perfect storm’s a-brewing” across West Africa, the world’s top cocoa-farming region. Jefferies analyst Scott Marks wrote in a note on Tuesday that new weather concerns center […]

Iran Hits Back, Launching Missiles On Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar – Ignoring Trump’s Warning Of “Much Worse” Bombing Summary Iran retaliates: air defenses reportedly active over Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait. Trump threatens “it will get much worse” after Wednesday night US attack wave commences along Iran’s coast. Trump tells NATO summit that Iran wants to assassinate him: “on every single one of their list.” Iran threatens to reclose the […]

Europe’s Utility Sector Is ‘On The Brink Of A New Regime’ Authored by Gregor Morris via BondVigilantes.com, Europe’s utilities sector is on the brink of a generational shift. After more than a decade of subdued demand, the system is being forced to modernize, rebuild and expand. Electrification, datacentres, renewable integration and ageing infrastructure are converging into what can only be described as unprecedented capital […]

Study Finds Self-Driving Cars Crash More Often, But Cause Far Fewer Injuries Self-driving cars may be involved in more crashes than human drivers on a per-mile basis, but the evidence suggests those accidents are generally far less likely to result in serious injuries or fatalities, according to Aulsbrook Car & Truck Lawyers. A review of autonomous vehicle safety data found self-driving vehicles are involved in about 9.1 […]

Trump To Delist Syria From Terror Designation, Boasts Of Putting ‘Fantastic’ Sharaa In Power Via Middle East Eye US President Donald Trump lavished rare praise on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday, calling him “fantastic” and “highly respected”, as the two leaders met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.  The meeting itself is a win for Sharaa, who was first introduced to Trump a little over a year […]

Tourist Nightmare: Toxic “Bone-Cutting” Fish Invades Mediterranean Beaches Tourists heading to the Mediterranean are being urged to watch out for an invasive species of toxic pufferfish that has spread across popular beach destinations in Greece and other coastal countries, according to the Daily Mail. The silver-cheeked toadfish, originally native to the Indian Ocean, is believed to have entered the Mediterranean through the Suez […]

EU Mandates Dystopian In-Car Cameras To Monitor Every Driver’s Face Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News, The European Union has made it official. Every brand-new passenger car, van, truck, and bus sold or first registered across the bloc must now carry interior-facing cameras that track the driver’s gaze, head movements, and attention levels. The system, called Advanced Driver Distraction Warning or ADDW, forms part of […]

How The Global Economy Became The World’s Most Dangerous Battlefield Authored by Madge Waggy, The twenty-first century has introduced a form of confrontation that rarely appears on television screens, is seldom announced through diplomatic declarations, and almost never begins with the spectacle traditionally associated with war. Its progression is quieter, considerably more sophisticated, and arguably more consequential than many […]

US Military Races To Harden Strategic Nuclear Bases With Counter-Drone AI Shield Defense company AeroVironment has won an $80.5 million order from the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 for its Titan MS counter-drone system, expanding the Department of War’s efforts to secure critical defense infrastructure and other homeland sites from AI drone swarm attacks. The award falls under a previously announced $500 million sole-source […]

US Navy Backs 3,800 MPH-Speeding Blackbeard Hypersonic Missile With First Contract Authored by Sujita Sinha via Interesting Engineering, The U.S. Navy has awarded defense technology startup Castelion its first production contract for the Blackbeard hypersonic missile. This $23.4 million deal includes 50 pre-production missiles and shows the Navy is ready to move the program past development and testing. The U.S. Navy awarded […]