The Trump administration is considering duties on finished products containing chips—laptops, data center servers and gaming consoles—as PC prices already sit more than 20% above year-ago levels.
Posted inMarkets
Stripe and Advent Drop $50 Billion PayPal Bid, Shares Fall 12%
The Stripe-Advent consortium abandoned its pursuit of PayPal on Friday after the board rejected an offer of $60.50 per share as too low, sending the stock down as much as 16% in premarket trading.
Posted inEconomy
Wheat Surges 12% in a Week as Black Sea Disruptions Tighten Supply
Wheat futures posted their biggest weekly gain since March 2022, reaching a three-year high as Russia-Ukraine fighting cut Black Sea export flows and a USDA supply cut drove corn up 15% in August.
Posted inGeopolitics
Ukraine Has Run Out of Patriot Interceptors Before Russia’s Winter Strikes
Ukraine intercepted just 29 of 195 Russian ballistic missiles in July as ally deliveries fell to a third of last year’s pace, leaving Kyiv with 1% of US Patriot stockpile ahead of winter.
Posted inWorld
Niger’s Junta Repels Coup Attempt as Loyalists Retake Niamey
Mutinous soldiers attacked Niger’s presidential palace, airport and state broadcaster on August 29 before loyalists backed by Russia’s Africa Corps crushed the attempt by morning.
Posted inTech
Nvidia Closes In on a $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Deal
Nvidia is in advanced talks to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, a deal that would give the chip giant control over the open-source AI hub used by more than a million developers worldwide.
Posted inMarkets
September Rate-Hike Bets Double After Warsh’s Hawkish Jackson Hole Debut
Markets pushed September rate-hike odds from 35% to 57% after Fed Chair Warsh refused to signal policy direction at Jackson Hole, sending the S&P 500 down 0.25% and the Nasdaq 0.52% on Friday.
Posted inEconomy
Warsh Debuts at Jackson Hole Warning That Inflation Is Still Too High
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh used his first Jackson Hole address to warn that July PCE inflation at 3.3% does not confirm underlying trends have improved, and called for a quieter central bank that signals less.
Posted inGeopolitics
Ratcliffe Flies to Moscow With a Warning on NATO and a Plea to Cut Iran Loose
CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a secret visit to Moscow on August 26, meeting Russian intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin to warn against NATO attacks and urge Russia to end its support for Iran.
Posted inWorld
Norway’s King Harald V Dies at 89 After 35 Years on the Throne
King Harald V of Norway died on Friday at Oslo’s National Hospital at age 89, ending a reign of more than 35 years; his son Crown Prince Haakon automatically became King Haakon VIII.