Burning Man lights up the Nevada desert all week: The...
Burning Man lights up the Nevada desert all week: The annual music and arts festival is expected to draw more than 70,000 attendees this year, and if history is any indication, some Silicon Valley movers and shakers may be in attendance, possibly moving and shaking. But despite its popularity among the tech elite, Burning Man has been burning through cash in recent years. The cost of putting the festival on keeps increasing, and ticket sales haven’t kept up, according to Business Insider. The event started yesterday and will conclude next Monday.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and President Trump exchanged words on the internet, with the president threatening to “send in the ‘troops’” to Baltimore in a Truth Social post.
Kilmar Ábrego García returned home on Friday, but was told to report to an ICE detention center in Baltimore today.
SpaceX called off a Starship test flight yesterday evening due to an “issue with ground systems.”
Private equity is struggling to raise money amid high interest rates and a downturn in dealmaking.
Daniil Medvedev’s US Open match got delayed after a photographer entered the court, leading to prolonged fan booing.
Jerry Adler, best known for acting on The Sopranos and The Good Wife, died on Saturday. He was 96.
U.S. Drillers Cut Oil, Gas Rigs for Fourth Time in Five Weeks
U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs...
U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the fourth time in five weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Aug. 22.
The total oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by one to 538 in the week to August 22, the lowest since mid-July.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by one to 411 this week, while gas rigs held steady at 122.
The independent E&P companies tracked by U.S. financial services firm TD Cowen said they planned to cut capital expenditures by around 4% in 2025 from levels seen in 2024.
That compares with roughly flat year-over-year spending in 2024, increases of 27% in 2023, 40% in 2022, and 4% in 2021.
Cenovus Energy is acquiring fellow Canadian producer MEG Energy Corp....
Cenovus Energy is acquiring fellow Canadian producer MEG Energy Corp. for approximately CA$7.9 billion (US$5.7 billion). The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Consideration includes approximately CA$5.2 billion (US$3.74 billion) in cash, CA$1.7 billion (US$1.22 billion) in Cenovus shares and CA$900,000 (US$646,600) in assumed net debt and lease obligations, Cenovus announced Aug. 22.
The transaction will combine two of Canada’s top oil sands producers and consolidate complementary heavy oil assets in the Christina Lake region of Alberta. Combined oil sands output will average over 720,000 bbl/d.
Wall Street metaphorically hoisted Jerome Powell on its shoulders while...
Wall Street metaphorically hoisted Jerome Powell on its shoulders while singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” yesterday by sending stocks soaring as soon as the Fed chair hinted in his Jackson Hole speech that interest rate cuts are likely coming in September (more on that below). The Dow clinched its first record close of the year, and rate-sensitive tech stocks, which had been having a rough week, came roaring back, with Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla all rising.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell received a standing ovation on stage in Jackson Hole, WY, while delivering his highly anticipated speech at an annual gathering of central bankers yesterday, and that was before he intimated that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates as soon as next month.
Taking a break from leaving President Trump on read, JPow told the assembled crowd, “With policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.” That’s as close as Powell gets to saying rate cuts are likely. Odds of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting on Sept. 16–17 now sit just above 83%, per FedWatch.
Canada drops retaliatory tariffs on billions’ worth of U.S. products
It’s August, so there’s finally something thawing...
It’s August, so there’s finally something thawing in Canada: Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country would drop its recently imposed 25% tariffs on goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact as of Sept. 1, bringing them more in line with what the US has put on Canadian goods. The move to drop import duties on ~$21 billion worth of American goods came a day after Carney spoke to President Trump and was widely interpreted as a gesture of goodwill to try to lay the groundwork for future trade talks. But it’s not all as friendly as Canada is reputed to be—Carney noted that high tariffs would remain for now on US steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
