Suspected 9/11 plotter agrees to plead guilty. Khalid...
Suspected 9/11 plotter agrees to plead guilty. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others currently held in Guantanamo Bay and accused of helping him orchestrate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have agreed to a plea deal that would give them life sentences, according to the Department of Defense. If all goes to plan, the deal will avoid a trial during which prosecutors would have sought the death penalty, but the government would also have had to justify its torture of Guantanamo detainees and potentially faced having some confessions rejected as coerced.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered a direct strike on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran (which Israel has not confirmed or denied), the NYT reports, as fears of Israel’s assassinations sparking a wider regional war grow.
Delta’s CEO said the CrowdStrike IT outage cost the airline $500 million. The company has reportedly lawyered up to pursue damages.
Donald Trump questioned Kamala Harris’s race while speaking at an event for Black journalists, saying, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Bill Ackman’s firm withdrew its planned IPO of a US fund after investor demand fell short of expectations.
Taco Bell plans to expand AI voice technology in drive-thrus to hundreds of its locations this year.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for September delivery ...
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for September delivery rose $3.18to $77.91 per barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for September delivery rose $2.09 to $80.72 per barrel.
Wholesale gasoline for August delivery rose 9 cents to $2.48 a gallon. August heating oilrose 8 cents to $2.42 a gallon. September natural gas fell 9 cents to $2.04 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Stocks end sharply higher as Fed signals rate cut as early as September
Powell said some policymakers...
Powell said some policymakers had argued for cutting Wednesday, though the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee ultimately voted unanimously to leave rates unchanged.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a gain of 99.46 points, or 0.2%, at 40,842.79, after rising 455.30 points at its session high during Powell's news conference. It finished the month of July up by 1,723.93 points, or 4.4%, for its best performance since December 2023.
The S&P 500 closed with a gain of 85.86 points, or 1.6%, at 5,522.30.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 451.98 points, or 2.6%, to end at 17,599.40.
ArcLight Forms Renewables Management Team, Acquires Texas Wind Farm
Infrastructure investment firm ArcLight is...
Infrastructure investment firm ArcLight is doling out $500 million in capital to form SkyVest Renewables, which will operate and optimize renewable assets, according to a July 29 news release.
The assets include a 160-megawatt wind farm in the Midland Basin in Texas, which ArcLight also said it acquired.
The two are targeting operating utility-scale solar and wind assets in North America.
As NatGas Drops Below $2, Chesapeake is Prepared to Curtail Volumes Again
The prompt-month natural gas price dipped below...
The prompt-month natural gas price dipped below $2/MMBtu during No. 2 U.S. gas producer Chesapeake Energy’s second-quarter earnings call on July 30. According to CME Group data, the dive was from as much as $3.20 on June 11 for delivery on Sept. 1.
In addition to curtailing production this past spring in response to low gas futures, “we … are prepared to do so again as necessary in the fall,” Nick Dell’Osso, Chesapeake president and CEO, told investors and analysts in the call.
COO Josh Viets added that output has been pared 17% since this past spring. “That equates to a little over 0.5 Bcf/d … coming offline from our operated production.”
