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"You look amazing!" one of her fans gushed on social media.

"You look amazing!" one of her fans gushed on social media.

The latest outbreak has killed more people at a quicker rate than any previous outbreak, including in 2014-2016 when 28,000 cases were reported, of which over 11,000 people died.

The embattled Arizona sheriff leading the Nancy Guthrie investigation has lashed out at the FBI after its director, Kash Patel, accused police of blocking the agency from assisting in the early stages of the probe.

New Yorkers are considered guilty until they prove otherwise when it comes to the state’s new pied-à-terre tax.

Feedom Of Navigation

By Bas van Geffen, senior market strategist at Rabobank

The Houthis are considering charging fees on vessels sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Reuters reported that the plan was discussed with Iran’s leadership, who have offered help to set up an authority to collect the toll.

Besides the potential revenue source, the aim of the Bab el-Mandeb fees would reportedly be to normalize the idea of charging fees on international waters.

But freedom isn’t fees. President Trump has repeatedly rejected the idea of Iran levying a toll in the Strait of Hormuz, so why would the US president accept such a plan in any other strait? European countries have also vehemently opposed that idea. Moreover, the Houthis indicated that Chinese vessels would be exempted from these fees – creating a clear split in the freedom of navigation for different camps. So, the plan could also be used to put further pressure on the US and its allies.

The US has, meanwhile, stepped up its attacks against Iran, in retaliation for the Iranian strikes on its military bases Jordan. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has been briefed on a two-week campaign of air strikes that could impact Iran’s missile capabilities. However, Iran managed to recover relatively quickly after operation Epic Fury.

Moreover, according to press reports, China is sending hundreds of rocket launchers to Iran. The shoulder-fired weapons are harder to take out, due to their mobility. And these mobile air defences make any US campaign more difficult and riskier.

The potential implications of the weapons sale reach far beyond the Middle East. China’s support for Iran could indicate that Beijing is hoping to use this as a proxy war or a war of attrition against the US – with reports of dwindling weapons stockpiles. Or, at least, to expose the US’s vulnerabilities.

At the very least, the arms deal goes against President Xi’s promise to Trump not to supply any weapons to Iran. That, in turn, could perhaps cause the White House to reconsider its own arms deliveries to Taiwan. President Trump paused these deliveries after meeting with Xi in May.

The renewed escalation in the Middle East is putting some upward pressure on energy prices again. Brent touched $93 per barrel this morning.

Despite the ongoing inflation risks from the Iran war, the Fed refrained from any policy action. However, the Fed’s “family fight” did cause a big split between the central bankers: three FOMC members cast a dissenting vote, favoring a rate hike instead.

These dissents clearly demonstrate that support for a rate hike is building. That should keep market speculation of a rate hike alive in the coming weeks. We acknowledge that the risk of a rate hike in the coming months has increased, but we still believe that the Fed is more likely to stay on hold through 2026.

The policy statement was largely identical to last month’s, and Chair Warsh talked a lot about the FOMC’s commitment to meeting its 2% inflation target. However, the lack of policy action may have damaged Warsh’ inflation fighting credentials yesterday. Long-term US yields rose after the policy decision: the 30-year yield hit a 19-year high in Asian trading and remains above 5.2%.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 10:45

UNC announced Monday that Lombardi had been placed on paid administrative leave.

It's time to step up your sneaker game.

Spotted: The pop star celebrating her latest trip around the sun in style.

Spotted: The pop star celebrating her latest trip around the sun in style.

Emma Gretzky, the youngest child of hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, and Stone Eby, a former tight end at Southern Methodist University, announced their engagement in a joint Instagram post Tuesday.

Carvana Crashes After Earnings Outlook Disappoints Wall Street

Carvana shares plunged in premarket trading after the online used-car retailer issued full-year earnings guidance that may fall short of Wall Street expectations, as vehicle sales growth slowed and profit per car declined. The outlook raises questions about whether Carvana's rapid expansion can justify its high stock valuation.

Carvana reported a record second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $769 million, narrowly beating the $766.2 million consensus estimate among analysts tracked by Bloomberg, as vehicle sales rose 38% to more than 197,300. Still, sales growth slowed to its weakest quarter since 3Q24, while gross profit per unit declined, suggesting margin pressures remain a major problem.

"This marks 10 straight quarters of being the fastest-growing and most profitable automotive retailer — achieving both by large margins," CEO Ernest Garcia wrote in a letter to shareholders. "We have said that we believe the biggest driver of our results for the foreseeable future will be our execution, and we still believe it."

The online used-car retailer forecasted full-year adjusted EBITDA of $2.7 billion to $3 billion, with the midpoint below the Bloomberg Consensus estimate of $2.99 billion.

Barclays auto analyst John Babcock commented on the earnings:

2Q26 Review: Guidance not as hoped, but we think there is more upside risk

CVNA 2Q26 adj. EBITDA below Barclays, just above Street. 2026 EBITDA guidance ($2.7-$3.0bn) in-line to below Street forecasts and likely disappointed investors seeking upside levers. However, we think there is more upside risk to our forecasts. We maintain OW rating with new PT of $93.

Carvana shares fell about 8% in premarket trading. The year-to-date decline through Wednesday's close stands at around 21.5%. The stock has remained range-bound for 13 months, repeatedly bouncing between resistance near $80 and support around $60.

Here is what other Wall Street desks are saying, courtesy of Bloomberg:

Bloomberg Intelligence

• "Carvana is likely to favor market-share gains over near-term margin expansion in 2H as management prioritizes scale, inventory and customer reach"
• "Lower customer financing rates are supporting demand but weighing on near-term economics before inventory fully catches up and conversion improves"

Morgan Stanley (overweight, PT to $90 from $102)

• Following results, trimming estimates on lighter financing gross profit per unit (GPU)
• "Every GPU-specific question was met with directional color, and management declined to offer quarter-specific or line-item- specific guidance"

JPMorgan (overweight, PT $100)

• Carvana reported a mixed quarter, with 2H forecast looking conservative with operational constraints easing.
• Shares are lower as "the company cycles past a combination of internal, external, and tougher y/y comparisons that have impacted the y/y margin profile"

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 10:30

DeepSeek Pauses Fundraising After Founder's Remarks Leaked

Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times,

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has paused a second fundraising round after founder Liang Wenfeng’s remarks at a conference circulated online, including a statement that the company could obtain some processors he described as “noncompliant.”

Liang made the remarks during a May 20 closed-door investor meeting on why DeepSeek was receiving fewer Huawei processors than China’s major internet companies. The transcript of the meeting was shared online and posted on GitHub on July 22.

“For us, we can buy some noncompliant cards,” he said.

He did not identify the chips, suppliers, purchasing route, or rules he was referring to.

DeepSeek has not publicly confirmed the transcript. Chinese state media National Business Daily reported that institutions involved in investing in the company confirmed that the meeting occurred and the transcript’s content was accurate.

Bloomberg reported on July 25 that DeepSeek representatives verbally told some prospective investors they would not be signing agreements in the coming days. Discussions continued, and the company could resume the fundraising process later, they said.

DeepSeek was seeking a valuation of about 500 billion yuan ($74 billion) after raising approximately $7.4 billion in its first outside financing round. The pause was driven partly by Liang’s frustration over online reports about his comments to investors, according to Bloomberg.

Chip Access

Liang described advanced processors as DeepSeek’s most valuable use of capital.

He said the company would be willing to turn all available funding into Nvidia chips and pay a premium if enough hardware could be obtained.

“The best thing would be to turn all the money into cards,” he said, using an industry term for graphics processing units (GPUs), the processors used to train and run advanced artificial intelligence models.

Liang said spending 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) on processors during the year would represent an exceptional performance by DeepSeek’s purchasing team. Nvidia B200 processors would be worth buying in any available quantity at a reasonable price, he added.

The remarks come as Washington continues to examine how DeepSeek obtained its computing hardware.

In April 2025, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said DeepSeek appeared to use tens of thousands of Nvidia processors that are restricted from export to China.

The committee separately asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for records concerning DeepSeek’s acquisition of export-controlled chips, including communications with customers in China and Southeast Asia.

The committee’s findings did not establish that the processors Liang called “noncompliant” were Nvidia products or identify how DeepSeek obtained them.

U.S. controls have continued to evolve. In guidance issued on May 31, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said a license is required to export covered advanced computing items to companies headquartered in China or whose parent companies are based there—even when the immediate recipient is located in another country.

Compute Gap

DeepSeek drew global attention in January 2025 after releasing lower-cost models that appeared to challenge assumptions about how much computing power companies needed to compete with leading U.S. developers.

Investor concern that less expensive models could reduce demand for costly data centers and processors drove Nvidia shares down nearly 17 percent in one trading session, wiping almost $594 billion from the company’s market value.

Liang’s private account described limits that DeepSeek’s engineering efficiencies had not eliminated.

He said the company possessed computing power equivalent to approximately 20,000 Nvidia H-series processors. Liang did not specify which H-series model he used for the comparison and said much of the equipment had arrived recently or was still awaiting installation.

Even if DeepSeek spent 50 billion yuan ($7 billion), it could not train a model at the scale of the largest U.S. systems, he said.

Liang estimated that such a training run would require approximately 50,000 Nvidia GB300 processors or 200,000 Huawei Ascend 950 processors. That figure did not include the numerous experiments needed before a final model-training run, he said.

He put Chinese developers one to two years behind their U.S. competitors while operating with about a 20th of the computing resources.

Chinese companies could outperform U.S. rivals in selected tasks through engineering efficiency, Liang said, but could not achieve broad superiority while the hardware gap remained so large.

Hardware is not DeepSeek’s only constraint.

Liang said roughly half of the company’s core researchers were working on data annotation—the process of reviewing and correcting material used to refine an artificial intelligence model after its initial training.

He said U.S. developers OpenAI and Anthropic had accumulated an advantage in high-quality post-training data that additional funding could not quickly erase.

Huawei’s Limits

Huawei has become central to Beijing’s effort to reduce China’s dependence on Nvidia and other U.S. semiconductor companies.

Liang said Huawei was allocating DeepSeek about 16,000 Ascend 950 processors, while major Chinese internet companies were receiving allocations in the hundreds of thousands.

DeepSeek’s allocation would provide computing power equivalent to about 4,000 Nvidia B-series processors, by Liang’s estimate.

That would be enough for DeepSeek’s current model generation but not its next one, he said.

Liang said four Huawei processors were needed to match the computing capacity of one Nvidia processor. He also estimated that Nvidia hardware could remain economically useful for about five years, compared with no more than three years for Huawei processors.

Huawei systems would become more expensive to operate as they aged because of their electricity consumption, he said.

Production capacity posed another problem. Huawei could not provide enough processors to satisfy demand from both DeepSeek and China’s major internet companies, according to Liang.

He said DeepSeek was purchasing the Huawei processors partly to help Huawei improve its chip and software ecosystem, even though the allocation was too small to train DeepSeek’s next model.

DeepSeek was also developing software intended to make its models easier to move among Nvidia, Huawei, and other processors. Nvidia’s Compute Unified Device Architecture, its widely adopted programming platform, has made switching hardware costly because developers have built years of software and expertise around it.

Liang also described lower prices as a way for Chinese developers to compete despite their hardware disadvantage. DeepSeek could accept smaller margins than U.S. rivals, he said, while companies trying to operate its publicly released models independently would struggle to match its costs.

Before the May meeting opened to investor questions, the moderator said Liang had disclosed sensitive information and instructed participants not to circulate figures—including processor quantities—or share recordings and screenshots outside the meeting.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 10:15

US Grows Only 1.5% In Q2, Badly Missing Estimates, Despite Strong Spending, Investment

The US economy grew at a far weaker than expected pace in the second quarter despite a pickup in consumer spending and solid business investment. According to the BEA, GDP (inflation adjusted) rose just 1.5% in the period, according to the first estimate issued Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was well below the 2.0% median estimate. 

The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the second quarter were increases in consumer spending, investment, and exports that were partly offset by a decrease in government spending. A decline in volatile net exports masked strength in underlying demand as imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased. Consumer spending, which comprises about two-thirds of economic activity, rose at a 3.2% rate. Business investment continued to boom amid a debt-fueled rush to invest in artificial intelligence.

A closer look at the underlying data:

• Business investment remained a key driver of growth in the second quarter. The massive AI investment push continued to play a critical role as did demand for industrial and transportation equipment. After the Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, Chairman Kevin Warsh described the economy’s resilience as “impressive” but noted its “most striking” feature is the strength of business investment. 

  • The GDP report showed nonresidential fixed investment rose at an 8.4% pace. Investment in industrial equipment surged by the most since 2011, and outlays for transportation equipment jumped by the most in two years. Information processing equipment and software outlays rose at a strong, albeit slower rate. 

• Net exports subtracted a percentage point from the calculation of GDP in the second quarter. That likely reflected a mix of factors, including efforts to get goods into the country before a new wave of tariffs and the rapid pace of capital investment. 
• Inventories stripped an additional 0.67% from GDP, suggesting many businesses drew down their inventories during the war.
• Federal government outlays declined, reflecting sales of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to the report. But because sales of the oil are reflected in other components of GDP, there is “no direct effect” on GDP. Even so, spending on national defense increased amid the war with Iran. 

Meanwhile, the strength in household outlays was fueled by spending on durable goods like furnishings and motor vehicles. Within services, consumers ramped up outlays on discretionary categories like recreation and food services and accommodation. 

Because swings in trade can distort GDP, economists pay close attention to a narrower metric of underlying demand known as final sales to private domestic purchasers that excludes net exports, changes in inventories and government spending. This measure climbed 3.9% in the second quarter, more than double the first quarter pace and the strongest since early 2023.

As Bloomberg notes, the latest data highlight an economy that’s so far powering through the fallout of the Iran war, while getting the benefit of a historic credit-fueled spending spree behind AI spending. While the conflict has pushed prices higher and weighed on sentiment, a slide in gasoline costs at the end of the quarter alongside higher-than-usual tax refunds and sales promotions helped support household spending.

As reported earlier, more up to date data released on Thursday showed inflation-adjusted consumer spending climbed a robust 0.4% in June, matching the strongest since July 2025. The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation - the personal consumption expenditures price index - fell 0.1% last month. Excluding food and energy, the index rose less than forecast. 

Looking ahead, Bloomberg notes that the recent flare-up in the Middle East and President Donald Trump’s new tariffs underscore the uncertainty around the outlook. Though the US central bank opted to keep rates unchanged on Wednesday, three policymakers voted to raise borrowing costs amid above-target inflation.

But with layoffs limited, economists generally expect consumer spending to stabilize in the second half of the year. Executives at companies like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Levi Strauss & Co. have underscored shoppers’ resilience, even as some like PepsiCo Inc. and General Mills Inc. have noted that Americans are growing more discerning in their spending.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 10:00

The tea is piping hot as “Virtual Reali-Tea” co-hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real are recapping “Next Gen NYC” season 2, episode 6, and the explosive midseason trailer. Ariana Biermann’s love “rectangle” was exposed, as VRT exclusively received confirmation about her hook-up with Charlie Zakkour. Emira D’Spain gives Charlie a second chance and Gia Giudice...

The tea is piping hot as “Virtual Reali-Tea” co-hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real are recapping “Next Gen NYC” season 2, episode 6, and the explosive midseason trailer. Ariana Biermann’s love “rectangle” was exposed, as VRT exclusively received confirmation about her hook-up with Charlie Zakkour. Emira D’Spain gives Charlie a second chance and Gia Giudice...

Leto's agency WME is standing by him following a BBC documentary where multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, which he denied.

Hollywood studios are increasingly giving preferential treatment to non-journalists with large social media followings.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made it crystal clear that he wants maverick Sen. John Fetterman to remain a Democrat even though progressives have been howling over him.

Hormuz Ship Traffic Edges Higher, But Kpler Warns Gulf Crude Exports Remain Impaired

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slightly increased as US-Iran negotiations remained ongoing in an effort to restore peace after the memorandum of understanding collapsed amid two weeks of tit-for-tat strikes, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, who provided no further details.

Still, the security situation in the Gulf deteriorated overnight after the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran following attacks on US forces in Jordan. Additionally, reports emerged that a US-owned LNG vessel was struck at an Egyptian port.

Bloomberg cited Kpler data showing that fourteen commodity vessels transited the Hormuz chokepoint in both directions on Wednesday, up from single digits the previous week.

Kpler wrote on X:

Hormuz shipping bottleneck endures

A four-day pause in US strikes on Iran has done little to restore Middle East Gulf crude exports. Confirmed clearance remained close to recent lows, while Gulf loading activity fell by more than half for the first time in six weeks. The crude backlog has shifted between the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman rather than disappeared. Persistent maritime security risks, war risk insurance costs and Iranian interdiction now appear to be the main barriers. Offshore ship to ship transfers are helping manage inventories, but not expanding export capacity. For energy markets, physical shipping data remain a clearer measure of supply conditions than geopolitical headlines.

Hormuz shipping bottleneck endures

A four day pause in US strikes on Iran has done little to restore Middle East Gulf crude exports. Confirmed clearance remained close to recent lows, while Gulf loading activity fell by more than half for the first time in six weeks. The crude… pic.twitter.com/e9aZ5cfGCP

— Kpler (@Kpler) July 30, 2026

Qatar's Al Areesh exited the Persian Gulf carrying the country's first LNG shipment in three weeks, while a supertanker was provisionally booked at nearly $500,000 a day to load Gulf crude for China.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said about 6.5 million barrels of oil a day moved through the strait over the past week with US support.

"We are using the United States military to escort out oil and gas out of the Strait of Hormuz,” Wright told Bloomberg Radio, saying about 6.5 million barrels of oil a day exited the Gulf via the strait over the past week. "We are restoring supplies of global oil and refined products to the world out of that region."

Maritime Chokepoint Developments:

Strait of Hormuz

• A Norwegian-flagged products tanker appears to be preparing to exit
• Two Iran-linked Suezmaxes, Chloe and Kariz, sailed into the strait and are now idling off Iran's Bandar Abbas
• Very large crude carrier Jamaica Prosperity was provisionally fixed by the shipping unit of a Chinese charterer to pick up a Persian Gulf cargo on Aug. 3 at 465 Worldscale points, or nearly $500,000 per day

Southern Red Sea

• Twenty-one commodity vessels crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait in either direction on Wednesday, compared to 38 a day earlier: Kpler
• Only Russian crude left via the chokepoint, totaling about 3.5 million barrels, although some vessels may have transited with transponders off
• South Korean-controlled VLCC V Glory seen approaching Gulf of Aden recently before going dark; Saudi-flagged Samha seen doing so on Thursday
• On Wednesday, some ships were provisionally booked to load from Yanbu in August, with the option of exiting via Bab el- Mandeb to reach South Korea

Northern Red Sea

• Two LNG carriers were struck late Wednesday at Egypt's Damietta port near the mouth of the Suez Canal; no one has claimed responsibility yet
• Japanese-flagged VLCC Takamatsu Maru is the latest to divert to Egypt's Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean coast as a destination from US previously; ship is currently southeast of Africa
• Bidbid and VL Prosperity have arrived at and loading from Sidi Kerir, with previously reported destinations in Asia
• Three VLCCs — Olympic Luck, DHT Gazelle and DHT Mustang — that departed Yanbu are currently idling off Sidi Kerir with no clear destination

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 09:30