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At a moment when half of corporate America is talking about replacing workers with AI, Jamie Dimon flew to Philadelphia and said something different. The country doesn’t have enough welders. It doesn’t have enough electricians. And the ones it does have are getting old.Dimon spoke from the Philadelphia Navy Yard on July 15, where JPMorgan Chase announced a $24 million investment into the city’s shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing sector. The money matters, but what he said about the workforce is the bigger story.What Jamie Dimon said about America’s skilled worker shortage”We need 300,000 electricians, welders, etc. to build ships in the next five or 10 years,” Dimon told CNBC.”We hear from clients all the time, they don’t have the workers they need. That could be welders, electricians. A lot of those folks are near retirement age,” he added, according to The Wall Street Journal.JPMorgan’s own research arm puts the demand at 250,000 new skilled shipbuilding workers over the next decade, according to JPMorgan. McKinsey looked at Labor Department data and got a similar number. And 27% of people currently doing these jobs are already 55 or older. The pipeline coming behind them is nowhere near big enough.This is the part of the labor market that doesn’t make many headlines. AI gets the attention. The skilled trades shortage is quieter, but in industries that depend on physical work, it’s just as serious.Why skilled trades pay $80,000 to $100,000 without a college degreeDimon made a specific pitch on July 15 that went beyond the workforce crisis. He described skilled trades as a path to real money without a college degree or college debt.”It fits what we call the American dream,” he told reporters. “Getting kids skills or all workers’ skills that they have jobs that could pay 80-, 90-, $100,000 a year after you know a year or two of training. This lifts up America. It helps build the defense industry.”More Layoffs:Meta layoffs take disturbing turn in new lawsuitMajor snack brand closes plant, cuts 345 jobsJPMorgan Chase pushes fraud division layoffs, despite rising revenuesApprenticeships in the skilled trades often pay workers while they train. That’s the opposite of college, where you pay tuition while you learn and hope the job offers afterward justify the debt. A welder or electrician who completes an apprenticeship program can reach six figures in their mid-twenties with no student loans.The comparison to white-collar careers has gotten more relevant as AI continues to displace knowledge work. Programming, data analysis, writing, basic legal work, all of these are being automated or compressed. A welder is still a welder. The job is physical, it requires skill that takes years to develop, and no language model can do it remotely.Why America is running out of welders, electricians and skilled trade workersThe shortage didn’t happen overnight. Baby boomers filled the shipyards through the late 20th century. As that generation aged, fewer younger workers followed them in. Millennials were pushed toward four-year degrees. The perception that trades were blue-collar, unstable, and less prestigious drove a generational exit from exactly the careers the economy still needs most.The numbers show how far it’s gone. The American merchant fleet is down to fewer than 190 flagged vessels from a peak of nearly 3,000 in the 1960s. Hampton Roads in Virginia currently has a shortage of 10,000 shipyard workers. That figure is expected to grow to 40,000 by 2030, according to Yahoo Finance.Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest military shipbuilder in the country, invests more than $110 million annually in workforce development just to keep up. HII hired over 1,600 shipbuilders in Q1 2026 alone and said its apprentice schools are now at full enrollment. That pace of hiring reflects genuine demand, but also how thin the existing pipeline is.

Apprenticeships in the skilled trades often pay workers while they trainFengguo/Getty Images

JPMorgan’s $24 million workforce investment and what it fundsOf the $24 million JPMorgan committed on July 15, $18 million comes in the form of loans and investments and $6 million as philanthropic grants. The largest piece is a $13 million New Markets Tax Credit equity investment in Rhoads Industries, which supplies General Dynamics Electric Boat’s submarine program, to fund a new 95,000-square-foot manufacturing and assembly facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.The remaining $6 million in grants goes to three organizations: $2.4 million to the Greater Philadelphia Growth Partnership to build a regional employer and training collaborative, $2 million to the Skills Initiative at University City District to expand non-degree workforce pathways for roughly 300 people, and $1.5 million jointly to PIDC Community Capital and the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center to help up to 100 maritime suppliers, according to Yahoo Finance.Jay Horine, who oversees JPMorgan’s Security and Resiliency Initiative, said Philadelphia is a starting point for expanding support to other U.S. shipyards. The firm also expanded the program into Europe this year.Why skilled trade jobs are now more attractive than college degrees for many AmericansThe workforce story Dimon is telling isn’t just about shipbuilding. It’s about a broader realignment that’s already underway. The jobs that AI is most disrupting are the white-collar ones that a college degree was supposed to protect. The jobs that AI can’t touch, and that the economy urgently needs, are increasingly in the skilled trades.A welder at a Navy shipyard making $90,000 a year with no student debt is, by some measures, in a better financial position than a knowledge worker who spent four years and $120,000 getting a degree, according to College Board data, that now competes against a chatbot.Dimon’s point at the Philadelphia Navy Yard wasn’t subtle. The country needs workers. The jobs are there. The pay is real. And the generation that’s supposed to fill those roles is largely unaware the opportunity exists. That’s the gap JPMorgan is trying to close with its $24 million, and that Dimon is trying to close by standing in front of a camera and saying it out loud.Related: Verizon CEO sends shocking message to employees

Nike’s restructuring, which it launched in April 2026, has already led to several store closings, layoffs, and an exit from a business partnership.And now the popular sneaker company has closed two more locations on opposite sides of the country as part of its national retail strategy, according to the company.

Nike has closed its retail stores in Cary, N.C., and San Jose, Calif., as part of its national retail strategy.Shutterstock

Nike closes two more store locationsNike abruptly closed its store in the Fenton shopping center at 4 Fenton Main St., Suite 140, in Cary, N.C., weeks earlier than expected, the shopping center told The News & Observer.”The store, which opened in June 2022, was originally expected to remain open through July 31 but closed earlier than planned as part of Nike’s broader national retail strategy,” the shopping center said in an email to The News & Observer on July 16.”Fenton appreciates Nike’s partnership and remains committed to providing guests with a strong mix of retail, dining, entertainment, and community experiences,” the email said.Nike sends 7-day closure messagesNike’s website listing for the Fenton store location posted a message, “Closed for the next 7 days.” It did not say whether the store would reopen after 7 days. The shopping center has a strong leasing interest in the former Nike space and will share updates as they become available, a spokesperson said.Consumers in the Raleigh, N.C., area may still shop at a nearby Nike Factory Store at Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield, N.C., according to the company’s locator on its website.Nike also closed its store in the upscale Santana Row shopping district of San Jose, Calif., the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. The sneaker company did not reveal its final day of operation at the San Jose store, but the Santana Row shop’s Nike webpage also posted the message, “Closed for the next 7 days.”Similar to its Cary message, Nike did not say whether the San Jose store would reopen after 7 days.”When a tenant’s needs change, it gives us the opportunity to refresh the property and bring in new, exciting concepts that reflect where retail and our guests are headed next,” said Collette Navarrette, senior director of marketing for Santana Row’s operator Federal Realty told the Business Journal.Nike has not revealed the number of stores it plans to close in its national retail strategy.Nike launched restructuring in April 2026 As part of a restructuring launched in April 2026, Nike has adjusted its business model, eliminating certain areas of its business. The company discontinued its Nike Fitness Studios venture, which it launched with gym partner FitLab in 2023, Athletech News reported.“After careful consideration, the majority of the Nike Studios locations will be transitioning to FitLab’s owned portfolio of fitness brands,” FitLab co-founder and co-CEO Brian Kirkbride said in a statement to Athletech News.Kirkbride said Nike Studios would transition to its brands, including yoga brand Y7, small-group strength training brand Racked, Mile High Run Club and XPT, a performance wellness brand founded by Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece.Retailer closes tech officesNike also closed its tech offices in three locations and consolidated operations into two hubs: its Oregon headquarters and the Nike India Technology Center, according to Inc. The closures were tied to about 1,400 layoffs across Nike’s Global Operations team, just under 2 percent of its global workforce.As part of the retail strategy, Nike’s sneaker chain permanently closed a 55,000 square-foot retail location in January which occupied the former 1853 Prescott House Hotel in New York, according to HypeBeast. The company said it planned to move the store to a nearby location, TheStreet’s Daniel Kline reported.Latest Nike store closings:Fenton shopping center, 4 Fenton Main St., Suite 140, in Cary, N.C., July 2026. Santana Row, 333 Santana Row, Suite 1000, San Jose, Calif., July 2026.Related: Specialty candy company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushed for and ultimately signed legislation for the renaming, the full name of West Palm Beach International Airport was officially changed to President Donald J. Trump International Airport at the start of July.Signage donning the current President’s name was put up immediately while the airport code used for booking and ticketing will change from PBI to DJT in August 2026.Given both the far-right politics of the Trump administration and the fact that airports are not traditionally named after living presidents, the move proved immediately controversial. Several protests have taken place along the highway leading up to the airport that serves the area where Trump has his Mar-A-Lago estate while the airport also received hundreds of emails letters from travelers vowing not to fly through it again.United Airlines to refund travelers who would rather not fly from Trump AirportAmid large numbers of travelers choosing to boycott the airport, United Airlines is reportedly allowing travelers who already have booked flights to or from Palm Beach International to change or refund their booking even if their fare class would otherwise not allow for it.As first reported by aviation website Live And Let’s Fly, reservation agents have been instructed to allow travelers to switch their flight either to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) or Miami International (MIA) which are both within an hour’s drive from the smaller regional airport serving both the smaller city popular with working professionals and the Palm Beach gated community where many ultra-wealthy residents have winter homes.Related: Another airline cuts U.S. flights due to low demand”If a customer does not want to fly to the airport, use your empowerment to offer acceptable alternatives such as Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) or Miami International Airport (MIA),” a memo with instructions for how agents should respond to customers who do not want to fly through PBI reads. The guidance also provides a suggestion of a verbal response to travelers: “I understand that you’d rather not fly to this airport anymore. We can look at nearby airports like Fort Lauderdale or Miami instead. Is that an acceptable alternative?”After the story of the internal memo broke, United retreated somewhat by confirming that it had been offering this type of guidance to its agents but calling how the message was portrayed as “poorly worded and not accurate.”

Scott Kirby has led United Airlines since May 2020.TheStreet

United responds, says policy “does not allow for changes because of an airport’s name””United customers are able to make changes to a ticket without a fee for many reasons,” a United spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. “However, our policy doesn’t allow for changes because of an airport’s name or three letter code.”More Travel News:Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.There is a very cool Irish version of swimming pigs in the BahamasUnexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026Low-cost airline launches easier way to get to Sri LankaChanges of airport when a fare class would otherwise not allow for them are generally subject to availability and the discretion of the airline; as a result, the airline could always fall back on the fact that it is offering travelers a courtesy when there are extra seats on an alternative flight or refuse by leaning into its policy.The guidance also said that the conversation should be presented as an even exchange between the passenger and the agent, with the agent trying to find an acceptable alternative rather than forcing the issue of needing to fly out of PBI.Related: France’s World Cup team under fire for its airline choice

The internet map of the world is not drawn by engineers. It is drawn by lawyers, by regulators, and by whoever is willing to sign the local paperwork.A rocket can reach any patch of ground on Earth. A license cannot. That gap between what a technology can do and what a government will let it do is where the satellite internet war is actually being fought, and it rarely goes to whoever owns the most satellites.For most of the past decade, that war looked settled. SpaceX (SPCX) turned Starlink into the default choice for anyone living past the last mile of cable, stacked thousands of satellites overhead, and rode that lead into the largest public offering in market history.Rivals talked. Starlink shipped. Anywhere with open skies and open rules, Musk’s network got there first.Anywhere with open rules. That qualifier is doing quiet, heavy work, and it is exactly where Amazon (AMZN) just found its opening.Amazon Leo, the retail giant’s low-orbit satellite network, has signed a deal to bring internet to South Africa through Herotel, the country’s largest fixed internet service provider, under a new consumer brand called evry. It is Amazon Leo’s first agreement of this kind in Africa, and it drops the company into a market Starlink still cannot legally enter.

Amazon Leo will launch satellite internet in South Africa through Herotel in 2027.ZINYANGE AUNTONY / Getty Images

How Amazon slipped past the licensing wallThe mechanics are the whole story. Amazon is not trying to sell satellite internet to South Africans directly. It is selling capacity to Herotel, a licensed local operator that already holds the paperwork and already runs the ground game.Herotel serves more than 350,000 active customers across over 550 towns, with 120 local offices handling installs and support, according to Amazon. Those offices will run evry from day one.Amazon supplies the sky. Herotel supplies the license, the trucks and the customer service. Its chief executive said the service will reach people that even fiber and fixed wireless cannot, and that with it, “it no longer matters where you live,” according to Amazon.More Telecommunications:T-Mobile puts new limits on 2 wireless offers for customersAmazon is finally taking the fight to StarlinkVerizon pays BT $625M in telecom shakeupThat structure sidesteps the exact problem that has frozen Starlink for years. Amazon Leo’s satellites orbit roughly 590 kilometers up, close enough to carry video calls, streaming and remote work, Amazon said. Customers connect through a compact antenna, with no fiber needed at the home.The company is not stopping at home internet, either. Amazon Leo is also working with the network firm Vanu to push cellular coverage into rural South Africa, according to Amazon. evry itself is expected to launch commercially in 2027.What struck me when I mapped the deal against Starlink’s playbook is how differently the two companies chose to enter the same continent. Starlink wants to be the operator.Amazon is content to be the wholesaler standing behind a local one. In a market built to protect local ownership, the wholesaler walks in the front door.Related: AT&T may be left out of the Starlink deal everyone wantsWhy Starlink still can’t crack South AfricaSouth Africa’s block is not technical, and it is not really a ban. It is an ownership rule.The country’s Electronic Communications Act requires telecom license holders to be at least 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups, a core plank of Black Economic Empowerment, the post-apartheid policy known as BEE. SpaceX has refused to hand over that equity in any market, and it has never actually filed a South African license application, according to Snopes.Musk, who was born in South Africa, has made the standoff personal. He said Starlink cannot get a license there “because I’m not Black,” according to Snopes, and has called the ownership rules openly racist.South African officials counter that the service was never banned and would be welcome if it followed local law. The standoff sits in what one South African telecom analysis called “a genuine stalemate,” according to FastestFibre.There was supposed to be a way out. In December 2025 the communications minister proposed letting foreign firms invest in local projects instead of ceding equity, but the country’s regulator reaffirmed in May 2026 that it cannot bypass the ownership rule without Parliament amending the law itself, according to FastestFibre. That amendment has not been tabled.Here is the part that reframes the whole race. While the fight played out on X, Starlink quietly switched on service all around the border. The connectivity gap Amazon just stepped into is wide, and the numbers are blunt:Starlink operates in more than 20 African countries, including the neighbors Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe, but not South Africa, according to Connecting Africa.South Africa’s regulator reaffirmed in May 2026 that it cannot waive the 30% ownership rule without Parliament changing the law, according to FastestFibre.Amazon Leo has more than 390 satellites in orbit, enough to begin initial service this year, according to Amazon.Nearly a quarter of southern Africa’s population sits outside any network coverage, a gap that could unlock up to $16.9 billion in yearly economic value, according to an Access Partnership report cited by Amazon.SpaceX has since pledged about $145.6 million in local investment to try to satisfy the rules. The paperwork still has not moved.Amazon did not wait for the rules to change. It found a partner the rules already approved.What the South Africa deal means for Amazon investorsFor Amazon shareholders, evry will not move the needle on next quarter’s revenue. A single satellite deal with one African internet provider is a rounding error against a company Amazon’s size. The signal underneath it is the part worth pricing in.Amazon Leo just proved it can enter a market Starlink is locked out of, and it did so with a model that travels. Ownership-restricted telecom regimes are common across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.Every one of them is a place where a wholesale deal with a licensed local carrier beats a foreign operator demanding to run the whole show itself. If Amazon can copy the Herotel move a dozen times, the idea that satellite internet is a one-horse race stops holding up.The prize is not small, either. More than 18 million South Africans still lack high-speed internet, and evry is aimed straight at the farms and small towns fiber never reached. That is a first-mover position in a wealthy, wired-but-unequal economy, handed to Amazon while its rival argues about principle.My analysis of the two rollout timelines is where the honesty comes in. evry goes commercial in 2027, and Starlink’s own earliest legal path into South Africa lands around the same window if Parliament acts.Amazon has not beaten Starlink onto South African rooftops yet. What it has done is beat Starlink to a signed deal and a clear, legal route in, while its rival has neither.That is the quieter lesson for anyone holding either stock. The satellite race has been priced as a contest of rockets, launch cadence and hardware in orbit. This deal is a reminder that the next round turns on something far less glamorous, which is who is willing to share the upside with the countries they want to serve.Musk has staked a principle on refusing. Amazon just showed what the other answer buys you, and it bought Africa’s most industrialized economy first.Related: Starlink just notched a win U.S. investors should watch

For decades, experience on the job was seen as the key to a stable career and retirement. Artificial intelligence is changing that for millions of Americans aged 55 and older who hold office jobs.New findings from a leading retirement research center show that older workers in AI-exposed occupations are leaving their jobs at an accelerating rate.The departures look far more like involuntary displacement than voluntary early retirement, and the data tells a striking story.The AI-exposed occupations where older worker exits are surgingOlder workers in high-AI-exposure occupations have become significantly more likely to leave their jobs since ChatGPT launched in late 2022.The finding comes from a June 2026 issue brief by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, authored by economist Geoffrey Sanzenbacher.Sanzenbacher combined federal labor data from the Current Population Survey with AI exposure scores developed by Tufts University’s Digital Planet Initiative to track workforce transitions.Before generative AI tools entered the mainstream, older workers in exposed occupations were less likely to leave their jobs than peers in lower-exposure roles.That advantage eroded after late 2022, with a meaningful share of the increase in exits driven by transitions into unemployment rather than retirement, the study showed.”It’s a statistically significant effect,” Sanzenbacher told CNBC. “For some occupations, it can be quite large.”The study measured AI exposure based on how effectively the technology can perform an occupation’s specific tasks, combining three separate assessments of AI capabilities.Computer programmers saw job exit rates increase by more than 25% in the study period after ChatGPT’s release in late 2022, compared with the pre-2022 baseline drawn from 2014-2022 data.Accountants and auditors experienced a comparable surge, with exits climbing above 22%, according to the Boston College brief.At the other end of the spectrum, painters, whose work involves physical tasks with minimal AI overlap, recorded only about a 2% increase.AI’s disruption of older careers complicates Social Security reform proposalsThe findings have direct implications for a closely watched policy debate: whether to raise Social Security’s retirement age to shore up program finances.The trust fund supporting retirement benefits could be depleted by 2032 unless lawmakers act, the most recent trustees’ report projected.More AI:Goldman Sachs has a blunt message for AI stock investorsMicrosoft CEO sends a blunt warning on AI and the tech ecosystemThe next AI infrastructure race has nothing to do with chipsCongress last raised the threshold in 1983, when lawmakers gradually increased the full retirement age from 65 to 67 as part of broader reforms.”There’s a high probability that higher-income people see a bigger benefit cut than lower-income people from whatever happens with Social Security next,” Sanzenbacher told CNBC. “These are the very people who therefore need to work longer,” he said.

AI-driven job disruption may undermine proposals to raise Social Security’s retirement age as lawmakers confront the program’s looming funding shortfall.Charday Penn/Getty Images

AARP data shows older workers view AI with a mix of fear and optimismAmong 1,015 U.S. adults aged 50 and older in the labor force who were surveyed in March 2026, about 24% described AI as a threat to their line of work, AARP research found.Another 19% called it an opportunity, and 37% said it represented both a threat and an opportunity simultaneously.Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer at AARP, stressed during a May 28, 2026, media briefing that as older workers face accelerating job displacement due to AI, the financial safety net they rely on must remain intact.With prices rising for everyday essentials like groceries, housing, utilities, and health care, current and future retirees are counting on Social Security now more than ever. The bottom line is that Social Security is the critical foundation of retirement security that Americans have earned through a lifetime of hard work, paying in with every paycheck. It must be strengthened and protectedA joint report from AARP and LinkedIn found that nearly half of older workers occupy roles insulated from generative AI disruption, compared with 42.2% of younger workers.Career experts urge AI literacy paired with soft skills for older professionalsMonster’s 2026 WorkWatch Report, based on a survey of 1,504 U.S. workers conducted in December 2025, found that 42% do not use AI at all, suggesting broad disengagement from the technology.Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster, recommended that older professionals build familiarity with AI tools their employer uses while doubling down on soft skills.”When you can show you possess strong soft skills coupled with the ability to evolve and grow with new technology, it can be a green light for your candidacy,” Salemi told CNBC.A January 2026 Urban Institute brief reinforced that view, noting that older workers bring critical thinking, problem-solving, and ethical oversight essential to responsible AI integration.The career-length gap between white-collar and blue-collar jobs may be shrinkingPhysically demanding jobs have long led to earlier exits, while office-based roles with higher education requirements have supported longer working lives.If AI continues pushing older knowledge workers out at elevated rates, that longstanding advantage could diminish, even as high-exposure occupations retain lower exit rates.The Boston College brief cautions that as policymakers consider changes to Social Security requiring longer careers, they should be aware that AI may be pushing some older workers in the opposite direction.Related: Workers just sent AI companies an ultimatum

The first significant over-the-air (OTA) software update has begun rolling out for the Rivian R2, adding key features like Launch Mode, Pet Comfort, Gear Guard, and a host of other improvements.While the new features and enhancements are welcome, Rivian (RIVN) is emerging as one of the only Tesla (TSLA) rivals with truly software-defined vehicles. Rivian is adopting a popular Tesla strategy of consistently improving a vehicle via software, with minimal disruption to customers.As Rivian rapidly ramps up production of the R2, its first vehicle outside the full-size segment, software could become one of its key competitive advantages.

Rivian is taking direct aim at Tesla with new R2 software.Rivian

Rivian follows Tesla’s playbookRivian began deliveries of the R2 in June, but the SUV is already receiving a major OTA update. The update introduces a range of fresh features and fixes for the vehicle without owners needing to visit a dealership.While many automakers offer software updates, Tesla has used these more frequently to improve the ownership experience and keep vehicles feeling fresh.More Automotive:Tesla’s Model Y just got a sharper Rivian threatRivian’s good news came with a catch investors hateChina is becoming the auto industry’s innovation labThe Tesla Model S sedan was on sale for well over a decade, but regular software updates kept the model feeling new despite few design or hardware changes through the years. These continuous upgrades provide improvements and features that owners of traditional gas-powered models typically need to wait years for when a vehicle undergoes an annual update or mid-cycle refresh.With the R2, a rival for the best-selling Model Y, Rivian is showing that it’s adopting a similar approach. The R2 delivered in June 2026 won’t necessarily be the same vehicle owners get to enjoy several months later.This strategy makes software an integral part of the ownership experience.Software is becoming the new battlegroundSoftware is increasingly becoming the major differentiator in the ownership experience. This is especially true for high-tech EVs, which have fewer distinguishing factors relative to gas-powered vehicles.Through OTA updates, automakers can add new features in less time. Certain vehicle faults can also be remedied via a software update, eliminating the need for customers to bring their vehicles into a dealership.Related: Rivian stock spikes following latest updateRivian’s R2 update immediately fixes a few early issues, such as faulty adaptive high beams and some niggles with the climate controls, music streaming apps, and NFC locking, reports Autoblog.Rivian’s software expertise is strong enough for the VW Group to have established a joint venture with the EV maker. Called RV Tech, the venture will leverage Rivian’s expertise in EV architecture and software for certain VW Group vehicles.While battery and charging technology have long distinguished successful EV brands from niche players, software could become just as valuable.Rivian must now turn software into real growthTop-notch software alone is no guarantee of the R2’s success.Rivian must also overcome the challenges of scaling production, improving margins, and increasing delivery numbers. The automaker must also show that its software platform can meaningfully improve the ownership experience over time. There’s perhaps no better example of how software updates can transform a vehicle than Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving (Supervised) suite, which offers rare point-to-point autonomous driving.That’s the standard Rivian must look to match. The company will also hope to mirror Tesla’s highly efficient production operations, although it’s still some way off achieving that.According to RivianTrackr, VIN assignments for the R2 SUV have exceeded 4,100 units. That doesn’t mean 4,100 vehicles have been produced, but the steep climb relative to a few weeks ago shows that Rivian is steadily ramping up efforts to get the vehicle to customers.If Rivian can successfully emulate Tesla’s blueprint with its first mainstream vehicle, the R2 has a much better chance of succeeding. The vehicle itself has already impressed in early reviews, but creating the same hype and quality-of-life improvements through software is what could elevate it into a legitimate Model Y rival.Related: Tesla’s new SUV could be its smartest profit play yet

Artificial intelligence needs enormous amounts of electricity, and that has turned power companies into some of the most closely watched stocks in the market.Talen Energy (TLN) gave investors a hard number on July 14. The Houston power producer said it had secured about $1.2 billion in revenue for a single year that does not begin until 2028.The stock rose on the news, and Wall Street price targets now sit well above where the shares trade.There is a detail in the announcement that most coverage left out. The price Talen received for its power actually went down compared with last year, which changes what the $1.2 billion really tells you about the AI power boom.What Talen Energy actually locked in with the PJM capacity auctionTalen cleared 10,180 megawatts at $325 per megawatt-day in PJM’s Base Residual Auction for the 2028/2029 planning year, worth approximately $1.208 billion, the company reported in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC. That money covers June 1, 2028, through May 31, 2029.More AI Power Stocks:AI’s energy appetite is reshaping the electric gridChevron and Microsoft bet big on data centersCummins stock makes eye-catching move amid data center shiftA capacity auction is not a sale of electricity. PJM, the grid operator for 13 states and Washington, D.C., pays power producers in advance simply to guarantee their plants will be ready to run when demand peaks. Talen gets paid whether or not the plants actually generate anything.That guaranteed payment gives Talen a minimum level of revenue it can count on, which is unusual for a company whose earnings normally rise and fall with volatile electricity prices.Shares closed at $400.12 on July 15, up 6.10% over five days.

Talen Energy cleared 10,180 megawatts in PJM’s 2028/2029 capacity auction, locking in about $1.208 billion in revenue as AI data centers strain the regional grid.Cheng Xin / Getty Images

Why the auction price tells a different story than the revenueTalen’s capacity revenue jumped roughly 50% from the $805 million it cleared for 2026/2027, but the clearing price did not rise to get there. It fell about 1.3%, from $329.17 to $325 per megawatt-day, SEC filings show.The revenue grew because Talen brought roughly 52% more megawatts to the auction, not because higher prices lifted the value of what it already owned.That distinction matters. If you are buying this stock because you expect PJM capacity prices to keep climbing, this auction did not support that view.Talen grew by buying. It closed on the Freedom and Guernsey gas plants in late 2025 to add about 2.8 gigawatts, then agreed in January to buy three more from Energy Capital Partners for $3.45 billion, Bridgepoint reported.The AI power demand behind Talen’s $1.2 billionTalen’s $1.2 billion depends on AI electricity demand staying strong through 2028, and that demand is measurable today.PJM expects data centers to account for 30 of the next 32 gigawatts of load growth by 2030. Talen is positioned to serve that growth, with about 99% of its capacity inside PJM.Related: Williams just made a $5.5 billion bet amid data center boomIts Susquehanna nuclear plant supplies Amazon Web Services under a 17-year agreement for up to 1,920 megawatts running to 2042, Data Center Dynamics reported.Goldman Sachs analyst Carly Davenport initiated coverage on June 18 with a Buy rating and $499 target, citing that contracted revenue, Investing.com reported.Why the data center buildout is spreading beyond PJMTalen’s bet assumes AI data centers keep expanding. That expansion is no longer limited to the United States, which affects how long this demand cycle can run.Lily Dash, founder of Future Caribbean and co-founder of ACTAI Advisors, told me in a recent interview that construction is already underway across the Caribbean.”There’s a huge, like five gigawatt capacity unit that’s being built in Guyana in terms of data centers,” Dash said. “We have data centers going up in Trinidad. There’s data centers going up in The Bahamas. The data centers are being built.”Underscoring the rapid expansion of AI data center infrastructure across the globe, even into regions that are still considered “undertapped.”Guyana’s oil discovery is supplying powerThe electricity to run those sites is coming from domestic fuel, the same way Talen uses its own gas and nuclear plants in PJM.”Guyana has found a similar amount of oil to the Middle East and Saudi,” Dash said. “So there’s energy.”That matters to Talen investors for one reason. The AI power shortage that makes Talen’s plants valuable is a worldwide condition, not a temporary problem in one American grid.Regions with cheap energy and available land are adding capacity, which supports the long-term demand case and eventually introduces competition.What AI means for jobs, and why that affects power demandThe jobs debate shapes how quickly companies deploy AI, which in turn drives how much electricity they need.Dash pushed back on the assumption that AI agents mainly eliminate work.”In emerging markets like the Caribbean, I would argue that we literally don’t have capacity as it stands,” she said. “Every single organization is hollowed out.”She argued the technology fills gaps rather than replacing staff. “When we do that, we actually might bring on more jobs, more capacity. It will create more demand.”If she is right, AI adoption accelerates instead of stalling on political resistance, and electricity consumption climbs with it. That is the demand curve Talen is selling into in 2028.Where Wall Street’s targets actually sitThe analyst picture is more mixed than the headline suggests.Morgan Stanley: $508, overweightGoldman Sachs: $499, buyScotiabank: $470, sector perform, MarketBeat reportedJefferies: $453, hold, cut from buy in JuneScotiabank’s $470 came with a neutral rating, and Jefferies downgraded on valuation. Two of these four targets sit alongside ratings that stop short of telling you to buy.What has to go right before 2028 arrivesThe $1.2 billion is contracted, but it does not arrive for two years. Four things need to go right before then:Cornerstone closes on schedule. It needs FERC and Indiana approvals, Talen’s 10-K notes.Leverage comes down. Talen targets net debt below 3.5x adjusted EBITDA by year-end 2026 while absorbing about $2.6 billion of new debt.PJM rules hold. High capacity prices flow into consumer bills, inviting FERC intervention.Gas economics cooperate. Near-term earnings still ride on spark spreads.Talen earned $1,035 million in adjusted EBITDA for full-year 2025, according to its earnings release. The 2028 capacity payment is larger than that entire year’s profit. That explains why the stock rose, and why the two-year wait is the main risk.What this means if you are weighing the stockTalen trades 56.6% above its 52-week low and 11.3% below its high of $451.28, Google Finance data shows.Four things to weigh before buying the auction newsThe auction proves demand for capacity is strong. It does not tell you whether $400 is a fair price for the stock today.Revenue arriving in 2028 does nothing for the next four quarters. Until then, earnings depend on natural gas margins.The clearing price fell this year. Do not assume capacity prices only rise.Regulatory risk is real. High capacity prices raise household electricity bills, which draws political attention, and FERC has already faced pressure over PJM pricing.How to think about the trade from hereHere is the simplest way to read what happened. Talen did not get paid more per megawatt this year. It got paid for more megawatts, because it bought additional power plants. Investors rewarded the company for locking in guaranteed revenue, not for a price increase, because there was no price increase.Investors who want exposure to AI power demand without depending on one company can compare how Vistra and Constellation are priced. Both own PJM nuclear plants without carrying Talen’s acquisition debt.What you are actually betting on with TalenAnyone buying Talen specifically is betting on two separate things.The first is that AI electricity demand stays strong through 2028. The evidence currently supports that, both in PJM and in the international buildouts Dash described.The second is that Talen closes its acquisitions, pays down its debt, and reaches 2028 without trouble.The Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the strongest four-year stretch of US electricity demand growth since 2000. The demand is real. What you are accepting is the two-year wait and the debt the company took on to get there.Related: Mark Cuban reveals what people really hate about AI data centers

I have been following the Strait of Hormuz crisis since February 28, when the conflict first began rerouting the global oil trade in ways most investors underestimated. It’s been 139 days.I covered Chevron CEO Mike Wirth’s warning in May, when he said oil price pressure was building and buffers were being drawn down. Now, Chevron is not just warning about the risk. It is building around it.Bloomberg reports that the company expects to sign non-binding accords with Iraq on July 17, covering two major oil fields and, critically, a pipeline that would allow Iraqi crude to reach the Mediterranean without passing through the Strait of Hormuz at all, according to a senior Chevron executive speaking on July 16.Chevron (CVX) closed July 16 at $183.86, up 1.24% on the session, according to Yahoo Finance. This is a strategic move years in the making that the current geopolitical crisis has suddenly made urgent. And for CVX investors watching the July 31 2Q26 earnings report, understanding what Chevron is building in Iraq is important context for how the company is positioning itself for whatever comes next in the Middle East.Also Read: History of Chevron: Company timeline & factsWhy the Strait of Hormuz is the risk Chevron is engineering aroundThe Strait of Hormuz carries approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply. Since the U.S.-Iran conflict began in February, it has been intermittently blocked, causing what the International Energy Agency has called the biggest energy supply disruption in history. Fresh U.S. and Iranian strikes in the past week, ending July 11, have again mostly closed the strait to shipping, according to Bloomberg reporting.The IEA Oil Market Report for May showed that global oil supply declined by a further 1.8 mb/d in April to 95.1 mb/d, taking total losses since February to 12.8 mb/d.More Oil & Gas:Drivers face an unpleasant surprise at the gas pumpU.S. blocks Strait of Hormuz: Here’s what’s next for oil pricesA big shift in the U.S. energy market is about to happenFor Iraq, the consequences have been severe. Iraq Business News reports that Iraq’s crude exports plummeted from 99.8 million barrels in February to just 18.6 million barrels in March, resulting in nearly $4 billion in lost revenue in a single month.Reuters report noted that Iraq was forced to slash oil production by roughly 70% to just 1.3 million barrels per day, from a pre-crisis peak of around 4.3 million barrels per day, because its export vessels could not exit the Persian Gulf.That collapse forced Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi to Washington this week, starting July 12, where he met with President Trump at the White House before traveling to Houston to meet directly with Chevron executives. Trump described “massive” new oil partnerships being announced in the coming days. Chevron’s Friday accord is the first concrete step toward that promise.What Chevron is actually committing toThe July 17 accords are non-binding, and the senior Chevron executive was careful to note that technical studies remain incomplete and commercial terms are “a way from the finish line.” But the strategic direction is clear, and the assets involved are substantial.West Qurna-2 is a super-giant oil field with an estimated 13 -14 billion barrels in recoverable reserves. Bloomberg reports that it currently produces about 460,000 barrels per day, representing about 9% of Iraq’s total oil output, according to Oil & Gas Middle East. Also Read: Chevron Corporation Latest News and StoriesThe field became available to American investors after Russia’s Lukoil was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2025, transferring its interest to Iraqi state entities. Now, Iraq hopes Chevron can nearly double production to 750,000 to 800,000 barrels per day over time.Nasiriyah is a smaller field with significant exploration upside, alongside four exploration blocks in Iraq’s Dhi Qar province being reviewed by Chevron.Related: Chevron surprises investors with eye-catching disclosureChevron is part of a consortium that includes TI Capital and UCC Holding exploring the revival of the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, a 500-mile conduit running from northern Iraq through Syria to the Mediterranean port of Baniyas, according to Bloomberg reporting. Alternative route studies also include a Basra-to-Haditha line branching toward Ceyhan, Turkey, or Baniyas, Syria. Either route achieves Iraqi oil reaching the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal without ever transiting the Persian Gulf. “Chevron wants to make sure it has access to moving cargoes out to the Mediterranean,” the senior company executive said.

Chevron’s U.S. refinery crude throughput set a record in March 2026, maintaining over 1 million barrels per day for the fifth consecutive quarter.F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg via Getty Images

How the MOU fits Chevron’s broader strategy under Mike WirthThe move is consistent with what Wirth has been articulating all year. In the Q1 2026 earnings release, he described Chevron as a fundamentally stronger company, positioned for exactly this kind of geopolitical disruption.Adjusted earnings came in at $2.8 billion, or $1.41 per share dilutedReported earnings of $2.2 billion were lower year over year, primarily due to unfavorable timing effects from derivative mark-to-market, not operational weakness. U.S. production exceeded 2 million oil-equivalent barrels per day for the third consecutive quarter. U.S. refinery crude throughput set a record in March 2026, maintaining over 1 million barrels per day for the fifth consecutive quarter.Wirth noted in the Q1 release that the “unpredictable external environment reinforces the importance of disciplined investment to ensure reliable energy supply and global energy security.” The Iraq accords are that disciplined investment made concrete.CVX is up 22.93% year-to-date against the S&P 500’s 10.05% gain, with a one-year return of 27.78%, according to Yahoo Finance. Q2 earnings are due July 31. Related: Chevron CFO reveals why gas prices are stuckThe Iraq move, depending on how quickly technical studies conclude and commercial terms are negotiated, is a long-dated growth option layered onto a giant already generating strong returns from its U.S. and Gulf of America production growth.My read of the strategic deal is that Chevron is doing what the world’s best energy companies do during periods of maximum supply disruption — securing access to the next generation of reserves. The Hormuz bypass pipeline, if built, would not just solve Iraq’s export problem. It would give Chevron a route to market that no future Strait closure, from any conflict, could shut down.Related: Exxon, Chevron investors cautious after oil news

In the span of a few days in early June, AI and chip stocks lost $1.3 trillion in market value. U.S. semiconductor names got hit hard. Investors who had been riding the AI wave suddenly started asking whether the trade had run too far ahead of reality.Jensen Huang was in Seoul on June 8 for a series of business meetings. Instead of staying quiet, he walked out and told investors what he thought they should do with a down market: buy it.What Jensen Huang said about the AI boom and the stock market sell-off”We’re at the beginning of it, and whatever happened to the stock market, you should be very happy because now you can buy at a discount,” Huang told reporters in Seoul, according to Bloomberg. “Everybody should be very excited.”The trip itself was part of the story. On the same day, Nvidia and SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest memory chip manufacturers and a key supplier to U.S. AI data centers, announced a multi-year partnership to design future generations of AI memory chips. More Nvidia:Bank of America sees Nvidia’s next $20 billion businessMorgan Stanley says Nvidia stock remains top pick despite headwindCiti sends strong signal to Nvidia investors amid rumorsThat deal signals that Nvidia is still building, still signing long-term agreements, and still betting on the infrastructure buildout that Huang has been describing for the past two years. You don’t sign a multi-year chip partnership on the day you think the cycle is turning.Huang also called AI infrastructure “a foregone conclusion,” comparing it to the early days of the internet. The framing is deliberate. He’s not saying AI will happen; he’s saying it’s already happening, and the only question is how much capacity gets built, Seeking Alpha reported.The Nvidia AI infrastructure numbers behind Huang’s confidenceHuang’s confidence isn’t just rhetorical. Nvidia’s Q4 fiscal 2026 revenue came in at $68.1 billion, up 73% year over year, as TheStreet reported. Full-year revenue for fiscal 2026 came in at $215.9 billion. Data center revenue was $62.3 billion in Q4 alone, making up 91% of total quarterly revenue. The company had $500 billion in AI chip bookings covering 2025 and 2026 combined, and CFO Colette Kress confirmed that figure has since grown as full-year orders for Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin chips came in.At Nvidia’s annual GTC conference in March, Huang went further. He predicted that Nvidia’s AI processors would generate $1 trillion in sales through 2027, according to Bloomberg. CFO Kress added on the May earnings call that hyperscaler capital expenditures are expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2027 alone, putting AI infrastructure spending on track to hit $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by the end of the decade. These aren’t projections built on hope. They reflect committed orders from cloud providers and enterprise customers who have made AI a core part of their capital plans.There’s a Bloomberg analysis worth noting alongside those numbers. It found that up to half of US data centers planned for 2026 are facing delays or cancellations, with only 5 gigawatts under construction out of 12 to 16 planned. Huang’s implicit argument is that those delays actually reinforce his point: the world still needs far more compute than it’s building, which means the demand doesn’t go away, it just stacks up.

If Huang is wrong and AI spending slows, it’s not just NVDA that feels it. AMD feels it. Broadcom feels it.Spencer/Getty Images

Why Nvidia stock is a proxy for the entire AI tradeNvidia briefly became the world’s first $4 trillion company in July 2026, with its stock hitting $164.42 intraday. Broadcom, AMD, Super Micro, and Marvell all rose in the same AI wave. When Huang speaks at earnings calls or events, those stocks get a read-across. They’re all in on the same buildout, and his read on that buildout carries through all of them.If Huang is wrong and AI spending slows, it’s not just NVDA that feels it. AMD feels it. Broadcom feels it. The data center power companies, the networking names, the cloud providers sitting on hundreds of billions in AI capex commitments. They all lose the bet at the same time. Calling the sell-off a buying opportunity is Huang putting his credibility behind the whole chain, not just his own stock.Huang’s answer to all of this is one he’s been giving all year. The AI buildout isn’t a product cycle that rises and falls in a few quarters. It’s a decade-long infrastructure project, and the world is still early in it. He’s compared it to the internet, which kept growing for decades after people thought the initial boom was over. A bad week on the Nasdaq doesn’t change what’s being built underneath it.What Nvidia investors should watch as the AI boom continuesThe key test for Huang’s thesis isn’t what he says in Seoul. It’s what the hyperscalers say in their next earnings calls. If Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet hold their AI capex guidance, the sell-off looks like exactly what Huang called it: a discount on something still growing. If any of them pulls back significantly, the conversation changes.Huang has already described what he’s watching for on Nvidia’s own side. He said Nvidia expects to face a backlog of chip demand and that the company is constrained not by demand, but by its ability to manufacture and deliver at scale. That’s a very different problem from facing a slowdown. It’s the problem of growing faster than your supply chain can keep up with.For investors sitting on Nvidia stock after the tech rout, the choice the Seoul comments were designed to address is a familiar one: Do you trust the long-term thesis, or do you follow the short-term price action? Huang’s answer was unambiguous. The AI buildout is still at the start. The market just gave you a sale.Related: Citi sends strong signal to Nvidia investors amid rumors

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Summer is meant to be a time of fun in the sun. It’s a time for heading to the beach with your paddleboard and hosting family barbecues in the backyard after shopping for the best grilling foods. Unfortunately, there’s a danger lurking underneath the surface of all that wholesome summer fun that you may not know about. A viral TikTok video from 2023 with over 5 million likes is making the rounds once again, and it’s making people rethink how they clean and maintain their grills.  @beachgem10 One of my most interesting cases has a lesson that could save your life! #case #medicine #interesting #summer #ent ♬ original sound – Beachgem10 The video involves a pediatrician recounting the story of a 4-year-old patient who had a small metal wire lodged in their throat area. The wire had come loose from a wire grill brush during cleaning and later ended up in a burger on the grill. When the child ate the burger, the wire caused serious pain. The wire wasn’t even discovered until a CAT scan was performed due to the persistent discomfort.Not only are situations like this painful, but extremely dangerous. In fact, between 2015 and 2023, there were 3,739 injuries due to wire bristles treated in American emergency rooms. That’s an increase of 220% over the prior decade. Unfortunately, wire grill brushes can be a serious hazard to your barbecue, so it’s probably a good idea to find other options for keeping your grill neat and clean.Dangers of metal bristle brushesWire bristle brushes are dangerous for a few reasons. For starters, the dislodged bristles can create throat lacerations that are incredibly painful. This can make swallowing nearly impossible and expose the soft tissue inside the throat to infection. What’s more, if you swallow the bristles completely, they can wreak havoc on your intestines, stomach, and the rest of your digestive system for days, if not weeks. What makes these brushes more dangerous is the fact that the bristles are essentially camouflaged. They’re typically a dark earth-toned color, and they’re quite small. That means if they fall off the brush, they can easily become embedded in a piece of food from the grill, and it’s very easy to miss.This has become such an issue that even the Weber grill company has recalled millions of them, and doctors advise strongly against using them. Luckily, retailers like Amazon and Walmart offer affordable and well-made alternatives for keeping your barbecue grill clean and safe. The most popular of these are soft steam cleaning brushes, coil and mesh scrubbers, nylon bristle brushes, and wooden scrapers. Each has its advantages, but all are safer than the aforementioned metal alternative. If you want to buy an alternative to a dangerous metal brush that will barely make a dent in your budget, then the Mr. Bar-B-Q Steam Clean Grill Brush is a great option at just $20. All you need to do is dip it in cold water and apply it to a hot grill. The resulting steam does all the heavy lifting of removing grease and grime from your grill. It’s just as useful on a grated grill as it is on a griddle. It uses a bristle-free stainless steel mesh design that’s abrasive enough to remove burnt gristle without the risk of harmful debris contaminating your food.Mr. Bar-B-Q Steam Clean Grill Brush Powered by Scrub Daddy

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Check price at AmazonSoft steam cleaning brushesIf you want something that’s foolproof and free of metal altogether, a soft steam cleaning brush is the pick for you. These brushes use trapped moisture and heat to clean your grill. They’re great for traditional grill grates and griddles alike. Just like the other alternatives, they contain no dangerous metal bristles, and they’re a safe option for that reason. The only thing to keep in mind is that with this design, you’ll likely have to replace the brush pad every so often to ensure it’s continuing to clean properly. Although it’s an additional cost, it’s a small price to pay for safety and peace of mind. Cuisinart Grill Renew Steam Cleaning Brush

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Check price at AmazonTishi Hery Bristle Free Steam Cleaning Brush

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Check price at AmazonCoil and mesh scrubbersThis type of scrubber utilizes closed-loop steel spring coils as the scrubbing agent. While using steel as the conduit for cleaning your grill may sound risky, it isn’t in this format. Because the springs are designed as tight closed circles, there’s no risk of sharp pieces falling off into the grill area. Because they’re made from steel, these scrubbers are highly effective at removing food stuck to the grill, even after it has cooled down. There are a few non-steel alternatives as well.House Again Bristle-Free Coil and Mesh Scraper

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Check price at AmazonGrill Art Steel Coil Grill Brush

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Check price at AmazonWooden scrapersThese are designed as solid wood paddles. They’re meant to be used just after cooking while the grill is still hot. The idea behind a scraper is that when you scrape the wood across a warm grill, it will burn grooves into the wood itself. Then over time the scraper will adapt to the shape of your specific grill, allowing it to get into every crevice. This makes it easy to keep your grates clean, and there’s no need to worry about errant bristles of any sort.Totally Bamboo Wooden Grill Scraper

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Check price at AmazonEasy Function Wood Grill Scraper

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Check price at AmazonNylon bristle brushesFor the traditionalist, there is the nylon bristle brush. These look very much like the aforementioned metal bristle brushes and work the same way. The difference, however, is that the bristles on these brushes are made from a safe nylon material. The bristles are also usually quite thick and made from a brightly colored nylon. That makes them easy to see if they do happen to fall off at any time. It’s worth noting that these brushes are intended primarily for use on cool grills to avoid melting. Grillaholics Nylon Bristle Grill Brush

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Check price at AmazonSearpro Nylon Grill Brush Combo

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