SUCCESS

Corbin Burnes can supply a knockout punch for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for a 2026 NL playoff berth. He’s on the mound tonight for the first time in 15 months.

Ana Brenda Contreras and Erick Elías star in the new series set inside a Miami hospital emergency room.

Reality bites.

At least at the gas pump, it does.

Gasoline prices in the United States rose on Sept. 8 as crude oil prices rose, with the war in the Middle East showing no signs of ending. It may even be expanding.

Related: $90 oil makes a sudden, unwelcome comeback

The worries about the Middle East led to a sharp selloff in U.S. stocks.

GasBuddy’s U.S. national average jumped nearly 6 cents a gallon to $4.154 as Americans went back to work after the long Labor Day weekend.

The price is the highest GasBuddy has recorded since June 5 when the daily average was $4.166 a gallon. The price was actually falling from its May highs of $4.566 a gallon, recorded on May 6 and May 20.

The bottom came on July 5 at $3.719 a gallon; the average has risen 11.6% since then. The price is now up about 46% in 2026.

The AAA Fuels price was $4.151 a gallon, up slightly from Sept. 7 and up 46.2% on the year.

U.S. gasoline prices over the Labor Day weekend were at their highest levels for the holiday.

Normally, gasoline and oil prices are starting to decline. The summer driving season is over in North America and Europe, and weather should start to cool off. That lets refiners change their formulations for gasoline.

Light sweet crude, the U.S. benchmark, was up 1.5% to $92.82 per 42-gallon barrel in New York trading and is up nearly 62% in 2026. That’s after peaking at $94.73 a barrel in early trading. The Sept. 4 close was $91.48 per barrel.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled at $97.92 a barrel in London, up about 1% on the day and up 1.7% from its Sept. 4 close of $96.28 a barrel. It peaked at $99.46 during the day.

Brent is up about 58% this year.

The attacks over the weekend between Iranian and U.S. forces over control of the key Strait of Hormuz gave way on Sept. 7 and Sept. 8 to more fighting between Houthi rebels in Yemen and the government of Saudi Arabia. More than 70 people were injured in the fighting, the Guardian newspaper reported.

The strait is the body of water that links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. Before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 27, about 20% of the world’s crude oil would pass through the strait on its way to global customers.

More Oil & Gas:

Drivers lose control over gas price squeeze

A big shift in the U.S. energy market is about to happen

Canada Fires Back, Oil Nears $100: 8 Key Items Shaping the Stock Market Tuesday

Energy and metals stocks rally

With oil prices on the rise, oil stocks were generally higher. The State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund (XLE) rose 1.3% to $64.86. Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil ( XOM) climbed nearly 1%.

So, too, were stocks of companies involved in copper mining and processing.

Tariff battles between the United States and Canada and pushed copper prices to $6.784 a pound in New York. The metal hit a 52-week high of $6.873 a pound during the session.

A weak overall day for U.S. stocks

U.S. stocks reacted badly to the news from the Middle East.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 628 points to 52,786.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 45 points to 7,674, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 86 points to 26,421.

Related: Peace, no peace: Middle East turmoil leaves no one happy

While the approximately 8,000 registered travel agencies operating in the U.S. in 2026 can seem like a big number, it is significantly lower than the peak 35,000 businesses that sold trips and tours during the 1990s.

If the rise of online booking platforms has been gradually whittling away the need for centralized agencies outside of certain niche or ultra-luxury segments, the spike in jet fuel prices and an uncertain economic outlook in 2026 have served to hasten the momentum more recently.

Some recent travel companies that ended up shutting down operations in 2026 for good include Trav Expert, Groupia, Golf Villa Rentals, Salamander Voyages, Travel Bespoke, Regen Central, Set Sail Cruises, Yourtravelshop.com, Ski Yodel, Wayfairer Travel, and TS Travels Group among others.

Sunshine Tours shuts down after 45 years

A longtime Virginia travel industry name and community staple that was founded in 1982 by husband-and-wife team Carroll and Joyce Stone, Sunshine Tours is the latest to announce their exit from the market.

The company named the “rising cost of fuel, lodging, and overall tour expenses, along with the decline in passenger counts” as the reason to shut down a business selling travelers bus tours across the United States and Canada.

Related: What to do for the most luxurious travel experience in Dublin

“After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close our business effective immediately,” Sunshine Tours wrote in a post that it put out on multiple social media channels. “There were several factors that led to this outcome, but the biggest contributing issues were the rising cost of fuel, lodging, and overall tour expenses, along with the decline in passenger counts. We understand as a ‘luxury’ and non-essential business, travel is often one of the first expenses people cut back on when budgets tighten. Please know we are devastated by this decision.”

This means that any tours scheduled for the coming weeks and months will be canceled while anyone who put down a deposit or paid for the cost of the trip is urged to contact the company at 540-674-9517 or sunshinetours1982@gmail.com.

Sunshine Tours sold bus tours to different parts of the U.S. and Canada.Shutterstock

“Refunds for all tours will be processed based on the decisions of legal counsel”: Sunshine Tours

While Sunshine Tours has not officially filed for bankruptcy, its statement that “refunds for all tours will be processed based on the decisions of legal counsel” suggests that its financial position may not be one in which it is able to provide them.

The other option is for affected travelers to go through their credit card issuer or travel insurance.

More Travel News:

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“We also understand that you have paid your deposits or balances for an upcoming tour and that you are owed a refund,” Sunshine Tours wrote further. “At this time, we are working with legal counsel to determine the best course of action for everyone affected. Refunds for all tours will be processed based on the decisions of legal counsel during this process. Please note this will not be an overnight process, and we do not yet have a timeline for when refunds will be issued.”

These travel agencies filed for bankruptcy in 2026:

AVG Travels: The Melbourne-based travel agency selling cheap vacation packages to travelers in Australia and New Zealand sent more than 200 customers an email saying that the trips were canceled before entering bankruptcy in May 2026.

GoPlay Sports: In April 2026, the men’s basketball team of the University of Dallas was left without a planned trip to compete in the United Kingdom after Boston-based GoPlay Sports Tours LLC accepted two payments of $30,000 and then went unreachable.

Havantur: Havantur was forced to shut down its main European office in France at the beginning of 2026 after tourist numbers to the Caribbean country plummeted due to U.S. military actions in Venezuela and threats against the country.

Vegas Vacations and North America Destinations: Two travel agencies in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Vegas Vacations and North America Destinations, were shut down by regulators within a few days of each other in January 2026 after multiple travelers complained of buying trips and receiving invalid plane tickets and hotel bookings.

Related: Popular luxury travel company abruptly cancels all trips

Here’s what entrepreneurs should know about investing beyond public markets.

There are more millionaires now than ever, and they dominate “ordinary” businesses.

Michelsen, ranked No. 46 in the world, hadn’t dropped a set before the Tiafoe match.

The golf league lost funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund earlier this year, less than five years after it launched.

Shares in Bombardier lost altitude Tuesday after President Donald Trump threatened to ban the Canadian aircraft manufacturer unless it makes new commitments to build in the U.S.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has been one of my favorite stocks over the years. I’ve recommended it several times over the past couple of decades – and every time, we’ve sold it for a gain. We first bought the stock in November 2004 and sold it in October 2008 for a 253% gain. Then we bought it again in October 2009 and booked a 152% gain in February 2013.

Since then, we’ve largely avoided Apple, though. The consumer electronics maker simply lacked the earnings and sales momentum we require for our portfolio.

Revenue grew just 2% in fiscal 2024 and 6.4% in fiscal 2025 – solid for a company of Apple’s size, but nowhere near what we look for. My Stock Grader agreed: AAPL spent most of the past five years stuck between a C and D grade.

But that’s all about to change.

Right now, AAPL carries a B grade in Stock Grader – a real shift from where it’s spent most of the last five years. You can see that in the Grade History in the bottom section of the image below. Also note that at the end of July, the stock rose to a new high above $340.

There’s also a changing of the guard at the top. Tim Cook officially stepped down as Apple’s CEO on September 1, handing the reins to John Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran who has spent his career as the company’s SVP of Hardware Engineering.

Cook was the operations mastermind who scaled Apple into a $4 trillion company. Ternus is a hardware guy through and through, and he’s taking over at the exact moment Apple is making its biggest hardware bet in over a decade: the iPhone Ultra.

Don’t Buy on Launch Day

All of this is expected to be a big boon for Apple. In fact, since the rumor mill started buzzing about the company’s upcoming product reveal, the analyst community has raised fiscal year 2026 earnings estimates.

The current consensus estimate calls for full-year earnings of $8.81 per share and total sales of $477.68 billion, which represents 18% annual earnings growth and 14.8% annual sales growth. That would be Apple’s best growth in years. And given how these estimates have already been raised once on foldable-iPhone buzz alone, don’t be surprised if Apple ends up beating even these fresh numbers once the actual sales data comes in.

It’s time to go back to the well for more profits, but let me be clear about one thing before investors dive in and scoop up shares.

Related: Louis Navellier delivers hot take on rising bond yields

Historically, AAPL has not reacted positively to its new product launches. In fact, the stock tends to slide lower on the day the company unveils its latest and greatest new products.

Dow Jones Market Data even reports that AAPL has declined an average of 0.7% on the company’s annual product launch day since the first iPhone was released in 2007.

Take September 2025, for example.

Apple introduced its iPhone 17 lineup, including the iPhone Air, and noted that it would not raise prices despite rising cost pressures from tariffs. This should have been celebrated by Wall Street and Apple enthusiasts, yet AAPL shares slipped 1.5%.

Multiple sources have confirmed that Apple will finally introduce its first folding iPhone: the iPhone Ultra.Wengen Ling / Getty Images

The reality is that new products are typically leaked before the actual event, just like they were this year. So, excitement about the new product line is generated ahead of the unveiling, and the stock tends to rally ahead of the event rather than on the day.

After that, though, AAPL tends to meander higher in the following months when the products actually hit the shelves, and there’s more clarity on demand and actual sales data.

Dow Jones Market Data shows that AAPL has rallied an average of 12% in the six months following a product launch.

I suspect this year will be no different. AAPL is a Conservative buy below $342.

For more information about my stock grading system, click here. 

Related: Apple’s new CEO faces a staggering $14 billion iPhone test