The sun was shining on the Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh, today as he gave his first Congressional monetary report on a day when the consumer price index unexpectedly fell for the first time in six years. And that takes a near-term Fed rate hike off the table.

As Mr. Warsh said, it’s too soon to declare “mission accomplished,” but he vowed to defeat inflation and get monetary policy right during his appearance before the House Financial Services Committee. As he put it: “The 63 months of inflation above target has been an unfair burden. It has been a tax on the American people and businesses. We plan on getting rid of that tax if that means we need a regime change in policy and we need new consideration of practices, some of which have been working, some of which haven’t, that’s what we aim to do”

The new Fed chairman has been in office only two months, but energy, precious metals, and farm commodity prices have already started trending lower. Mr. Warsh intends to be a reformer at the central bank, and has commissioned a number of high-level task forces that will report later in the year on “regime change,” as he puts it. 

Yet one thing he understands better than his predecessor is that inflation is a monetary policy issue caused by bad choices and a lack of resolve to restore price stability and presumably restore the 2 percent target. Futures markets took at least one Fed rate hike off the table after the benign CPI report. There’s still another rate hike priced in perhaps some time this autumn, but I doubt it.

When you look at the core numbers excluding food and energy, which is what many Fed officials are focused on, the monthly numbers are coming down steadily, and even the 12-month change is only 2.6 percent. The topline number for all items was lower in May than in April, and in June it actually fell by four-tenths of one percent.

Of course energy overall and gasoline in particular drove the index down. But it’s also noteworthy that goods prices have been nearly flat for a year, excluding food and energy. The much-heralded tariff inflation which would have shown up in goods prices really never came to pass, or if it did, was only momentarily.

Meanwhile the topline also dropped by 1.1 percent in June. Services were flat in June. New and used car prices were down. And Mr. Warsh is right to tell the public that the job of price stability is not yet complete. Yet he also knows that when he credibly gets back to 2 percent or less inflation, then interest rates will come down of their own weight and they will stay down.

What’s more, he painted an optimistic picture of the economy with particular reference to booming business investment. In other words, he again is arguing that you can have strong economic growth with low inflation. And he stuck to his guns on the positive impact of all manner of advanced tech investment, from AI through quantum computing, space, and who knows what else. You know what? When you listen to Mr. Warsh and see what the early results are — even a Fed chairman can have his cake and eat it too.

Shares of ChronoScale Holdings Corporation rose 16.68%, or $3.29, to close at $23.01 Tuesday, extending a pattern of extreme single-day volatility that has characterized the small, newly formed AI infrastructure company since it emerged from a corporate transformation earlier this year. The specific catalyst behind Tuesday’s move had not been publicly confirmed as of publication.

ChronoScale, based in Dallas and trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker CHRN, designs and develops a compute platform intended to support large-scale artificial intelligence workloads, providing dedicated compute environments the company says are engineered for performance, consistency and long-term operational execution. The company in its current form is a recent creation: it was formerly known as Ekso Bionics Holdings, a maker of medical and industrial exoskeleton products, before completing a business combination in February 2026 that transformed it into an AI infrastructure operator through a transaction with Applied Digital Corporation.

Under the terms of that deal, disclosed in SEC filings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital’s parent company contributed all of the equity in its Cloud business to what was then Ekso Bionics in exchange for roughly 138.2 million newly issued shares of common stock, immediately making Applied Digital’s affiliated entity the overwhelmingly dominant shareholder, holding approximately 96% to 97% of the combined company’s outstanding shares. Legacy Ekso Bionics shareholders were left holding only about 3% of the newly formed entity. As part of the same transaction, the company changed its name first to ChronoScale Corporation and then, in July 2026, to its current name, ChronoScale Holdings Corporation.

The company has continued reshaping its leadership and strategic focus in the months since the combination closed. In May, ChronoScale appointed Cenly Chen as chief executive officer to lead what the company described as its next phase of AI compute growth. In June, the company named Raj Jegannathan as chief technology officer and Lawrence Lam as chief product officer, moves the company said were aimed at accelerating its global AI infrastructure strategy. That same month, ChronoScale formally divested its legacy Ekso Bionics exoskeleton business entirely, a step the company described as allowing it to refocus fully on its cloud and AI compute operations.

ChronoScale’s financial profile remains that of a very early-stage company despite its multibillion-dollar market capitalization. According to data compiled by StockTitan, the company generated $12.8 million in revenue over the trailing 12 months, with a gross margin of 53.5%, but posted an operating margin of negative 104.1% and a net profit margin of negative 91.4%, reflecting net income of negative $11.7 million and diluted earnings per share of negative $4.91 over the same period. Operating cash flow over the trailing 12 months stood at negative $11.8 million. Despite those financial figures, the company’s market capitalization has fluctuated between roughly $64.8 million and $2.4 billion across recent trading sessions, reflecting how dramatically the stock’s valuation has swung alongside its share price.

That valuation volatility has drawn scrutiny from at least one Wall Street analyst. A Seeking Alpha analysis published shortly after the company’s transformation into an AI infrastructure operator noted that CHRN traded at a steep 35.2 times price-to-sales multiple relative to its prior fiscal-year revenue of roughly $75 million, a level the analyst described as expensive given the company’s limited financial disclosure at the time. The analysis recommended a “Hold” rating on the stock pending release of ChronoScale’s initial standalone financial statements, citing a lack of transparency and an elevated trading premium relative to comparable companies.

ChronoScale’s trading history since its transformation has been marked by an unusually high frequency of large single-day swings in both directions. According to data compiled by CNN Business, the stock has recorded a string of double-digit percentage moves over recent weeks, including gains of 17.6% and 18.0% on separate sessions, alongside declines as steep as 17.9% within the same stretch. That pattern of sharp reversals has continued even as the company has taken steps intended to bolster its financial position, including securing a $100 million related-party credit line in late June and filing to sell 1.1 million additional shares of common stock to existing holders around the same period.

The stock’s 52-week trading range illustrates the scale of that volatility further. According to Robinhood data, CHRN shares have moved between a low of $2.91 and a high of $28.20 over the trailing 12 months, a spread reflecting both the company’s dramatic transformation from a medical device maker into an AI infrastructure company and the broader speculative interest that has periodically driven sharp rallies in smaller AI-adjacent stocks throughout 2026.

ChronoScale’s parent relationship with Applied Digital adds further context to the stock’s movements. Applied Digital, which designs, builds and operates high-performance, sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for artificial intelligence infrastructure, has itself posted a strong year, with shares up more than 60% in 2026 as of recent tracking, according to FinancialContent. Given ChronoScale’s origins as a spinoff-style combination involving Applied Digital’s cloud assets, broader sentiment toward Applied Digital and the AI data center sector more generally has appeared to influence trading in ChronoScale shares, even though the two companies now trade as separate publicly listed entities.

As of Tuesday’s close, no specific company announcement, analyst upgrade or broader sector catalyst had been publicly identified as the direct driver of ChronoScale’s 16.68% gain, consistent with the stock’s recent pattern of large, sometimes unexplained single-day moves that market trackers have attributed generally to thin trading volume, speculative retail interest in AI infrastructure names, and the company’s still-limited public financial track record following its recent transformation. Investors tracking the stock have generally been advised to treat its current valuation with caution given the wide gap between its market capitalization and its reported revenue and earnings figures, pending further clarity from the company’s upcoming financial disclosures.

Volkswagen’s chief executive confirmed to employees this week that the company is weighing as many as 100,000 job cuts worldwide, a figure that would mark the most radical restructuring in the automaker’s nearly 90-year history, though industry analysts say the number likely represents an opening negotiating position rather than the company’s final target.

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume told employees Monday in an internal memo, seen by Agence France-Presse, that the company must “act now” to safeguard its future, confirming a further 50,000 jobs could be cut on top of 50,000 already in progress under an earlier 2024 agreement, bringing the total potential reduction to roughly 100,000 positions, or about 15% of Volkswagen’s global workforce of approximately 657,400 employees as of the first quarter of 2026. The memo followed weeks of speculation triggered by a June report in Manager Magazin, which first detailed the scale of the potential cuts and the possible closure of four German plants.

Blume also confirmed continued uncertainty over the future of four specific German factories central to the restructuring discussions. “The truth is also that, as things stand today, we cannot confirm that the Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm plants will be able to operate competitively into the 2030s,” Blume said, referring to three Volkswagen brand facilities alongside Audi’s Neckarsulm site. Options under consideration reportedly include shifting production of China-focused models to underused German sites such as Zwickau, an approach Blume has previously floated, or gradually phasing out production at certain plants by declining to assign new models to them rather than closing facilities outright.

Despite the scale of the figures being discussed, multiple industry analysts told AFP and other outlets they believe Volkswagen deliberately floated a worst-case scenario ahead of formal negotiations with labor unions, describing the tactic as a common corporate negotiating strategy rather than a finalized restructuring plan. Volkswagen has followed a similar pattern before: in the second half of 2024, following earlier threats of mass strikes, the company reached an agreement with German trade union IG Metall to trim 35,000 jobs at the core Volkswagen brand by 2030 “in a socially responsible manner,” with another 15,000 positions to go across its other brands, a figure notably lower than initial, more dramatic proposals floated during those negotiations.

Labor representatives have pushed back sharply against the latest figures. A spokesman for IG Metall called Blume’s Monday memo “superficial,” saying employees remained largely in the dark about specifics. “Management’s communication remains a disaster across the board,” the spokesman said, adding that shop stewards were organizing meetings at which Blume would be expected to take questions from staff directly. “The answers will determine the crucial question: whether the executive board intends to overcome the crisis with staff or against them,” he said. IG Metall Chair Christiane Benner has separately called for “innovative solutions” that preserve production capacity and domestic employment rather than layoffs, underscoring how far apart labor’s vision remains from management’s proposed restructuring.

Volkswagen’s notoriously complex governance structure adds further complexity to any potential deal. Labor representatives and the German state of Lower Saxony, which holds a 20% voting stake in the company, together control more than half the seats on Volkswagen’s supervisory board. Lower Saxony has historically opposed plant closures and layoffs, a position reinforced by the so-called Volkswagen Law, a decades-old measure that effectively limits management’s unilateral ability to close factories. Thomas Besson, head of automotive research at Kepler Cheuvreux, said Volkswagen’s management would need to demonstrate there is no viable alternative to the proposed measures. “It is going to be a very complicated move to implement,” Besson said.

Rico Luman, a senior sector economist focused on transport and logistics at ING, described the situation as reflecting broader structural pressure across the European auto industry rather than a crisis unique to Volkswagen. “It’s very complicated but something needs to happen, that’s for sure. So, the supervisory board should be aware of the urgency as well,” Luman said. He noted that Volkswagen remains profitable for now, but that the scale of the proposed cuts signals the company is preparing for tougher conditions ahead. “They are still profitable, right? But the reported plans are to prepare for the demise or losses over the next couple of years. So, this is a strategic step for what is coming up in the future,” Luman said, pointing to challenges including the slower-than-expected pace of Europe’s shift to electric vehicles, intensifying competition from Chinese automakers, and export difficulties in key overseas markets.

Volkswagen’s financial results have underscored the pressure driving the restructuring talks. The company posted first-quarter 2026 operating profit of roughly $2.92 billion, down 14.3% from a year earlier and well below analyst expectations of nearly 4 billion euros. Sales revenue for the quarter came in at approximately $75 billion, down 2.5% year over year, while vehicle sales fell 7% to 2 million units and operating margin slipped to just 3.3%, a level well below what investors typically expect from a global automotive leader. Earnings before tax dropped more than 28% year over year, though the company did see some signs of relief, including a roughly 15% increase in European order intake and $2 billion in net cash flow generated by its automotive division.

Volkswagen has invested heavily in electrification in recent years, including dedicated electric vehicle platforms and battery production, but Europe’s EV market has expanded more slowly than the company anticipated, leaving several production facilities operating below capacity. Blume has previously warned that Chinese manufacturers are compounding that pressure by building highly efficient factories directly in Europe. “The Chinese are coming to Europe, also building factories which are highly efficient,” Blume said in April.

Volkswagen is not alone among German automakers facing this kind of pressure. BMW and Mercedes-Benz have also reported falling profits in recent periods, driven largely by intensifying competition from Chinese rivals in what remains the world’s largest auto market.

As of this week, no final restructuring plan had been formally approved, and Volkswagen’s management, labor unions and the German state of Lower Saxony appear headed toward what analysts describe as a prolonged and difficult negotiating process. Historically, Volkswagen restructuring efforts have unfolded gradually through voluntary retirement programs, hiring freezes and internal redeployment rather than abrupt mass layoffs, with previous rounds of cuts typically settling on figures well below the initial numbers first reported publicly. Whatever the eventual outcome, analysts broadly agree Volkswagen faces genuine pressure to reduce costs to remain competitive, with the coming months of negotiations likely to shape the future structure of Europe’s largest automaker for years to come.

Older teenagers in the UK will face an overnight social media curfew, the government has announced – though they will be able to opt out of it by changing their account settings.

It would means apps such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube being set to be unavailable by default to 16 and 17-year-olds between midnight and 06:00.

The government also wants “addictive” features such as auto-play and infinite scroll to be set to be disabled, saying – combined with the curfew – the measures will improve teenagers’ focus, sleep quality and family life.

However, critics have described the proposals as “piecemeal” and a “missed opportunity” for children’s safety.

The plans follow the announcement in June that under-16s in the UK would be banned entirely from a range of platforms.

“These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building a happy, healthy and fulfilling adult life,” said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

“We want young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while having the tools to make the online world a place where they can thrive.”

Laura Trott, the Conservative shadow education secretary, described the plans as a “dog’s dinner”.

“Either they think 16 and 17-year-olds should be on social media or they don’t, but curfews they can simply switch off won’t achieve anything,” she said.

The government said further measures would be aimed at helping children use AI chatbots safely – including by making providers introduce regular breaks for under-18s.

It says it will aim to lay its new proposed measures in front of parliament by the end of 2026, with the aim that they take effect alongside its social media ban for under-16s next spring.

But some child safety charities and experts have cast doubt on the effectiveness or promise of a midnight curfew for older UK teens.

“While we welcome these measures for older teens, this latest move is yet another piecemeal set of announcements not the comprehensive plan for children’s safety that’s required,” said Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation.

He added that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “leaves office having announced a social media ban without a plan” – with his likely successor Andy Burnham to “inherit a series of missed opportunities”.

Meanwhile Prof Sonia Livingstone, an expert in children’s digital rights at the London School of Economics, said a curfew could harm vulnerable children by limiting their access to social media when they might need it most.

“If it’s a curfew on companies using push notifications to wake someone up in the night, absolutely have a curfew,” Prof Livingstone told the BBC.

“But if it’s a curfew that prevents a child in need of support or help or comfort reaching out to trusted sources in the middle of the night, I think that’s quite harmful potentially.”

David Beckham publicly defended his wife, Victoria, on Instagram after a U.S. comedian poked fun at her seemingly unbothered expression while the couple watched England’s World Cup quarterfinal against Norway over the weekend, insisting Victoria “was celebrating inside” even as cameras caught her looking calm and composed.

The Beckhams were among a group of celebrities spotted in the stands for England’s knockout match, with television broadcasts repeatedly cutting to the couple as the game intensified. While David reacted animatedly to the on-field drama in his usual style, it was Victoria’s steady, largely unreadable expression that drew the attention of some viewers, reviving a long-running joke about her tendency not to smile on camera.

The exchange began after U.S. comedian Jenny Johnson shared footage and stills of the couple watching the match, posting a sarcastic Instagram caption that singled out Victoria’s low-key demeanor. “I wanted to take a moment to single out @england’s number one fan Victoria, Lady Beckham!!!” Johnson wrote alongside an image from the broadcast, leaning into the joke that Victoria is football’s least animated fan. “There’s nothing like cheering your heart out for England from home, then they cut to Victoria and we see that classic Posh Spice smile! It’s so infectious!” she continued, adding that Victoria’s energy “blows my enthusiasm out of the water” and that she shouts “SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!!!” at her screen whenever the cameras find her, joking that Victoria’s “energy is electric!!!”

The post was the kind of lighthearted social media ribbing celebrities typically let pass without comment. David Beckham, however, chose to respond directly. Dropping a reply in the comments beneath Johnson’s post, the former England captain wrote, “She was celebrating inside I promise. Her reactions were slightly slower than mine.” The response carried no formal statement or PR framing, just a brief, off-the-cuff defense of his wife that managed to diffuse the joke without appearing defensive or upset. Fans quickly took notice, with many praising Beckham for standing up for Victoria while still acknowledging the humor behind the original post.

The moment tapped into a decades-old narrative around Victoria Beckham’s public persona, one dating back to her years in the Spice Girls, when she was known as “Posh Spice” for her tendency to favor a composed, tight-lipped expression over broad smiles in photographs, a choice she has previously said simply felt more natural to her than performing enthusiasm on cue. That contrast between David’s openly emotional public presence, including memorable moments such as crying after England’s tournament exits and celebrating with a fist pump following a last-minute free kick, and Victoria’s more composed, aloof aesthetic has long been part of the couple’s public identity, extending into the fashion empire Victoria has since built around impeccable tailoring and controlled visual branding.

Johnson’s post struck a chord in part because it played directly into that familiar dynamic. The footage showed David reacting animatedly as England pushed forward in the match, while Victoria sat beside him appearing largely unmoved. The comments beneath Johnson’s post filled with laughing emojis, memes and nostalgic references to the Spice Girls’ hit “Spice Up Your Life,” with some users joking that Victoria was likely mentally reorganizing her wardrobe while the match played out, and others insisting her composed reaction was simply “peak Posh,” adding that they would be disappointed if she suddenly began celebrating like a typical fan. The mockery, notably, carried little malice, reading more as affectionate amusement at the consistency of Victoria’s public image than any genuine criticism.

The brief exchange also illustrated how carefully the Beckhams continue to manage their public narrative, even during moments when public attention is ostensibly focused elsewhere, in this case on England’s World Cup campaign. By acknowledging the joke directly rather than ignoring it, Beckham effectively reframed the conversation without adding fuel to the mockery. His follow-up line, noting that his own reactions were simply faster than his wife’s, added a self-deprecating touch, subtly suggesting he might be the one who gets carried away during matches while Victoria maintains her composure.

The response drew a warm reaction across social media, with fans describing Beckham’s comment as “sweet” and “classy,” and some noting that only David Beckham could defend his wife while still keeping the exchange lighthearted enough to make people laugh. Others pointed out that Victoria has spent decades facing public scrutiny over how much, or how little, she smiles in photographs, suggesting that while the joke landed well with many viewers, the underlying commentary on her expression has become a somewhat tired recurring theme over the years.

Neither Victoria Beckham nor her representatives issued any further public comment on the exchange, and there is no indication that Victoria herself directly engaged with Johnson’s original post. No formal statement was released, and there were no official complaints on record tied to the incident, leaving the moment to play out as a brief, self-contained social media flare-up that faded nearly as quickly as it began.

Even so, the episode underscored how easily a single expression captured in a stadium camera cut can briefly overshadow the sporting event itself in an era of constant reaction shots and instant online commentary, shifting public conversation away from England’s on-field performance and toward a decades-old joke about Victoria Beckham’s famously composed public face, a dynamic that, for a woman who has built a global fashion brand partly on that same unwavering aesthetic, may not represent much of a setback at all.

The proposed transaction involves Jay Mahendra Mehta transferring his 49.99 per cent stake in Galaxy Technologies Pvt Ltd to the trust. Juhi Chawla Mehta will also transfer her 50.04 per cent profit sharing/voting rights in Omna Enterprises LLP to the trust.

Galaxy and Omna, a part of the promoter and promoter group of Saurashtra Cement Ltd, together hold a 24.04 per cent stake in the company.

The Mehta Family Trust, registered in 2019, has Juhi Chawla and her husband, industrialist Jay Mehta, as trustees.

Sebi noted that the proposed indirect acquisition would ordinarily trigger an open offer under the Takeover norms.

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The capital markets watchdog granted an exemption after observing that the transaction is part of an internal reorganisation of the promoter family aimed at streamlining succession planning and consolidating family holdings.
“I… hereby grant exemption to the proposed acquirer, viz. , Mehta Family Trust, from complying with the requirements of SAST Regulations, 2011 with respect to the proposed indirect acquisition in the target company, viz. , Saurashtra Cement Ltd, by way of proposed transaction,” Sebi’s Whole Time Member Kamlesh Chandra Varshney said in the order.Sebi noted that the acquisition is non-commercial in nature and would not prejudice the interests of public shareholders.

According to the order, there will be no change in control of Saurashtra Cement Ltd pursuant to the proposed acquisition.

The company’s promoter group will continue to hold 66.62 per cent while public shareholding will remain at 33.38 per cent, Sebi said.

Sebi also noted that the trust comprises only promoters, their immediate relatives and lineal descendants, making it a mirror image of the existing promoter holding structure.

The regulator said the exemption is subject to conditions, including the filing of a report within 21 days from the date of acquisition.

Markets regulator Sebi also clarified that the exemption is limited to open offer requirements and does not waive other compliance obligations under applicable regulations.

The exemption from open offer obligations is valid for one year from the date of the order, within which the proposed acquirers must complete the acquisition; failing which it will lapse and cease to exist, it added.