Business
Derelict former BHS site a 'continuing nightmare'
Business
European shares start August higher on US-Iran diplomacy hopes

European shares start August higher on US-Iran diplomacy hopes
Business
Thornburg Municipal Bond Funds Q2 2026 Commentary
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Business
CAVA: Growth Is Being Borrowed From The Future – Sell Now Before Q2 Earnings (NYSE:CAVA)
Investing wisely does not have to be rocket science. It is about discipline and running the numbers. You don’t have to be like a grandmaster chess player playing the game twenty moves ahead of your opponent, you just need to understand how the pieces work.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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Business
Rise Baking completes acquisition of Jimmy’s

Commercial baker expands capabilities in cookie category.
Business
$360M, highest domestic opening ever
Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man in Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
Sony
There’s a new king of the domestic box office.
Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” webbed up more than $360 million during its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, breaking the record for the highest-grossing debut of all time. The previous record was $357 million, set by “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019.
Globally, the latest Spider-Man installment tallied $932 million, shy of the $1.2 billion record still held by “Endgame.”
The Tom Holland-led “Brand New Day” kicked off with record-shattering Thursday preview sales and snared $169.3 million on Friday, including presales, and $101.5 million on Saturday. Sony had initially projected an $84 million Sunday, but moviegoers flocked to theaters, driving ticket sales to $88.7 million for the day.
The film’s opening weekend also marked the biggest opening weekend in Sony Pictures history and the biggest debut for the Spider-Man franchise.
The feat comes even as “Brand New Day” was boxed out of Imax screens, which were snapped up for Christopher Nolan’s and Universal’s “The Odyssey.” Rival premium large formats thrived, however, as Dolby Cinema, ScreenX and 4DX all reported record-breaking ticket sales over the weekend.
“Brand New Day” is on pace to be the fourth billion-dollar film of 2026, joining Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Lionsgate’s “Michael” and Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”
Business
California Democratic Party supports billionaire wealth tax proposal
Altman Brothers Real Estate Owner Josh Altman discusses LeBron James facing California’s wealth tax despite moving to Philadelphia on ‘Varney & Co.’
The California Democratic Party is supporting a proposed one-time wealth tax on billionaires of up to 5%.
Californians will decide whether to adopt the proposal during the 2026 midterm election.
The party’s executive board voted in favor of backing the proposal on Sunday, according to The Sacramento Bee.
BILLIONS IN TAXPAYER INCOME ARE LEAVING TWO ICONIC STATES — AS A NEW ECONOMIC MAP EMERGES

A supporter with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition holds a placard during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026. (Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The San Francisco Standard reported that according to Jane Natoli, who sits on the party’s resolutions committee, an initial vote barely failed to clear the 60% bar required for ratification, earning 59.2% support. But another vote cleared the threshold, scoring about 61.7% support, the outlet noted.
As the close votes demonstrated, Democrats are divided on the issue.
SOME RICH CALIFORNIANS ARE GIVING AWAY CASH TO SKIRT THE STATE’S PROPOSED BILLIONAIRE TAX

A voting booth as a voter casts their ballot at a polling location inside Echo Park Branch Library during a primary election in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., supports the proposal.
But Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from running for re-election, has said he will vote against it.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference for a bill signing for a housing affordability reforms event in Oakland, California, on July 13, 2026. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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“But I’m voting no because this measure dedicates almost all of the revenue it raises to a single category of state spending,” he wrote in a June Substack post. “So here is what I support: A national billionaires’ tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”
Business
FM Sitharaman flags global crisis spillovers, unfair burden on developing nations
India, like many developing economies, “remains largely peripheral to both the origination and propagation of global imbalances; yet, we continue to face their spill-over effects”, the minister said.
Sitharaman made the statements while representing India at a virtual meeting on the Global Convergence for Growth Summit, presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron, the finance ministry said in a post on microblogging site X.
“In today’s interconnected world, prosperity and challenges are shared, but the consequences of conflicts and uncertainty fall disproportionately on developing countries and the Global South. The situation demands coordinated global action,” the minister said during her intervention at the summit.
“We must strengthen multilateral cooperation to build resilient economies, accelerate sustainable development and ensure inclusive growth that benefits all,” she added.
The summit was held to bring together leaders of advanced and emerging economies to deliberate on ways to support a balanced and efficient global framework. The senior leadership of all the G7 nations and India, Brazil, China, Kenya, South Korea and the International Monetary Fund participated in the summit.
Making her observations on global imbalances, the minister said: “Not all imbalances are alike, some reflect differences in demographics, development stages, resource endowments, or economic structures.””Our focus should, therefore, remain on excessive and persistent imbalances while recognising that the scale of domestic needs varies significantly across countries,” she said.
Medium-term growth, MDB reforms
India’s growth is projected to remain strong at about 7% over the medium term, the minister said, stressing that the country remains the world’s fastest-expanding major economy.
The country’s growth is primarily led by domestic demand, with a largely market-determined exchange rate, she added.
Sitharaman called for better, bigger, more effective and more representative multilateral development banks (MDBs) that can deliver greater financing to developing countries and emerging economies. Bolstering their financing capacity, operational agility and responsiveness will be critical, she said.
Business
EasyJet aligns Apollo and Castlelake deadlines as bidding war nears climax

EasyJet aligns Apollo and Castlelake deadlines as bidding war nears climax
Business
Threat to oil tankers in Middle East worst since start of Iran war, analysts say
Not all vessels are deterred from passing through because the Houthi threat is only targeted at Saudi shipping, with the total number sitting at about 50% of pre-attack levels.
But the number of ships loading crude oil for export to Asia passing through has dropped to about four per day, Kpler added, the lowest point since the start of the war.
A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd, the global shipping giant, said some of its vessels were still passing through the Red Sea but that it would “monitor developments closely and will adjust the network if circumstances change”.
“If the Strait of Hormuz reopened, most ships could probably leave the region fairly quickly. However, restoring normal cargo flows would take much longer.
“Services have been suspended and ships redeployed elsewhere, so a return to normal flows would most likely take three to four months.”
Despite the talks with Oman, Iran has said that no deal is imminent that would reopen the strait to normal traffic.
Its foreign ministry ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said any agreement would not lift the current restrictions while US “aggression” continued.
Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, another ship-tracking company, said the fighting had taken the shipping industry “back to to square one” and that things were in “a terrible state, regardless of which shipping type you’re you’re looking at”.
“The alternatives for getting cargo, whether that’s hydrocarbons or container shipping, are really not great… it is really still troubling times with no clarity and no change of fortunes within sight.”
Business
Are Americans ready to embrace tiny ‘cars’ like the Fiat Topolino?
Chip Motors plans to produce a four- or six-seat low-speed vehicle, which it is calling a “life utility vehicle, named Chip.
Courtesy image
The next big idea in the U.S. automotive industry may be small.
A growing number of companies, including auto giant Stellantis, are betting Americans are ready to embrace smaller, less expensive vehicles amid yearslong affordability concerns for the U.S. auto industry.
But the vehicles aren’t technically “cars.” They’re electric low-speed vehicles, or LSVs, that are essentially a step above a traditional golf cart but below a typical light-duty car or truck sold in the U.S.
“We have seen the popularity of many different form factors of electric, small low-speed vehicles continuing to grow,” Keith Simon, CEO and cofounder of Waev, which owns several LSV brands such as ex-Polaris brand GEM, told CNBC. “I think it’s evident by the number of new entrants across many different vehicle types. There’s a lot of new players. … It’s been growing significantly.”
Attention on such vehicles has been magnified during the past year by President Donald Trump. He has discussed opening U.S. roadways and regulations to better allow for smaller vehicles, including LSVs from Europe and Japan’s “Kei cars,” on U.S. roadways.
“I’m giving all American car companies the right to build what are known as tiny little tiny cars,” Trump said during a speech last week at General Motors’ Milford Proving Grounds in Michigan. “I go over to Europe and I see these little cars all over the place and I say, ‘Why aren’t we making them?’”
Small cars have historically not performed well in the U.S., but those involved with LSVs believe they could be a growth market for Americans who want an affordable, easy-to-drive vehicle for short distances. They also can typically be charged overnight with a traditional household outlet compared with typical, more expensive EVs that need special chargers that can cost thousands of dollars.
Waev’s lineup of GEM low-speed vehicles, starting at
Courtesy image
Reliable data on the U.S. LSV market is limited since of the vehicles don’t need to be registered, but they’re part of a larger “micromobility” segment, which consulting firm McKinsey & Company last year estimated could more than double in size globally by 2030.
“The global micromobility market is on the upswing. McKinsey estimates that the market was worth about $160 billion in 2022; by 2030, it’s estimated to reach $340 billion,” according to its McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility. That includes North America’s market growing from $20 billion in 2022 to $35 billion by 2030.
For U.S. consumers, companies such as Stellantis’ Fiat, Waev and startup Chip Motors are focusing on electric streel-legal LSVs, many of which are starting around $15,000, a fraction of the nearly $50,000 average price tag for a new traditional car or truck.
Tiny cars, tiny market
LSVs vary in form and can be heavily customized, including the number of seats, electric range and available features, such as optional doors. They’re typically used for short distances, often for people living in closed community settings such as retirement homes or condominium complexes. Their main competition has traditionally been golf carts, not small cars.
“The use case for these kind of vehicles has become more interesting as people have evolved their lifestyles, and a vehicle like this fits into their lifestyles,” Simon said.
The market is loosely regulated compared to the light-duty vehicle market that dominates the U.S.. but the vehicles must not go faster than 25 mph and have to be equipped with standard safety features such as headlamps, turn signals, mirrors and a windshield that conforms to the federal motor vehicle safety standard. They’re not required to have airbags and they’re allowed on roadways with speed limits of up to 35 mph.
Stellantis plans to offer the Fiat Topolino, an all-electric quadricycle vehicle, in the U.S.
Stellantis
“The market demand is here now and you don’t need nearly as much capital to bring a LSV to market,” said Jameson Detweiler, CEO of Chip Motors, which last month revealed a new LSV that’s expected to go into production early next year. “What we’ve seen in the market … is just incredible latent demand.”
Detweiler estimates the street-legal LSV market to currently be in the hundreds of thousands of units in annual sales, but below 500,000. He believes as more companies such as his enter the market, the more awareness and sales will grow.
But for now, they’re small vehicles for a tiny part of the U.S. market, according to Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst at Mobility Global.
“They’re less expensive than a normal car, but they’re not expected to be a normal car, and and people buy them as recreational vehicles,” she said. “There’s great uses for them, but these are not part of of a day-to-day work-life commute for most people.”
New entrants
Detweiler’s company describes its vehicles as a “life utility vehicle,” named Chip. It looks like a beefed-up golf cart with a smiley, digital interactive face. The four-passenger vehicle is expected to start at $15,000 for an entry-level model, and it can also come in a six-seat model.
Detweiler plans to grow Chip to eventually be capable of self-driving technologies. In the meantime, he said the privately funded company expects it to be used more as a second vehicle, with plans to offer a service in which Chip employees can virtually remote into the vehicle to assist with driving and parking, he said.
The Chip “life utility vehicle” positioned between two Ford F-150 pickup trucks.
Courtesy image
“I really value and like the idea of when the future seems fun and promising,” said Detweiler, a Florida native, wearing a Timon and Pumbaa shirt from Disney’s “Lion King.” “A lot of technology is probably headed more ‘Blade Runner.’ We want to head more ‘Jetsons’ era.”
The company expects to begin sales in Miami, which officials say is a popular market for such vehicles.
The Florida coastal city also is where Stellantis’ Fiat brand is first offering its Topolino vehicle, which also starts around $15,000 and features the styling of the Italian brand’s iconic 500 city car.
The Topolino, which translates to “little mouse” in Italian, is actually a quadricycle. It has grown in popularity in Europe and the company is starting to sell it in limited numbers in the U.S.
Fiat CEO Olivier Francois is using the vehicle as a test bed to potentially refocus the famed Italian brand, which has struggled for years in the U.S., to focus on micromobility rather than traditional cars.
“I want Fiat to become the brand of micromobility within Stellantis,” Francois told CNBC. “I want to use America to test and learn. And, hey, if along the way I do some good volumes and good business, it doesn’t hurt.”
2026 Fiat Topolino Dolce Vita.
Courtesy Fiat
The brand re-entered the U.S. market in 2011 after a nearly 30-year absence with its small Fiat 500, but it never become a mass market success like it is in Europe.
In the brand’s first full year in the U.S. in 2012, Fiat sold 43,772 vehicles domestically. Those sales dwindled to roughly 1,300 Fiat vehicles sold last year in the U.S., with its only vehicle being an all-electric version of the Fiat 500.
Francois admits while the 500 EV, starting at $35,700, may be too expensive and too small for many Americans, he remains optimistic about the Topolino testing micromobility in the U.S.
“While everyone is explaining to me that small is a limit in the U.S., I think that now we go so small that it’s going to become exciting. We will see the reaction,” he told CNBC. “The fun thing with Topolino is we double down on small.”
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