NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined in early trading Monday, falling 167.62 points, or 0.31%, to 53,564.79 as of 9:35 a.m. EDT, as investors digested weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales data and assessed the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.

The blue-chip index opened lower following a Friday close of 53,732.41, when it dropped 107.58 points, or 0.20%. That left the Dow down about 0.56% for the prior week, snapping a two-week winning streak and marking its largest weekly decline since mid-July. The index remains well above levels from a year earlier, up roughly 19% over the past 12 months and more than 11% year to date, though it has pulled back from a record close near 54,349 reached earlier in August.

Soft July retail sales figures released Friday showed a 0.6% month-over-month decline, missing economists’ expectations of a 0.1% increase and representing the steepest drop since May 2025. The data, combined with recent softer readings on jobs and producer prices, prompted markets to scale back the probability of a September interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve. Traders assigned a roughly 31% chance of a 25-basis-point hike next month, down sharply from near even odds a week earlier, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Broader markets showed a mixed picture early Monday. Futures pointed to modest gains for the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 and slight advances or flat performance for the S&P 500, while Dow futures indicated further pressure on the industrials-heavy index. Memory-chip makers including Micron Technology and Sandisk extended gains in premarket activity, supported in part by strong revenue commentary from AI-focused companies. The S&P 500 had closed the previous week at a record after three consecutive weekly advances.

Oil prices remained elevated amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East, with Brent crude trading near $90 a barrel. Elevated energy costs have kept some inflation concerns alive even as softer domestic spending data eased near-term rate fears. The dollar touched multi-week lows against a basket of currencies following the recent run of U.S. economic reports.

The Dow’s composition, weighted toward industrial, financial and consumer companies, has left it more sensitive to shifts in economic growth expectations than the more technology-focused Nasdaq. Transportation shares were under pressure in early trading, while utilities showed relative resilience. Volatility measures edged higher but remained at moderate levels by historical standards.

Investors this week will focus on a slate of major retailer earnings, including reports from Walmart, Target and Home Depot, for further clues on consumer spending. Federal Reserve meeting minutes due Wednesday are also expected to provide insight into policymakers’ latest thinking on the balance between growth and inflation risks. Strong corporate earnings overall this season have underpinned equity gains in recent months, even as geopolitical developments and questions about the durability of AI-related spending have introduced periodic caution.

The Dow remains more than 20% above its 52-week low and sits within striking distance of its all-time highs set earlier this month. Year-to-date gains continue to reflect a resilient corporate profit backdrop and expectations that any further monetary tightening will be limited. Still, the early decline Monday underscored ongoing sensitivity to incoming economic data after the index’s recent stretch of record territory.

Market participants noted that summer trading volumes often remain lighter, which can amplify moves on relatively modest news flow. The Cboe Volatility Index rose modestly in early dealings, reflecting a slight uptick in expected near-term swings. Global equities were mixed overnight, with European indexes starting the week higher in some cases on strength in technology and pharmaceutical shares.

Looking further ahead, attention will remain on whether softer consumer data continues to reduce the likelihood of aggressive Fed action or whether resilient labor markets and sticky services inflation reassert themselves. For the Dow, the immediate focus stayed on the path of industrial and consumer discretionary components as retailers prepare to report quarterly results.

The index’s pullback early Monday left it trading near session lows after an opening range that saw prices move between roughly 53,562 and 53,663. Prior closes in recent sessions had clustered in the mid-53,000s following the early-August peak. Despite the day’s pressure, the broader multi-month uptrend remained intact, supported by solid earnings and a gradual shift in rate expectations.

As trading continued, investors weighed the competing forces of cooler spending data against lingering geopolitical and energy-price risks. The Dow’s performance Monday highlighted the selective nature of recent market leadership, with technology shares showing more resilience than traditional industrial names in the opening hours.

ATLANTA — Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark opened up about the intensity of her team’s rivalry with the Atlanta Dream after the Fever narrowly escaped State Farm Arena with a 95-91 victory Sunday, the latest chapter in a season-long series that has consistently come down to the wire.

The win kicked off Indiana’s five-game road trip and marked another closely contested battle between two of the WNBA’s more high-profile rivals. Clark orchestrated the Fever’s offense throughout the game, finishing with 26 points and nine assists. The victory also improved Clark’s personal head-to-head record against Atlanta star Angel Reese to 6-2 across their matchups in the league.

Reese, for her part, produced a strong individual performance despite the loss, finishing with a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds to go along with six assists.

Asked in her postgame interview about the nature of the rivalry between the two teams, Clark emphasized that Atlanta represents one of several strong competitors across the league, while acknowledging the consistently tight margins that have defined the Fever-Dream series this season. “I mean, I think there’s great competition across the league,” Clark said. “I think, obviously, they’re a very talented team. I feel like every matchup we’ve had this year has been really close, and it’s been a battle.”

Clark, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, singled out two of Atlanta’s guards for particular praise, crediting both their individual talent and the structure Atlanta’s coaching staff has built around them. “They’re well coached,” Clark continued. “They do a lot of great things, obviously. Rhyne and Gray, they’re two of the best guards in the league. And obviously, with Rhyne’s size, it poses a lot of problems with just her length.” She pointed to that combination of talent and physical tools as a factor that could make Atlanta a difficult opponent later in the season. “So this is a team that will be scary in the playoffs. They’re great at what they do. They have a lot of different weapons.”

Beyond her assessment of Atlanta specifically, Clark also reflected on what games of this caliber mean for her own team’s development, describing high-intensity matchups against strong opponents as valuable measuring points for the Fever as they continue building toward the postseason. “But I think for us, like these are the games you get up for,” she said. “That’s what’s fun about competition. You want to play the best, it brings out the best in you. And I thought we stepped up to the challenge and we’re really good tonight.”

Sunday’s result evened the season series between the two teams at 2-2, marking their final scheduled regular-season meeting of the year, barring a potential postseason matchup between the two clubs if both advance far enough in the playoffs. The head-to-head series has served as one of the more closely watched storylines of the WNBA season, with both squads featuring high-profile young stars who have helped drive increased national attention and viewership to the league.

Clark and the Fever will continue their road trip Tuesday when they travel to Toronto to face the Tempo at Scotiabank Arena, continuing a stretch of games that will test the team’s depth and consistency away from Indianapolis.

Sunday’s victory adds another data point to what has become one of the WNBA’s most closely followed individual and team rivalries in recent seasons, with both Clark and Reese having emerged as two of the league’s most prominent young stars following standout collegiate careers that preceded their arrival in the professional ranks. Their matchups have consistently drawn significant television and streaming audiences, contributing to broader ratings growth the league has experienced since both players entered the league.

The Fever’s ability to close out a tightly contested road game against a divisional or conference rival is likely to be viewed as a positive sign for the team as it continues navigating a demanding late-season schedule. Close victories against strong opponents, particularly on the road, are often cited by coaches and analysts as evidence of a team’s readiness for the increased pressure of playoff basketball, a point Clark herself alluded to in describing the value such matchups hold for her team’s preparation.

Atlanta, meanwhile, will look to build on Reese’s strong individual performance as the team continues its own push through the remainder of the regular season, with Clark’s comments suggesting that opposing players and coaching staffs around the league continue to view the Dream as a legitimate threat heading into the postseason, regardless of Sunday’s outcome.

As both teams continue their respective schedules in the weeks ahead, the Fever-Dream series is likely to remain a focal point for league observers, particularly given the possibility that the two teams could meet again in the playoffs, depending on how the remainder of the regular season unfolds across the broader WNBA standings. For now, Sunday’s result stands as a testament to the tightly matched nature of the rivalry, with neither team having established a decisive edge over the other across their four meetings this season.

Operator

Good afternoon. Welcome to Fabrinet’s Financial Results Conference Call for the Fourth Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Garo Toomajanian, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Garo Toomajanian
Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today’s conference call to discuss Fabrinet’s financial and operating results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, which ended June 26, 2026. With me on the call today are Seamus Grady, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Csaba Sverha, Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on the Investors section of our website located at investor.fabrinet.com.

During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the Investors section of our website for important information, including our earnings press release and investor presentation, which include our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation as well as additional details of our revenue breakdown. In addition, today’s discussion will contain forward-looking statements about the future financial performance of the company. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management’s

Swig, the Utah-born beverage chain that helped popularize “dirty soda,” is finding some of its strongest growth well beyond its home state.

Andrew K. Smith, managing director and co-founder of restaurant-focused private equity firm Savory Fund, told FOX Business that Swig locations outside Utah are performing roughly 40% to 50% better than stores within the state.

The chain now operates in 23 states and expects to reach about 200 locations by the end of the year, Smith said, with additional expansion planned for next year.

Swig is best known for highly customizable drinks, particularly “dirty sodas” — fountain drinks mixed with flavored syrups, cream and other add-ins. The concept has surged in popularity in recent years, fueled in part by social media and pop culture.

MCDONALD’S EXPANDS INTO SPECIALTY DRINKS WITH ‘DIRTY SODAS,’ REFRESHERS PUSH

Andrew K. Smith, managing director and co-founder of restaurant-focused private equity firm Savory Fund, said Swig locations outside Utah are performing roughly 40% to 50% better than stores within the state. (FOX Business)

Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” which puts Utah culture in the national spotlight, also helped introduce dirty soda to a broader audience.

“We actually were doing very, very well before ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’” Smith said with a laugh. “But ’The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ definitely made, I think, the appeal and the interest and the mystique of dirty soda much more broad.”

Smith said Savory Fund’s investment in Swig was not simply a bet on soda. Instead, he sees the company benefiting from a broader shift in how Americans purchase their beverages.

Coffee followed a similar evolution, he said, going from something consumers routinely made at home to a premium and customizable product that they increasingly purchased from chains like Starbucks.

MAKER OF ICE CREAM SOLD AT GROCERY STORES NATIONWIDE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY AS IT APPEALS $23.8M JUDGMENT

Swig now operates in 23 states and expects to reach about 200 locations by the end of the year, Smith said. (Savory Fund)

“Really what Swig is, and what it was, was the ‘Starbucksification’ of soda, teas and lemonades,” Smith said.

Savory Fund manages more than $750 million in assets and has invested in restaurant brands including Swig, R&R BBQ, Mo’ Bettahs Hawaiian Style Food, Via 313 Pizzeria and PINCHO.

More recently, the firm invested in Zao Asian Grill, a 23-location Mountain West fast-casual chain that Smith believes could also expand well beyond its current footprint.

For Savory Fund, the goal is not simply to find the next trendy concept, according to Smith.

“As investors, and other investors that I would speak for, we don’t chase concepts, and we’re not chasing the right brand,” Smith said. “We’re backing exceptional founders, and we help them build enduring brands for our consumers.”

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN CO-FOUNDER OPENS UP ABOUT FAMOUS CHAIN’S WILD RISE, BANKRUPTCY AND COMEBACK

Menu items from Zao Asian Grill are displayed. Savory Fund recently invested in the Mountain West fast-casual chain as it looks to expand beyond its current footprint. (Savory Fund)

Smith also said consumers across Savory Fund’s portfolio have not stopped spending, but they are looking more closely at whether the food, service and overall experience justify the price they are paying.

“If you paid $20 for a meal, and you sit down, and you’re like, this looks more like $11, they feel like they got kind of scammed,” he said. “…You’ve got to make sure that your value on the plate is the same as the dollars that they’re giving.”

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Smith added, “Restaurants are one of the best real-time indicators of consumer confidence, because millions of decisions happen every day in this industry.”

Less than one week after Mark Walter shockingly sold the Los Angeles Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, the Buss family is now relinquishing its own shares to the new majority owners. 

At least, most of the Buss family wish to do so. 

Earlier on Monday, ESPN reported the Buss family decided to sell the remaining 17.8% ownership stake in the iconic NBA franchise to Kushner and Iger. 

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Lakers owner and president Jeanie Buss speaks during a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue for former Los Angeles guard Kobe Bryant at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena. (Jason Parkhurst-USA Today Sports / IMAGN)

The family’s trust, which includes siblings Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse, “received majority votes to allow trustees to execute the sale.” The vote required four of six to agree to sell to “enact the tag-along provision of Mark Walter’s sale to Kushner and Iger, which valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion.”

The outlet added that, once the transaction has been completed, Jeanie Buss will no longer have a required ownership percentage to remain the governor of the Lakers. 

“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction,” the Buss family told ESPN in a statement. “We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

BOBG IGER, JOSH KUSHNER SHOCKINGLY PURCHASE LAKERS MONTHS AFTER MARK WALTER BECAME MAJORITY OWNER

“As a family” doesn’t seem to be the case now. Jeanie Buss’s lawyer wrote a letter to the lawyers of her siblings explaining why she believes they can’t sell their minority stake to the new Lakers majority owners, according to CNBC.

In the last paragraph of that letter, the attorney writes, “On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed ‘vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake.”

ESPN added later Monday night that Jeanie Buss “was the lone family member not in favor to sell as the five siblings voted 5-0 – including two of the three trustees – to sell the Buss stake.” 

Walter’s time as majority owner came to an end a year after purchasing the stake from the Buss family. 

In June 2025, the Buss family decided to sell the Lakers to Walter for a then-record $10 billion. There was, however, some in the Buss family who felt misled by Jeanie in what they characterized as a rushed sale, per ESPN. They felt pressured to vote for the sale to go through. 

Within the sale to Mark Walter, Jeanie Buss was allowed to remain the governor of the Lakers. (IMAGN / IMAGN)

In the end, all six siblings said “yes” to the sale, which closed in October 2025. The sale gave each sibling $500 million post-tax. 

Within the sale to Walter, Buss was allowed to remain the governor of the Lakers given the 17.8% ownership stake still intact. 

But Walter’s surprise sale of the Lakers comes amid a federal investigation into the Guggenheim Partners CEO. It was reported that the FBI recently seized Walter’s phone and laptop, as well as a high-ranking Guggenheim Investments executive’s this past year. 

Some are viewing the Lakers’ sale as a quick way to liquify assets for Walter with potential legal problems ahead. 

The Financial Times also reported Monday that Walter and his business partner, Todd Boehly, are looking to sell their stakes in the English Premier League’s Chelsea Football Club.  

As part of this new addition to the deal that includes the Buss family shares, Kushner and Iger will roughly control 83% of the Lakers. They were slated to have 65% of control with just Walter’s shares. 

Joshua Kushner attends the Met Gala Celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023, in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Kushner, 41, is the founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, as well as co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health. He is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump. 

Iger, 75, is the former CEO of Disney, where he led the company to the acquisitions of Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox, to name a few.   

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UPDATE: “An earlier brief intermittent issue has been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.” (From Charles Schwab & Co.)

Charles Schwab customers reported widespread access problems Monday morning, according to outage-tracking service Downdetector, which recorded a spike in user complaints beginning at 9:46 a.m. EDT as investors navigated the opening hours of a trading week expected to bring significant market activity tied to major retail earnings reports.

Downdetector posted on its official account on the social platform X that “user reports indicate problems with Charles Schwab since 9:46 AM EDT,” tagging the post with the hashtag #CharlesSchwabDown and directing affected users to its outage-tracking page for further updates. The post had generated more than 1,200 views within a short period after being published.

The reported disruption arrived during a particularly active period for U.S. financial markets, with major retailers including Walmart, Target, Lowe’s and Home Depot scheduled to report quarterly earnings throughout the week, a stretch of results widely viewed by investors as a key gauge of American consumer spending heading into the back-to-school shopping season. Elevated trading volume tied to such high-profile earnings weeks has historically been associated with increased strain on brokerage platform infrastructure, though it remained unclear Monday whether that dynamic played any role in the reported access issues.

As of this report, Charles Schwab had not issued a public statement addressing the reported outage on its official social media channels, and the company does not maintain a dedicated public status page that would allow customers to independently verify the scope or cause of any service disruption, according to third-party monitoring services that track the brokerage’s platform performance.

Independent monitoring services offered a mixed picture of Schwab’s operational status around the time of the reported issues. UptimeRobot, which runs automated checks on Schwab’s website every 10 minutes from infrastructure located across multiple regions, indicated that its most recent check prior to the reported disruption had not detected unusual response times or error codes. StatusGator, another outage-tracking service, similarly listed Charles Schwab as “currently operational” in its most recent assessment, while noting a small number of user-submitted outage reports over the preceding 24-hour period.

Charles Schwab has experienced periodic platform disruptions in the past, particularly during periods of heightened market volatility or unusually high trading volume. In August 2024, Schwab experienced a documented outage amid a broader global stock-market selloff, an incident that also affected rival brokerage Fidelity Investments. During that episode, more than 15,000 users reported problems accessing Schwab’s platform within a short window, according to Downdetector data cited by Bloomberg at the time. Schwab later confirmed the issue had been resolved, posting on social media that “a technical issue experienced by some clients has been resolved,” after earlier acknowledging that some customers had experienced difficulty logging into Schwab platforms. Fidelity issued a similar statement confirming its own intermittent issues had been resolved.

According to guidance from outage-tracking resources that monitor Schwab specifically, the company operates several partially independent trading platforms, meaning a disruption affecting one service, such as Schwab’s main website, does not necessarily indicate that other platforms, including its mobile application or the thinkorswim trading platform, are similarly affected. Those resources note that during past website-specific outages, Schwab’s mobile app has in some cases continued to function normally, offering customers an alternative method of accessing their accounts or placing trades during periods when the primary website experiences problems.

Outage-tracking services that monitor Schwab have also noted that certain recurring events tend to correlate with an increased likelihood of platform strain. Federal Open Market Committee meeting days and interest rate decisions have historically triggered simultaneous surges in trading activity across Schwab’s tens of millions of active accounts, according to guidance published by services that track the platform’s historical outage patterns. Similarly, periods involving required minimum distributions, retirement account rollovers, and access to year-end tax documents have been identified as recurring drivers of simultaneous login activity that can place additional strain on the platform’s infrastructure.

Schwab reported having 35.6 million active brokerage accounts as of its most recent quarterly report prior to the 2024 outage, underscoring the scale of the customer base that could potentially be affected by any significant disruption to the company’s core trading platforms. The company has continued to grow its account base since that time, following its earlier acquisition and integration of TD Ameritrade’s brokerage operations, a transition that outage-tracking services have noted has occasionally been associated with reported technical issues among affected customers navigating the migration between platforms.

As of Monday, it remained unclear how widespread or prolonged the reported access issues were, or whether they affected all Schwab platforms uniformly or were isolated to specific services or geographic regions. Users experiencing difficulty accessing their accounts were generally advised by outage-tracking resources to attempt accessing the platform from an alternative browser, device or network, such as a mobile hotspot, and to check whether disabling a VPN or clearing a device’s DNS cache resolved the issue, steps that can help distinguish between a localized connectivity problem and a broader service-wide outage.

Given the timing of the reported disruption during active market hours on a day preceding several closely watched retail earnings reports, any confirmed outage affecting Schwab’s trading platforms could carry meaningful implications for customers attempting to execute trades or monitor market-moving news in real time. As of this report, Charles Schwab had not confirmed the scope, cause or resolution status of the reported issues, and Downdetector’s tracking page for the company continued to collect user reports as the situation developed throughout the morning.

Amazon MGM Studios’ planned expansion of a Berkshire-based complex would be a “considerable boost” for filmmaking, a government-funded industry body said.

Bray Film Studios, in Water Oakley, near Windsor, was previously used by the Hammer Films company.

The previous owner of the studios got planning permission to expand them in 2022 and Amazon MGM bought the site in 2024.

The British Film Commission (BFC) said it “recognises that the studio benefits from Amazon MGM’s commitment” and welcomed its “ambition to support employment opportunities for both the local community and more widely across the UK sector”.

The company has been using the site since 2022 and a public consultation regarding the expansion project closed in May.

Amazon MGM said its current proposals, which include building a multi-storey car park and six new sound stages, would help “realise the site’s full potential”.

The expansion is expected to create 470 jobs as it is built and 920 in Berkshire more widely.

Samantha Perahia, the BFC’s head of production, told the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead that it supports the plan.

“The enhancements proposed for Bray Studios will not only allow the region to build on its already established and impressive reputation amongst international clients,” she said.

She added that it “would also provide a considerable boost to the combined efforts of the BFC and our public and commercial partners in marketing the region, and the wider UK.”

The planning application will be decided later.