Business
USMNT Faces Aging Red Devils Without Suspended Balogun
SEATTLE — The United States men’s national team carries its highest momentum in a generation into Monday night’s Round of 16 clash against Belgium at Lumen Field, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side will have to navigate the elimination bracket without leading scorer Folarin Balogun, who received a controversial red card in Wednesday’s 2-0 round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina that will keep him out of the Seattle fixture.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET, with Fox providing English-language broadcast coverage and Telemundo and Peacock carrying Spanish-language feeds for the nation’s largest sporting event in Seattle since the 2026 tournament was awarded to the United States, Canada and Mexico as co-hosts.
The American victory over Bosnia was built around Balogun’s third goal of the tournament and a strong second-half performance that validated the tactical approach Pochettino had maintained throughout the group stage. Christian Pulisic returned to the starting lineup after missing time with a calf injury sustained in the team’s tournament opener, a significant boost that reunited him with Balogun in the starting eleven for the first time with full fitness. Together they gave the American attack a dimension that had been partially constrained through the group stage’s final two matches, and the result left the United States having won their group for the first time since 2010.
But Balogun’s red card late in the Bosnia match now forces Pochettino to reorganize his attack for what could be the most important American World Cup match in a generation. Ricardo Pepi is the most likely replacement to lead the line Monday, a striker with strong club form who gives the USMNT a physical presence and the ability to hold the ball with his back to goal even if he lacks Balogun’s movement and finishing instincts.
Belgium’s path to Seattle was considerably more difficult. The Red Devils edged Senegal 3-2 in extra time in their Round of 32 match, a grueling 130-plus minutes that required Romelu Lukaku to come off the bench and provide a momentum-shifting contribution for the second consecutive game. The result advanced Belgium but raised real questions about the team’s fitness heading into Monday’s match, with an extra 30 minutes of effort on top of 90 already in their legs compared to the United States’ more controlled victory.
Belgium’s squad, widely acknowledged to be the final chapter of a golden generation that promised so much and delivered relatively little at major tournaments, features Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois among several players expected to be making their final World Cup appearances. The group was third place in 2018 in Russia but suffered a humiliating group-stage exit at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, a failure that deepened the sense of unfulfilled potential surrounding one of Europe’s most individually talented squads of the past decade. This tournament represents a final opportunity to reverse that narrative.
The recent head-to-head record technically favors Belgium, who beat the United States 5-2 in a friendly played in March, but several American analysts and reporters covering the tournament have cautioned against reading too much into that result given the personnel changes, fitness developments and tactical adjustments that have characterized Pochettino’s side since that friendly took place. Belgium’s performances at this tournament have been uneven even by the standards of a team that reached the Round of 16, and the American camp is confident the March result does not reflect the current state of either team.
Pochettino has made a point throughout the tournament of keeping his squad deeply prepared, including the decision to rest several key players for the group-stage match against Turkey, a calculation that now pays dividends with fresher legs for Belgium, who had no such luxury in their grueling extra-time victory against Senegal. The contrast in energy levels heading into Monday’s match has been one of the more frequently cited factors in analytical breakdowns of the fixture.
Tactically, the match sets up as a clash between the United States’ aggressive, high-energy pressing style built around midfielders Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie and Belgium’s attempt to use De Bruyne’s playmaking and Lukaku’s physical presence to control tempo and find space in transition. Pochettino’s system has emphasized explosive, positional wing play from Alex Freeman on the right and Antonee Robinson on the left, with Pulisic and Sergino Dest capable of combining with Pepi through central channels in Balogun’s absence.
Experts covering the tournament for USA TODAY offered split predictions. Nancy Armour and Jim Reineking both backed the United States 2-1, with Armour noting Belgium had looked beatable throughout the tournament and Reineking citing potential tired legs for Belgium after extra time. Richard Morin predicted a more comfortable 3-1 American victory, arguing that Belgium’s vulnerabilities would be exposed even without Balogun in the lineup. Victoria Hernandez picked Belgium 2-1, suggesting Lukaku would continue providing the decisive spark that has carried the aging squad this far and that losing Balogun would prove a significant enough blow to tip the match in Europe’s favor.
The stakes are clear for both franchises. A United States victory would send the co-host nation to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan, the last time the Americans advanced past the Round of 16 in a major tournament. The potential quarterfinal opponent would be the winner of Spain or Austria versus Portugal or Croatia, a prospect that would pit the United States against one of Europe’s most decorated football nations at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
For Belgium, defeat would close the book on the country’s most celebrated generation of players, ending a chapter that began with enormous promise in the late 2000s and that their supporters and football analysts alike have long agreed underperformed at successive major tournaments relative to the extraordinary individual talent the nation produced across that period.
Monday’s match in Seattle has the ingredients of one of this World Cup’s defining encounters, even if the absence of Balogun introduces a level of tactical uncertainty for the United States that the team did not face going into Wednesday’s round of 32 fixture.
Business
Top 25 Dividend Stock Opportunities For August 2026
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Business
Nuvama initiates coverage on KPR Mill and 2 other textile stocks, sees up to 35% upside. Here’s why
According to Nuvama’s thematic report titled ‘Textiles – The Loom Turns Toward India’, the brokerage highlighted that the global textile market, which is currently valued at around $1.6 trillion, is witnessing its largest sourcing shift in two decades. With China’s share of US apparel imports having nearly halved over the past decade, alternative manufacturing hubs like India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh are competing for the surrendered market share.
Nuvama has issued ‘Buy’ calls on shares of KPR Mill, Indo Count Industries, and Sanathan Textiles, backing their aggressive capacity expansion plans and integrated business models:
Nuvama on KPR Mill share price
As India’s largest listed garment manufacturer with an annual capacity of 204 million pieces, KPR Mill is fully integrated from cotton yarn to garmenting. Nuvama views it as a direct play on global garmenting tailwinds, having consistently maintained 88–98% utilisation levels through its expansion phases.
It has fixed a target price of Rs 1,276 apiece for the stock, implying an upside potential of 21.5% over the stock’s previous closing price.
Nuvama on Indo Count Industries share price
As the world’s largest bed-linen manufacturer by capacity, Indo Count is pivoting from commodity bed linen toward high-margin, value-added segments such as branded and utility bedding, bolstered by its US manufacturing footprint.
Nuvama has a target price of Rs 541 per share, implying nearly 35% upside from the stock’s previous closing price.
Nuvama on Sanathan Textiles share price
A value-added polyester yarn maker, Sanathan provides a pure-play expression of the global shift toward Man-Made Fibre (MMF). Backed by Quality Control Orders (QCO) and anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports, Nuvama projects the company’s volume to compound at 23%.
The brokerage has a target price of Rs 585 per share, implying more than 23% upside from the stock’s previous closing price.
What lies ahead?
Nuvama highlights that the structural opportunity for Indian textile exporters is driven by supply-side realignment rather than rapid demand acceleration, as global trade remains broadly flat.
Key tailwinds supporting Indian exporters include tariff parity and FTA access, inventory normalisation and government policy alignment.
Nuvama, in its report, added that while yarn spinning is capital-intensive and subject to raw material cycles, garment manufacturing and specialised textiles have better asset turnover and higher Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). With trade access, policy incentives, and global buyer behaviour aligning simultaneously for the first time since 2005, Indian textile majors are well-positioned for sustained multi-year growth.
Also read | Peter Lynch does not like the AI trade; here’s why he says ‘Know what you own’
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Business
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Business
Amazon Stock Has Best Day Since 2012
The company reported higher-than-expected revenue on Thursday from Amazon Web Services. It also said higher memory-chip prices would mean splashing more on data centers. But investors seemed to cheer the prospect of spending with the aim of selling more computing power to customers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Business
Peterborough families cut school uniform costs at swap event
Victoria – the BBC has agreed to not include her surname – 33, said her five-year-old daughter had “shot up” in size and needed more clothes for the new term.
“She’s five but she’s in six and seven-to-eight stuff so we need summer dresses,” she said.
Victoria described herself as “quite savvy” and said attending free events in the city helped keep costs down during the school holidays.
“I’d probably be more stressed if these things weren’t here though,” she said.
Everything in the pop-up is free — and organisers say it is helping to reduce waste.
“Supermarkets and shops are selling too much and there’s much more that can be shared,” said Cristina Fernandez-Hierro from Peterborough City Council.
She said the event made people feel empowered.
“They are not just ‘having charity’ they are actually making a difference,” she said.
“Every time you reuse an item of clothing you are actually helping the environment.”
Business
August 2026 Monthly
August 2026 Monthly
Business
Goldman Sachs sees a bigger space opportunity beyond launch providers
The research report noted that opportunities may increasingly emerge from the broader space ecosystem and its supply chain, rather than only from companies directly involved in launching rockets. Semiconductor, electronics, software, advanced materials, manufacturing and communications infrastructure companies could benefit as the commercialisation of space accelerates.
Goldman Sachs said its custom basket of US space and satellite stocks had gained around 13 per cent in 2026 through July 14, outperforming the 9.8 per cent rise in the S&P 500 over the same period. The basket has risen more than 360 per cent over the past two years, although its rally has cooled from its late-May peak.
The report noted that the space theme has evolved significantly, with investors increasingly focusing on rocket launches, satellites, global communications and potential future markets enabled by space technologies. Some companies in the basket are also seeing rising sales linked to US government defence contracts, particularly in satellite imagery and connectivity.
A key factor supporting the sector’s outlook is the improving economics of space activity. Goldman Sachs said the cost of rocket launches and satellites has declined, while opportunities in global communications services are developing. Some companies in the space and satellite basket could become profitable as early as next year, according to analyst Louis Miller.
The report also highlighted growing investor interest in orbital broadband services, including companies such as SpaceX’s Starlink. Potential future applications such as orbiting data centres are also attracting attention, although these remain longer-term opportunities.
Goldman Sachs said demand for space-related investments is coming from retail, private wealth and institutional investors, with many seeking differentiated secular growth themes rather than traditional sector allocations.
However, the sector remains highly volatile. The Goldman Sachs space basket is roughly twice as volatile as a comparable AI basket and about five times as volatile as the S&P 500. The report cautioned that investor enthusiasm could periodically run ahead of fundamentals even if the sector’s long-term structural direction remains positive.
Business
Red-Hot Inflation And (Inflation-Adjusted) Strong Domestic Private-Sector Demand Marks Q2 GDP – Debt-To-GDP Ratio Dips To 121.5%
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Business
Auto & Transport Roundup: Market Talk
The latest Market Talks covering the Auto and Transport sector. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
0921 ET — Magna International is improving its margins even while the world produces fewer vehicles. TD Cowen’s Brian Morrison says in a report 2Q results “reinforce Magna’s margin improvement story with adjusted EBIT margin expanding y/y to 6.2% despite lower y/y global light vehicle production.” At the same time, sales increased 3% to $10.98 billion, on “anticipated benefit of FX y/y and new program launches, partially offset by lower global production y/y.” This bodes well for the company. Morrison says that along with strong free cash flow, he sees upside potential to consensus and the applied multiple.” (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
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Business
Organon Co earnings missed by $0.50, revenue fell short of estimates

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