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Alum donates $16M to Virginia Tech

SUMMARY:

  • received a $16M from alumnus David Kellogg to support its PPE program
  • The gift permanently names the David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
  • The university launched its PPE program in 2015 (minor) and 2017 (major), and now has over 225 students in the field of study

Virginia Tech has received a $16 million commitment from alumnus David Kellogg to back the university’s philosophy, politics and economics program he began supporting five years ago.

After graduating from Virginia Tech with an electrical engineering degree in 1982, Kellogg worked for the CIA and then became an executive with Decision-Science Applications, a federal contractor focused on defense . In 1998, he founded IT firm Solers, which specialized in software and systems engineering. Reston-based federal contractor Peraton acquired Solers in 2019, and today, Kellogg leads proprietary trading firms he founded or cofounded.

Philosophy, politics and economics, or PPE, is an interdisciplinary field of study at Tech that examines how ethical principles, political institutions and economic systems intersect to shape societies and influence individual and collective decision-making. The university introduced a PPE minor in 2015 and a major in 2017, and today has more than 225 students enrolled in the programs.

Kellogg helped launch a research center in 2020 to support PPE, and his new gift permanently names it the David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

“The gift commitment will allow the center to maintain and strengthen its current personnel, programs, and activities,” Kellogg Center Professor and Director Michael Moehler said in a statement. “It will enable the center to work on increasing its footprint over time in alignment with college and University goals.”

The funding from Kellogg is an estate gift in the form of an endowment through which funds become available over time. Moehler noted that the gift provides a certain level of stability for the center’s operations but added it would be “premature” to say exactly how the center may extend its footprint.

In a statement, Kellogg said the staff and faculty in the electrical engineering department at Virginia Tech taught him “how to think, how to analyze, to be careful and deliberate and not take shortcuts — and that worked out.”

The Kellogg Center hosts annual public lectures featuring Nobel Prize winners, MacArthur Fellows, prominent legal scholars and moral, political and economic theorists.

“Democracy will not function without an informed public, and the public seems insufficiently informed at present,” Kellogg said. “We need people to think for themselves to become engaged and responsible citizens.”

The center supports research and is home to five core faculty members and more than 50 affiliated faculty. Moehler says the center conducts interdisciplinary research that is “socially relevant.”

“Our interdependent and globalized world faces a wide range of individual and collective decision-making problems that often cross the boundaries of academic disciplines,” he said. “Questions concerning market processes, government intervention, taxation, healthcare, sustainability, international relations, global trade, and justice involve both positive and normative elements, are multidimensional, and can be addressed adequately only through interdisciplinary analysis. The center provides such analysis.”

Moehler added that Virginia Tech PPE graduates have successfully pursued careers in management, , consulting, industry, investment banking, finance, business administration, law, journalism, government, public administration, public policy, think tanks, healthcare, international affairs, international development and nonprofit organizations.

The center oversees two undergraduate degree programs in PPE, and its affiliated faculty conduct research in multiple fields.

Virginia Democrats reject more Youngkin university board appointees

SUMMARY:

  • Amid court case over legislative authority, Virginia Senate committee blocks 14 more appointees
  • George Mason now has only six confirmed board of visitors members
  • VMI and U.Va. board nominees also rejected

A committee rejected 14 more of ‘s university board appointees Thursday, and three high-ranking Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the governor asking him to suspend future board appointments until he discusses them with Senate leadership.

The letter, which was released following Thursday’s vote by the Senate Privileges & Elections committee, comes amid legal warfare between Democratic state lawmakers and Virginia’s Republican leadership over public universities’ leadership, while the Trump administration threatens to withhold federal funding if universities don’t rid themselves of diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs.

The committee voted 8-6 not to confirm Youngkin’s 14 nominees for , the and ‘s boards of visitors.

There was little discussion, although three Republican senators questioned the timing and motivation of the vote while the Supreme Court of Virginia considers an appeal by the state attorney general of a ruling in favor of nine Democratic senators over the rejection of earlier board appointees.

With Thursday’s vote, the Senate committee has now voted to reject 22 of Youngkin’s nominees for the three universities’ boards. Thursday’s rejected appointees include six people named to George Mason’s board, as well as four each named to U.Va. and VMI’s boards by the governor in August.

Gubernatorial board appointees are considered active members unless they fail to be confirmed by the state’s legislature, typically via committee vote.

The 14 gubernatorial nominees rejected by the Senate include:

  • George Mason: American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Preston Cooper; former Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Treasury official Jeffrey Dinwoodie; and former Northern Virginia Technology Council CEO Bobbie Kilberg;
  • U.Va.: Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman James H. Donovan, former MasterCard International CEO Eugene Lockhart; and former chief financial officer and partner at Carlyle Group John F. Harris;
  • VMI: Retired Army colonel and former state Del. Scott M. Lingamfelter; and Garrett Exner, a retired Marine who served as military legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and is a national defense expert at Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

Thursday’s vote leaves George Mason’s board of visitors with only six confirmed members at a critical juncture when the board and GMU President Gregory Washington are under a 10-day deadline to voluntarily enter into a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education over an investigation that found the university violated federal civil rights laws.

The DOE announced Aug. 22 that its Office of Civil Rights had found the university in violation of civil rights law by “illegally using race and other immutable characteristics in university practices and policies, including hiring and promotion” — although critics view this as an overreach by the Trump administration, along with three other federal investigations launched in July against George Mason, and the Department of Justice’s involvement in pushing out former U.Va. President Jim Ryan, who stepped down in June.

Democratic Sens. Scott A. Surovell, Louise Lucas and Mamie Locke, in their letter to the governor, refer to federal influences that have “created significant uncertainty and instability within our higher education system at a time when these institutions need steady, qualified leadership.

“Our universities face mounting challenges, including potential federal investigations and pressure from the new Trump administration’s Department of Justice, threats to our international student admissions, and dollars,” the letter reads. “There is now a vacancy [at] the presidency of the University of Virginia due to its board’s failure to defend the school. Rather than providing these institutions with the stable, experienced governance they desperately need to navigate these turbulent waters, your appointments have often introduced additional controversy and division and abdicated their responsibilities.”

In their letter to Youngkin, the three senators add that they “intend to propose significant reforms to how visitors are nominated and confirmed in the 2026 [General Assembly] regular session and further appointments to these boards in the interim would be unwise.

“We therefore respectfully request that you suspend further appointments to these boards pending meaningful consultation with Senate leadership,” the Democratic senators’ letter concludes. “We stand ready to work with you to identify qualified nominees who can earn broad support and provide the stable governance our universities deserve. Virginia’s higher education system is too important to become a casualty of political discord.”

In June, eight Democrats on the Senate Privileges & Elections committee rejected former state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s appointment to U.Va.’s board, with committee chairman Sen. Aaron Rouse calling Cuccinelli “a Trump crony who is simply too extreme to have a role in shaping one of our commonwealth’s flagship universities.” That vote — and the Youngkin administration’s response — ultimately led to a court dispute.

In July, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of nine Senate Democrats who sued the rectors of George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Military Institute to prevent them from recognizing eight earlier appointees rejected by the Democrat-controlled committee in an 8-4 party-line vote.

Republican state Attorney General ‘ office has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia, while Republican state senators have filed an amicus brief supporting Miyares’ argument. This week, attorneys for the Democratic senators filed their response to Miyares’ appeal, arguing that the appeal should be rejected.

The basic argument is whether the Senate committee, which votes on all of the governor’s appointments to boards, commissions and task forces, can force appointees off boards by itself during a special session, or if a full vote by the General Assembly is required, as Youngkin and Miyares argue.

Following Thursday’s vote, Youngkin issued the following statement: “In my view, a single Senate committee does not have the legal authority to perform duties that the Constitution and Code [of Virginia] explicitly assign to the full General Assembly. This important constitutional question is now before the Supreme Court of Virginia, and I am confident in our position.

“Let’s be clear, these eight Senate Democrats are damaging Virginia’s great institutions of higher education. Removing these talented, experienced and dedicated volunteer board members is an unprecedented breach of public trust. Even more concerning, they refused to provide Virginians with any explanation for their decision. This is blatant partisanship that damages our great universities.”

The nine senators said they were forced to sue to block the eight rejected appointees because the governor and Miyares encouraged the three boards to recognize the eight rejected appointees as valid board members, an argument the circuit court judge agreed with in his ruling.

Republican Sen. Bill DeSteph, during Thursday’s committee meeting, asked, “Why wouldn’t we wait for the [state] Supreme Court to rule on this? It’s in front of them now.” He alleged that Senate Democrats were attempting to “usurp their authority, which again, we should not be allowed to do.”

Rouse responded, “We also have a job to do, and we will continue to do the job and the business of the people of the commonwealth.”

AstraZeneca to locate pharma plant in Albemarle

SUMMARY:

  • and Eli Lilly are planning facilities in Albemarle and Goochland counties.
  • Each manufacturing plant is eligible for more than $10 million in state incentives pending state legislative approval.
  • AstraZeneca previously announced a multibillion-dollar manufacturing facility in Virginia, producing chronic disease drugs and employing hundreds by 2030.

Pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and are planning to locate major manufacturing facilities in Albemarle and Goochland counties respectively, a state official has confirmed.

Last week, the state Major Employer Investment Project Approval Commission (MEI) unanimously voted to recommend that the General Assembly approve state incentives packages valued at more than $10 million apiece for AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly.

While the specifics were not discussed during open session, it was publicly stated that the incentives were for manufacturing projects that would bring jobs and capital investments to the state.

A state official confirmed to Virginia Business that AstraZeneca has proposed a project for and that Eli Lilly has proposed a site in Goochland County. However, the source did not provide more specifics and stressed that the incentives packages still require approval from the General Assembly.

Gov. Glenn announced in July that AstraZeneca, a global pharmaceutical manufacturer and biotech company, was building a multibillion-dollar facility to produce pharmaceutical substances for AstraZeneca’s weight management and metabolic portfolio, including oral GLP-1, baxdrostat, oral PCSK9 and combination small molecule products.

Described as AstraZeneca’s largest single manufacturing investment globally, the Virginia plant is part of $50 billion in investments AztraZeneca plans to make in the United States by 2030 for manufacturing and and development.

At the time, AstraZeneca representatives said that the exact location and size of the Virginia facility hadn’t been determined, but that the plant would employ “hundreds” of workers, and is expected to be operational by 2030. No other specifics have been released.

“[I’m] just absolutely thrilled to see the news that AstraZeneca is coming here,” said former AstraZeneca executive Mark Esser, leader of the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology at the . “Obviously, many friends and colleagues [work] there, so I look forward to welcoming them to Albemarle County and having them visit the University of Virginia.”

Meanwhile, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co. announced in February that it plans to bolster production by building four new pharmaceutical manufacturing sites in the United States. The move brings the company’s total U.S. capital expansion commitments to more than $50 billion since 2020.

The company stated that three of the sites will focus on manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients and strengthening the supply chain. At the same time, the fourth will expand the company’s global parenteral manufacturing network for future injectable therapies. The company did not specify the locations of these four sites, but stated that the facilities would collectively create more than 3,000 jobs.

Eli Lilly would not confirm its choice to locate in Goochland, with a spokesperson issuing this statement: “Lilly is actively evaluating manufacturing site locations throughout the U.S. to expand capacity to meet the growing demand for our current and future pipeline medicines across multiple therapeutic areas. Any future decisions will be shared at the appropriate time.”

AstraZeneca and Albemarle and Goochland county officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

Esser said he didn’t have all the details as to why AstraZeneca chose Albemarle, adding that he first heard about the project’s location from news reports. However, likely factors in the site location decision, he said, were the county’s proximity to U.Va. and its researchers, engineers, and physicians.

“It has a strong scientific base here of talent from engineers and scientists and other biomedical researchers that are ideal for these sort of facilities,” he said. “I think commercially, it’s an entrepreneurial environment here. There’s a lot of growth. And I think support from the state is a huge part of it, too.”

He said he hopes to foster partnerships and research collaborations between the Manning Institute and AstraZeneca, and said AstraZeneca could provide learning and workforce development opportunities for U.Va. students. He views the company’s potential investment in Albemarle as a significant development for that will put the Charlottesville region “on the map” as a major hub.

“I think there’s a strong talent pipeline here in Virginia that, in my opinion, has somewhat been untapped by the pharmaceutical industry,” he said.

Headquartered in Cambridge, England, AstraZeneca is an S&P Global 100 company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines in oncology, rare diseases and biopharmaceuticals, including cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, respiratory and immunology. Its largest market is the U.S., home to 19 of the company’s R&D, manufacturing and commercial sites. AstraZeneca employs about 90,000 workers worldwide, including more than 18,000 in the United States. It reported 2024 revenue of $54.073 billion.

An S&P 100 company, Eli Lilly has manufacturing plants in 9 countries and products marketed in approximately 95 countries. The company employs about 49,000 people worldwide and posted $45.04 billion in revenue last year.

Trump extends control over Washington by taking management of Union Station away from Amtrak

WASHINGTON (AP) — ‘s administration is taking management of Union Station away from Amtrak in the latest example of the federal government exerting its power over the nation’s capital.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the takeover Wednesday alongside Amtrak President Roger Harris at Washington’s main transportation hub during the launch of an updated version of the rail service’s Acela train. The federal government owns Union Station, which is near the Capitol.

Duffy said the station has “fallen into disrepair” when it should be a “point of pride” for the District of Columbia. He said the Republican administration’s move would help beautify the landmark in an economical way and was in line with Trump’s vision.

“He wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again. And he wants our nation’s capital to be great again. And today is part of that,” Duffy said.

It’s Trump’s latest attempt to put the city under his control. In recent weeks, Trump has increased the number of federal law enforcement and immigration agents on city streets while also taking over the Metropolitan Police Department and activating thousands of National Guard members. Last week, Trump said he wants $2 billion from Congress to beautify Washington.

Duffy said the federal government can do a better job managing the train station and attract more shops and restaurants and generate more revenue that will be used to pay for upgrades to the station, which opened in 1907. Since then, the cavernous Roman-columned building has been through multiple management changes and numerous ups and downs regarding its cleanliness, safety and state of repair.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said upgrading the transit hub that serves various rail lines and buses would be an “amazing initiative” for the federal government to take on because the city cannot afford the cost.

“It has suffered from not being able to get the money that it needs for the renovation,” the Democrat said at a separate news conference.

National Guard troops have patrolled in and around Union Station ever since Trump announced the anti-crime effort this month. Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were shouted down by opponents of the federal intervention when they visited with troops there last week.

Duffy had pressed Amtrak about crime at the station in a March letter to its chief operating officer and requested an updated plan on how it intended to improve public safety there.

The deputy transportation secretary, Steve Bradbury, cited a new roof and new public restrooms among $170 million in upgrades that he said are needed at the station.

Amtrak’s new high-speed train, the NextGen Acela, will start serving the Northeast Corridor on Thursday, said Harris, Amtrak’s president. The trains can travel at speeds of up to 160 mph, about 10 mph faster than the Acela train it is replacing. Duffy and the officials from the Union Station event boarded one of the new trains afterward for an inaugural ride to New York’s Penn Station.

Union Station has had a history of ups and downs during its nearly 120-year history.

In 1981, after rain started pouring through the ceiling, the National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over some of the area surrounding the station, declared the building unsafe. The station was closed for five years for renovation and President Ronald Reagan signed the Union Station Redevelopment Act to help fund and organize its comeback.

More recently, the building fell on relatively hard times during the COVID pandemic. Foot traffic plummeted after passengers shunned mass transit while multiple shops closed at the station. But the past three years have witnessed a bit of a comeback.

The station has occasionally been a magnet for homeless individuals seeking shelter inside or camping in tents on Columbus Circle in front of the building. The proliferation of tents prompted the Park Service to clear the encampment in front of the station in June 2022.

Control and management of the physical building also have shifted over the years.

Cracker Barrel had good reasons to rebrand.

Like its namesake barrels that transported soda crackers until boxes replaced them, Cracker Barrel needed to change.

The restaurant chain’s new CEO, Julie Felss Masino, laid out the argument to investors last year: Cracker Barrel’s customer traffic was down 16% compared to 2019. showed consumers thought the brand fell short of competitors in essential ways, from the quality of the food to value and convenience.

“We are not leading in any area. We will change that,” Masino said.

But over the past week, Cracker Barrel’s attempted revamp hit a wall. The company saw severe backlash over its plans to modernize and simplify its nostalgic logo – including from .

“I don’t like the changes. I mean it’s always been Cracker Barrel like it is, so I’d like for it to stay like it is,” customer Sid Leist said during a visit to a Cracker Barrel in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Tuesday.

By that evening, Cracker Barrel had reversed course and said its old logo would remain. It features an overall-clad man – said to represent Uncle Herschel, a relative of Cracker Barrel’s founder – leaning on a barrel, with the words “Old Country Store” underneath.

Investors cheered the move. Cracker Barrel’s stock price rose 8% Wednesday to close at $62.33 per share. That was even higher than its closing price on Aug. 15, before it announced the new logo.

Here’s how Lebanon, Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel got to this point and where it might go from here:

Transformation plan

Cracker Barrel hired Masino, a longtime Taco Bell and Starbucks executive, in July 2023. She was chosen for her record as an innovator, with the hope that she would attract new customers to Cracker Barrel, which operates 660 restaurants in 43 states.

Masino introduced updated menu items, like Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pie, to increase Cracker Barrel’s dinnertime traffic. She also started remodeling the company’s dark, antique-filled restaurants, lightening the walls and installing more comfortable seating.

The changes appeared to be helping. Cracker Barrel’s fiscal third quarter, which ended May 2, was the fourth consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth for the company. Same-store sales, a key metric for restaurants, measures sales at locations open at least one year.

Logo misstep

Richard Wilke, a former executive at the brand consultancy Lippincott who helped lead rebrands for companies like Delta Air Lines and Walmart, said Cracker Barrel’s existing logo is too detailed and fussy for the digital age, when companies have to think about how their brand appears in a smartphone app.

But Wilke said Cracker Barrel’s new logo, featuring just the company’s name in brown letters on a gold background, lacked character. The logo’s rollout also seemed like an afterthought. In a press release about new fall menu items released Aug. 18, the company mentioned the new logo in the fourth paragraph.

The approach Walmart took in 2008 provides a better model for a successful rebrand, according to Wilke. Walmart wanted to broaden its appeal, especially to shoppers in urban areas. It redesigned stores, slowly adding a new blue-and-yellow color scheme and yellow asterisk symbol. It trained employees on the meaning behind its new slogan, “Save money. Live better.”

After a year or more, the company finally introduced its new logo, which added the yellow asterisk and dropped the hyphen from Wal-Mart in order to de-emphasize the discount term “Mart.”

“The logo change was almost a natural conclusion to this multi-year transformation,” Wilke said. “I suspect that if we did it in the same sequence as Cracker Barrel, we would have gotten the same noise.”

Nostalgia factor

Cracker Barrel acknowledged Monday that it should have done a better job with the new logo’s rollout.

The company said it should have emphasized all the things that would remain the same about Cracker Barrel restaurants: the rocking chairs on the front porches, fireplaces in the dining rooms and vintage Americana and antiques scattered throughout.

The company said it would also continue to honor Uncle Herschel on its menu and on items sold in the country-style stores attached to its restaurants. But it was too late, and Cracker Barrel pulled its new logo the next day.

Next steps

Thomas Murphy, a professor of practice at Clark University School of Business, said returning to the original logo was a “positive course correction” given the intensity of fans’ response. Now, Murphy said, Cracker Barrel should reinforce the message that it’s not moving away from its values or heritage.

Murphy said Cracker Barrel can continue to “refresh” its stores, making them brighter and more welcoming to younger customers. But it doesn’t really need to “rebrand,” he said, which would indicate a bigger change in direction or purpose.

Wilke agrees that Cracker Barrel should stick with the old logo but continue to revamp its restaurants in the short term. Eventually, the company will have to adopt a simpler logo, he said, but it should design one that retains more of the brand’s heritage.

Political fallout

One difference with past corporate transformations — including a 2014 rebrand by Southwest Airlines to attract more business customers or Dunkin’ Donuts 2019 renaming to Dunkin’ — is the more divisive political climate.

Cracker Barrel caught heat not only from Donald Trump Jr. but from the president himself. On Tuesday morning, Trump said via Truth Social that Cracker Barrel “should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before.”

Later, Trump celebrated Cracker Barrel’s decision to drop its new logo.

Wilke said he wishes both Republicans and Democrats would stay out of brand decisions like Cracker Barrel’s. Rebrands are almost always about trying to attract new customers without alienating old ones, he said.

“This isn’t a political story,” he said. “If politicians now turn every company logo design update into a debate about being ‘woke’ or ‘anti-woke,’ we are headed into a damaging new era for corporate .”

Wall Street edges higher and pushes S&P 500 to another record

Modest gains on Wall Street lifted the stock market to an all-time high Wednesday ahead of a highly anticipated earnings update from computer chip giant Nvidia.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, good enough to nudge the benchmark index past the record high it set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite closed 0.2% higher.

Technology companies led the way higher, outweighing declines in communication services and other sectors.

After the market closed, Nvidia reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street analysts’ forecasts, though the company noted that sales of its chipsets rose at a slower pace than analysts anticipated. The stock fell 3.2% in after-hours trading after having slipped 0.1% during the regular session.

Investors consider Nvidia a barometer for the strength of the boom in artificial intelligence because the company makes most of the chips that power the technology. Its heavy weighting also gives Nvidia outsized influence as a bellwether for the broader market.

“Saying this is the most important stock in the world is an understatement,” said Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. “The stock’s average move after an earnings release is plus or minus 7.4%, so just an average move will make an impact on the entire market.”

Several big software companies — CrowdStrike Holdings, ServiceNow, Palo Alto Networks, Intuit and Salesforce — rose ahead of the Nvidia results.

The stocks have been mostly in the red so far this quarter amid worries that AI is going to make software creation much easier at the expense of big software companies’ competitive edge.

Cracker Barrel shares climbed 8% after the restaurant company scrapped plans to change its logo following an uproar on social media that even drew a comment from .

Shares in several companies rose after they reported quarterly results that topped analysts’ forecasts. Department store chain Kohl’s vaulted 24% and database platform company MongoDB surged 38%. Both companies also raised their full-year guidance.

J.M. Smucker slid 4.4% after the jelly and jam maker’s latest quarterly snapshot fell short of analysts’ estimates.

Among other stocks that lost ground: doughnut shop chain Krispy Kreme, which fell 3.5%, and Paramount Skydance, which dropped 6.5% for the biggest decline among S&P 500 companies.

Treasury yields mostly fell in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.24% from 4.26% late Tuesday.

Crude oil prices rose. European markets finished mostly lower and Asian markets closed mixed overnight.

Trading on Wall Street is off to an uneven start this week following big gains last week on hopes for interest rate cuts from the Fed.

Markets have been subdued after Trump escalated his fight with the central bank by trying to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Cook’s lawyer said she’ll sue Trump’s administration to try to stop him.

Trump has been feuding with the central bank over its cautious interest rate policy. The Fed has held rates steady since late 2024 over worries that Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies will reignite inflation. Trump has also threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, often taunting him with name-calling. Still, he is only one of 12 votes that decides interest rate policy.

For now, the situation isn’t expected to have a major impact on the Fed’s near-term policy.

The two-year Treasury yield, which closely tracks expectations for Federal Reserve action, dropped to 3.62% from 3.68%.

Traders are still betting the Fed will trim its benchmark interest rate at its next meeting in September. Traders see an 90.3% chance that the central bank will cut the rate by a quarter of a percentage point, according to data from CME Group.

“It’s kind of a foregone conclusion from the market that we’re going to get the September interest rate cut,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management. “The bigger question is probably ‘What’s after that?’ ”

The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate in late 2024 after spending the last several years fighting rising inflation by raising rates. It managed to mostly tame inflation and avoided having those higher rates stall economic growth, thanks largely to strong consumer spending and a resilient job market.

The Fed hit the pause button heading into 2025 over concerns that higher tariffs imposed by Trump could reignite inflation. Lower interest rates make borrowing easier, helping to spur more investment and spending, but that could also potentially fuel inflation. However, concerns are deepening over the jobs market.

Economic data is relatively light this week until Friday, which will bring another update on inflation: the U.S. personal consumption expenditures index. Economists expect it to show that inflation remained at about 2.9% in July, compared with a year ago. Businesses have been warning investors and consumers about higher costs and prices because of tariffs.

Steep tariffs placed by the Trump administration on India over Russian oil purchases took effect Wednesday, bringing the combined tariffs imposed on the U.S. ally to 50%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 15.46 points to 6,481.40. The Dow added 147.16 points to 45,565.23, and the Nasdaq climbed 45.87 points to 21,590.14.

Nvidia’s latest quarter shows signs of slowing AI chip sales amid concerns of tech bubble

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nvidia’s sales of its chipsets rose at a slower pace than analysts anticipated during the company’s latest quarter, a letdown likely to stoke worries that the AI craze has been fool’s gold.

The results announced Wednesday were hotly anticipated because Nvidia has emerged as a bellwether of a two-year-old AI boom that has been propelling the stock market to new heights while making the Silicon Valley chipmaker the first publicly traded company with a $4 trillion market value.

In recent weeks, though, recent research reports and comments by prominent tech executives have raised investor fears that the AI mania has been mostly overblown.

And now Nvidia’s latest numbers covering the May-July period may feed those perceptions because the sales of the company’s processors, which are indispensable components that power the technology in scattered around the world, appear to be decelerating slightly faster than investors thought they would.

The AI chips are part of Nvidia’s data center division, which posted revenue of $41.1 billion, a 56% increase from the same time last year, but below the analyst forecast of $41.3 billion, according to FactSet .

Even so, Nvidia’s profit of $26.4 billion, or $1.08 per share, was higher than analysts predicted, as was its total revenue of $46.7 billion.

But Nvidia’s stock still slipped nearly 3% in extended trading after the fiscal second quarter report came out, indicating the performance wasn’t enough to allay investors’ fears.

BigBear.ai grabs naming rights to Commanders training facility

McLean-based government tech contractor last week announced that it partnered with the football team and secured the rights to name the team’s training facility in .

Now named the BigBear.ai Performance Center, the 162-acre training complex houses three grass fields, an indoor turf field, draft room, team meeting rooms, full strength training and recovery facilities and an in-house content studio.

But the partnership doesn’t end there, as BigBear.ai will be featured across the fifth-floor suite level of Northwest Stadium, at suites entrances to the stadium, on the team’s practice jerseys and on other team assets.

“BigBear.ai is going on offense, and this partnership exemplifies our strategy” said BigBear.ai CEO Kevin McAleenan in a statement. “We’re stepping onto the national stage with one of the ‘s most recognized franchises — an organization that shares our deep dedication to innovation and excellence. Our partnership marks the first in a series of decisive moves we are taking to strengthen our position and unlock the next chapter of growth.”

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. BigBear.ai says it is looking for ways to use the company’s technology to enhance the fan experience.

Commanders President Mark Clouse says he was “excited” about the partnership.

“BigBear.ai has been a proud part of this region, delivering innovation and impact from right here in our own backyard,” Clouse said. “We have been focused on building momentum across every facet of the organization, and our partnership represents the next step in advancing performance, progress, and meaningful engagement with our fans and community.”

Headquartered in , BigBear.ai is a federal contractor that provides technology and services for defense, national security and critical infrastructure. The company earned $158.2 million in revenue in 2024, up from $155.2 million in revenue in 2023.

The Ashburn-based Commanders were founded in 1932 and are one of the original members of the NFL’s Eastern Division. Last month, threatened to hold up a new stadium deal for the team if it did not restore its old name of the Washington , which is considered offensive to Native Americans.

Google announces Chesterfield data center as part of $9B investment


SUMMARY:

  • is investing an additional $9 billion in Virginia by 2026 for cloud and AI infrastructure
  • Investment includes a new data center in , currently under construction
  • Other expansions planned in Loudoun and Prince William Counties

Google plans to invest an additional $9 billion in Virginia through the end of 2026, with much of the funding going toward the development of a new data center in Chesterfield County, announced Wednesday.

The investments will be focused on cloud and infrastructure, the governor said. Google will also expand existing facilities in Loudoun and Prince William Counties and expand education and workforce development programs for Virginians.

Construction has already begun on the new data center. A Google spokesperson said the data center will be located at a 300-plus acre site at 2700 Bermuda Hundred Road near . While Google did not provide a specific timeline for how long the project would take, the spokesperson said data center projects typically take 18 to 24 months to complete.

The governor’s office says once the new Chesterfield County data center is complete, the facility will join the and campuses as part of Google’s global network of . Google is eligible for data center sales and use tax exemptions on qualifying computer equipment and enabling software.

“Google’s $9 billion investment in Virginia is a powerful endorsement of our commonwealth’s leadership in the AI economy,” said in a statement. “As AI is increasingly part of every aspect of work, this project reinforces our commitment to preparing Virginians for the future. Investments like this not only expand Virginia’s cloud and AI infrastructure but also expand our efforts to build a future-ready workforce through initiatives like our AI Career Launch Pad. Virginia is the largest data center market in the world and remains a top-ranked hub for AI talent and innovation, where opportunity meets preparation.”

The governor announced that all Virginia-based college students now have free access to the Google AI Pro plan for 12 months and AI training and job search support. Additionally, the , Brightpoint Community College and Northern Virginia Community College are among the first cohort of universities that are part of the Google AI for Education Accelerator.

“With today’s announcement, Google is deepening our roots in Virginia [and] extending our investments across the state to help position Virginia — and America — for the opportunities technology can deliver,” Alphabet and Google President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat said in a statement. “Google’s investments in technical infrastructure and AI skills development help to ensure that people across Virginia and across the United States have access to opportunity in this exciting era of American innovation.”

Google did not share details about the size and scope of the data center project, cost estimates for the data center, estimates on how many jobs the project would bring or details on what the expansions in Loudoun and Prince William Counties will entail.

 

CoStar completes $1.9B acquisition of Domain

Arlington County-based data and analytics company Group announced Wednesday that it has completed its $1.9 billion of Australian property listings platform .

Domain reaches an average of 7 million Australians each month, CoStar said.

“Today marks an important milestone as and Domain officially come together to redefine the Australian property market,” Andy Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group, said in a statement. “For too long, agents, buyers and vendors have faced an unbalanced marketplace dominated by an intention to extract value rather than deliver it. Our vision is different. We are building a more compelling user experience at a lower cost — driving greater value for agents, vendors, and buyers alike. We are the agent’s ally, and we will never operate at their expense.”

In May, CoStar announced the acquisition would be 3 billion in Australian dollars, roughly $1.9 billion in U.S. dollars. Now that the acquisition is complete, CoStar is working to integrate Domain into the company and accelerate the rollout of technology and customer solutions in Australia.

Earlier this year, it was announced that CoStar agreed to pay Domain shareholders AU $4.43 per share, equivalent to approximately $2.85 in U.S. dollars.

CoStar could not be immediately reached for comment regarding questions about the role Domain President Jason Pellegrino will play in the combined company, the number of Domain employees who will be integrated into the combined company and whether there will be layoffs.

Based in Sydney, Domain owns several property brands, including Domain, Allhomes, Commercial Real Estate, Domain Insight and Pricefinder.

Costar’s Homes.com brand retained second place in the nation for residential real estate listings based on monthly unique visitors, Florance said in May.

“We dismantled market dominance in the U.S. by transforming Homes.com into a true agent-friendly platform, and we are ready to apply that same proven playbook in Australia,” he said Wednesday.

The acquisition comes as CoStar is suing Zillow for alleged copyright infringement, claiming that the competitor is illegally using tens of thousands of CoStar’s copyrighted images illegally on its real estate listings sites and partnership network sites.

Before the acquisition, CoStar had more than 6,800 employees across 72 offices in 13 countries. The company established a global operations center in Richmond in 2016 and has since grown that office to over 2,350 employees, becoming one of the area’s larger employers. This year, the company moved its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Arlington.