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Wall Street steadies itself as Alphabet pulls tech stocks higher

Summary

  • rises 0.5%, breaking a two-day losing streak
  • jumps 7.1% after favorable antitrust ruling
  • Bond yields ease, calming market inflation worries
  • Macy’s soars 19.6% on strong quarterly earnings
  • sinks 9.7% despite profit beat

NEW YORK (AP) — is steadying on Wednesday as Alphabet and other technology stocks rise.

The S&P 500 added 0.5% and was on track to break its two-day losing streak since setting its latest all-time high. The Industrial Average was edging down by 3 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the composite was 0.8% higher.

Google’s parent company climbed 7.1% and was one of the strongest forces lifting the market after avoiding some of the worst-case scenarios in its antitrust case. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a shake-up of Google’s search engine but did not force a sale of its Chrome browser, for example.

Because Alphabet is one of Wall Street’s most valuable companies, its stock movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than the typical company’s.

Also helping to steady Wall Street was a calming bond market. A day earlier, rising yields for government bonds around the world raised the pressure on the . Yields climbed on worries about governments’ abilities to repay their growing mountains of debt, as well as concerns that President Donald ‘s pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut short-term could lead to higher inflation in the long term.

Such worries have pushed investors to demand higher yields in order to lend money to governments worldwide. And when bonds are paying more in interest, investors are less likely to pay high prices for stocks, which are riskier investments.

On Wednesday, Treasury yields slowed their ascent. The 10-year Treasury yield dipped to 4.26% from 4.28% late Tuesday, for example.

Trading on Wall Street was mixed outside of , which benefited from the Alphabet ruling. Apple rose 2.6%, as analysts said the ruling will still allow it to sign lucrative search deals with Google.

Macy’s jumped 19.6% for one of the market’s bigger gains after the retailer reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The owner of Bloomingdale’s delivered the best growth in an important measure of sales in three years, and it also raised its forecasts for sales and profit this fiscal year.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Dollar Tree, even though the retailer reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. A chunk of its stronger-than-expected performance came because of the timing of tariffs, which could drag down its results in the current quarter.

Analysts also said expectations were high for the value retailer coming into its report. Its stock fell 9.7%, slicing into its gain for the year that came into the day at a stellar 48.6%.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes ticked higher following a weaker finish across much of Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% amid uncertainty about the political future of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Mystery surrounds $1.2 billion Army contract to build huge detention tent camp in Texas desert

Summary

  • awards $1.2 billion detention contract
  • Fort Bliss site set to be nation’s largest immigration camp
  • Virginia firm has no prior experience
  • declines to release contract details or rationale
  • oversees project linked to ‘s deportation pledge

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump’s administration last month awarded a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to build and operate what it says will become the nation’s largest complex, it didn’t turn to a large government contractor or even a firm that specializes in private prisons.

Instead, it handed the project on a military base to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a small business that has no listed experience running a correction facility and had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million. The company also lacks a functioning website and lists as its address a modest home in suburban Virginia owned by a 77-year-old retired Navy flight officer.

The mystery over the award only deepened last week as the new facility began to accept its first detainees. The Pentagon has refused to release the contract or explain why it selected Acquisition Logistics over a dozen other bidders to build the massive tent camp at Fort Bliss in West Texas. At least one competitor has filed a complaint.

The secretive — and brisk — contracting process is emblematic, experts said, of the government’s broader rush to fulfill the Republican president’s pledge to arrest and deport an estimated 10 million migrants living in the U.S. without permanent legal status. As part of that push, the government is turning increasingly to the military to handle tasks that had traditionally been left to civilian agencies.

A member of Congress who recently toured the camp said she was concerned that such a small and inexperienced firm had been entrusted to build and run a facility expected to house up to 5,000 migrants.

“It’s far too easy for standards to slip,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes Fort Bliss. “Private facilities far too frequently operate with a profit margin in mind as opposed to a governmental facility.”

Attorney Joshua Schnell, who specializes in federal contracting law, said he was troubled that the Trump administration has provided so little information about the facility.

“The lack of transparency about this contract leads to legitimate questions about why the Army would award such a large contract to a company without a website or any other publicly available information demonstrating its ability to perform such a complicated project,” he said.

Ken A. Wagner, the president and of Acquisition Logistics, did not respond to phone messages or emails. No one answered the door at his three-bedroom house listed as his company’s headquarters. Virginia records list Wagner as an owner of the business, though it’s unclear whether he might have partners.

Army declines to release contract

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved using Fort Bliss for the new detention center, and the administration has hopes to build more at other bases. A spokesperson for the Army declined to discuss its deal with Acquisition Logistics or reveal details about the camp’s construction, citing the litigation over the company’s qualifications.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined for three weeks to answer questions about the detention camp it oversees. After this story was published Thursday, the department’s spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, issued a statement that said “under President Trump’s , we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for of criminal illegal aliens.”

She said the Fort Bliss facility “will offer everything a traditional ICE detention facility offers, including access to legal representation and a law library, access to visitation, recreational space, medical treatment space and nutritionally balanced meals.”

Named Camp East Montana for the closest road, the facility is being built in the sand and scrub Chihuahuan Desert, where summertime temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit and heat-related deaths are common. The 60-acre (24-hectare) site is near the U.S.-Mexico border and the El Paso International Airport, a key hub for deportation flights.

The camp has drawn comparisons to “Alligator Alcatraz,” a $245 million tent complex erected to hold ICE detainees in the Florida Everglades. That facility has been the subject of complaints about unsanitary conditions and lawsuits. A federal judge recently ordered that facility to be shut down.

The vast majority of the roughly 57,000 migrants detained by ICE are housed at private prisons operated by companies like Florida’s Geo Group and Tennessee-based CoreCivic. As those facilities fill up, ICE is also exploring temporary options at military bases in California, New York and Utah.

At Fort Bliss, construction began within days of the Army issuing the contract on July 18. Site work began months earlier, before Congress had passed Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, which includes a record $45 billion for immigration detention. The Defense Department announcement specified only that the Army was financing the initial $232 million for the first 1,000 beds at the complex.

Three white tents, each about 810 feet (250 meters) long, have been erected, according to satellite imagery examined by The Associated Press. A half dozen smaller buildings surround them.

Setareh Ghandehari, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Detention Watch, said the use of military bases hearkens back to World War II, when Japanese Americans were imprisoned at Army camps including Fort Bliss. She said military facilities are especially prone to abuse and neglect because families and loved ones have difficulty accessing them.

“Conditions at all detention facilities are inherently awful,” Ghandehari said. “But when there’s less access and oversight, it creates the potential for even more abuse.”

Company will be responsible for security

A June 9 solicitation notice for the Fort Bliss project specified the contractor will be responsible for building and operating the detention center, including providing security and medical care. The document also requires strict secrecy, ordering the contractor inform ICE to respond to any calls from members of Congress or the news media.

The bidding was open only to small firms such as Acquisition Logistics, which receives preferential status because it’s classified as a veteran and Hispanic-owned small disadvantaged business.

Though Trump’s administration has fought to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs, federal contracting rules include set-asides for small businesses owned by women or minorities. For a firm to compete for such contracts, at least 51% of it must be owned by people belonging to a federally designated disadvantaged racial or ethnic group.

One of the losing bidders, Texas-based Gemini Tech Services, filed a protest challenging the award and the Army’s rushed construction timeline with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress’ independent oversight arm that resolves such disputes.

Gemini alleges Acquisition Logistics lacks the experience, staffing and resources to perform the work, according to a person familiar with the complaint who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Acquisition Logistics’ past jobs include repairing small boats for the Air Force, providing information technology support to the Defense Department and building temporary offices to aid with immigration enforcement, federal records show.

Gemini and its lawyer didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

A ruling by the GAO on whether to sustain, dismiss or require corrective action is not expected before November. A legal appeal is also pending with a U.S. federal court in Washington.

A judge in that case denied a motion that sought to freeze construction at the site at a sealed hearing Thursday.

Schnell, the contracting lawyer, said Acquisitions Logistics may be working with a larger company. Geo Group Inc. and CoreCivic Corp., the nation’s biggest for-profit prison operators, have expressed interest in contracting with the Pentagon to house migrants.

In an earnings call this month, Geo Group Executive George Zoley said his company had teamed up with an established Pentagon contractor. Zoley didn’t name the company, and Geo Group didn’t respond to repeated requests asking with whom it had partnered.

A spokesperson for CoreCivic said it wasn’t partnering with Acquisition Logistics or Gemini.

Virginia 500: The 2025-26 Power List

Who are Virginia’s most powerful and influential leaders in business, government, politics and education this year? Find out in the sixth annual edition of the : The 2025-26 .

Read a note from our associate publisher about how we select the Virginia 500. 

Executives are listed in alphabetical order by industry. Below you will find links to each of the 21 categories featuring the state’s top leaders this year:

TowneBank completes $203M acquisition of Old Point

Suffolk-based announced Tuesday that it has closed its $203 million acquisition of Hampton-based National Bank of Phoebus and its parent company, Old Point Financial.

The , which went into effect Monday, cements TowneBank’s position as the bank with the highest market share in . The combined company now has total assets of $19.5 billion, loans of $13.1 billion and deposits of $16.3 billion based on financial information reported as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Old Point’s 13 bank branches will now operate as “Old Point National Bank, a Division of TowneBank” until February 2026, when the core systems and operations of Old Point National Bank are scheduled to be converted into those of TowneBank. Old Point Wealth Management will continue to offer its products and services as an addition to the TowneBank family of companies.

“We are honored to welcome Old Point to the Towne family, and look forward to upholding the legacy of the Shuford family in Hampton and beyond,” TowneBank Executive G. Robert Aston Jr. said in a statement.

Due to the merger, Old Point Chairman, President and Robert F. Shuford Jr. was appointed as TowneBank’s senior executive vice president. He will now serve as chairman of the TowneBank Peninsula board of directors beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

“The legal close of our merger marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Old Point and TowneBank,” Shuford said in a statement. “This partnership brings together two institutions deeply committed to serving our communities, employees and shareholders. We look forward to building a stronger future together.”

In August, TowneBank announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire North Carolina-based Dogwood State Bank for approximately $475 million. The transaction is expected to close in early 2026, pending regulatory approval and the approval of Dogwood’s shareholders.

Founded in 1999, TowneBank has more than 50 locations across Central and Eastern Virginia and North Carolina. It had total assets of $18.26 billion as of June 30.

Trump administration withdraws $39.27M for Norfolk offshore wind project

SUMMARY:

  • The administration has cut $39.27 million in funding for a offshore wind project
  • The U.S. Department of Transportation canceled a total of $679 million for 12 offshore wind projects nationwide
  • Virginia lawmakers blasted the cuts as harmful to jobs and shipbuilding
  • White House sought to cancel $20 million for a Portsmouth Marine Terminal project, but the project was already finished

The Trump administration last week withdrew $39.27 million in federal funding that had previously been awarded for an offshore wind logistics port in Norfolk and attempted to terminate $20 million for a project that had already been completed in Portsmouth.

The Norfolk Offshore Wind Logistics Port, part of the 111-acre Fairwinds Landing project at Lambert’s Point Docks, is the project losing nearly $40 million that was awarded in 2023 under the Biden administration.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Aug. 29 that Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy withdrew or terminated a total of $679 million in funding for 12 offshore wind projects across the country. The department stated that the action is intended to “ensure federal dollars are prioritized towards restoring America’s maritime dominance and preventing waste.”

The department stated that it identified 12 projects that were not aligned with the current administration’s priorities. The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized and targeted projects, instead prioritizing fossil fuels and “traditional forms of energy.”

“Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” said Duffy in a statement. “Joe Biden and [former Secretary of Transportation] Pete Buttigieg bent over backwards to use transportation dollars for their Green New Scam agenda while ignoring the dire needs of our shipbuilding industry. Thanks to President Trump, we are prioritizing real infrastructure improvements over fantasy wind projects that cost much and offer little.”

The announcement said the Trump administration has refocused DOT and its Maritime Administration (MARAD) on rebuilding America’s shipbuilding capacity. The DOT says that, where possible, funding from the 12 projects will be recompeted to address port upgrades and other core infrastructure needs of the United States.

Norfolk loses money

The announced in November 2023 that it had received $39.27 million to assist in transforming the marine terminal at Fairwinds Landing into an offshore wind logistics facility.

Fairwinds Landing is designed to be a maritime operations and logistics hub supporting the offshore wind, defense and transportation industries in . Fairlead, along with real estate development company The Miller Group and Balicore Construction, formed Fairwinds Landing LLC to work on the project.

The $39.27 million in federal funding was awarded through the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) in response to a joint application submitted by the Norfolk EDA and Fairwinds Landing LLC.

Hampton Roads officials, along with executives from Fairwinds Landing LLC, Energy and other partners, broke ground in June 2023 on Fairwinds Landing, a maritime and offshore wind hub being built in Norfolk. Photo courtesy City of Norfolk

The EDA announced in 2023 that the funding would help finance the renovation of the aging waterfront infrastructure at Fairwinds Landing. The renovation project was meant to enhance port capabilities for offshore wind operations and maintenance activities, heavy lift operations and cable loading operations.

When it first announced the award, the EDA said the PIDP funding “will be a catalyst for generating hundreds of new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in future capital investments at Fairwinds Landing.”

It is unclear how far along the renovation project got before the federal government withdrew the funding. Fairwinds Landing officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

EDA spokesperson Mia Wilson was unable to confirm by press time how far along the Norfolk project had progressed. However, she emailed a statement saying that the EDA will request that MARAD reconsider its withdrawal of the Fairwinds project from the port infrastructure program.

“Our revised project, which we recently submitted to MARAD in response to their request, will help restore America’s maritime dominance and focuses on rebuilding America’s shipbuilding and maritime industrial base in line with MARAD’s current priorities,” Wilson said. “We look forward to working with MARAD to utilize the PIDP funds at Fairwinds to address critical port upgrades that support its goals.”

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats, and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, released a joint statement slamming the withdrawal of funding for the logistics facility.

“The withdrawal of federal funding for the Fairwinds Landing facility is further evidence of this administration’s across-the-board, reckless approach to governing,” the statement said. “If the administration took the time to learn about the project, it would realize that it is about investing in maritime supply chains and port infrastructure to support not only clean energy but also shipbuilding and ship repair. Stopping this project makes no sense, hurts our economy, and is completely counterproductive to the administration’s so-called efforts to ‘restore America’s maritime dominance.’”

The three elected officials said they will work with colleagues in Congress, state officials and regional partners to urge the administration to reverse its decision.

Portsmouth finished project before it was too late

The administration also sought to terminate a $20 million PIDP grant for the Portsmouth Marine Terminal offshore wind development project. The money, first announced in January 2022, was for improvements upgrading Portsmouth Marine Terminal into a staging area to support Dominion Energy’s () project, which is about 60% complete.

However, spokesperson Joseph Harris noted the money had already been spent, the project is already completed and said the port is “in good shape.”

“The Port of Virginia has completed the improvements being made at Portsmouth Marine Terminal and as a result, the deep-water terminal is fully-functional,” Harris said in a statement. “The federal government’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant was integral to the success of this project because funds from that program helped offset the costs of some of the improvements. The project was delivered on-time and on-budget, thus the port has no unobligated federal funds.”

The $20 million was a small component of a larger $223 million redevelopment project that involved upgrading 72 acres of Portsmouth Marine Terminal and 1,500 feet of wharf that now serves as an offshore wind staging port. New York-based construction company Skanska announced in March that it completed the project.

Dominion Energy will use the terminal staging port for its $10.9 billion CVOW project. Once operational, CVOW will consist of 176 wind turbines generating up to 9.5 million megawatt-hours per year, or enough energy to power up to 660,000 homes.

According to Skanska, the Portsmouth terminal serves as a collection and storage site for wind turbine components, which are then transferred to installation vessels.
Virginia Port Authority and Executive Director Stephen Edwards previously said that Skanska delivered the project on time and on budget.

Dominion Energy did not immediately return requests for comment on how the withdrawal of funds for the Norfolk logistics project or the attempted termination of the Portsmouth project may impact the CVOW project and its operations. Last week, Dominion said the CVOW project is still on track for completion in late 2026, but the Trump administration has suspended work on a nearly complete $4 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut, raising concerns for the Virginia wind farm.

Former Smithfield Foods CEO and chairman dies at 86

SUMMARY:

  • Joseph W. Luter III, former Foods , died at 86 on Aug. 28
  • Based in Virginia, is nation’s largest pork producer
  • His legacy includes the Luter School of Business at Christopher Newport University and community projects

Former Smithfield Foods and CEO Joseph Williamson Luter III passed away last week at the age of 86.

According to his , he died peacefully Aug. 28 at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our former chairman and CEO, Joe Luter III,” Smithfield Foods President and CEO Shane Smith said in a statement. “While his passing is a tremendous loss, we celebrate the remarkable life of a great leader and pioneer who did so much to build the company his father and grandfather founded into the industry leader we are today.”

Founded in 1936 by Luter’s father and grandfather, Smithfield Foods is the nation’s largest pork producer. Headquartered in Smithfield, the company provides packaged meats and fresh pork products throughout the U.S. and various countries worldwide. The company says the vast majority of its products are consumed in the U.S. and it employs about 33,000 people nationwide.

Virginia Living reports that Luter’s father, Joseph Luter Jr., died in 1962 when he was a student at Wake Forest University. A few years after that, Luter became company president.

He told Virginia Living that when he took over, the company (then known as Smithfield Packing) was killing 3,000 hogs a day, and when he left in January of 1970, after selling the business in July of 1969, it was killing 5,000. The number of employees also jumped from 800 to 1,400 in that timeframe.

Luter ultimately returned to the company as CEO in 1975 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy and led efforts to revitalize and expand the company.

“Over the next 32 years, Joe transformed the company through bold and aggressive expansion and dealmaking into a $13 billion global food company with operations throughout Europe and North America,” his obituary reads. “Smithfield became the world’s largest pork processor and pig producer through his visionary strategies of vertical integration. Under Joe’s , Smithfield revolutionized how meat is raised, processed, and marketed worldwide.”

Luter remained CEO until he retired from the role in 2006 and remained chairman until 2013, when the company was purchased by WH Group (then known as Shuanghui Group).

In 2008, Christopher Newport University established the Joseph W. Luter III School of Business in honor of Luter. The school, which Smithfield Foods helped finance through a $5 million gift, offers a curriculum in business administration with concentrations in accounting, finance, management and marketing.

Luter also funded several projects in his father’s honor, including a dormitory at Wake Forest University and a sports complex in Smithfield.

“Joe Luter III left a lasting legacy on Smithfield Foods and our entire industry,” Smith said. “He was the driving force behind so many critical chapters in our company’s history, leading a decades-long period of revitalization and rapid growth and building on our uniquely American heritage through strategic acquisitions to forge Smithfield into a global food company. He was a true visionary, and we are grateful for the legacy he leaves behind.”

Luter is survived by his wife of 25 years, Karin Fyrwald Luter; his sister, Suzanne Stockman Anderson; his four children and six grandchildren.

Activist investor takes a $4 billion stake in PepsiCo, seeing a path to revive sales

Summary

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is taking a $4 billion stake in PepsiCo, saying there’s an opportunity to revive the snack and drinks company.

Years of double-digit price increases from PepsiCo and changing customer preferences has weakened demand for its drinks and snacks, the company said in February. In July PepsiCo said that it is trying to combat perceptions that its products are too expensive by expanding distribution of value brands like Chester’s and Santitas.

Stubborn  has had an impact on consumer behavior and many people have cut back on the discretionary purchases that they make.

PepsiCo lowered its full-year earnings expectations in April, citing increased costs from tariffs and a pullback in consumer spending. The company reaffirmed that guidance three months later. Its tariff costs have risen since then. In June, the administration hiked the tariff on imported aluminum from 25% to 50%.

In a letter to PepsiCo’s board, Elliott said that the company is being hurt by a lack of strategic clarity, decelerating growth and eroding profitability in its North American food and beverage businesses. But the firm still believes in PepsiCo’s potential, particularly noting its growing international business.

“While unfortunate, this disappointing trajectory has created a historic opportunity: With the right mindset and an appropriately ambitious turnaround plan, PepsiCo today represents a rare chance to revitalize a leading global enterprise and unlock significant shareholder value,” Elliott said.

Shares of PepsiCo climbed 2% Tuesday. The stock is down nearly 10% over the past 12 months, according to FactSet, but it is up almost 12% over the past month as Elliott has purchased shares.

Elliott said that it wants to work with PepsiCo’s board and management on ways to improve performance.

“Elliott’s goals at PepsiCo are straightforward: help the company sharpen focus, drive innovation, become more efficient and unlock the value that its leading brands, unmatched scale and world-class employees deserve,” it said. “The path back to winning is clear and achievable.”

PepsiCo will review Elliott’s recommendations.

“PepsiCo maintains an active and productive dialogue with our shareholders and values constructive input on delivering long-term shareholder value,” it said in a statement Tuesday.

Wall Street sinks as US stocks fall toward their worst day in a month

Summary

  • slid 1.1%, heading for worst day in a month
  • dropped 412 points; Nasdaq fell 1.3%
  • , Big Tech among the heaviest market drags
  • Rising pressured stock valuations
  • Higher yields make investors less willing to pay steep stock prices

NEW YORK (AP) — is sinking on Tuesday as rising pressure from the bond market pulls U.S. stocks further from their records.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% and was on track for its worst day in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 412 points, or 0.9%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% lower. All three are still relatively close to their recently set all-time highs.

Big Tech companies led the market lower. They’ve been soaring for years on expectations that they’ll continue to dominate the economy, but they also shot so high that critics say their prices became too expensive.

Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move into artificial-intelligence technology, fell 2.9% and was the single strongest force pulling the S&P 500 downward. Amazon sank 1.7%, and dropped 1.5%.

The overall stock market felt pressure from rising yields in the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.27% from 4.23% late Friday. When bonds are paying more in interest, investors are less willing to pay high prices for stocks.

Longer-term bond yields are on the rise around the world, in part because of worries about how difficult it will be for governments to repay their growing mountains of debt.

In the United States, longer-term Treasury yields are feeling added pressure from President Donald ‘s attacks on the Federal Reserve for not cutting sooner. The fear is that a less independent Fed will be less likely to make the unpopular decisions needed to keep inflation under control over the long term, such as keeping short-term rates higher than investors would like.

Tuesday was also the first opportunity for trading after a federal appeals court ruled late Friday that Trump overstepped his legal authority when announcing sweeping tariffs on almost every country on Earth, though it left the tariffs in place for now.

Tariffs have certainly created confusion across the global economy and may have hurt the U.S. job market. But less income from them could also force the U.S. government to borrow more to pay its bills, according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

In another signal of increasing worries in financial markets, the price of gold rose to touch another record. The metal has often provided a haven for investors in times of uncertainty.

Treasury yields briefly trimmed their gains after a report on Tuesday said U.S. manufacturing shrank by more last month than economists expected. Many companies told the Institute for Supply Management that tariffs are continuing to make conditions chaotic.

“Too much uncertainty for us and our customers regarding tariffs and the U.S./global economy,” one company in the chemical products industry said, while noting that orders across most product lines have weakened.

The worse-than-expected data on manufacturing could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in a couple of weeks. That’s the widespread expectation among traders, though several economic reports coming this week could change things.

The highlight for the week is coming on Friday, when economists expect a report to show that U.S. employers upped their hiring by a bit last month. Last month’s weaker-than-expected jobs report raised worries about the economy and cranked up expectations for coming cuts to rates by the Fed.

On Wall Street, Constellation Brands tumbled 7.1% after the beer, wine and spirits company warned that it’s seen a slowdown in purchases of its high-end beers, particularly among its Hispanic customers. That pushed it to slash its forecast for profit this fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz fell 7.5% after announcing that it’s splitting into two, a decade after a  of the brands created one of the biggest food companies on the planet.

One of the companies will include shelf stable meals and include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include the Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables brands. The official names of the two companies will be released later.

Among the market’s few gainers was PepsiCo, which rose 1.6% after an investment firm said it sent suggestions to the company’s board to reaccelerate its growth and boost financial performance. The investor, , has a history of buying into companies and then pushing for big changes that can lead to better stock performance.

In stock markets abroad, indexes slumped across Europe, with Germany’s DAX losing 2.3%. That followed a more mixed finish in Asia, where indexes rose 0.9% in Seoul but fell 0.5% in Hong Kong.

Nuclear fusion company raises $863M, much bound for Chesterfield

SUMMARY:

  • Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) raised $863 million in a Series B2 round
  • Funds will build the $2.5 billion in
  • Funding was backed by major investors, including and Nvidia
  • CFS has raised about $3 billion in total to date

Massachusetts-based fusion company Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is planning to build the world’s first grid-scale fusion energy plant in Chesterfield County, announced it has raised $863 million in a Series B2 fundraising round, much of which will be used to construct the $2.5 billion-plus plant.

CFS will use some of the funds to progress development on the 400-megawatt fusion power plant in Chesterfield, dubbed ARC, which is expected to be in operation in the 2030s.

Last month, the county’s planning commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit for the facility. The power plant is slated to be built on a roughly 94-acre property at 1201 Battery Brooke Parkway in the James River Industrial Center. owns the site, but CFS has signed an option-to-lease agreement.

The county’s board of supervisors is scheduled to vote on the permit Sept. 17. CFS plans to begin construction on ARC in the late 2020s and anticipates that ARC will start generating carbon-free power for the grid in the early 2030s.

The company says the $863 million raised is the largest amount any deep tech and energy company has raised since CFS’s $1.8 billion Series B round in 2021. In total, the company has raised close to $3 billion, which it says is one-third of the total capital invested in private fusion companies worldwide. CFS said the latest funding round was “oversubscribed,” which means the company received more money than it initially intended to raise.

CFS intends to use other portions of the funding raised to complete SPARC, a fusion demonstration machine being built at its headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts. That machine is expected to start operations in 2026.

“Investors recognize that CFS is making fusion power a reality,” Bob Mumgaard, CFS and co-founder, said in a statement. “They see that we are executing and delivering on our objectives. This funding recognizes CFS’ role in developing a new technology that promises to be a reliable source of clean, almost limitless energy — and will enable investors to have the opportunity to capitalize on the birth of a new global industry.”

Several international investors joined the most recent funding round, including subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley, Nvidia, Galaxy Digital and Dubai’s FFA Private Bank. Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire former chairman and president of Duquesne Capital, invested in the company for the first time, and a consortium of 12 Japanese companies led by Mitsui & Co. also participated.

Earlier investors increased their stakes as well, including Google, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Starlight Ventures, Emerson Collective and Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO.

Google signed an agreement this summer to buy 200 megawatts of (half the facility’s expected power output) from the Chesterfield facility. Google will also have the option to offtake power from future ARC plants.

Spun off of MIT in 2018, CFS has more than 1,000 employees. It is one of more than 40 companies currently developing fusion technologies.

GMU board says it wants to negotiate with DOE

George Mason University’s board of visitors said in a brief statement Friday that it wishes to negotiate a resolution to the ‘s finding that the university violated law.

On Aug. 22, the DOE announced that George Mason had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by “illegally using race and other immutable characteristics in university practices and policies, including hiring and promotion,” citing President Gregory Washington’s policies that the federal department sees as biased toward people of color and discriminatory against white employees.

In order to settle the matter, the DOE demanded that Washington issue a statement to the university promising “that GMU will conduct all recruitment, hiring, promotion and tenure decisions in compliance with Title VI,” and that the statement must include a personal apology.

However, Washington’s attorney, Douglas F. Gansler, wrote in an 11-page letter to George Mason’s board that the five-week investigation launched in July was “very incomplete” and the report contained “gross mischaracterizations of statements made by Dr. Washington and outright omissions related to the two-plus-year DEI review process that the board of visitors and Dr. Washington engaged in.”

Gansler said that if Washington apologized, the university would be open to “further legal risk in concurrent and further investigations by other agencies,” including two open investigations launched in July by the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division. The DOE also initiated a probe into allegations that the university failed to protect Jewish students and staff from antisemitic incidents. So far, only the July 10 DOE findings have been released.

According to the board’s statement on Aug. 29, the board has informed the DOE it would like to negotiate with the federal agency through its legal counsel — Mike Fragoso, a partner of Torridon Law, the firm started by former Attorney General Bill Barr — and Washington’s attorney, Gansler.

“The board remains committed to ensuring that George Mason complies with all federal civil rights law and remains hopeful that a favorable resolution can be reached,” the statement concludes.

Meanwhile, Mason’s board of visitors is down to only six confirmed members following a state Senate committee vote last week to reject six new appointees by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. According to state law, a board must have eight members present to have a quorum.

The DOE did not respond immediately to a request for comment Tuesday.