Finance

Family offices are built to be patient with their money. Giorgos Tsetis is not.

The Scoop Saudi Arabias stock market regulator is investigating the poor performance of recent initial public offerings, according to people familiar with the matter, and questioning the advice given by investment banks to companies selling stock. The investigation has been underway for several months and covers IPOs going back to at least early 2025, the people said. The Capital Market Authority has requested detailed information from global and local investment banks on their discussions with clients and investors, and for records of decisions on how shares were priced, the people said. The regulator has also asked for information on which investors were allocated stock, and for data on subsequent trades by those investors. Saudi companies raised $3.7 billion through share sales last year, more than the rest of the Gulf combined. Close to 100 companies are waiting to list their shares on the bourse, although no significant IPOs have closed so far this year. The CMA is expected to report its findings to the government later this year, along with proposals on how to stimulate trading activity and unlock more market listings. It is not expected to recommend taking any action against banks or investors. For years, buying into a Saudi IPO was close to a sure thing. Shares in government-controlled firms were priced cheaply as a way for the state to offer citizens the opportunity to benefit from a growing economy and economic diversification. Listings by private sector businesses also tended to do well. But that situation no longer holds. According to ANB Capital, 10 out of the 13 companies that listed in 2025 were trading below their IPO price in January this year. The CMA scrutiny is a sign of growing concern that a weak stock market could hit the countrys efforts to raise money to fund its economic transformation plan and challenge the UAE as the regions financial center. The CMA didnt respond to a request for comment. Know More Before the Iran war, the Saudi government had planned to sell shares in a raft of state-owned companies as a way of bankrolling new investments, at a time of budget deficits and lagging foreign direct investment. The conflict derailed that plan, but the stock market was under pressure even before the war and the regulator had been working on measures to attract more investors. It fell more than 12% in 2025, and although it has risen by nearly 3% so far this year, no major new share listings have taken place. The countrys first big wartime IPO was scrapped in June, and bankers say there may not be any new deals this year, despite an extensive list of firms preparing stock offerings. The equity market has long been used by the government as a tool to redistribute wealth, offering citizens the chance to buy underpriced shares that soar in value once listed. Yet recent offerings have disappointed. Budget airline flynas sold stock at 80 riyals a share in May 2025, for example, which quickly dropped after listing despite having attracted more than $100 billion in IPO bids from investors. Its stock had fallen to under 60 riyals a share long before the war with Iran destroyed demand for regional travel. Specialized Medical Company, which runs a chain of hospitals, sold shares at 25 riyals each in June 2025 but they now trade at less than 16 riyals. Notable The Iran war has prolonged a Gulf-wide slump in listings that had already been apparent before the conflict, but a long list of potential deals across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE has prompted hope of a rebound later this year, Bloomberg reported .

Current conditions: Tropical Storm Cristobal formed in the Atlantic yet poses no real threats to land, unlike another budding storm gathering strength in the southern Caribbean • Powerful storms spurred derecho winds that spawned tornadoes across the Midwest and left 800,000 without power yesterday morning • Britains Met Office issued an amber weather warning as temperatures across eastern England soared to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. THE TOP FIVE 1. Energy Department cancels three federal transmission corridor Lost connections. DOE In the waning days of the Biden administration, the Department of Energy set about clearing one of the biggest bottlenecks to expanding Americas aging electrical grid: Literally expanding the grid. You dont need to have read excellent books like Russell Golds Superpower or features like my colleague Robinson Meyers deep dive into the SunZia saga to know that building transmission lines is a huge challenge in the United States. To address this, the Biden-era agency proposed three National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors - essentially a series of projects in mostly red and purple states that could now enlist the federal governments help to speed through the typical hurdles in getting approvals from so many jurisdictions and landowners across hundreds of miles of a power lines route. Not anymore. On Wednesday evening, the Trump administration announced the cancellation of all three corridors, declaring projects that would likely have helped shore up the grid amid surging demand from data centers to be part of Democrats “Green New Scam.” “Transmission policy must serve the American people - not special interests or a climate-alarmist agenda that drives up costs, worsens reliability, and disregards the concerns of local communities,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement. Still, his agency pointed to billions in loans its offered to utilities for grid upgrades and a study, released last month , highlighting what the Trump administration sees as the countrys future transmission needs. The rescission doesnt necessarily mean the projects linked to the corridors are dead. When the Energy Department first announced the corridors in December 2024, the agency stressed that the designation didnt guarantee federal approvals, merely speed projects on the pathway to getting answers. Those include NextEra Energys 73-mile Lake Erie Connector between Canada and Pennsylvania, two projects in the Southwestern Grid Connector Corridor, and the Transmission and Renewables Interstate Bulk Electric Supply Project in the Tribal Energy Access Corridor. 2. Tesla is planning a $10 billion solar factory in Texas When Elon Musk announced plans last year to build out 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity, analysts and industry watchers scratched their heads. Thats more than double the amount of panels the U.S. installs each year at a time when photovoltaic factories face fierce competition from overseas competitors - namely China - and withering support domestically with the end of the federal tax credit designed to spur demand for American-made solar. Yet Musk is charging ahead with what Tesla has dubbed Project Crystal Sun. In a document submitted to Texas regulators, the company said it was “currently evaluating the feasibility of constructing its solar cell manufacturing facility at various locations across multiple U.S. states.” That includes the Lone Star State, to which Musk decamped from California. “Should Tesla make the decision to develop the proposed project in another state, Texas would miss the opportunity to attract billions of dollars in investment, help create thousands of full-time jobs for its residents, and become a hub for domestic solar cell manufacturing in the U.S.,” Tesla stated in the filing. Things were also looking rosy for wind turbine manufacturers. Shares in Vestas closed nearly 20% higher on Wednesday after turbine orders bounced back, giving the company the liquidity to buy back its own stock. New orders for its turbines climbed from 2 gigawatts during the second quarter of 2025 to 3.35 gigawatts during the same period this year, the Financial Times reported. 3. Midwest storms strand northwest Indiana without fuel The storms that barreled across the Midwest this week not only downed power for more than 800,000 people, they also left drivers without access to fuel. On Wednesday, the Northwest Indiana Times reported that gas stations in the region were running dry. “Today, we heard that this was open, and this is like the only thing that is open,” Mike Siedentopf, a resident of the Northwest Indiana town of Munster, told CBS News . Sign up to receive Heatmap AM in your inbox every morning: * indicates required Email Address * Our Privacy Policy & Terms Apply. 4. Another day, another Chinese nuclear milestone The flagship reactors in Chinas nuclear buildout are the Hualong One and the CAP1400, each of which borrows heavily from Americas Westinghouse AP1000. But its useful to remember that Beijing is diversifying its atomic fleet. One of the next reactors likely to enter into commercial operations is now Unit 7 at the Tianwan nuclear power station on Chinas Yellow Sea coast. On Wednesday, NucNet and World Nuclear News reported that the plant had loaded its first fuel assembly into position in the core of the new reactor. This marks the first time fuel has been loaded into a next-generation Russian reactor in China. Like the AP1000 and Chinas versions of it, Rosatoms VVER-1200 is a third-generation pressurized water reactor, meaning it uses the standard technology for fission with state-of-the-art safety and cooling upgrades. CNNC, the plants operator, said it expects to begin commercial operation later this year. 5. Nearly $1 billion pours into two long-duration storage startups With the battery market booming, the race to commercialize long-duration storage technologies has yielded plenty of attention-grabbing ideas. Form Energys approach is proving particularly magnetic for investors. The West Virginia-based startup is seeking to bring rust-powered batteries that last 100 hours to market. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a $750 million Series G financing round, bringing the total equity its raised so far to over $2 billion. Its iron-air batteries, which charge through a “ reversible rusting ” process, have already attracted deals with Google, utility Xcel Energy, and data center giant Crusoe. Meanwhile, a company commercializing compressed air storage technology just raised another $230 million. Hydrostor uses electricity to compress air and store it in underground hard-rock caverns using water displacement. When the grid needs power, the stored air is reheated and expands, spinning a turbine that generates emissions-free electricity. The Canadian startup pulled in more funding from the Canadian governments investment fund, Goldman Sachs, and Canadas pension funds. Another backer in this round is the oilfield services giant Baker Hughes. “The grid needs bankable long-duration energy storage that can be deployed today to enable affordable and reliable electricity for all, and Hydrostors continued fundraising success is a testament to the potential of our A-CAES technology to get us there,” Hydrostor CEO Curtis VanWalleghem said in a statement . THE KICKER A Dr. Phil-linked expedition to find oil in Greenland has been delayed as the island nations government rejects the consortiums right to drill. On Wednesday, the United Kingdoms 80 Mile exploration company announced the delay in its plans. “While we are disappointed that the timing of the Jameson drilling program has been impacted, the company remains fully committed to advancing this highly prospective project,” 80 Mile executive director Rod McIllree told the Financial Times .

Inflation cooled a bit last month, according to a new report from the Labor Department. And, ICE plans to equip its officers with electric shock gloves. (Image credit: Brandon Bell)

The News DP World weathered a near-collapse in traffic at its flagship Jebel Ali port in the first half of the year, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz forced it to reroute cargo overland through other ports in the UAE and neighboring countries. Container throughput at Jebel Ali fell 86% in the second quarter to 374,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), from 2.7 million in the first quarter. However, an increase across the companys global network of more than 60 ports helped to offset the damage of the Gulf conflict, reflected in a 13% year-on-year increase in revenue to $12.7 billion . Even so, net profit for the first half was down 39% year-on-year. While some observers have cast doubt on the long-term future of the groups home port in Dubai given the ongoing Iranian threats to shipping through Hormuz, the economics that made Jebel Ali a dominant regional trade hub also make it exceedingly difficult to replace. Alternative routes through ports including Fujairah and Khor Fakkan can cost four to five times more once inland transport is included, a company official familiar with the matter told Semafor, a cost gap that gives DP World confidence displaced cargo will return. “Were pretty certain that 95% of the volume will come back to Jebel Ali,” once the strait fully reopens, the official said. Know More The crisis has nonetheless changed the companys assumptions. DP World is developing two terminals in Fujairah , on the UAEs east coast and outside the Strait of Hormuz, adding about 2.5 million TEUs of capacity and reducing its long-term strategic reliance on the waterway. DP World has deployed trucks and staff across the UAE to keep essential goods flowing, with emergency rerouting largely provided at cost to its customers, the official added. However, the process can be frustratingly slow, with trucks facing queues of as long as 12 hours to enter and leave the alternative ports, against a roughly 27-minute turnaround at Jebel Ali. “Its working,” the official said. “But its quite painful.” Hormuz has shown that Dubais dominant trade gateway is difficult to replicate, yet relying on a single maritime entrance is a risk the UAE no longer wants to take. Notable Fujairahs rise didnt start with this war. Abu Dhabi spent the past decade building the emirate into the UAEs energy gateway beyond Hormuz, through the Habshan pipeline and vast oil storage, and DP Worlds new terminals extend that hedge from oil to containers, AGBIs logistics columnist argued .

Inflation cooled a bit last month. Gas and grocery prices dipped and the overall cost of living rose more slowly, giving the Federal Reserve some breathing room for inflation control efforts.

NPRs Leila Fadel speaks with Investopedias Editor-in-Chief Caleb Silver about the impact of inflation on consumer spending.

College students who identify as Republicans are more likely than their Democratic counterparts to trust their school to act in their best interests - even as confidence in higher education among conservatives sinks. Sixty-two percent of Republican students said their colleges leadership mostly acts in students best interests, compared with 55% of Democrats and half of independents, according to polling from Lumina Foundation and Gallup. As the Trump administration targets prominent universities with investigations, funding cuts, and other threats, the polling also shows that students across political parties prefer policies from their campus leaders over those from state or federal government leaders (though Republicans are much warmer to federal decisions). The data contrasts with polling released earlier this year that showed declining confidence in higher education across the political spectrum. Still, the new polling shows students enrolled in more highly-ranked national universities have less faith in their leaders than counterparts at other institutions. - Morgan Chalfant

The China Passenger Car Association released data Tuesday showing penetration of new energy vehicles rose in July. Teslas Model Y remained popular.

Peltzs relationship with Wendys dates back to an activist campaign he led more than two decades ago.

The federal lawsuit alleges that the service from the presidents media company violates the Constitution. Meanwhile, Trump Media executives say they have signed up more than 10 customers. (Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)

Short interest in SpaceX fell to about 11% of the companys publicly traded shares Wednesday, down sharply from a peak of 34% last week, according to S3.