Gold Rises Amid Likely Safe-Haven Demand

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Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
More scheduling challenges await top players in 2026
ATLANTA – The PGA Tour's 35-event slate for 2026 had few surprises. The majors will remain major, the signature events will again dominate the landscape and everyone else, both non-signature tournaments and players, will continue to scramble for relevancy. Outside of Trump National Doral's return to the lineup – a somewhat curious move given the Blue Monster's status as a LIV Golf venue the last four years – next year's schedule looks much like this year's version and that is not entirely a good thing. While the expansion to nine signature events with the addition of the Miami Championship seemed inevitable given the success of the limited-field, big-money events, the return to Doral only compresses a schedule that was already as congested as Interstate-20 at rush hour. Consider one six-week stretch next spring features two majors (the Masters and PGA Championship) and three signature events (the RBC Heritage, Miami Championship and Truist Championship). For star players who were already looking for relief – not to mention tournaments like the CJ Cup Byron Nelson which now finds itself wedged between the Truist Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial, an invitational and signature event, respectively – next year's schedule is even more loaded with can't-miss stops. It's not just the star players who will feel more of a pinch in '26. Those players who will begin the year outside the top 50 on the FedExCup bubble will face a nine-week stretch from April to early June that includes just four full-field events, with two of those being the Zurich Classic (a two-man team event) and an opposite-field event that awards less than half the FedExCup points (300) than a signature event (700). There will be a similar crunch heading into the Florida swing with the Cognizant Classic framed by two signature events (the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational) and the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship, yet another signature event and the Tour's flagship event, respectively. The Tour's new CEO Brian Rolapp, who is scheduled to meet with the media Wednesday at the Tour Championship, has probably already discovered the foolishness of trying to please everyone but it is noteworthy that next year's schedule doesn't seem to land with either the stars or journeymen. 'I look at it in the sense of if there's a particular golf course or there's something to where I don't feel like I can play well or it's a place that maybe doesn't fit my eye historically, whatever it may be, then as a professional golfer, I have a hard time [going],' Justin Thomas said. 'If there are places that I think people look at that way, then you have to do what's best for that particular person. Obviously, the perfect model would be for all of us to be at all the events as often as possible.' Whether the addition of Doral as a signature event was an inevitable expansion that could signal the Tour's long-term intent or a political reality is unclear, but it does further aggravate the fear of 'load management' for the game's top players. It is a fear that took on new life earlier this month when Rory McIlroy skipped the year's first playoff event in Memphis. Never mind that McIlroy appeared to strongly indicate following last year's FedEx St. Jude Championship that he would not be returning to TPC Southwind in 2025, or that he was the only player out of the 70 who qualified to skip the opener, the handwringing reached feverish levels. 'I'll always choose the schedule that best fits me, and this year that meant skipping a few signature events. I might skip less next year. I might skip the same amount, I don't know,' said McIlroy, who played five of this year's eight signature events. 'The luxury of being a PGA Tour player is we are free to pick and choose our schedule for the most part, and I took advantage of that this year and I'll continue to take advantage of that for as long as I can.' The working theory at East Lake is the Tour is considering making participation in all the signature events mandatory to be eligible for the Tour Championship, which would be another workaround that will likely be equally unpopular among the star players. To be clear, players are not against the kind of limited-field, big-money events that are becoming the norm on Tour. What they typically don't like, however, is the kind of scheduling that requires five starts in six weeks which is why professional golf's version of load management has become a legitimate concern. When the Tour first introduced signature events there was an attempt to leverage bonuses from the Player Impact Program with participation but that was met with mixed results. On this the independent contractors are surprisingly unified. Instead of trying to concoct a new way to mandate participation in top events the Tour would be better served by focusing on building a better schedule.


Los Angeles Times
14 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Wall Street falls further from its records as Nvidia, Palantir and other AI stars dim
Wall Street faded on Tuesday following drops for Nvidia and other stars that have been riding the mania surrounding artificial-intelligence technology. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% for a third straight loss, though it remains near its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slumped 1.5%. The heaviest weight on the market was Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the move into AI. It sank 3.5%. Another AI darling, Palantir Technologies, dropped 9.4% for the largest loss in the S&P 500. It's seen bets build up sharply that its stock price will drop, according to S3 Partners. Only Meta Platforms has seen a bigger increase this year in what's called 'short interest,' where traders essentially bet a stock's price will fall. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, sank 2.1%. Criticism has been rising that stock prices across Wall Street have shot too high, too fast since hitting a bottom in April and have become too expensive. Palantir's stock came into Tuesday with a tremendous gain of 130% for the year so far. One way companies can make their stock prices look less expensive is to deliver growth in profits. Palo Alto Networks rose 3.1% after reporting earnings and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts' expectations. The cybersecurity company also gave forecasts for profit and revenue in its upcoming fiscal year that were above Wall Street's. Home Depot's gain of 3.2%, meanwhile, was the biggest reason the Dow did better than other indexes. The retailer reported results for the latest quarter that were a bit short of what analysts expected, but it delivered growth in revenue and stood by its prior forecasts for revenue and profit over the full year. Other big retailers will give their latest profit updates in coming days. Lowe's and Target are on deck for Wednesday, while Walmart and Ross Stores will report on Thursday. The week's headliner for Wall Street is likely arriving on Friday. That's when the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, will give a highly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The setting has been home to big policy announcements from the Fed in the past, and the hope on Wall Street is that Powell may hint that cuts to interest rates are coming soon. The Fed has kept its main interest rate steady this year, primarily because of the fear of the possibility that President Donald Trump's tariffs could push inflation higher. But a surprisingly weak report on job growth across the country may be superseding that. Traders on Wall Street widely expect the Fed to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September in order to give the economy a boost. Treasury yields have come down notably in the bond market as a result, and they eased on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.30% from 4.34% late Monday. Strategists at Bank of America warn that Powell may not sound as inclined to cut interest rates as the market is expecting. He could remain non-committal and discuss the possibility of a worst-case scenario for the economy called 'stagflation.' The Fed has no good tool to fix that situation, where the economy stagnates at the same time as inflation remains high. On Wall Street, Viking Therapeutics tumbled 42.1% after the biopharmaceutical company released results from a clinical trial of an oral tablet that could treat obesity and other metabolic disorders. Tegna rose 4.3% after Nexstar Media Group said it will buy the owner of 64 television stations across the country for $22 per share in cash. Nexstar, which owns the CW and local television broadcasters of its own, added 0.7%. All told, the S&P 500 fell 37.78 points to 6,411.37. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10.45 to 44,922.27, and the Nasdaq composite fell 314.82 to 21,314.95. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe after falling modestly in Asia. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4% as market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4% after it announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in U.S. chip maker Intel. Intel climbed 7%. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also confirmed in an interview on CNBC that the Trump administration may take an ownership stake in Intel. Choe writes for the Associated Press.


The Hill
14 minutes ago
- The Hill
Biometric ‘eGates' to be tested at these US airports, CLEAR announces
(NEXSTAR) – The Transportation Security Administration has already done away with requiring travelers to take off their shoes during screenings, and the agency has introduced lines dedicated for families. Now, TSA is launching a futuristic means of getting through security. On Tuesday, the tech firm CLEAR announced a pilot, public-private partnership with TSA to bring biometric 'eGates' to select U.S. airports to 'expedite the passenger experience and enhance security' ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup and America's 250th anniversary celebration. Trump admin may reclassify marijuana: Would that make it legal in the US? The gates are meant to help you skip the TSA podium, where an agent verifies your identification and boarding pass before you can enter the security screening area. The eGates use 'real-time biometric verification' by matching your face with the facial image on your identity document and your boarding pass. The gates will be overseen by TSA, with agents capable of 'triggering gate access, conducting security vetting, and enforcing government security requirements.' According to CLEAR, eGates are debuting at three airports this month: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia Ronald Reagan National Airport in the District of Columbia Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington The company intends to bring eGates to airports nationwide, but did not give an exact timeline on Tuesday. 'CLEAR is investing in this technology at no cost to taxpayers to modernize our checkpoints and ensure America's airports are ready to meet global expectations,' CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman Becker said in a press release. 'CLEAR's secure identity platform will help unlock a better, safer, and more frictionless experience for all travelers.' CLEAR is already a partner in TSA's PreCheck program with a presence in more than 200 airports nationwide. The company didn't say on Tuesday whether or not you'll need to have PreCheck to use the eGates. CLEAR did not immediately respond to Nexstar's request for additional information. Last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told NewsNation host Blake Burman at the Hill Nation Summit that the agency had been reviewing ways to make traveling — specifically getting through TSA — easier. Shortly before that announcement, TSA confirmed it would allow travelers to leave their shoes on during security screenings. Then, in late July, TSA announced a new 'Families on the Fly' program that gives those with children 'their own space where they can move through security at their own pace, without feeling rushed or as though they're inconveniencing other travelers.' Dedicated lines for service members and their families are also in the works. Other future updates to the security screening process, according to Noem, may include easing the liquids rule. Noem also said she was 'working with several different companies with technologies to give us competitive bids on what they actually do.' 'The future of an airport, where I'm looking to go, is you walk in the door with your carry-on suitcase, you walk through a scanner and right to your flight. Takes you one minute,' Noem said during the Hill Nation Summit.