A couple and their 7-month-old baby were left stranded after Delta Air Lines canceled their flight.
Vincent Aguirre said "it wouldn't have been the end of the world" had they been informed.
The next flight was at 5am the next morning but they were not given a hotel voucher.
A couple and their baby were left stranded in Portland airport in Maine after Delta Air Lines failed to let them know their flight was canceled and then failed to offer them any accommodation.
After spending a week in Vermont and Maine, Vincent Aguirre, his wife and their 7-month-old baby went to check in their luggage for their flight to Indianapolis via LaGuardia airport in New York.
At that point, the couple was happy after a "fantastic week", but that soon evaporated after being told by an agent in Portland airport that their flight had been canceled. "We didn't get emails. We did get texts. We were never notified," Aguirre told Insider.
"We were dropped off by a friend who lives an hour away. We had a car seat during that ride, but when we arrived at the airport we were carrying [the baby]."
The couple didn't expect they would be needing a car seat for their son because their friends picked them up from Portland airport with one and then dropped them back there.
The flight they had expected to depart at about 3pm was now rescheduled for 530am the following morning, so they tried to find a hotel within walking distance, taking turns to carry their son.
"Delta didn't give us hotel vouchers, or didn't help at all to be honest," he said.
After asking an agent for hotel vouchers, Aguirre was told he could request a distressed passenger rate, but the only hotel within walking distance wouldn't accept it. He ended up paying $400 for a room.
"Honestly, if they would have notified us of the cancelation in any capacity it wouldn't have been the end of the world. But being stranded in an airport with an infant and no car seat is an absolute nightmare," Aguirre said.
"Luckily we brought extra diapers and formula," he said. "I'm sure we could have found diapers but the formula shortage has been crazy enough without having to be stranded in an airport."
Delta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
A 2,000 years old Ancient Egyptian mummy head found in an attic in Kent, England.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
An ancient Egyptian mummy head was found in an attic in Kent, England.
A CT scan revealed that the head belonged to a woman who likely lived 2,000 years ago.
Researchers believe the head was brought back from Egypt as a souvenir in the 19th century.
The decapitated head of an ancient Egyptian mummy found in an attic in Kent, England, has been put under a CT scan, revealing it belonged to a woman that lived at least 2,000 years ago.
The head is believed to have been brought back from Egypt as a souvenir in the 19th century, researchers from Canterbury Christ Church University said.
Initial x-rays taken at Canterbury Christ Church University suggested the head belonged to an adult female, and a more detailed CT scan was arranged to learn more.
Preliminary results from the CT scan, which took place at Maidstone Hospital, revealed that a rough diet had worn down the woman's teeth, but her tongue was well preserved, researchers said.
There appeared to be tubing made of unknown material within the left nostril, and in the spinal canal of the mummy, researchers said, and it was unclear whether this was of ancient or more recent origin.
The brain appeared to have been removed in the mummification process.
There are still mysteries about the origins of the head, which was gifted to the Canterbury Museums and Galleries collection in a glass case.
"The head was found in the attic of a house in Kent which was being cleared out following the death of the owner," James Elliott, diagnostic radiography lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University and senior radiographer at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said.
"During the Victorian times, items like this used to be brought back from Egypt as souvenirs and may well have been passed down through generations to the person who owned it."
Craig Bowen, Canterbury Museums, galleries collections and learning manager, told Kent Online: "The head was found by a man who inherited it from his brother."
"It is believed that the brother got it from a 'Dr Coates' sometime in the early/mid twentieth century, but we do not have any more detail than that."
"The scan provides a huge amount of information - everything from dental status, pathologies, method of preservation as well as assisting estimations of age and sex," said Elliott, who led the scan.
Elliott said that the team planned to use scanned data to create a three-dimensional replica of the head and possible facial reconstruction.
He said that the advancement of CT technology allowed researchers to learn more detail about ancient Egyptian traditions.
Air Canada revoked an employee's flying privileges after her daughter complained.
The woman was upset that her mother was being punished for an issue between her and Air Canada.
The airline said the employee broke its code by allowing a family member to file a grievance.
Air Canada revoked an employee's flying privileges after her daughter complained about her treatment trying to board a flight.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, told Insider that she filed a complaint with the airline after what she deemed to be poor customer service by gate staff. She had bought a ticket using flying privileges given to her by her mother.
The woman emailed senior officials at the airline and copied in media outlets, which appeared to prompt the airline to retaliate by revoking her mother's flying privileges for two years.
An email sent to the employee suggested her daughter had misrepresented herself as a revenue-generating customer.
Her 62-year-old mother, who is an administrator, also was then disciplined by the airline and issued with the same punishment.
An email seen by Insider shows a senior official telling the employee that she would not be allowed to fly standby for two years.
"I had a really like sickening feeling when my mother told me what they did to her," the woman said. "It's one thing for me to be reprimanded, but it's totally different for my actions impacting my mom."
Stand-by tickets allow airline employees to fly anywhere for a fraction of the normal cost and are one attraction of working for a long-established carrier such as Air Canada.
The woman told Insider that stand-by privileges were the main reason her mother, who is close to retirement, took the job. She is now worried she will lose her job if the situation escalates.
The woman said her mother went to her union, but was told there was nothing they could do, and suggested she apologize to try to reduce her penalty.
In a statement to Insider, Air Canada said: "We deal with our employees directly on internal matters. However, we can confirm employee travel is a special privilege and a unique and generous perk of working for an airline that comes with responsibilities which the overwhelming majority of employees and families understand and value.
"We take feedback about our services seriously. In fact, we undertook an investigation into the complaint lodged, and subsequently found facts which did not align with what was presented." The airline did not elaborate further.
UK railway workers have gone out on strike over pay, jobs and working conditions.
Aaron Chown - PA Images/Getty Images
Talk about stagflation is growing in the US, but it's the UK economy that's likely to stall soon.
Britain already faces the highest inflation rate in the G7 — and it's predicted to climb even higher.
Soaring energy prices, rising interest rates, tax hikes, and Brexit are battering the UK economy.
Talk of "stagflation" — the dreaded combination of stagnant growth and rampant inflation — is growing louder in the US after the economy shrank for two quarters running.
Sure, inflation is red-hot, and the economy is dangerously close to a recession. Yet many still expect the next two years to deliver relatively strong growth, and that's after a rapid rebound from the coronavirus crisis.
Over the pond in the UK, however, things are different. Economists say Britain is barreling towards a period of stagflation, with growth expected to slow to a crawl next year.
UK inflation rocketed to a new 40-year high of 9.4% in June as fuel prices surged, official data showed. That's higher than in any of the other G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US. It's likely to top double figures before the year is out.
Soaring prices, rising interest rates, tax hikes, and Brexit are all hitting the UK economy at once. The country's gross domestic product will grow just 0.7% next year, for the worst performance in the G7, private-sector economists polled by Bloomberg predict.
The Bank of England is even more pessimistic. It thinks GDP is likely to shrink slightly in 2023, and grow just 0.25% the following year.
Meanwhile, economists expect the US economy — which fared much better during COVID — to expand 1.3% in 2023. And they think eurozone GDP will increase by the same amount.
The UK's leaders are under pressure
For policymakers in the US, and the better-performing European economies, Britain contains a warning of what could be coming if things go wrong.
Leaders in the UK are under growing pressure over the bleak outlook. Rail workers, lawyers and mailmen are striking as the cost of living spirals higher. Consumer confidence has plunged.
In fiery TV debates this month, Boris Johnson's potential successors as UK prime minister inadvertently trashed the government's economic record.
"All your bills, every month, they're going up and up and up," said Rishi Sunak, who led the UK's economy ministry over the last three years. The other candidate, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, said the UK faces "the worst economic crisis in a generation."
Energy bills reach eye-watering levels
At the heart of the UK's woes is an inflation rate that is outstripping that in other rich countries, and is likely to keep rising this year.
The country's energy price cap, designed to ease the burden on utility bill payers, is now adding to the pain.
The cap jumped 54% in April, and is set to rise by a similar amount in October to reflect a surge in oil and gas prices driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Energy prices go up and stay there for a more prolonged period of time, rather than come down with the market," Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, told Insider.
A sharp drop in the British pound has made things worse, Raja said. It's fallen around 11% this year against the dollar, as the Federal Reserve's rate hikes have sucked money back into the US. The UK imports much of its food and energy, and a weaker pound is making those purchases even more expensive.
The workforce has shrunk
On top of a European-style energy shock, the UK is suffering from a problem more familiar to the US: a shortage of workers. More than 400,000 people have dropped out of the workforce since the start of the pandemic, economists estimate, with around half because of long-term illnesses.
Companies are putting up wages as they compete for a smaller pool of workers, adding to the pressure on prices, according to Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at consultancy Capital Economics.
"You've got these acute labor shortages, which have held activity back in some service sectors, stoking rises in pay growth and higher inflation," she told Insider.
Brexit has also cut the size of the UK workforce by making it harder for people to move to the country, Gregory said.
Brexit and tax rises aren't helping
Deutsche Bank's Raja said Brexit is also causing other problems.
"Firms are telling us [about] additional paperwork, logistic costs, and in some cases higher tariffs as a result of leaving the European single market," he said. "Those things have also driven up imported goods prices."
Tax rises, which came into force in April in an effort to cut the budget deficit, are also adding to the squeeze.
"As far as I know, we are the only advanced economy to have pushed through a tax rise this year in the midst of the cost of living crisis," Raja said.
It's the stuff of nightmares for the Bank of England, which is hiking interest rates hard and seems resigned to a sharp slowdown in growth. "Its path to achieving a soft landing is narrower than the Fed's," Gregory said.
But it's even worse for millions of Britons struggling to get by during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
In real terms, wages are falling sharply. More and more people are turning to food banks, and discontent among workers is growing. Whoever succeeds Boris Johnson faces a daunting task.
A soldier and his family drove all night after a Delta delay meant they missed a connecting flight.
Rashad Ross and his family were on their way to his eldest daughter's graduation ceremony.
He had to pay $950 to rent a car and drive from Atlanta to Jacksonville to make the ceremony.
A US soldier was forced to drive overnight to ensure he did not miss his eldest daughter's university graduation after a delayed Delta flight meant he failed to make a connection.
Rashad T. Ross is among thousands of other passengers who have been affected by this summer's travel chaos. Airlines are struggling to cope with demand, losing passengers' luggage, canceling numerous flights, and even separating families when rebooking them.
Ross, who has served in the US Army for 22 years, was flying with his family from El Paso to Jacksonville on June 2, with a connection in Atlanta.
The flight from El Paso was due to depart at 6am, but mechanical problems meant the flight was delayed until the afternoon.
"There was over a six-hour delay and when we landed in Atlanta, there was only 10 minutes before our rebooked connecting flight to Jacksonville was to take off," Ross told Insider.
"There was absolutely no way to rebook after that for the same day and were forced to abandon the remainder of our itinerary."
After calling Delta's customer service, Ross and his family had no choice but to rent a car and drive 10 hours from Atlanta to Jacksonville to ensure they made it on time to his eldest daughter's graduation.
Flight tickets, a Hertz invoice for $950, and screenshots of a conversation with Delta's customer service have been viewed by Insider.
Ross said: "I know it may seem trivial, but we've exhausted all of our finances trying to get to Jacksonville on time. We absolutely did not expect to pay for a rental car for this trip."
Ross had to drive overnight with his family to Jacksonville.
Rashad T. Ross
He drove from Atlanta to the University of South Florida in Tampa – a journey of about 450 miles – for the ceremony, before driving back to Jacksonville International Airport.
Delta did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
According to Delta's compensation claims, Ross said, he had to wait 30 days before asking to be reimbursed for the missed flight, car rental costs, and interest charges on his credit card.
Once that time had elapsed, Ross contacted Delta again but was asked to resubmit the claim. "To say we are upset is an understatement."
He emailed the CEO and Delta's customer service again but received an auto reply telling him to go to the Delta website and submit it once more.
Ross made it to his daughter's graduation, but he said: "At this point we just want some type of acknowledgement that screwing us over meant nothing to them."
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) outside of the U.S. Capitol on July 20, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized Justice Alito's recent remarks as "politicized" in a tweet.
Alito had joked about global leaders' shock at the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Ocasio-Cortez said SCOTUS is in a "legitimacy crisis" and said the remarks are "alarming."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized into Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on for "alarming" remarks he made about world leader reacting to the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a clip from Alito's speech at a conference on religious liberty in Rome on July 21, in which Alito joked about how figures like UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Prince Harry had reacted to the decision.
She said the comments were "politicized" and demonstrated a "legitimacy crisis" in the court.
She also called on Alito to provide an update into the court's investigation into how the Roe v. Wade decision was leaked, an extremely unusual lapse in its procedures.
"Remember: it was Alito's opinion that leaked," she wrote. "That fact paired with his politicized remarks below should be alarming to anyone. The Supreme Court is in a legitimacy crisis. Chief Justice Roberts has a responsibility to share the progress & results of SCOTUS' leak investigation."
Ocasio-Cortez was among a group of Democrats, including Reps. Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar, who were arrested last week outside the Supreme Court after they joined a protest in support of abortion rights that blocked traffic.
Trust in the Supreme Court has fallen to a historic low, according to a Gallup poll of 1,015 adults in June. That was conducted after the Roe v. Wade opinion had leaked, but before the justices announced their decision.
Dipanjan 'DJ' Deb, co founder and CEO of Francisco Partners
Francisco Partners
Insider's Banker of the Week series appears in our weekday newsletter, 10 Things on Wall Street.
This week we're featuring Dipanjan "DJ" Deb, the cofounder and chief executive of Francisco Partners.
The private-equity firm just raised about $17 billion in capital through two new funds. The fundraise comes at an opportune time for the tech-focused investor as target company valuations slump.
Dipanjan "DJ" Deb reckons the tech sector is what is going to lead the economy out of this recessionary period. And that is a "huge tailwind," for his private-equity shop, Francisco Partners, where he is chief executive.
The investment firm just raised close to $17 billion through two new funds, and Deb's ready to deploy that cash across healthtech, software, cyber security, and fintech, among other tech-adjacent spaces. Francisco Partners raised $13.5 billion through its seventh flagship fund, and $3.3 billion in a fund dubbed Francisco Partners Agility III.
Deep-pocketed investors came into the capital-raising vehicles, including public pension funds like CalPERS and CalSTRS, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate pension funds, Deb said.
"Most tech companies' stock prices have been decimated, and some of those are very warranted. A lot of investors have thrown the baby out with the bath water and not been discernible," Deb said in an interview. "Our goal is to figure out those opportunities and what we can go after."
Company valuations ballooned in recent years as low-cost capital and cashed-up investors piled into young companies, many of which were unprofitable. But as public markets have cratered, and valuations have dipped, Deb is feeling opportunistic.
"Some companies were dramatically overvalued. People were spending at all costs and that led to some improper behavior," Deb said. "A lot of companies were poorly managed, but among them, there are a lot of gems. Our goal is to find those gems."
Including this latest fundraise, Francisco Partners is now equipped with $23 billion in available capital. Deb said that money will be put to work on finding public companies to take private, and targeting bloated businesses looking to shed assets through so-called carve outs.
Every large company has "underperforming divisions," according to Deb. And when it comes to convincing those CEOs to divest an asset, Deb's pitch is "addition by subtraction."
"As a CEO where do you spend your time? The speech we make to big companies is, 'if you divest this division, you can focus on your core competencies and your multiple will go up,'" Deb said.
While the slump in valuations has private equity circling cheaper assets, there are some headwinds.
Interest rate hikes are partially responsible for compressed valuations, and market volatility does make it harder to negotiate an asset sale because certain sellers might be reluctant to let go of a business that just 12 months ago came with a sky-high value.
"When there's huge volatility in prices, people have a hard time getting to 'yes,'" Deb said.
Thirty years old, and 13 months without a salary
Deb and co-founder David Stanton formed Francisco Partners in 1999. The pair left investing giant TPG to form their new venture. Deb called it "Project Francisco" after a colleague who lived on Francisco Street in the Bay Area.
Deb, 30 at the time, was taking a huge risk. He had a newborn baby and went 13 months without a salary.
And in the early days — like many new businesses — Deb and Stanton's venture almost went out of business. But the company got a little help from Sequoia Capital, which invested in the firm early on, Deb said.
Today, like many of the businesses Francisco Partners invests in today, Deb champions the work ethic of a founder.
"We partner with a lot of founder-led companies. That resonates because I'm a founder. My parents thought I was crazy, but that's the entrepreneurial spirit," Deb said.
A Michigan restaurant closed early because tourists were "rude" and "arrogant," its manager said.
"Due to the mistreatment of our servers, our kitchen is closed," she wrote on a sign.
Service and hospitality workers have had to deal with more rude customers since the pandemic started.
A restaurant in Michigan closed early during a festival because tourists were rude to staff, its manager said, reflecting the rising number of rude customers during the pandemic era.
Charlevoix, a town around 250 miles north of Detroit, has hosted a Venetian festival for almost 100 years with music, sport, and a parade. But when tourists descended on the town on the weekend, the tourists – known by the locals as "fudgies" – were "arrogant" and "cocky," Larah Moore, the general manager of East Park Tavern, said in a Facebook post.
After speaking with her staff, Moore shut the restaurant an hour earlier than usual on Saturday, Today reported.
"Due to the mistreatment of our servers, our kitchen is closed," she wrote on a sign she stuck on the host's desk.
Service and hospitality workers across the country have had to deal with growing numbers of rude customers since the pandemic started, with clashes over COVID-19 policies like masks and social distancing, slower service amid the labor shortage, and rising prices due to inflation.
The problem at East Park Tavern seems to have been caused by rude, impatient, and rowdy customers, but in some other cases, customers have been violent to workers.
"I'm so incredibly disappointed and embarrassed by the fudgies we have this year," Moore wrote. "My staff took a BEATING all week. Last night was our last straw. Too many rude comments. Too many arrogant individuals acting like they can throw money at us to get their way. Too many cocky jerks."
Today reported that close to 100,000 people travel to Charlevoix each year during the eight-day festival. Moore told the outlet that many of her staff had been working 11-hour shifts that week, where they were "being beaten down every day by the amount of people that were coming in, plus just the disrespect people were giving to them."
She told Today that one of the restaurant's servers ended up in the emergency room on Saturday night after her insulin pump fell off while she was working because it was so hot, while another "was breaking down" crying.
"No one gets to treat my staff like trash," Moore said in the Facebook post. "We are not here to be abused. We will not tolerate that anymore."
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un speaks during the groundbreaking for the construction of the Pyongyang General Hospital on March 17, 2020.
API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is ready to mobilize its military against the US.
In a speech marking the Korean War armistice, he warned that the clash could involve nuclear arms.
His comments came amid speculation that the country is set to conduct another nuclear test.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is prepared to mobilize its military, including its nuclear weapons, in a potential clash with the US.
Kim delivered a firebrand speech on Wednesday to mark the 69th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the fighting in the Korean War. In it, he said that the US was "demonizing" North Korea.
"The arrogance of the American empire has not changed," Kim said. "We must fight the US imperialists with ideology and armed forces to the end."
He added that North Korea is "thoroughly ready" to "deal with any military clash with the United States."
Kim also warned that such a clash could involve a nuclear assault.
"Our armed forces are completely prepared to respond to any crisis, and our country's nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilize its absolute power dutifully, exactly, and swiftly in accordance with its mission," he said.
Kim also lashed out at his South Korean counterpart, President Yoon Suk Yeol, accusing the latter's government of being filled with "gangsters."
"Talking about military action against our nation, which possesses absolute weapons that they fear the most, is preposterous and is very dangerous suicidal action," Kim warned.
"Such a dangerous attempt will be immediately punished by our powerful strength and the Yoon Suk Yeol government and his military will be annihilated," he added.
Earlier this month, South Korea's military was ordered by Yoon to respond "promptly and sternly" to any acts of provocation by North Korea, per Reuters.
The USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group are now operating the South China Sea.
South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images
A US aircraft carrier and its strike group are now operating in the South China Sea.
The vessels were moved to the area amid tensions between China and the US.
China has signaled that it may take military action if Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan.
A US aircraft carrier and its strike group are now in the South China Sea in what could potentially become a tense standoff in hotly contested waters near Taiwan.
Speaking to Insider on Wednesday night, US Navy spokesperson Mark Langford confirmed that the vessels were on the move and operating in the South China Sea.
According to Langford, the carrier is "continuing normal, scheduled operations as part of her routine patrol in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific."
"If the US insists on taking its own course, the Chinese military will never sit idly by, and it will definitely take strong actions to thwart any external force's interference," said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Defense.
The US generally regards Taiwan with "strategic ambiguity" — not recognizing its independence, while still providing it with weapons. CIA chief Bill Burns this month also commented that China is likely learning lessons from Russia's failures in Ukraine, and calibrating the "how and when" of a potential invasion of the island.
While Pelosi's Taiwan trip has not been confirmed, she is scheduled to visit Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore
For now, Pelosi's Taiwan trip has not been confirmed, but other stops like Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore are being considered for her Asia tour next month, per Bloomberg.
Facebook has a new mandate to operate with "increased intensity," Insider first reported.
An internal memo said it's the "right thing to do" to transition out employees who fall short.
The HR chief's memo and recent comments from other execs have caused some workers to fear job cuts.
Facebook's head of human resources sent out a memo laying out increasing expectations for employees, driving home the message that low performers could be transitioned out.
As Insider first reported on Tuesday morning, Meta plans to operate with "increased intensity." Its HR chief, Lori Goler, sent out a memo earlier this month laying out expectations for managers to build high-performing teams, ruthlessly prioritize, and make the most of synchronous and asynchronous time with teams, according to an employee who viewed it.
Those who fall short of the new expected intensity should be transitioned out of the company, Goler said, calling it the "right thing to do."
Goler's note aimed to clarify comments made by Mark Zuckerberg at a weekly Q&A. The CEO said the company, which last year changed its name to Meta Platforms, would set "more aggressive goals" and that he welcomed people choosing to leave the company. He had previously said fewer employees would make Facebook "a better company."
Other executives have made internal comments and written notes alluding to job cuts, including Maher Saba, the head of engineering, and Chris Cox, the head of product. On top of that, Facebook internally announced a hiring freeze in May, which left employees on edge and expecting the worst. Cuts this year could affect 10% of the company's 78,000 workers, one employee said.
"It hasn't started yet," another employee told Insider, "but it's coming."
Are you a Facebook employee or have insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, through the secure-messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or on Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a nonwork device.
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US futures rallied after Big Tech companies delivered better-than-expected earnings.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
US futures climbed on Wednesday after Alphabet and Microsoft posted better-than-feared earnings.
Commodity prices rallied as Russia cut gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Investors are now nervously eyeing the outcome of the Federal Reserve's July meeting.
Stocks traded higher on Wednesday as second-quarter earnings encouraged investors, who will now turn their attention to the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting, which concludes later in the day.
Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet both posted earnings on Tuesday that missed analyst expectations, but were better than many investors had initially feared, which helped US futures to climb in early-morning trading.
Analysts said that the latest rally could represent a pivotal moment for the S&P 500 in particular, after the index closed at 3,967 points Tuesday.
"It's make-or-break time," brokerage Pepperstone's head of research Chris Weston said. "While the current price on our charts represents the strong after-hours performance from Microsoft and Alphabet, the bulls need the index to push through 4000 – where potentially we can see a trend develop."
Investors' eyes will now turn to the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting. The US central bank will announce whether its raising interest rates today - with most markets pricing in a second consecutive hike of 75 basis points. The question remains over what policymakers will signal about their outlook for the remainder of the year, both in terms of growth and inflation expectations.
"With so many moving parts to consider, we expect markets to remain volatile after the FOMC meeting," UBS's chief investment officer Mark Haefele said. "We continue to advise investors to ensure their portfolios remain robust under a range of scenarios."
Global stocks also climbed after Big Tech earnings were released, with the MSCI World Index up 0.03%.
European stocks led that rally, with the continent's flagship Stoxx 600 index up 0.34%. Paris's CAC 40, Frankfurt's DAX 40 and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.24%, 0.01%, and 0.38% respectively.
Commodities surged in the aftermath of Vladimir Putin's latest move against foreign political opponents. Brent crude oil jumped 1.05% to $100.50 a barrel, while TTF natural gas futures soared 11% to above 222 euros per megawatt hour, within sight of the record highs above 300 euros posted just after Russia invaded Ukraine.
"Burgeoning energy and political crises in Europe, and the specter of the Fed pouring cold water on the recent dovish repricing of its policy weighed on risk yesterday." Deutsche Bank managing director Jim Reid said. "It was a bad day for the gas crisis in Europe, ultimately seeing European natural gas futures climb to their highest since the aftermath of the invasion."
Elsewhere, Asian stocks performed unevenly. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.22%, but the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.05% and 1.25%, respectively.
European governments have accused Vladimir Putin of using natural gas as an economic weapon.
Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERS
Natural gas prices have jumped 17% over the last two days after Russia's Gazprom said it would slash supplies.
Gazprom will cut supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of capacity, having already cut them to 40% of normal levels.
Economists said the move will drive Europe's fragile economy into a recession, with Deutsche Bank expecting the downturn to start this year.
European natural gas prices have shot 17% higher over the last two days after Russia said it will slash supplies of the fossil fuel to the continent through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Dutch TTF natural gas futures for August — the benchmark European price — rose sharply on Monday after Russia's Gazprom announced the move.
It jumped again on Tuesday to around 188 euros ($191.50) per megawatt hour, according to data from the ICE exchange. That was more than 17% above Friday's closing price of around 160 euros and the highest since early March.
European natural gas prices have now risen for four consecutive days and were up more than 700% from a year earlier on Tuesday.
The cuts to supplies and the jump in prices are driving fears that Europe could soon tumble into a recession, as high energy prices cause people and businesses to slash spending.
Economists at Credit Suisse on Tuesday slashed their growth predictions for the eurozone, saying they now expect the bloc's gross domestic product to shrink in 2023.
The bank's economists, led by Veronika Roharova, said they expect "the largest contractions in Germany and Italy – i.e. countries with large manufacturing sectors that are highly reliant on Russian gas."
State-owned Russian energy company Gazprom said on Monday it would cut natural gas flows through Nord Stream 1 to 20% of capacity on Wednesday, having already slashed shipments to 40% of normal amounts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday accused Russia of waging a "gas war" against Europe after Russia said it would further restrict gas supply to the continent.
Gazprom has blamed sanctions for stymieing the supply of crucial turbines and said it needs to carry out maintenance work. However, European leaders have accused Russia of using natural gas as a political weapon.
US shipments of super-cooled liquefied natural gas to Europe have soared this year, as consumers in the region have scrambled to snap up alternative sources of supply. The United States became the world's biggest exporter of LNG in the first half of 2022, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Tensions in Europe have risen to levels not seen since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in late February.
Peter Sidorov, economist at Deutsche Bank, told clients Gazprom's cuts were "consistent with our baseline of an 'on-off' supply scenario for Russian gas." He said the eurozone would likely suffer a mild recession in the second half of 2022.
Gazprom said it is further reducing supplies because of maintenance issues with a turbine that is crucial to the operation of the NS1 pipeline, which sends gas from Russia into Germany.
Goldman Sachs analysts, led by Samantha Dart, said they expect flows to pick back up to 40% of normal levels once another turbine — which is currently caught up in an international disagreement over sanctions — has been restored.
However, they said that "Russian supply uncertainty remains high."
Traders are waiting for the Federal Reserve's July meeting and a flurry of Big Tech earnings reports, which will be released later this week.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Equities traded cautiously on Tuesday with investors eyeing the Federal Reserve's next policy decision.
Tech giants Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet all report quarterly earnings later this week.
"Yesterday was a snooze-fest, and today looks likely to be one too," Caxton FX's Michael Brown said.
Markets were subdued once again on Tuesday as investors waited on the Federal Reserve's latest meeting and the release of Big Tech quarterly earnings reports later this week.
The Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, with investors anticipating another 75-basis point interest rate hike, while tech giants Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet will all release their quarterly earnings reports this week.
Analysts said that low volume in futures trading meant that investors should expect another quiet day for stocks.
"Yesterday was a snooze-fest, and today looks likely to be one too," Caxton FX's head of market intelligence Michael Brown said. "Make the most of the opportunity to kick back, before the fireworks begin on Wednesday."
Alphabet and Microsoft will be the first Big Tech giant to report their earnings, with Q2 reports set to be released after Tuesday's closing bell.
"We have Microsoft and Alphabet after the bell today followed by Meta tomorrow and Apple and Amazon on Thursday," Deutsche Bank managing director Jim Reid said. "So that's over $7.5 trillion of market cap here alone at stake over the next couple of days."
Global stocks enjoyed similarly mixed fortunes, with the MSCI World Index climbing 0.1% but several key stock markets experiencing slight falls.
Europe's flagship Stoxx 600 index climbed 0.04%, weathering drops for Paris's CAC 40 and Frankfurt's DAX 40, which fell 0.15% and 0.55%, respectively. London's FTSE 100 traded more hopefully, climbing 0.63%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.83% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.93%, but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 finished 0.24% lower at the closing bell.
Here's how the other major asset classes are performing:
Cryptocurrencies slipped after the SEC unveiled an investigation into the Coinbase exchange, with bitcoin tumbling 4.3% to just over $21,000 and ethereum dropping 7.6% to around $1,400.
Investors are expecting a 75-basis point hike by the Fed on Wednesday.
(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
US futures gained strength Monday ahead of a busy week comprising the Fed meeting and earnings.
The market largely expects a 75-basis point rate hike, but fears of recession are growing.
Meanwhile, oil prices extended last week's gains thanks to a slight easing in the value of the US dollar.
US futures rose on Monday as investors brace for a busy week of interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve, as well as a slew of quarterly earnings from Big Tech that could shed further light on the state of the underlying economy.
Futures on the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq rose 0.25%, 0.29% and 0.24%, respectively in early trading.
In Europe, the continent-wide Stoxx 600 was up 0.2% in morning trading.
The Fed is expected to raise interest rates again when policymakers meet on Tuesday and Wednesday as the US economy grapples with raging inflation that rose by 9.1% through June. The overarching concensus is that the Fed will raise rates by 75-basis points, however top economists like Mohamed El-Erian said a 100-basis-point hike remains on the table.
"There won't be new economic projections in this meeting so all focus will be on how the Fed guides us in a world where no-one should really believe central bank forward guidance anymore as it's proved very unreliable over the last year," analysts at Deutsche Bank said.
With rate hike talks comes the worry of the US economy tumbling into a recession, which continues to weigh on investors' minds.
Meanwhile, corporate earnings results from the likes of Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are due this week alongside oil majors and key consumer-focused companies.
"If results are weaker than expected, then the market will remain vulnerable to a sharp pullback," Saxo Bank strategists said.
Social media company Snap became the latest company to warn in its results about the challenging economic backdrop. Shares in the Snapchat owner plunged 39% on Friday after a slump in ad revenue hit its second-quarter earnings.
On other fronts, the dollar index fell 0.3% to around 106.32 after falling more than 1% last week, but was still within sight of its recent 20 year highs, thanks to investors seeking out the US currency as a safe-haven in case of an economic downturn.
In oil markets, prices rose with the global benchmark Brent crude gaining 1% to trade at $99.42 a barrel, extending last week's 2% rally, as the dollar eased.
In Asia, stocks dropped as concerns about a global economic slowdown reduced investor appetite for risk-assets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.22% while the Nikkei 225 and Shanghai Composite fell 0.77% and 0.60% respectively.
Twitter said in its Q2 earnings report Friday it has already incurred $33 million in costs related to its "pending acquisition" by Musk.
Twitter also partially blamed a 1% drop in revenue on "uncertainty" caused by Musk's turbulent acquisition.
Twitter's costs will continue to rise as it is headed for a legal battle with Musk. Twitter has hired top corporate law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP to help it sue Musk with the aim of forcing him to adhere to his original agreement and buy the company.
Musk's contention is that Twitter gave him a false impression about the number of fake accounts on its platform. In its regulatory filings Twitter says roughly 5% of accounts are fake, but Musk's lawyers said the Tesla billionaires' analysis shows the figure is "wildly higher than 5%."
Twitter won an early victory in its lawsuit against Musk as it was granted an expedited trial to minimize the "business risk" posed to the company.
Even if the initial judgement were to come quickly in Twitter's favor Musk could appeal the decision and make the case last up to three years Harry Kraemer, professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, told Insider.
"The big, big winners in this one are gonna be the law firms," Kraemer said, adding: "These guys are gonna make a fortune."
A New York state senator on Sunday accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of not being involved enough in her district.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
State Sen. Jessica Ramos accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of ignoring her New York district.
Ramos tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez would know what goes on if she "spent more time" in her office.
"Just saying it would be nice if you breathed our air," Ramos added.
New York State Sen. Jessica Ramos on Sunday hit out at fellow progressive lawmaker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, accusing the congresswoman of not spending enough time in her home district.
Ramos called out Ocasio-Cortez in a series of tweets, which stemmed from an account from a Twitter user named Daniel.
On July 21, the Twitter user, who uses the handle @jai_lies, accused Ocasio-Cortez of "doing performative resistance art" for publicity while alleging that staff at the congresswoman's office blew off a meeting with health policy academics to discuss issues.
In response to the Twitter user, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday, stating: "I'm really sorry to hear that this happened. It's not representative of me nor my values. If you can connect with details I'd appreciate it. I'll follow so DMs will be open."
However, Ocasio-Cortez's response prompted anger from Ramos, who tweeted that if Ocasio-Cortez had "spent more time" in her office and with her team, she would "know what goes on." Ocasio-Cortez represents New York's 14th district.
"Just saying it would be nice if you breathed our air," said Ramos in response to Ocasio-Cortez's message to Daniel.
"I gave up texting her a while back, and as petitioning unfolded, I reached out through staff and requested a meeting. I have not spoken to my congressperson in months," Ramos tweeted late on Sunday. "Maybe more than a year? What else is it I'm supposed to do?"
"That's not a conversation or a meeting. She moves on to her next scheduled event as do we, if we have one. This is so disingenuous," Ramos wrote.
When contacted for comment, a representative for Ocasio-Cortez told Insider that their office had asked the original poster, Daniel, for more information about the healthcare meeting or the names of the people informed.
"Based on what they've tweeted so far, we're not able to confirm if this meeting occurred but we are continuing to look into it," the Ocasio-Cortez representative said.
The representative also said that Ocasio-Cortez had recently been back in her district and last held an outreach meeting in Jackson Heights, where both her and Ramos' offices are located. This took place on July 6, which lines up with the congresswoman's schedule indicating a district work period from July 1 to July 8.
"Rep. AOC met with staff and clients of Chhaya, a community group for which the congresswoman was able to secure $2 million in an appropriations bill this Spring," Ocasio-Cortez's representative said.
Ramos did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Other local lawmakers, like Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a New York State assembly member, also came out in support of Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday.
"I have met with her multiple times, she was a critical part of our @NYTWA victory, and she has been a partner at every level of politics. Astoria is all the better for having her represent us." Mamdani wrote, referring to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
Brooklyn State Sen. Julia Salazar also tweeted that it was "abundantly clear" that Ocasio-Cortez is "present in her district and absolutely dedicated to the communities she represents."
Salazer added that while taking criticism is "part of the job" for elected officials, there was also no need to "sling mud at each other."
James Howells is known as the man who accidentally threw away 8,000 bitcoins. Now he has an $11 million master plan to get them back.
James Howells' life changed when he threw out a hard drive about the size of an iPhone 6.
Howells, from the city of Newport in southern Wales, had two identical laptop hard drives squirreled away in a drawer in 2013. One was blank; he says the other contained 8,000 bitcoins — now worth about $181 million, even after the recent crypto crash.
He'd meant to throw out the blank one, but instead the drive containing the cryptocurrency ended up going to the local dump in a garbage bag.
Nine years later, he's determined to get back his stash, which he mined in 2009.
Howells, 36, is hoping local authorities will let him stage a high-tech treasure hunt for the buried bitcoins. His problem is that he can't get into the dump.
James Howells is hoping his plan will get him into the dump.
Darren Britton / Wales News
For almost a decade, Newport's city council has denied his requests to dig for his hard drive, saying it would be expensive and environmentally damaging, but Howells is not deterred.
He gave Insider a first look at his new $11 million proposal — backed by venture-capital funding — to search up to 110,000 tons of garbage. He hopes presenting it to the council in the coming weeks will persuade it to let him finally try to recover the hard drive.
Finding a hard drive in 110,000 tons of garbage
Looking for a hard drive among thousands of tons of garbage might seem like a Herculean task.
But Howells, a former IT worker, says he believes it's achievable through a combination of human sorters, robot dogs, and an artificial-intelligence-powered machine trained to look for hard drives on a conveyor belt.
His plan has two versions, based on how much of the landfill the council would allow him to search.
By his estimates, the most extensive option would take three years and involve scouring 100,000 metric tons — or about 110,000 tons — of garbage at a cost of $11 million. A scaled-down version would cost $6 million and take 18 months.
The experts and their companies would be contracted to execute the excavation and would receive a bonus should the bitcoin hoard be successfully retrieved.
"We're trying to achieve this project to a full commercial standard," Howells said.
Howells said machines would dig up the garbage, which would then be sorted at a pop-up facility near the landfill.
Human pickers would sift through it, along with a machine from a company in Oregon called Max-AI. The machine would look like a scanner set over a conveyor belt.
Remi Le Grand of Max-AI told Insider the company would train AI algorithms to spot hard drives that look similar to Howells'. A mechanical arm would then pick out any objects that could be contenders.
Howells has built security costs into his plan, fearing people may try to dig up the hard drive themselves.
He's budgeted for 24-hour CCTV cameras as well as two robotic "Spot" dogs from Boston Dynamics that would function as mobile CCTV patrols at night and sweep the area for anything that looks like his hard drive by day.
A "Spot" robot dog made by Boston Dynamics.
Sam Barnes/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images
Howells told Insider his team had its first meeting in May at the Celtic Manor Resort outside Newport for what he called a dress rehearsal of his pitch to the council.
It's a story that goes from the incredibly mundane to the colossal Richard Hammond
The meeting was filmed and attended by the former "Top Gear" host Richard Hammond, who is set to release a short YouTube documentary about Howells.
"They're clearly a bunch of very committed people who have faith in him and the plan," Hammond told Insider of Howells's team.
"It's a story that goes from the incredibly mundane to the colossal," Hammond said. "If I were in his position, I don't think I'd have the strength to answer the door."
After excavation, the garbage would be cleaned and as much as possible would be recycled, Howells said. The rest would be reburied.
"We do not want to damage the environment in any way," he said. "If anything, we want to leave everything in a better condition."
The Newport, Wales, landfill from the air.
Darren Britton / Wales News
His plans also include building either a solar or wind-energy farm on top of the landfill site once the project is completed. Yet the chance of the council agreeing to his vision anytime soon looks slim.
"There is nothing that Mr. Howells could present to us" that would make the council agree, a council representative told Insider. "His proposals pose significant ecological risk, which we cannot accept and indeed are prevented from considering by the terms of our permit."
Will the hard drive even work if it's found?
Whether the hard drive will work depends on a component called the "platter" — a disc made of either glass or metal that holds the data. Howells says that so long as the platter isn't cracked, there's an 80% to 90% chance the data will be retrievable.
Phil Bridge, a data-recovery professional who has advised Howells on the project, told Insider these figures were accurate.
A hard drive the same size as the one Howells lost. The platter is the large disc in the middle.
Darren Britton / Wales News
But if the platter is damaged, Bridge says, there is only a small chance the data could be retrieved.
Bridge says he got involved with the project because he found it intriguing. "It's just one of those cases that piques anyone's interest," he said. "It would be just a fantastic success story to help him get it back and prove everyone wrong really."
Where would the funding come from?
Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, two venture capitalists who are based, respectively, in Switzerland and Germany, told Insider they had promised to provide $11 million to fund the project if Howells won council approval.
"It's obviously a needle in the haystack, and it's a very, very high-risk investment," Jaberg said.
Howells said he didn't have a contract with the prospective backers but had discussed the plan in Zoom meetings. "Until I've got something in writing from Newport City Council," he said, "there is nothing to sign up to."
What if he does find the bitcoin stash?
Howells said if he managed to retrieve the data, he would keep roughly 30% of what's on there — worth just over $54 million at current value.
He said about a third would go to the recovery team, 30% to the investors, and the rest for local causes including giving £50, or about $61 at current value, in bitcoin to each of Newport's 150,000 residents.
The amount has fallen from the $240 each he told CNN in January 2021; Howells said he decided to put more money into securing "professional companies" for the excavation to help convince the council.
What if the council doesn't agree to his plans?
If Howells fails to get the council's backing, he says, his last resort will be taking the local authority to court with the claim that its actions constitute an "illegal embargo" on the hard drive. "I've been reluctant to go down that route in the past because I've not wanted to cause problems," he said. "I wanted to work with Newport City Council."
Howells said he'd never been granted a face-to-face meeting with the council. He said he was given a 20-minute Zoom meeting in May 2021 but hoped his new business plan would help him break through.
He said he met with his local member of Parliament, Jessica Morden, on June 24. Morden's office confirmed the meeting took place.
Once he's made the council aware of his new plan, all he can do is wait. "This is the best situation I've been in so far," he said. "This is the most professional operation we've put together, and we've got all the best people involved."
The "crypto proponent" says he makes his living by buying bitcoin every month and selling it when he needs cash.
Howells says he tries not to think too much about what his share of the money would allow him to do, if the hard drive is ever found in working order. "Otherwise," he said, "you just drive yourself crazy."
Former Vice President Al Gore attends a press conference for 'An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power' at Hotel Adlon on August 8, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.
Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Al Gore compared climate change deniers to Uvalde law enforcement officers in an interview with NBC News airing Sunday.
"They heard the screams, they heard the gunshots and nobody stepped forward," Gore said.
Gore was vice president in the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001.
Former vice president and global warming activist Al Gore compared climate change deniers to Uvalde law enforcement officers in an interview with NBC News airing Sunday.
Gore told NBC News' "Meet the Press" that "climate deniers are really in some ways similar to all of those almost 400 law enforcement officers in Uvalde, Texas, who were waiting outside an unlocked door while the children were being massacred. They heard the screams, they heard the gunshots and nobody stepped forward."
Uvalde police have come under intense scrutiny after how they reacted to a mass shooting on May 24, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
Gore's comments come in light of numerous climate change-related disasters unfolding in the UK, Portugal, and Spain. On Tuesday, the UK broke a heat record with temperatures of 102.4°F (40.2°C).
He added that the US's response to climate change is not rational.
According to The Daily Wire, Gore said, "We do have the solutions, and I think these extreme events that are getting steadily worse and more severe are really beginning to change minds. We have to have unity as a nation, to come together and stop making this a political football. It shouldn't be a partisan issue."
Gore was vice president in the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001.
Airline crew are also under pressure from this summer's travel chaos. Insider spoke to two JetBlue flight attendants – including one who recently resigned – who described their difficulties finding affordable accommodation after completing the airline's training and being assigned to a base.
Jiani Santana, who quit about two weeks after being assigned to Newark airport, said she had spent far more money on accommodation than what she had earned.
Another flight attendant, who did not want to be named, told Insider: "This was supposed to be a dream job for a lot of us, but we are living a nightmare. Most of us are practically homeless or living in a hotel with up to eight people in one room, barely surviving on the little bit of salary we make."
They fear they will be evicted from the hotel if management realizes how many people are staying in a room meant for four people.
JetBlue began flying from Newark, in New Jersey, in July 2020 and expanded last year but cut several routes earlier this year, according to Simply Flying.
One flight attendant said JetBlue was aware it could not cope with the influx of new crew. "We have spoken with union representatives and the crisis fund – no one is willing to help. All of the crashpads are full until September. We don't make much money as newbies, so we are splitting a room that is almost $3,000 a month."
The flight attendant added: "There are still quite a few of us here with no place to go. There are so many newbies that have quit already because they couldn't afford to stay."
The worker also knows of colleagues who are breaking the rules by staying in airport crew lounges.
Santana said they were told not to worry about where they would be based until they completed the training. "You don't need to look for anywhere to stay right now, because you don't know if you're gonna pass," Santana said she was told.
Both Santana and the flight attendant said they were both on standby, like many others. They were paid $21 an hour before tax but were only guaranteed a minimum of 75 hours a month, which equaled $1,575.
However, Santana said she spent about $2,400 in about two weeks on accommodation, food and Uber trips.
Santana said she felt unsupported: "Everybody in management kept telling us it'll get better – it's just something you have to go through. I didn't get any flights. I was literally spending money that I wasn't making back in return."
The anonymous flight attendant added: "The biggest problem is that we are not flying. Our base is new so there are not as many flights."
A JetBlue spokesperson told Insider it did not provide housing for staff, but was offering confirmed seats on flights for those who decide to commute to their bases from other areas during the summer peak travel season.
"JetBlue has reduced its flying by more than 10% this summer to reduce operational issues, including cancellations and delays from weather and air traffic control programs," they added.
Receipts, a copy of a contract, and screenshots of a group chat have been viewed by Insider.
