The 10-point: the Wall Street Journal's Guide to the Day's Top News

Dow Jones18:39
 

One of the biggest shocks to Wall Street this week was IBM's AI profit warning, which triggered a 25% plunge in its shares -- the worst in the company's history. The news has sparked discussions about whether IBM should be broken apart or an activist investor will come hunting for the century-old company. We have the inside story on the board's gamble on transparency, how it backfired and what lies ahead for Big Blue.

In case you missed it: President Trump delivered an extraordinary prime-time address last night focused on election security. Read our takeaways here.

 

Today's Headlines

Trump's tightening squeeze on Iran will heap more pain on its battered economy.

Shredded iceberg lettuce supplied to Taco Bell restaurants has been linked to a parasitic outbreak that has infected thousands of people.

The Treasury's top tax policy official was ousted after clashing with the White House over IRS audits.

In the global hunt for rare earths, the U.S. is trampling allies.

Well-off boomers are increasingly upsizing their homes as they get older, ripping up the traditional script for aging.

 

Live From The Markets

Follow our live financial coverage all day.

Meta plans to hire a top Amazon computing executive as the social media giant's data-center ambitions grow.

The SEC has been flooded with complaints over its proposal to no longer require public companies to report quarterly results.

Gas prices will stay higher for longer, even if oil prices fall, writes Jinjoo Lee.

 

Read It Here First

This shortcut to private-equity riches is minting young millionaires.

Instead of grinding from associate to managing director, a new wave of dealmakers are finding ways to buy HVAC and plumbing outfits, specialized manufacturers and other small and midsize businesses. Financing such deals is a far cry from traditional private equity. These would-be business owners scrape together financing on a deal-by-deal basis. They use loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration; seek funds raised from specialized investors; or cobble together money from friends, family offices, private-equity funds and SBA-licensed small-business investment companies. And that is just the start, reports Miriam Gottfried.

 

The sky was the limit for turning offices into apartments -- until some columns buckled.

Developer Nathan Berman and his company, MetroLoft, have been at the leading edge of the conversion boom. But last week's construction disaster at Berman's most ambitious project to date -- turning the former Pfizer headquarters in Midtown Manhattan into 1,600 apartments -- is raising questions about what can go wrong in complex conversions. And with Manhattan's apartment vacancy rate below 2%, city officials have to decide whether to hit the brakes on the wave of projects now under way, report Nicholas G. Miller, Peter Grant and Kevin T. Dugan.

 

See The Story

Ozempic is dulling tastes. He has spices for that.

How Americans live -- and eat -- is being transformed by GLP-1 medications. Lior Lev Sercarz, a chef and spice master, has become acutely aware of the shift. Here, he offers his guide to eating in the GLP-1 era.

 

Happening Today

Christopher Nolan's blockbuster adaptation of "The Odyssey" lands in movie theaters (more of this week's arts and culture happenings here).

Economic data: The University of Michigan releases its preliminary July consumer-sentiment survey.

Earnings: Fifth Third Bancorp, Regions Financial

 

Number Of The Day

$38 billion

This summer's travel season is being powered by a historic pile of airline points, which airlines value at around $38 billion. That reservoir of credit card-powered miles helps feed demand, allowing airlines to report strong revenue despite volatile jet-fuel prices and broader economic jitters.

 

And Finally. . .

After 3,000 years, people are getting around to reading The Odyssey -- at least on Wikipedia.

Christopher Nolan is finally getting people to do their homework. Readers are digging into various editions of the ancient Greek epic before Nolan's movie adaptation hits theaters this weekend. TikTok is full of videos of readers holding up their copies of the translation by University of Pennsylvania classicist Emily Wilson, which Nolan has referenced as a source. The roughly 500-page book saw a significant increase in sales last year, according to publisher W.W. Norton.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2026 06:39 ET (10:39 GMT)

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