MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: U.S. stocks finished mixed, as a plunge in oil prices was offset by concerns about Chinese competition for semiconductor companies.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields fell alongside oil futures.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked up against rivals ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures fell by more than 7% in New York, their biggest fall since May as the U.S. and Iran held fire.
HEADLINES
U.S. Durable-Goods Orders Rose Less Than Expected in June
Demand for U.S. durable goods rose less than expected in June, according to data published by the Commerce Department.
Total orders for durable goods - which comprise goods meant to last three years or more - increased in June by 0.3% to $334.8 billion, compared with a 4% decrease in May.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected an increase of 2.1%.
Cracker Barrel CEO Stepping Down After Logo Controversy, Activist Pressure
Cracker Barrel Chief Executive Julie Masino is stepping down, ending a three-year tenure that promised significant changes to the family dining chain but put it at the center of a political firestorm before she walked back some of her plans.
Masino sought to update the brand founded in 1969 for a younger generation of consumers, with initiatives that included remaking the folksy logo atop Cracker Barrel restaurants, pulling antique tchotchkes off the walls and changing the menu.
But many of the changes ended up alienating some core diners and conservatives. The resulting controversy, magnified on social media by online bots, led her to scrap much of her strategy and contend with plummeting sales and profit. The company's stock price fell sharply, and Masino cut staff and costs to try to stem the losses.
KKR, Blackstone Sign $16 Billion Kuwait Oil Deal
The companies that manage Kuwait's oil sector signed a $16 billion lease agreement with a group of investors led by Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR.
The deal comes after President Trump said earlier this month that he reversed his Strait of Hormuz tariff plan following talks with Middle Eastern countries to invest more in the U.S.
Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state-owned firm overseeing the sector, and its subsidiary Kuwait Oil Co., which explores and produces oil on behalf of the state, both signed the deal.
Nvidia in Talks With OpenAI to Guarantee $250 Billion Financing for Data Center
Nvidia is in talks to provide a roughly $250 billion backstop for OpenAI as part of a massive data-center project, one of the most ambitious financial transactions yet in America's artificial-intelligence boom.
The guarantees from Nvidia would help the ChatGPT maker lease a 10-gigawatt project that SoftBank's energy subsidiary is developing in southern Ohio, people familiar with the matter said. In total, the project could cost more than $500 billion, including the chips that would go inside the data centers. It would be the largest data-center project announced to date.
The power for the project is controlled by the U.S. government and funded separately by Japan under a recent trade deal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is involved in deciding who will get the power, some of the people said.
Baker Hughes Rises as Energy Infrastructure Demand Outweighs Middle East Disruptions
Shares of Baker Hughes surged Monday after the oilfield services company posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings as energy sector demand for its services allowed it to successfully navigate disruptions in the Middle East.
Baker Hughes stock advanced 6.8% to $61.13 on Monday, making it one of the top performers on the S&P 500, which was down 0.2%.
Investors were impressed with the company's second-quarter financial report and Baker Hughes' announcement that it secured a major order from a liquefied natural gas expansion project in Louisiana.
Ex-JPMorgan Banker Alleges Racism, Sexual Assault in Federal Lawsuit
A former JPMorgan Chase banker alleged widespread racial discrimination and harassment on the bank's leveraged-finance team in federal court, introducing new civil-rights charges in a case whose lurid details have captivated Wall Street.
Chirayu Rana had alleged a pattern of sexual assault and harassment by a former co-worker, Lorna Hajdini, in a state lawsuit filed against her and the bank in April that quickly went viral.
In a federal complaint filed Monday, Rana reiterated allegations that his superiors called him racist names while he was the only nonwhite member of the team and that he was sexually assaulted. Rana joined the bank in 2024 and left the following year.
Philip Morris Opens $1.2 Billion Manufacturing Campus to Grow Zyn Brand
Philip Morris International opened a $1.2 billion manufacturing campus in Colorado, part of the tobacco company's efforts to expand its Zyn portfolio and meet rising demand for nicotine pouches.
Originally announced in 2024 as a $600 million project, the Aurora manufacturing plant will expand the company's domestic manufacturing capabilities and strengthen its supply-chain resilience, Philip Morris said Monday.
The site began commercial production earlier this month, after approximately 19 months of construction. The roughly 780,000-square-foot campus manufactures Zyn nicotine pouches, positioning Aurora as a strategic production and export hub for future growth.
TALKING POINT Arax to Buy $3 Billion RIA Furthering Acquisition Spree
Arax Advisory Partners is continuing its acquisition streak. Last week, the New York-based company said it agreed to buy Transcend Capital Advisors, a registered investment advisor with more than $3 billion in assets under management as of June 30. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Transcend will be the seventh firm to join Arax in 2026, which didn't disclose terms of the transaction.
Transcend was founded in 2019 by former New York Stock Exchange CEO Duncan Niederauer and a group of partners. The firm is based in Madison, N.J., and has offices in Michigan, Rhode Island, and Florida.
"As we looked to the future, we wanted a partner that would preserve what makes Transcend stand out while expanding what we can deliver to clients," says Niederauer, currently the vice chairman of Transcend. "This partnership with Arax accomplishes exactly that, and I couldn't be more excited about the future."
Brian Gorczynski, CEO of Transcend, says that the firm was drawn to Arax because of its leadership.
Founded in 2022, Arax is backed by private-equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and led by Chief Executive Officer Haig Ariyan. He previously led Alex. Brown, a unit of Raymond James Financial. Since its founding, Arax has acquired multiple RIAs and recruited large financial advisor teams from national brokerage firms.
In May, it hired a Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based team that previously oversaw approximately $1.5 billion in client assets at Wells Fargo Advisors. Arax has approximately $43 billion in assets, according to a spokeswoman.
Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com
Expected Major Events for Tuesday
06:45/FRA: Jul Consumer confidence survey
06:45/FRA: Jun Housing starts
08:00/ITA: Jun Foreign Trade non-EU
10:00/FRA: 2Q Claimant count and job advertisements collected by France Travail
12:30/US: Jun Advance Economic Indicators Report
12:55/US: 07/25 Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index
13:00/US: May U.S. Monthly House Price Index
13:00/US: May S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Indices
14:00/US: Jul Richmond Fed Business Activity Survey
14:00/US: 2Q U.S. Housing Vacancies
14:00/US: Jul Consumer Confidence Index
17:00/US: Jun Money Stock Measures
20:30/US: API Weekly Statistical Bulletin
23:01/UK: Jul CBI Growth Indicator and Service Sector Survey
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Tuesday
AllianceBernstein Holding LP $(AB)$ is expected to report $0.81 for 2Q.
American Tower REIT $(AMT)$ is expected to report $1.57 for 2Q.
Armstrong World Industries Inc $(AWI)$ is expected to report $2.21 for 2Q.
Auburn National Bancorporation Inc (AUBN) is expected to report for 2Q.
Boeing Co $(BA)$ is expected to report $-0.04 for 2Q.
CTS Corp (CTS) is expected to report $0.61 for 2Q.
Camden National Corp $(CAC)$ is expected to report $1.29 for 2Q.
Carrier Global Corp $(CARR)$ is expected to report $0.60 for 2Q.
Centene Corp $(CNC)$ is expected to report $0.88 for 2Q.
CenterPoint Energy Inc $(CNP)$ is expected to report $0.37 for 2Q.
Coca-Cola Co $(KO)$ is expected to report $0.93 for 2Q.
Community Financial System Inc $(CBU)$ is expected to report $1.18 for 2Q.
Commvault Systems Inc $(CVLT)$ is expected to report $0.46 for 1Q.
Corning Inc $(GLW)$ is expected to report $0.72 for 2Q.
Curbline Properties Corp (CURB) is expected to report for 2Q.
DTE Energy Co $(DTE)$ is expected to report $1.13 for 2Q.
Ecolab Inc $(ECL)$ is expected to report $2.01 for 2Q.
Franklin Electric Co Inc $(FELE)$ is expected to report $1.44 for 2Q.
Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc (FULC) is expected to report $-0.21 for 2Q.
Herc Holdings Inc $(HRI)$ is expected to report $0.51 for 2Q.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc $(HLT)$ is expected to report $2.19 for 2Q.
Hubbell Inc $(HUBB)$ is expected to report $5.02 for 2Q.
INVESCO Ltd (IVZ,IVZ-LN) is expected to report $0.62 for 2Q.
IQVIA Holdings Inc $(IQV)$ is expected to report $1.90 for 2Q.
Incyte Corp $(INCY)$ is expected to report $2.18 for 2Q.
JetBlue Airways Corp $(JBLU)$ is expected to report $-0.70 for 2Q.
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International PLC $(KNSA)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
PJT Partners Inc $(PJT)$ is expected to report $1.31 for 2Q.
Paccar Inc $(PCAR)$ is expected to report $1.34 for 2Q.
PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL) is expected to report $1.24 for 2Q.
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July 27, 2026 16:37 ET (20:37 GMT)
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