For: July 24, 2026
>>Watching Wall Street
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after stocks closed lower on Thursday. It comes as oil prices have been surging, topping 100 dollars a barrel, as the U.S. has been launching strikes against Iran for nearly two straight weeks. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 506 points to 51-711. The S&P 500 fell 90 points to 74-08. The Nasdaq dropped 553 points to 25-137.
>>Trump Announces AI Data Center Power Pledge
(Washington, DC) -- President Trump is announcing a commitment from major utilities and companies that consumers will not bear the extra electricity costs of the AI data center expansions across the U.S. Speaking from the EPA headquarters on Thursday, Trump detailed the updated the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge," meant to reduce the burden of potentially skyrocketing electric bills for consumers while still keeping an edge in AI race. Trump said the plan includes letting the tech companies build their own power plants. The White House says major utilities including NextEra and Duke Energy have signed on to the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge," along with Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, OpenAI and Amazon. This comes as opposition to data centers grows, leading some states to consider construction moratoriums.
>>Starship Test Launch Moved To Friday
(Starbase, TX) -- SpaceX's planned Thursday test launch of its massive Starship rocket is being bumped to Friday. The mission was previously planned for July 16th but scrubbed at the last minute because of an issue with a number of the rocket's Raptor engines. Thursday's launch attempt from Starbase, Texas was called off due to weather with then-Tropical Storm Bertha making its presence felt across the region. Another attempt is on the calendar for Friday evening. If all goes as planned, it'll be the 13th test flight for Starship, which is ultimately meant to carry Artemis 4 astronauts to the surface of the moon in a mission set for late 2028.
>>Weekly Jobless Claims See Sharp Drop
(Washington, DC) -- Far fewer Americans than expected found themselves filing first-time requests for unemployment benefits last week. The Labor Department says it received 187-thousand initial filings in the week ending July 18th. That marks a decline of 22-thousand from the previous week's revised total and means claims hit their lowest level since 1969. Most analysts had been expecting Thursday's number to come in at right around 212-thousand.
>>Tesla Robotaxis Hit Tampa
(Tampa, FL) -- Tesla may still have some kinks to work out with its driverless cars. The company's Robotaxis made their debut Tuesday in Tampa, Florida and the very next day one of them was spotted going the wrong way down a one-way street. No one was hurt.
