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Audi sales have struggled in the U.S. over the last several quarters. The brand has been hit by tariffs and a market shift away from EVs. New product may help. View More

German luxury auto brand Audi unveiled its full-size Q9 SUV on Tuesday. It is the first so-named vehicle for Audi and the latest in a product push aimed at the heart of the American market, where the brand has struggled over the past several quarters. The three-row Q9 and a high-performance SQ9 variant will together be the brand's flagship U.S. model, joining two other SUVs Audi has already unveiled this year — the compact Q3 and midsize Q7 SUVs, which were revealed in March and June, respectively. Filip Brabec, Audi of America senior vice president of product management, said the Q9 was made primarily with the U.S. consumer in mind. The consideration extended to the six and eight-cylinder engines and large cupholders. "If you look at our recent introductions, whether it is the Q3, whether it is this car, it really plays right into the center of what's happening in America," Brabec said at the vehicle reveal in New York on Tuesday. "SUVs keep growing. It's over 80% of the of the premium space, and we have absolute top contenders in each and every part of those segments." The Q9 starts at $89,095 and the SQ9 at $119,395, competing in one of the most profitable, but crowded segments in the U.S. market."It represents the most lavish luxury car that we have in this space," Brabec said. The vehicle is 209 inches long end to end and 86.8 inches wide when measuring from the outer edges of the sideview mirrors. It's slightly longer than both the Mercedes GLS and the BMW X7 and is large enough to fit adults in the third row.In a press conference before the reveal, Brabec said the Q9 focused on three key areas: performance, space and technology. Both versions have powertrains selected to suit American tastes. The Q9 comes with a 2.9-liter V6 engine with 429 horsepower and a 4.9 second 0-60 mph acceleration time, according to Audi. The sportier SQ9 is powered by a 4.0 liter V8 with 591 horsepower, 590 foot-pounds of torque, and a 3.8 second 0-60 mph time.It also has a number of new features, including "matrix adaptive beam" headlights, which have been available in Europe and elsewhere for roughly a decade but have only recently been allowed in the U.S., according to the company. The lights are made of a cluster of tiny LEDS which can shape headlight beams in ways that reduce or eliminate glare for oncoming drivers, according to Audi.The Q9 also comes with a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant and a driver assist system that offers a hands-free function. It also has the largest moonroof Audi as ever put on a vehicle. "This one's going to have some real decadent features, I would almost say, like power opening doors and crazy interior materials, even by Audi standards," said Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars. Audi's road in the U.S. The reveal comes as Audi has struggled in the U.S. market.Audi sold 16% fewer vehicles in 2025 than the year before, according to company data. The first six months of 2026 continued the trend — down 17% of the same period last year. The first quarter of 2026 was especially brutal, with a 30% drop from the same period in 2025. Audi blamed lagging U.S. performance on tariffs and the end of federal electric vehicle incentives. Analysts said the new SUVs Audi has announced this year could give the brand a needed boost. But it still has structural disadvantages compared with rivals, especially the lack of U.S. manufacturing. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz have fared better in recent quarters. Mercedes sales are down slightly this year through June, at about 3.5%, while BMW sales were up 4.7% in the same period. "They are watching things like the [Mercedes-Benz] GLS and the and the [BMW] X7, and they're just saying to themselves, 'We need more.' We need more space, but what we really need is more MSRP and more profit," Brauer said. By the 2000s, Audi leadership — especially former Audi and Volkswagen boss Ferdinand Piëch — had turned the automaker into a formidable rival to BMW and Mercedes. It earned a reputation for high-performance cars with acclaimed interiors and key innovations, such as its pioneering Quattro all-wheel drive system. "Really it was kind of nipping at the heels of what used to be a duopoly of German [original equipment manufacturers]," said Tom Narayan, global autos analyst at RBC Capital Markets, referring to Audi's success competing with BMW and Mercedes. "And through the years it had increased its market share."It also offered value for dollar, he said, but that pricing advantage has evaporated with the tariffs. Audi is far more exposed to tariffs than rivals. Both BMW and Mercedes have factories in the U.S., while Audi imports 100% of its product. Volkswagen, which owns Audi, has a factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is building a factory in South Carolina for its upcoming Scout SUV brand. Audi executives have reportedly said they are considering building some SUVs at that latter plant, but the brand currently doesn't make any vehicles in the U.S.Being a VW Group brand, Audi also was relatively early among legacy automakers to electric vehicles, first releasing the Audi e-tron SUV in 2019. But its relatively strong EV portfolio has struggled in the U.S., where pure electric vehicles made up just 5.6% of sales in second quarter of 2026, according to Cox Automotive. "A lot of manufacturers were caught out by this," Brauer said. "But Audi is probably one of the more substantial ones in terms of how much energy and resources they put into and expected to get back from the electric car world and how far those realities fell from expectations."Brauer added that the energy the brand has devoted to EVs has left its other powertrains without the attention that they needed to compete. These new SUVs are a step toward remedying that. "It's always amazed me how one home run with a given brand can make really all the difference," he said. Narayan said the new product is positive for the brand, but its larger issue is navigating the tariffs. "I think that will still dominate their performance in the U.S.," he said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Bill Pulte had been serving for months as DNI after Tulsi Gabbard resigned the post. View More

Jay Clayton appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. Aaron Schwartz | Getty Images The Senate on Tuesday evening confirmed Jay Clayton as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, giving him authority over 18 U.S. intelligence agencies and access to the nation's most sensitive secrets.Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was confirmed on a party-line, 51-47 vote. "Congratulations to the Great Jay Clayton on his confirmation by the United States Senate, to be the next Director of National Intelligence," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "Jay is outstanding in every way, and will do a spectacular job as Director!" Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., in remarks on the Senate floor Monday, said, "Amid a heightened threat environment, having a proven leader in this role is especially important. Jay Clayton fits this mold." Read more CNBC politics coverageSpaceX stock-purchasing by Congress members fuels conflict concernsTrump: New tariffs 'doing the same thing' as the ones struck down by Supreme CourtAnalysis: Kevin Warsh has three reasons to hold off on a Fed rate hike this week Clayton's confirmation ends the controversial reign of Bill Pulte, a close Trump ally and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who led a series of layoffs of high-ranking intelligence officials during his brief tenure as acting DNI.Pulte was tapped by Trump to temporarily replace Tulsi Gabbard after she resigned the post.Trump announced Clayton as his choice for DNI in June, and he was initially seen as a relatively non-controversial pick. Eager to get Pulte out of the job, lawmakers tried to fast-track Clayton's approval. But Trump instructed Clayton not to appear the morning of a scheduled confirmation hearing in June, delaying the process.Clayton eventually testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence earlier this month, but the hearing turned contentious when he declined to state outright that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election over Trump, and defended the subpoenaing of New York Times journalists for their reporting on a Qatari jet that was gifted to Trump to be used as Air Force One.The DOJ has since withdrawn those subpoenas."I just voted NO on Jay Clayton's nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. Why should someone who can't acknowledge who won the 2020 election oversee our intelligence agencies?" Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., posted to X on Tuesday.Clayton's confirmation could pave the way for a deal to renew a foreign surveillance law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That law lapsed in June, in part due to Democratic opposition to Pulte's interim appointment. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

"America won the first Space Race, and we can do it again — but only if we get government red tape out of the way," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. View More

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) and Mission Extension Pods (MEPs) launches from Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 21, 2026. Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images The Trump administration on Tuesday said it was moving to waive what it called "unnecessary environmental laws and regulations" to speed up the approval process for commercial space rocket launches and reentries.The proposed rule by the Federal Aviation Administration would be a boon for Elon Musk's SpaceX and Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, as well as other rocket launch companies. The FAA's rule would allow the agency to waive requirements imposed on certain commercial space licenses and permits under 13 laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, parts of both the Clean Water and Clean Air acts, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act."Requirements that are needed to protect public health and safety, property, national security, or U.S. foreign policy interests would not be impacted" under the proposed rule, the U.S. Department of Transportation said in a statement. The FAA is part of the DOT.The DOT said that despite a sharply growing number of commercial space operations authorized by the FAA in recent years, "applicants face pointless, time-consuming requirements and expenses preparing environmental studies and providing information for overlapping reviews from multiple federal agencies."There were a record 205 commercial space operations authorized by the FAA in the fiscal year 2025, and the agency's commercial space forecast projects up to 4,288 such operations over the next decade, according to the FAA.FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford in May said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told him her company aimed to reach 10,000 launches annually within the next five years, Reuters reported at the time. Bedford cautioned "we need to see a lot more reliability" for that to happen.The move to lessen regulations surrounding private-sector launches comes nearly a year after President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry." Read more CNBC politics coverageSpaceX stock-purchasing by Congress members fuels conflict concernsTrump: New tariffs 'doing the same thing' as the ones struck down by Supreme CourtAnalysis: Kevin Warsh has three reasons to hold off on a Fed rate hike this week That order directed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy "to eliminate or expedite" his department's environmental reviews for space launch and reentry licenses."America won the first Space Race, and we can do it again — but only if we get government red tape out of the way," Duffy said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the FAA's proposed rule. "That's why President Trump has charged USDOT with unlocking the final frontier and re-establishing the United States' dominance in space," Duffy said.The proposed rule is subject to a 30-day public comment period. The DOT said the FAA "will thoroughly review all relevant comments before issuing a final rule."SpaceX, Elon Musk and Blue Origin did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the proposed rule.In September 2024, SpaceX was fined a combined $150,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality after those agencies determined the company had violated the Clean Water Act in connection with the discharge of tens of thousands of gallons of what was classified as industrial wastewater from a launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, National Public Radio reported that year. CNBC first reported the notices of violations and related investigative records.Following news of SpaceX Clean Water Act and other violations, the FAA delayed a Starship test flight by weeks, and asked SpaceX to show it was in compliance with federal safety and environmental regulations. Last September, ⁠a judge dismissed a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit that challenged the FAA's 2022 approval of SpaceX's increased launch activity alongside a national wildlife refuge in ⁠a remote, coastal region of South Texas. The ​group alleged that noise, light pollution, construction and traffic congestion harm people and wildlife nearby, including endangered species such as ocelots and jaguarundis, as well as the ​Kemp's Ridley sea turtles, which nest in the region. In June, the Department of Justice asked a federal judge in Mississippi to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the NAACP against Musk's artificial lab xAI, which is owned by SpaceX, that accuses xAI of violating the Clean Air Act in its use of dozens of methane gas-burning turbines to power its AI data centers without proper permits or pollution controls.The DOJ, in a filing, accused the NAACP of threatening "American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

UPS beat Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year guidance in its second-quarter earnings report Tuesday. View More

In this articleUPSFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO3:4303:43UPS CEO Carol Tomé: We're delighted to have completed our Amazon glide-downSquawk on the Street United Parcel Service on Tuesday posted second-quarter earnings results that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year outlook, but said it expects domestic third-quarter revenue to be flat.Shares of the delivery giant closed down roughly 6%.Here's how the company performed in its second quarter, compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Earnings per share: $1.76 adjusted vs. $1.66 expectedRevenue: $22.8 billion vs. $21.81 billion expectedFor the quarter ended June 30, UPS reported net income of $604 million, or 71 cents per share, down significantly from $1.28 billion, or $1.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Adjusting for one-time items, the company reported a profit of $1.5 billion, or $1.76 per share. "We launched a major transformation of our company that was transformative and came with some bumps, but we're through those bumps, and we have returned our company to revenue and profit growth, and that's the guidance that we gave for this year," CEO Carol Tomé told CNBC on "Squawk on the Street.""When you grow, the stock should follow," she added. VIDEO6:3106:31Watch CNBC's full interview with UPS CEO Carol Tomé She said the company's driver buyout program earlier this year was a "huge success" and that UPS has now moved past that. The company also raised its full-year 2026 guidance, now expecting consolidated revenue of $91.2 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of roughly $7.22 per share. Tomé said on a call with analysts on Tuesday that it was the "fourth straight quarter of delivering results that exceeded our expectations.""Going forward, our No. 1 priority remains moving the right packages and the right mix of volume through our network," she added.Company executives said on the call that they expect the third quarter to see domestic average daily volume fall in the mid-single digits, due to a seasonal decline and the impact of the company gliding down its operations with Amazon. UPS also expects revenue to be flat year over year."If you ignore Amazon and the volume that we intentionally made available to the market, we actually grew our volume in the second quarter," Tomé said.UPS is in the midst of a turnaround strategy aimed at positioning the company for long-term and sustainable growth. The company is focused on enhancing automation in its networks and tapping into growing markets, including healthcare logistics. Tomé said on the call with analysts that healthcare generated more than $3 billion in revenue for the second consecutive quarter."We are the only carrier that provides end-to-end solutions for complex healthcare with our own assets, ensuring complete control, visibility and best-in-class service," she said. Tomé told CNBC that the company has over 20 million square feet of dedicated cold chain logistics capabilities in more than 36 countries."Amazon's not offering that," she added. For the second quarter, UPS reported a 6% rise in domestic revenue, driven by an increase in revenue per piece, and a 12.5% jump in international revenue. Supply chain solutions revenue rose 7.8%, in part due to growth in healthcare logistics. The company added that it has achieved roughly $1.2 billion of program benefits from its network reconfiguration program, expecting to reach $3 billion by the end of the year.On the call with analysts, Tomé said the company has successfully completed its glide-down with Amazon, eliminating about 2 million pieces per day of "lower-quality Amazon volume" and removing roughly $4.5 billion of related expenses so far."We now have a leaner, more automated, more agile network that will deliver operating leverage as volume grows," she said. The company is also investing in radio-frequency identification and artificial intelligence to enhance its tracking capabilities, she added, which she said is "the most significant package visibility advancement in a decade."Tomé said UPS is "seeing momentum" on the China to U.S. lane, which she said returned to year-over-year growth beginning in May. "As we enter the second half of the year, we've got momentum, even in the face of external factors that could influence our results, like war and fuel price volatility," she said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The reserve has an authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels, according to the Department of Energy. View More

watch nowVIDEO5:4605:46Saudis will not be able to tolerate disruption at Bab El Mandeb: ExpertAccess Middle East The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is under strain as massive stockpile releases in response to wars in the Middle East and Europe have stressed old infrastructure in need of repair. The SPR this week fell to its lowest level since March 1983 after the U.S. withdrew 352 million barrels of crude oil in four years to ease supply disruptions triggered by its war with Iran and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Federal auditors have found that the SPR's ability to respond to future emergencies is at risk. A May report quoted Department of Energy officials telling auditors that the reserve's web of pipelines, caverns and storage tanks is held together "with 'Band-Aids,' and that it is uncertain how long they will hold.""The SPR’s drawdown, distribution and fill capabilities are currently limited and are at risk going forward due to longstanding issues with aging infrastructure compounded with ongoing major construction intended to address them," the Government Accountability Office warned in the report. Established by Congress in 1975 after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, SPR infrastructure is reaching the end of its life at a time when inventory releases are larger and more frequent, the auditors said in the report. The Energy Department is implementing a $1.4 billion plan to repair the SPR but had to narrow the scope of the project to stay within budget. President Donald Trump in March ordered the release of 172 million barrels from the SPR as Iran choked off oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering the largest supply disruption in history. Government inventories fell last week by 3.7 million barrels to a total of about 308 million barrels, according to the Energy Department.The SPR will fall to about 243 million barrels when Trump's release is fully executed, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. The emergency stockpile has an authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels, according to the Department of Energy.The federal auditors found that more than a quarter of the SPR "was not available for drawdown due to a combination of construction outages and cavern outages." This implies that a minimum of 103 million barrels in the SPR today are not deployable, according to a July analysis by Rapidan Energy. The SPR has enough inventory left right now to address another crisis, said David Goldwyn, who served as a State Department special envoy for international energy affairs under President Barack Obama. "I'm not worried about the stability of the reserve or our ability to do another drawdown," Goldwyn said. Federal law does not mandate a minimum operating level for the SPR, a Department of Energy spokesperson told CNBC. The operational minimum needed "to safely manage the caverns, is around ten percent of capacity – about 70 million barrels," the spokesperson said. The crude oil in the SPR is stored at 60 salt caverns thousands of feet underground at four major sites on the Gulf Coast. Water is pumped into the bottom of the caverns to displace the oil to the surface and pump it through wells into pipelines. The drawdown this year came as inventories were slowly recovering from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Joe Biden ordered 180 million barrels released in response to the war in Europe, the largest release in SPR history. The massive drawdown served as an "unplanned stress test of the SPR's operational capabilities," the federal auditors said. "Every time when you do a drawdown, you accelerate the degradation of the wells themselves and some of the equipment," Goldwyn said. "It's like anything else — you use it a lot, you've got to maintain it."The Energy Department executed Biden's release "without major equipment failures or crude oil spills," but "doing so was operationally challenging," the auditors said. The drawdown did require the "triaging of emergency repairs" due to leaking water pumps or pipes, they said.Energy officials told the auditors that the earlier release "also highlighted risks to the SPR's capability to repeat a drawdown of similar speed and scale to the 2022 drawdown if directed to do so in the near future." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Manipal Health Enterprises secured Rs 4,167 crore from anchor investors for its upcoming IPO. The company's initial public offering is set to launch on July 29, aiming for Rs 9,275 crore. This public issue will include a fresh issue and an offer for sale by existing shareholders. Funds raised will be used for debt repayment and acquisitions, enhancing its hospital network. View More

Manipal Health Enterprises Ltd on Tuesday raised Rs 4,167 crore from anchor investors ahead of the launch of its Rs 9,275-crore initial public offering (IPO) on July 29. The anchor book attracted several global investors, including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Allianz Global Investors Fund, Morgan Stanley Asia, Natixis International Fund, Societe Generale and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, according to a circular uploaded on the BSE. Additionally, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (MF), Kotak MF, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, UTI MF and HSBC MF also participated in the anchor round. According to the circular, the company allotted over 7.06 crore equity shares to anchor investors at Rs 590 per share, the upper end of the IPO price band. The price band for the IPO has been fixed at Rs 560-590 per share, valuing the company at a little over Rs 77,600 crore at the upper end. The company's three-day public issue will conclude on July 31. Live Events The Bengaluru-based company's proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs 8,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.16 crore equity shares by existing shareholders. Promoters -- Imperius Healthcare Investments Pte. Ltd. and Manipal Education and Medical Group India Pvt. Ltd. -- along with shareholders TPG SG Magazine Pte. Ltd., Seventy Second Investment Company LLC, Ammar Sdn Bhd, Novo Holdings Invest Asia and Phoenix Bear Investments, LLC, will pare their stakes through the OFS. The company proposes to utilise Rs 5,378 crore from the fresh issue towards repayment or prepayment of borrowings of its subsidiary, Manipal Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. It has earmarked Rs 574 crore for acquiring the minority stake in step-down subsidiary Sahyadri Hospitals Pvt. Ltd., while the remaining funds will be used for general corporate purposes. At the upper end of the price band, the issue size is estimated at around Rs 9,275 crore, while at the lower end it is pegged at about Rs 9,210 crore. Manipal Health operates a pan-India network of multispecialty hospitals offering services ranging from outpatient care to tertiary and quaternary interventions. As of September 30, 2025, the company operated 38 hospitals, or 48 on a pro forma basis, with 10,761 licensed beds, or 12,367 on a pro forma basis, across 14 states and Union Territories. In November 2025, the company commenced operations at its 49th hospital in Bengaluru, taking its licensed bed capacity to 12,631 as of December 31, 2025. For the six months ended September 30, 2025, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 4,713 crore and a net profit of Rs 571.8 crore. As per the allocation structure, qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) will receive up to 75 per cent of the offer, non-institutional investors (NIIs) 15 per cent, and retail investors 10 per cent. Equity shares worth up to Rs 15 crore have been reserved for eligible employees, who will receive a discount of Rs 56 per share. Investors can bid for a minimum of 25 equity shares and in multiples thereof. The company's shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and NSE on or about August 5. Axis Capital , Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities, Jefferies India, J.P. Morgan India, UBS Securities India and DBS Bank India are the book-running lead managers to the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;width: 100%;box-sizing: border-box} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

Trump and Zelenskyy meet as the U.S war against Iran and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine have threatened to overlap in recent days. View More

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) meets with US President Donald Trump (R) at White House during his visit to Washington, D.C, United States on July 28, 2026. Zelenskyy Social Media Account | Anadolu | Getty Images Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is at the White House on Tuesday for talks with President Donald Trump, as he looks to shore up support for Kyiv at a time when the Russia and Iran conflicts have shown signs of converging.The meeting comes as the U.S war against Iran and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine reach critical junctures. Trump has paused airstrikes against Iran as part of a push to give diplomacy another chance, while Zelenskyy has been galvanized by a flurry of deep-strike successes on Russian territory.The meeting represents a chance for Zelenskyy to further improve his relationship with Trump, roughly 17 months on from an Oval Office meeting that unraveled into an extraordinary shouting match.The visit also coincides with a renewed congressional push to tighten sanctions on Moscow. The Senate is scheduled to hold a procedural vote Tuesday evening on legislation championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham that would target Russia and countries that continue buying its energy exports.The bipartisan measure would impose tariffs on goods from some of the largest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas, including China and India. It would also sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior political and military officials, financial institutions and major energy projects.Zelenskyy is expected to meet with senators Tuesday evening after Graham's funeral, the reason Zelenskyy traveled to Washington.Despite the action on Capitol Hill, there appears to be no immediate end in sight to the global conflicts. In fact, the sprawling Middle East war has threatened to overlap with the Russia-Ukraine conflict in recent days.Kyiv on Saturday launched an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, an incident which Tehran said left one sailor dead and injured several others. The Islamic Republic has threatened retaliation over the strike, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying via social media that it "CANNOT GO UNANSWERED." In a post on X on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had "achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship." watch nowVIDEO3:2103:21Granville: Ukraine's strike on Iranian ships a 'big deal'Europe Early Edition Christopher Granville, managing director at TS Lombard, described Ukraine's attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea as a "very significant" development."The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has himself spoken of these strikes with satisfaction and justified them on the grounds that Ukrainian intelligence has evidence that Russian intelligence is helping Iran with targeting U.S. military sites in neighboring Middle Eastern countries," Granville told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" on Monday. "It's a collision of these wars. It's a merger. I think fundamentally this is very significant. Militarily how significant it is remains, of course, to be seen, but Iran has said in its public statement that it will hit back and that Ukraine has made a mistake which it will regret," he added. Ukrainian authorities may be calculating that Iran has its hands full with its war with the U.S., Granville said, "but as it happens, the military exchanges between [the] U.S. and Iran have died down in the last two or three days. So, yeah, it's a big deal." Wars becoming 'increasingly intertwined' Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, on Monday described Iran's threats of retaliation as "unjustified and groundless." The regime in Tehran "is a direct accomplice to Russian aggression against Ukraine, fuelling Moscow's criminal war with weapons that have killed Ukrainians since 2022," Sybiha said via X, referring to the start of Russia's war against Ukraine.Russia has long used Iranian-designed Shahed drones in its war on Ukraine, a weapon that analysts sometimes refer to as "the poor man's cruise missile." Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is pictured during his visit to HM Naval Base in Portsmouth on the south coast of England on July 27, 2026.Aaron Chown | Afp | Getty Images Hamidreza Azizi, an expert on Iranian security and visiting fellow at Berlin-based think tank SWP, said that at the political level, Iran could respond to Ukraine's attack by recognizing Crimea and the Donbas as parts of Russian territory, areas occupied by Russia that Tehran has so far refused to endorse. "In any case, what is clear is that Iran's war is becoming increasingly intertwined with two other conflicts: the Saudi-Houthi confrontation and the Russia-Ukraine war," Azizi said Sunday in a social media post. "With each passing day, the war is evolving into an increasingly complex, multidimensional, and international conflict, he added. — CNBC's Azhar Sukri contributed to this report. Read more CNBC politics coverageSpaceX stock-purchasing by Congress members fuels conflict concernsTrump: New tariffs 'doing the same thing' as the ones struck down by Supreme CourtAnalysis: Kevin Warsh has three reasons to hold off on a Fed rate hike this week Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

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Apple is announcing an iPhone lease option weeks after raising iPad and Mac prices due to the global memory shortage. View More

watch nowVIDEO2:2402:24Apple announces 'Apple Upgrade' leasing program with KlarnaSquawk Box Apple customers in the U.S. will soon be able to lease an iPhone for up to two years at a price starting at $17.99 per month, the company announced on Tuesday.The program, called Upgrade, is a partnership with Klarna, a provider of buy now, pay later loans, that will be offered at Apple's physical retail stores as well as its online store. After passing a soft credit check, customers will be offered a one- or two-year lease on an iPhone. There will be a similar option for an Apple Watch, or a two- or three-year lease available for Macs and iPads. The announcement comes a month after Apple, citing the global memory crunch, raised starting iPad and Mac prices by at least $100, with some models increasing by more than $1,000. Analysts expect iPhone price hikes this year and say that leasing lets Apple shift the focus from a higher up-front sticker price to a lower monthly payment."Most of Apple's consumers, especially in the U.S. and other developed markets, are buying devices on installment plans or trade-ins, so we can expect to see much more aggressive offers," Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, told CNBC in an interview after the company signaled price increases in June.Apple is looking for new ways to offer iPhones through installment payments, a strategy that investors have long thought can help smooth the seasonality of the business and reduce the company's reliance on hit device cycles for growth. The new program could also encourage customers to replace their devices sooner, with the average iPhone replacement cycle having stretched to nearly four years, according to Bernstein estimates.As a lease, devices will have to be returned at the end of 24 months. Users can also purchase their phone at that time with an additional payment, or upgrade to a new device. No security deposit is required and, while Klarna won't charge late fees, it will terminate leases after three months of missed payments. watch nowVIDEO2:0102:01Apple becomes the Mag7 hedge against hyperscaler spendingClosing Bell: Overtime Prices will vary dramatically, and customers will have to pay more for premium devices. An unlocked iPhone 17 Pro, for example, will cost $31.99 a month for two years, or $45.99 for one year. Some of the company's entry-level devices, such as the iPhone 16 and MacBook Neo, aren't included in the program. Since the announced hikes in June, analysts have been speculating about higher iPhone prices. Morgan Stanley estimates Apple may need to raise the price of the iPhone 18 Pro by roughly $200 to preserve its gross margin. According to TechInsights, higher memory and other component costs could add as much as $300 to an iPhone's bill of materials, based on a component-level teardown. Meanwhile, Apple is pushing its product mix further upmarket. Analysts expect a foldable phone to debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in September, with some estimates putting its price at around $2,500.For prospective customers, the new offering with Klarna offers a much cheaper leasing option than what has been available. Through the iPhone Upgrade Program, which includes the AppleCare warranty, users currently pay more than $42 per month in 24 installments, with financing from Citizens Bank. Apple said on Tuesday it discontinued the iPhone Upgrade Program in the U.S. and would transition customers to Apple Upgrade. With the new plan, Apple will be competing more directly with carriers, which have traditionally used device financing and trade-in subsidies to attract customers and lock them into multiyear wireless plans. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all offer installment plans. Apple also offers zero-interest financing for its products through a program called Apple Card Monthly Installments. And for users of Apple Pay, short-term loans are currently available from Klarna or rival Affirm. Apple is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings Thursday. It will be CEO Tim Cook's final earnings report before he transitions to executive chairman of the board. WATCH: Apple's China win strengthens the case for a $5 trillion valuation watch nowVIDEO1:3201:32Apple’s China win strengthens the case for a $5 trillion valuationPower Lunch Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Crypto investors have largely been exempt from the "wash sale" rules that apply to stocks and other traditional assets. Congress is trying to clamp down. View More

In this articleBTC.CM=ETH.CM=BTC.CB=Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT The U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 22, 2026.Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | Getty Images Some Congressional lawmakers are pushing to get rid of a lucrative tax loophole for cryptocurrency investors estimated to be worth billions of dollars per year. It's a potentially rare area of bipartisan agreement when it comes to tax and crypto issues, experts said. The tax code allows investors in digital assets like bitcoin and ether to claim a tax benefit for an investment loss, just they do for stocks and other traditional assets. However, unlike stocks, crypto isn't subject to so-called wash sale rules. In practice, that means crypto investors can essentially claim the tax break associated with an investment loss without divesting the holding from their portfolio. The tax advantage has "been widely used" by crypto investors, said Troy Lewis, a certified public accountant and professor of accounting and tax at Brigham Young University."There's this big hole, and people are going to drive a truck through it," Lewis said. What is the wash sale rule? Investors who sell investments for a loss in a given year — known as a capital loss — can generally use those losses to offset their capital gains. This way, investors reduce the capital gains taxes they may owe on their winning investments. Should losses exceed profits, they can deduct up to $3,000 from their regular income, and carry any remaining losses to future years.The move, known as tax-loss harvesting, is a common strategy that financial planners and accountants use with their clients. However, for decades, federal tax rules — "wash sale" rules — have prevented investors from abusing the tax break. watch nowVIDEO6:0206:02Trump on crypto earnings: 'I could know about it. I didn't'Fast Money The rules prevent investors who sell a stock or security for a loss from buying back the same or "substantially" similar security within 30 days before or 30 days after a sale and still claim a tax deduction for the capital loss. Wash sale rules don't prevent investors from transacting this way — just from claiming the tax break associated with that churn. Without such rules, investors could sell a stock that has fallen in value and immediately buy it back — reaping the benefit of a tax break essentially without changing their investment portfolio at all, experts said. 'Momentum' around crypto tax legislation Law enforcement search a vehicle at the north barricade to the U.S. Capitol after an incident on July 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. Finn Gomez | Getty Images Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, introduced legislation in June — the Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act — that would eliminate the loophole by subjecting crypto transactions to wash sale rules. The Biden administration and congressional Democrats had tried to do the same during the pandemic era. The Treasury Department in 2024 estimated that applying the wash sale rules to digital assets would raise nearly $24 billion over a decade.It is "significant" to now have this legislation being introduced by a Republican, said Colin Wilhelm, manager of tax legislative affairs at Grant Thornton, an accounting and tax advisory firm."I think you do see some momentum around tax legislation in this area," Wilhelm said. U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) walks with reporters after leaving the Senate chambers, on July 1, 2025.Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters The concept seems to have buy-in from other Republicans, too. "Extending these [wash sale] rules to digital assets ensure they are not treated better or worse than similar financial assets and provides consistency and clarity for investors and traders," Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas, said in June at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing.That hearing focused on six recent bills to reform taxation of digital assets like cryptocurrencies, Wilhelm wrote in a legislative analysis."This new wave of bills includes buy-in from the chair and Republican majority of the Ways and Means Committee, the first time the leadership of a taxwriting committee has put forward its own cryptocurrency proposals," he wrote.It's unlikely the package of House crypto legislation — including the wash sale bill — would pass in the coming months as Congress approaches the midterm elections, but at the very least, it signals stronger interest in such provisions in the future, experts said.The tax efforts come as the Senate debates a separate and broad crypto regulation measure — the Clarity Act — that would, among other things, ban federal officials from issuing digital assets. Why crypto isn't subject to wash sale rules Wash sale rules have been on the books in some form since 1921. Crypto doesn't fall within the purview of existing wash sale rules because the federal government generally treats crypto as property — not as a security, Lewis said. Lawmakers created the rules at a time when digital assets were nearly a century away from being part of the financial mainstream — and, as such, the rules as written don't neatly capture crypto, he said.Extending wash sale rules to crypto would also be a "budget-raiser" for lawmakers, Lewis said. "And those things today are difficult to find, because usually there's some political heat on one side or the other," he said. Additionally, the legislative push comes as many investors who bought crypto over the past one to two years are likely sitting on investment losses — and are therefore more likely to benefit from the wash sale exemption, experts said. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has lost about half its value since October 2025. "The reason why it's coming up now is because of the year-over-year decline," Lewis said. It wouldn't matter as much "if everything is puppy dogs, rainbows, apple pie and baseball," he said. Some crypto investors do face wash sale rules Not all crypto investors can take advantage of the current loophole.Since the existing wash sale rules apply to securities, investors who hold funds like bitcoin exchange-traded funds and other crypto ETFs — which are securities — likely do need to comply, Lewis said. Holding crypto directly — not in an investment fund — is what generally qualifies as property, he said. watch nowVIDEO2:4602:46Latest version of crypto bill faces mounting concerns from banks and lawmakersSquawk Box Being subject to the wash sale rules may not be as restrictive as crypto investors might expect.For example, investors could arguably sell a position in bitcoin at a loss and immediately buy back a position in ether without running afoul of the rules, Lewis said. While both are cryptocurrencies, their properties may be different enough that investors could argue that they're not "substantially" similar, he said.It's a similar concept relative to stocks: For example, investors could arguably sell common stock in Apple at a loss and immediately buy preferred shares in Apple without triggering wash sale rules, either, since the securities have different characteristics, Lewis said. 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