WallSt Focus

U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday as expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts following the release of economic data this week were reset.

After the news about Union Pacific’s interest in acquiring Norfolk and CSX exploring a sale, we now see FTAI Infrastructure looking to expand its freight railroad footprint with an agreement to acquire The Wheeling Corporation

Alphabet’s CapitalG fund completed its exit from CrowdStrike, selling its remaining 74,230 shares after an earlier trim in Q1, and now has a full focus on Wiz for its cybersecurity expansion.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell more than 3% on Thursday following a hotter-than-expected U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) report and comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding a potential U.S. strategic reserve.

U.S. stocks struggled on Thursday as a hotter-than-expected Producer Price Index (PPI) report for July dampened expectations of a bigger Federal Reserve rate cut in September.

Disney agreed to swap a 10 percent stake in ESPN for full control of NFL Network and RedZone—a deal worth $2.5–3 billion that reduces Disney’s ownership from 80 percent to 72 percent and Hearst’s from 20 percent to 18 percent.

Avantor has landed in the sights of Engine Capital, which has built a 3% stake and is now pressing the $7.8 billion life sciences supplier to either sell itself or execute a strategic overhaul.