Morning Edition · Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Macro
Washington joins Tokyo in buying yen, pulling the currency back from a four-decade low
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States will not hesitate to intervene again, and reports say the New York Federal Reserve sold euros rather than dollars to fund the purchases.
Markets
Brent settles below $80 as Bessent says a Strait of Hormuz deal could come within a day, and United States stocks set records
Crude fell about 5 percent for a second straight session to close near $79.36 a barrel, while Iran said its only talks are with Oman and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no agreement is final.
Tech
Google's guarantees underwrite Anthropic's data-center buildout as artificial-intelligence capacity shifts onto borrowed money
Lenders are discussing roughly $15 billion for a single Texas campus backed by Google's promise to cover lease and power payments, while SpaceX reports its first results as a public company before a share unlock reported at about $116 billion.
Geopolitics
Russian officials report five killed by a drone near Moscow and seven at a Black Sea beach
The Krasnodar governor said about 40 people were injured at Arkhipo-Osipovka near Gelendzhik, and Kyiv did not comment on either strike.
Markets
Russia assembles a shadow tanker fleet for liquefied natural gas before the European Union ban takes effect
Moscow says it struck a cargo ship and port facilities serving Ukrainian forces, while a Russian envoy reports heavy damage to the electricity network in Crimea.
World
France takes reactors offline in the heat as Greek wildfires kill five and Washington State fires displace 64,000
Spanish authorities issued mobile alerts over toxic smoke from an industrial fire, and more than 700 buildings have burned in the United States Pacific Northwest.
Crypto
Long-dormant bitcoin wallets keep moving after a hardware wallet flaw drained about $89 million
Galaxy Research now counts 1,596 bitcoin stolen from about 7,300 addresses, more than $100 million, and says a suspected fourth wave could take the total to roughly $130 million.
World
Colombia's outgoing president repeats fraud claims days before handing power to Abelardo de la Espriella
Gustavo Petro says programmers altered tally sheets after transmission, a claim electoral authorities and international observers have rejected, and he will not attend Friday's inauguration.
World
Venezuela's earthquake death toll passes 6,000 as the first repatriation flight from the United States lands
The June 24 quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 destroyed most buildings in La Guaira, while oil production and refining were largely undamaged.
Macro
Europe's minimum wage rankings change once purchasing power is counted, and Israel's social insurance faces a 2029 shortfall
Euronews finds that annual-only wage updates leave the lowest earners furthest behind in high-inflation countries, while Israel's finance ministry proposes tighter eligibility and higher contributions from those outside the workforce.
Geopolitics
An American defense contractor plans naval drone production at a Maryland shipyard as Kyiv presses Tokyo for more
Anduril Industries has reached a preliminary agreement with shipyard operators, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said relations with Japan have fallen short of his expectations.
Geopolitics
Gulf capital buys ports in Africa, Chinese advertisers dominate Russia's app store, and Australian money funds an Indonesian battery zone
Chinese publishers accounted for about 80 percent of foreign advertising spending on RuStore in the first half, and Pure Battery Technologies committed $350 million to Central Java.