🚀 European leaders meeting Trump

Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. As Europe’s leaders head to Washington, they’re aiming to pull Donald Trump firmly back onto Kyiv’s side after his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin signaled a tilt toward Moscow’s preferred “permanent peace” framework rather than a ceasefire. With Zelenskyy joining them, the Europeans are pressing three goals: binding security guarantees for Ukraine to replace the NATO membership it still can’t secure, a halt to the bloodshed without forcing Kyiv to cede territory, and a trilateral Trump–Putin–Zelenskyy meeting that could cement a path forward. The stakes are high: Trump’s skepticism toward sanctions and his public scolding of Zelenskyy earlier this year have left Europe unsure if Washington’s commitment still matches their own, making this week’s push a test of both unity and resolve.

2. Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally came to a screeching halt as the price plunged to just above $115,000, erasing gains from last week’s surge near $125,000 and triggering more than half a billion dollars in forced liquidations. A mix of profit-taking and fresh macro jitters—stoked by hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data and uncertainty over the Fed’s September rate decision—sparked the selloff, which rippled across the broader crypto market and dragged down related stocks. While some investors view August’s pullback as a healthy pause after months of institutional inflows, others worry that Washington’s cautious stance on Trump’s “strategic bitcoin reserve” underscores how policy and macro headwinds may overshadow crypto’s adoption story, at least until central bankers give clearer signals in the weeks ahead.

3. Hurricane Erin, the first major storm of the 2025 Atlantic season, has exploded back into a Category 4 system with 130 mph winds, battering parts of the Caribbean and threatening to unleash dangerous surf and rip currents up the U.S. East Coast this week. Though not forecast to make landfall, its massive wind field—stretching hundreds of miles—has already cut power to nearly 150,000 in Puerto Rico, cancelled flights, and forced evacuations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The storm briefly hit Category 5 strength over the weekend, underscoring scientists’ warnings that warmer oceans are fueling faster, fiercer hurricanes, leaving coastal communities vulnerable to storms whose danger lingers well beyond their center.

   Headlines

   1. Google is planning to build a nuclear power plant to help power its data centers in Montgomery County, Tennessee and Jackson County, Alabama.

   2. MSNBC will be renamed to MS Now and will remove the peacock from its branding as part of Versant’s split from Comcast.

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