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  • Stock Bulls Flash ‘Extreme Greed’ as S&P 500 Gains: Markets Wrap

    Stock Bulls Flash ‘Extreme Greed’ as S&P 500 Gains: Markets Wrap


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    (Bloomberg) — A rally in several big techs spurred a rebound in stocks, with Nvidia Corp. briefly hitting $4 trillion. Treasuries climbed after a solid $39 billion sale. Brazil’s real tumbled as President Donald Trump said the US will impose a 50% tariff on imports from the South American nation.

    Equity traders brushed off trade angst to send the S&P 500 just a few points away from its record high. The CNN Fear & Greed Index is now signaling “extreme greed,” an indication of the market’s bullish momentum. A gauge of megacaps added 1.1%, with Nvidia extending this year’s surge to more than 20%. In another sign of risk appetite, Bitcoin topped $112,000 for the first time.

    Trump unveiled a new round of tariff demand letters on Wednesday, with Brazil’s rate being one of the highest so far announced for the levies which are set to hit in August. He cited the treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro in his letter to the nation, calling on authorities to drop charges against him over an alleged coup attempt.

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    “Markets have moved into a period of calm despite a wave of trade headlines,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide. “As the market reaction to the ebb and flow of tariff news has become muted, the next catalyst is earnings season. This handoff may come with some choppiness given the dramatic rally since April, the elevated expectations of investors, and the likely need for a period of consolidation.”

    The Treasury market snapped a five-day selloff, with 10-year yields down six basis points to 4.34%. A sale of the bonds drew a yield of 4.362%, slightly lower than indicated by pre-auction trading just before the bidding deadline, indicating demand exceeded expectations. A $22 billion offering of 30-year debt is set for Thursday.

    The emerging divide among Federal Reserve officials over the outlook for interest rates is being driven largely by differing expectations for how tariffs might affect inflation, a record of policymakers’ most recent meeting showed.

    “While a few participants noted that tariffs would lead to a one-time increase in prices and would not affect longer-term inflation expectations, most participants noted the risk that tariffs could have more persistent effects on inflation,” the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s June 17-18 meeting said.

    While concern about the inflationary impacts of tariffs is one reason why the Fed has continued to postpone lowering rates, Chris Zaccarelli at Northlight Asset Management doesn’t believe this changes the dynamics in the bull market.

    “Most investors believe that the economy is strong, corporate profits will be resilient and are eager to buy stocks, however, we believe more caution is warranted because we haven’t yet seen the impact of tariffs on corporate profits and consumer spending, because there have been so many delays in implementing them,” he said.

    With the S&P 500 back at cycle-high valuations, the market seems to be signaling a robust appetite for risk, according to Hackett at Nationwide. This heightened sentiment likely reflects positive interpretation of recent data as supportive, he said.

    The S&P 500 has repaired some of its technical damage, bolstered by impressive market leadership from industrials, financials, and the technology sectors, Hackett noted. 

    “Nvidia’s march today as the first company to surpass a $4 trillion market cap is only the latest example of this,” he said.

    Nvidia’s surge to the new milestone marked a stunning rebound following a rough start to the year, when spending fears sparked by China’s DeepSeek, along with Trump’s trade war, weighed on risk sentiment. The stock is up more than 1,000% since the beginning of 2023. Nvidia now accounts for 7.5% of the S&P 500, near its highest influence on record.

    “Historically, megacaps have tended to continue their rallies after reaching various $1 trillion market cap thresholds,” according to Bespoke Investment Group strategists.

    Fast-money investors are edging their way back into US stocks after sitting out a furious rally, bolstering the case for equities to extend their advance further into uncharted territory.

    A BNP Paribas measure of equity positioning among investors including commodity-trading advisors, volatility-target funds and hedge funds has been steadily rising and now sits at just above neutral. That follows a monthslong rally that saw the S&P 500 rebound to new highs from the precipice of a bear market. The last time institutions were this light on stocks in the midst of a sharp recovery was in 2023, according to the bank.

    “We believe the setup for equity markets looks bullish, even in light of renewed trade-war jitters,” said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler. “While equities may come under some near-term pressure, investors are increasingly becoming numb to the tariff headlines and instead focusing on the trendlines.”

    Just this week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists raised their outlook for US stocks, citing among other factors the continued strength in the largest US companies as reasons why stocks are likely to keep heading higher.

    “If the script goes as planned and economic activity remains firm, corporate profitability remains solid (especially across tech), and the inevitable unexpected speed bumps in the road don’t throw the market off track too much, stocks have an opportunity to grind higher through year-end,” said Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise. 

    Yet Saglimbene remarks there’s now an elevated risk of disappointment, “especially after seeing how quickly the overall investment narrative can change based on the constant barrage of White House announcements.”

    Corporate Highlights:

    • Microsoft Corp. was upgraded at Oppenheimer on Wednesday, adding to a growing consensus on Wall Street that the software giant is in a strong position within artificial intelligence.
    • Apple Inc. thinks it is “too big to tariff, in some sense, and it’s used that line,” White House trade counselor Peter Navarro told Fox Business.
    • France’s antitrust regulator said it notified Meta Platforms Inc. of a potential violation of competition rules relating to the online advertising sector.
    • Merck & Co. agreed to buy respiratory drugmaker Verona Pharma Plc for around $10 billion as part of its ongoing search for ways to fill the Keytruda-sized hole that will emerge over the next few years.
    • Meta Platforms Inc. bought a minority stake in the world’s largest eyewear manufacturer, EssilorLuxottica SA, deepening the US tech giant’s commitment to the fast-growing smart glasses industry, according to people familiar with the matter.
    • Autodesk Inc. is weighing an acquisition of rival engineering-software provider PTC Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. PTC rose as much as 19% on the news.
    • UnitedHealth Group Inc. promoted a new leader for the company’s Medicaid insurance segment, filling a role that was vacant after recent executive changes.
    • Starbucks Corp. has received proposals from prospective investors in its China business, most of whom are eyeing a controlling stake in the operation, said people familiar with the matter.
    • AES Corp., which provides renewable power to tech giants such as Microsoft Corp., is exploring options including a potential sale amid takeover interest, people with knowledge of the matter said.
    • Samsung Electronics Co. introduced three new foldable smartphones in an effort to cement its grip on the category and broaden mainstream appeal before Apple Inc. debuts its first version next year.

    Some of the main moves in markets:

    Stocks

    • The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
    • The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7%
    • The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%
    • The MSCI World Index rose 0.7%
    • Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 1.1%
    • The Russell 2000 Index rose 1.1%
    • Nvidia rose 1.8%

    Currencies

    • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
    • The euro was little changed at $1.1718
    • The British pound was little changed at $1.3594
    • The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 146.35 per dollar

    Cryptocurrencies

    • Bitcoin rose 2.9% to $111,832.69
    • Ether rose 6.2% to $2,760.5

    Bonds

    • The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined six basis points to 4.34%
    • Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 2.67%
    • Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.61%

    Commodities

    • West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
    • Spot gold rose 0.4% to $3,315.09 an ounce

    ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • Scientists discover ice in space isn’t like water on Earth after all

    Scientists discover ice in space isn’t like water on Earth after all

    Water ice is everywhere in space, from frozen moons to frosty dust grains in interstellar clouds. However, researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge have recently discovered that ice in space isn’t like what we thought it was.

    On Earth, the relatively warm temperatures in which ice exists gives the water molecules enough energy to form an ordered, crystalline structure akin to the symmetry of snowflakes. However, in space, temperatures plunge much lower, down to –148 or –328 degrees Fahrenheit (–100 or –200 Celsius) and colder, and it wasn’t thought that water-ice could crystallize under such conditions. Instead, water ice in space was thought to be purely amorphous; in other words, no crystallization and no ordered structure between molecules.

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  • Maggie Q on ‘Bosch’ Reunion and Her ‘Exhilarating’ Spinoff

    Maggie Q on ‘Bosch’ Reunion and Her ‘Exhilarating’ Spinoff

    [This story contains mild spoilers from the first two episodes of Ballard.]

    Sometimes when you’re not looking for something, forces of nature beckon you to the opportunity you didn’t know you needed. That’s what happened to Maggie Q with Ballard.

    In the Bosch spinoff, which released all of its 10-episode first season on Wednesday, Q plays Detective Renée Ballard in the next phase of the Prime Video universe. She says she believes that fate was at work when she got sent the scripts to play the Ballard lead, who was introduced in the finale of the first Bosch spinoff that recently concluded, Bosch: Legacy with star Titus Welliver.

    “I was on a flight to New Zealand and was sent the first six or seven scripts,” Q explains to The Hollywood Reporter. “I said to my agents, ‘I will let you know when I land what I think.’ It was a 14-hour flight and sadly, most things you read, you don’t like — if you’re discerning. So with no expectation, I dove in on the plane and I remember immediately going, ‘I really like this. It’s a page turner.’”

    Q says she had her hesitations, but they weren’t related to the material. “I honestly was not looking to lead a show again. It was not on my list — I was not looking for this. So it makes it even more special that it did find me, especially because it wasn’t something I was looking to do,” she says. “I totally understand what they’re trying to do with her and why her journey would matter to people; why they might want to follow this woman was very clear. And that doesn’t happen very often.”

    When audiences first meet Ballard in the three-episode premiere, the detective is running full speed through Los Angeles — pump-action shotgun in hand — to chase down a criminal who has eluded LAPD’s finest. Viewers may be struck by Q’s physical capabilities, as this character is no shrinking violet. Ballard puts herself in dangerous situations to go toe-to-toe with some of the city’s most violent criminals in order to seek justice for cold case victims who can’t advocate for themselves. But Q has several martial arts films under her belt (she was trained by Jackie Chan), as well as action-espionage TV series such as Nikita, Designated Survivor and Stalker.

    “It is a different kind of physical demand,” however, Q explains. “The physical demand of a cop is different than if you are doing a Marvel movie. There are no wires, no acrobatics. It is grounded action, but very exhausting action. The reality of the fast-paced lifestyle in this profession is that it can be very exhilarating. I think the action is placed well [in the show], it’s grounded and not gratuitous.”

    Some of that action translates into chase sequences, whether on wheels or on foot. But it all moves the story forward, she says. “There’s something very exhilarating about justice when it’s about to be served, and how does that happen?” says Q. “Especially for Ballard as a woman. She is incredibly physical, and I am sure that is part of what she had to prove, being in a department of predominantly men. Not only showing the goods and proving that she is good at what she does, but I am sure she worked very hard on the physicality so she’s not left behind.”

    Maggie Q as Renée Ballard with Titus Welliver as Bosch in Ballard.

    Tyler Golden/Prime Video

    So though the appeal had dulled initially for Q when it came to leading another show, the lure was too strong for her to resist embodying the character from the novel pages written by best-selling author Michael Connelly. And the creator of the Bosch/Ballard couldn’t agree more.

    “We talked to a few people when we started out,” author and executive producer Connelly tells THR. “Amazon was very involved in the casting and, I don’t remember the exact details, but more or less we were told, ‘Hey, Maggie Q is looking for a project. Do you think she’s right for this and do you want to meet her?’ And that’s really all it took — because it’s Maggie Q. Then we met with her and — I don’t often say this, and you probably talked about this with Titus — but you kind of know it in the room when you’re with the right person. And that’s what happened this time.”

    He continues, “There’s a certain fierceness that Maggie has about her career and what she wanted to do next, and I quickly within minutes thought that fierceness that she’s showing about her own life is the fierceness that Ballard has. It could be a perfect match. It’s very esoteric to say it that way. Obviously, she is at a level where she did not audition. But it was like her personality could be taken and transferred to Ballard. I wasn’t in the room alone; it was a whole gang of people who were involved in developing this who all came to that conclusion right away.”

    In the premiere, viewers find Ballard with a team of four (half are civilians) working in the basement of police headquarters, which has been transformed into an office for cold cases. This task force was pushed to be created after a city councilman lost his younger sister in a violent unsolved crime. He wants Ballard and her team to concentrate on the death of his loved one, but Ballard sees the city official’s daughter’s murder as just one of several that needs to be solved and moved out of the cold case files.

    But there is a deeper reason for why Ballard is relegated to the basement of the department. It’s not completely clear yet, but Ballard is being ostracized by many of her colleagues for filing a complaint in the department for an accident that happened awhile back. She is even being made by the top brass to visit an LAPD-sanctioned psychologist. Whatever happened to her weighs heavily on the character.

    “In the beginning of Ballard, she has lodged a complaint with the LAPD. Because of that, she has become enemy No. 1,” Q explains. “You don’t go against your own department. That put a target on her back, because seeking the truth and wanting it to come out is very detrimental to her career. That is what the first season is about. Detective Ballard doesn’t have as many years under her belt as Bosch does, so she is still in the stages of proving herself.”

    In deciding why Ballard would be the next character to be explored out of the Bosch universe, Connelly says the decision wasn’t anything complex.

    “I just thought that she could be a TV show,” Connelly explains. “I have a few characters out there; so, it’s not like I always get to do the choosing. Sometimes it’s when they come knocking on your door. [Head of TV] Vernon Sanders over at Amazon Prime is very interested in Ballard as the next extension of the Bosch universe. I couldn’t complain about that, it’s a character that I’ve written a lot about in the last decade and is close to my heart. I also knew what would help make a TV show, as Ballard is based on a real-life detective. So we could have that detective in the room and on the set when we filmed.”

    And what about Bosch?

    Welliver’s beloved character popped up in episode two of Ballard, but Connelly says that, unfortunately for the fans missing their favorite TV cop, there will not be a lot of Bosch sightings during the season.

    “He may be in four episodes,” Connelly says. “The good thing is there won’t be any walk-ons. It’s not a cameo. He’ll only be on if he is actually helping to solve a case.”

    Q recognizes that the special — yet distant — bond between Bosch and Ballard will develop over time.

    “Bosch was interesting, but he was a take-no-prisoners sort of rule breaker,” Q says. “He was that guy who always stepped and colored outside of the lines. And with Ballard, she certainly has the same spirit, and that’s why she and Bosch connected at times; but Ballard says to Bosch at the end of the series finale, ‘I like you; I respect you. And you are good at what you do. But at the end of the day, you don’t have to worry about consequences. I do. I have people to answer to.’

    “And so Ballard just had to learn how to play the game a bit smarter, because her way of survival is not as good as his,” she says.

    ***

    All 10 episodes of the first season of Ballard are now streaming on Prime Video.

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  • Poisoned: Killer in the Post review – the terrible story of the online site for selling lethal doses | Mental health

    Poisoned: Killer in the Post review – the terrible story of the online site for selling lethal doses | Mental health

    What – and I ask myself this question with increasing frequency and seriousness – are we going to do about people? What, more specifically, are we going to do about the number of irredeemably wicked ones and the amount of suffering they bring into the world?

    If you can get through the two-part documentary Poisoned: Killer in the Post without sliding down on to the floor in despair as these questions thunder through your mind – well, you’re a better viewer than I.

    Poisoned is a meticulous chronicle of the equally meticulous investigation conducted by Times journalist James Beal into the identity of the online supplier of lethal chemicals to people who had congregated on a forum where they shared their suicidal thoughts, discussed methods and, often, plans for taking their own lives.

    Beal was alerted to the potential story by David Parfett in 2022. A year before, Parfett had lost his 22-year-old son, Tom, to suicide. “It’s just a different world after that.” Parfett had found the forum that Tom had posted on, posed as a new user, and soon found himself directed to a website that, hidden in plain sight among a variety of other goods either permanently sold out or astronomically priced (salt for $9,999 and so on), sold the poison to anyone who ordered it, with no registration requirements and no checks. Tom continued to post on the forum for a short while after he had taken the poison, about his racing heart, then creeping numbness. “That’s my son dying,” says David.

    Louise Nunn lost her daughter Immy in the same terrible way after years of supporting her through mental health crises that had led to her being sectioned. She took the poison a few hours after her latest release, about which her parents had not been informed; Dawn her stepson Adam – “He was so loved”; in Arizona, Malyn lost her brother, and Lynn her son, Miles. Like Parfett, they all tried to track down the responsible parties and interest the police in their findings and their growing certainty that one man was behind the distribution of potentially thousands of packages and deaths.

    Beal synthesises what they have learned with his own discoveries and finds the man behind the website. Pretending to be a customer with concerns about the efficacy of the product, we hear his extraordinary conversation with a Canadian chef called Kenneth Law, who cheerfully confirms for him that people “in the UK, US and Canada” and other countries have died from his supplies. “At least a dozen … I’ve been kept busy, yeah!”

    Louise Nunn, who lost her daughter Immy after she took the poison she bought online. Photograph: Wonderhood

    On we go, covering Beal’s exposé after further investigations, which leads to Law being charged with 14 counts of first degree murder and 14 of counselling or aiding suicide in relation to Canadian deaths. Investigations into multiple deaths linked to him in other countries are ongoing, and the National Crime Agency is considering the possibility of extraditing him.

    Law has not been found guilty, and did not respond to the allegations made in the series. The documentary does not, I think refreshingly, dwell too long on Law’s possible motivations. Sociopathy? Psychopathy? Badness? Some unholy combination of the above? Would it help us to know? Can we protect ourselves against any of them? The more you hear, and the more technology facilitates the spread of the worst of humanity, the more unlikely it seems.

    Beneath the giant shadow cast by Law, however, are others. There are the failures of the police to link the deaths of people found with the same poison in their possession or who had been posting on the same forum. There seems to have been a readiness across forces to tick the box marked “suicide”, close the case and feel no wider sense of responsibility to prevent further harm. There is the lag between old laws (in the UK, around the sale of poisons, the requirements to report, what constitutes assisting suicide, and international compatibilities) and new technology. There is the widespread and ongoing failure of all sorts of authorities and corporate megaliths to monitor even the vilest, most dangerous tracts of the internet.

    Whatever happens, of course, it will not bring any of the beloved lost sons and daughters back to their stricken parents. It will not restore her brother to Malyn, or any of the untold number of victims whose deaths may ultimately be laid at Law’s door. What a terrible, terrible world.

    Poisoned: Killer in the Post is on Channel 4 now.

    In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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  • Orange: New Aphrodisiac for Guppies

    Orange: New Aphrodisiac for Guppies

    It turns out colour isn’t just fashionable for guppies: According to a new UBC study, the more orange a male, the more virile it is.

    The research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution shines light on an enduring evolutionary mystery: why male guppies have such vibrant and varied colours and patterns.

    Virile me up

    Zoologists Drs. Wouter van der Bijl and Judith Mank used deep learning, genetic studies and bred three generations of increasingly orange guppies to investigate. They found the more colourful males were up to two times more sexually active, performing for females at a greater rate and for longer periods of time, and attempting to sneakily copulate more often.

    Orange you glad to see me, baby?

    It’s known that female guppies prefer orange, and unusual, patterns in their male partners, but the team found that the colour diversity of guppies comes from the same cells that are responsible for forming the brain, suggesting a genetic link between how guppies look and how they behave.

    “Previously, people thought perhaps males realized that if they were more orange, they were more sexy. With the genetic link, it may be that they’re healthier and fitter,” said Dr. Mank.

    Let’s recombine sometime

    The researchers found the guppy colour genes, and the locations they appeared in, were tied to multiple chromosomes, creating a vast architecture of genetic possibilities. Seven orange and eight black colour types were identified overall, allowing for a potential 32,768 unique pattern combinations.

    “Genetic variation is the raw material that evolution uses to produce resilient, adapted animals and plants, including for things like climate change or disease,” said van der Bijl. “We often look at extreme examples to understand where genetic variation comes from and how it’s maintained.”

    /Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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  • OPEC+’s Supply Surprise Needed by Market, Middle East Oil Giants Say

    OPEC+’s Supply Surprise Needed by Market, Middle East Oil Giants Say

    Senior officials from three of OPEC’s core producer nations — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait — lined up on Wednesday to say that the super-sized addition of supply by the producer club at the weekend was needed by the global market.

    Oil prices eked out gains this week, a sign that the market has largely shrugged off the larger-than-expected output hike announced on Saturday by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies. Despite the current tightness, forecasters are pointing out that supply growth is at risk of outpacing demand later in the year.

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  • BMW bosses unfairly dismissed disabled worker after spying on him | BMW

    BMW bosses unfairly dismissed disabled worker after spying on him | BMW

    A disabled BMW worker was discriminated against and unfairly dismissed after bosses authorised covert surveillance on him, believing he was exaggerating his back pain, a tribunal has found.

    Mohamed Kerita, who worked in the firm’s manufacturing factory, suffered with back pain from 2017, the tribunal in Reading heard.

    In March 2023, a physiotherapist emailed the absence manager Richard Darvill to say that Kerita had been signed off work by his GP for two months.

    The physiotherapist said he could not explain the level of pain Kerita was experiencing and why he remained unfit for work, the tribunal heard.

    Darvill and the HR manager Akhil Patel instructed the security firm G4S to carry out surveillance of the claimant, which the employment judge, Emma Jane Hawksworth, said was a “highly unusual step”.

    A G4S surveillance operative followed Kerita and filmed him from behind walking about three miles in about one and a half hours, even though the claimant never said he could not walk, the tribunal heard.

    In a report, they said that there was “no indication whatsoever that the claimant had lower back, leg or shoulder pain or was experiencing sickness or dizziness”, despite not filming Kerita’s face.

    Darvill later approached a senior manager to get more funding for further surveillance to ensure a “robust outcome”, the tribunal heard.

    In May 2023, Kerita was dismissed for gross misconduct, including a fraudulent claim of company sick pay and unacceptable levels of absence.

    During a disciplinary meeting, he had said that he was in the wrong area and needed light duties but his managers told him there were none and sent him home, the tribunal heard.

    The tribunal found that Kerita’s back pain met the definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010.

    Judge Hawksworth said it could be inferred that managers “had a level of distrust or hostility towards associates with back conditions, and were unwilling to take their word for it that they had a back problem, or were quick to conclude that a person with a back condition was not being honest about their symptoms”.

    The judge added: “We have found that the respondent made assumptions about what the claimant had told them about his ability to walk and about the G4S surveillance film.”

    Kerita’s claims of failure to make reasonable adjustments, disability discrimination and unfair dismissal succeeded.

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  • What Are the Current COVID-19 Symptoms of the ‘Stratus’ Variant XFG?

    What Are the Current COVID-19 Symptoms of the ‘Stratus’ Variant XFG?

    A new variant of the continually mutating COVID-19 virus has health officials on alert as it spreads rapidly worldwide.

    Nicknamed “Stratus,” the XFG strain was recently designated a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization (WHO), as it accounts for a growing proportion of cases globally, particularly in Southeast Asia, where the new variant is connected to a simultaneous rise in new cases and hospitalizations.

    Despite the uptick in illness, the WHO considers the overall public health risk from XFG to be low, and current data does not suggest that this variant leads to more severe illness or deaths than other variants in circulation.

    “In most parts of the United States, we are in a pretty good place regarding respiratory illness, and most people should be enjoying their summer activities without too much worry,” says Mark Rupp, MD, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

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  • CEO charged with bid rigging in University of Texas arena project

    CEO charged with bid rigging in University of Texas arena project

    Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke was indicted on a federal criminal conspiracy charge related to allegedly rigging a bid to develop, manage, and operate the University of Texas’ basketball and entertainment arena in Austin, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

    Oak View Group, which will pay $15 million in penalties in connection with the allegations, later Wednesday said that Leiweke “will transition from the position of CEO to” vice chairman of the entertainment venue giant’s board of directors, and remain a shareholder.

    Leiweke, 68, is accused in the indictment of conspiring with another would-be bidder on UT’s $338 million Moody Center arena project to induce that second company in February 2018 to drop out of the competition with Oak View Group in exchange for receiving lucrative subcontracts at the 15,000-seat arena.

    CNBC has been told the second company was Legends Hospitality, a New York-based venue services company that is majority-owned by Sixth Street Partners, and whose minority owners include the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys.

    The indictment in U.S. District Court in Austin says that Leiweke later reneged on that promise to the second company after it dropped its effort to bid on the entire project.

    “The arena opened to the public in April 2022, and OVG continues to receive significant revenues from the project to date,” the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

    Leiweke “rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, in a statement.

    Leweike, in a 2022 interview with CNBC, said that the Moody Center was one of his company’s “two most successful arenas.”

    The DOJ also said Wednesday that Oak View Group and Legends agreed to pay $15 million and $1.5 million, respectively, in penalties “in connection with the conduct alleged in the indictment against Leiweke.”

    Oak View Group’s website says that the company manages 400 sports, entertainment and other venues.

    Lewieke, who is charged with one count of conspiracy to restrain trade, is the former CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Before that, he served as CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group.

    A spokesman for Leiweke, in a statement to CNBC, said, “Mr. Leiweke has done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend himself and his well-deserved reputation for fairness and integrity.”

    “The Antitrust Division’s allegations are wrong on the law and the facts, and the case should never have been brought,” the spokesman said. “The law is clear: vertical, complementary business partnerships, like the one contemplated between OVG and Legends, are legal.”

    “These allegations blatantly ignore established legal precedent and seek to criminalize common teaming efforts that are proven to enhance competition and benefit the public. The Moody Center is a perfect example, as it has resulted in substantial and sustained benefits to the University of Texas and the City of Austin.”

    Leiweke, in his own statement, said, “While I’m pleased the company has resolved its Department of Justice Antitrust Division inquiry without any charges filed or admission of wrongdoing, the last thing I want to do is distract from the accomplishments of the team or draw focus away from executing for our partners, so the Board and I decided that now is the right time to implement the succession plan that was already underway and transition out of the CEO role.

    Oak View Group, in a statement, said, “Oak View Group cooperated fully with the Antitrust Division’s inquiry and is pleased to have resolved this matter with no charges filed against OVG and no admission of fault or wrongdoing.”

    “We support all efforts to ensure a fair and competitive environment in our industry and are committed to upholding industry-leading compliance and disclosure practices,” Oak View Group said.

    CNBC has requested comment from Legends.

    Chris Granger, who was president of Oak View Group’s division OVG360, has been appointed as interim CEO of Oak View Group by the company’s board.

    Granger previously was group president for sports and entertainment of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings, and president and chief operating officer of the Sacramento Kings.

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  • ‘Harmless’ virus might trigger Parkinson’s disease, researchers say

    ‘Harmless’ virus might trigger Parkinson’s disease, researchers say

    July 9 (UPI) — A common virus once thought harmless to humans might be linked to Parkinson’s disease, a new study says.

    The germ, Human Pegivirus (HPgV), was found in half the autopsied brains of patients with Parkinson’s, but not in any brains from healthy people, researchers reported Tuesday in the journal JCI Insight.

    “HPgV is a common, symptomless infection previously not known to frequently infect the brain,” lead researcher Dr. Igor Koralnik, chief of neuroinfectious diseases and global neurology at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said in a news release.

    “We were surprised to find it in the brains of Parkinson’s patients at such high frequency and not in the controls.”

    The virus also appeared to prompt different responses from people’s immune systems, depending on their genetics, Koralnik said.

    “This suggests it could be an environmental factor that interacts with the body in ways we didn’t realize before,” Koralnik said. “For a virus that was thought to be harmless, these findings suggest it may have important effects, in the context of Parkinson’s disease. It may influence how Parkinson’s develops, especially in people with certain genetic backgrounds.”

    Parkinson’s disease occurs when brain cells that produce an important hormone called dopamine begin to die off or become impaired.

    As dopamine levels decrease, people develop movement symptoms like shaking or stiffness, as well as problems maintaining balance and coordination.

    More than 1 million people in the U.S. live with Parkinson’s disease, including actors Michael J. Fox and Alan Alda, singer Neil Diamond and football great Brett Favre. About 90,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, researchers said.

    Most cases of Parkinson’s are not linked to a person’s genetics, raising the question of what might trigger the death of dopamine-producing nerve cells, researchers said in background notes.

    For the new study, researchers autopsied the brains of 10 Parkinson’s patients and 14 people not suffering from the disorder.

    The team found HPgV in 5 out of 10 brains from people with Parkinson’s, but none of the 14 healthy brains. The virus also was present in the spinal fluid of Parkinson’s patients, but not in the control group.

    Further, more brain damage was found in patients with HPgV, researchers said.

    Next, researchers tested blood samples from more than 1,000 participants in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, a biosample library available for Parkinson’s research. HPgV is a blood-borne virus in the same family as hepatitis C.

    Only about 1% of Parkinson’s patients had HPgV in their blood samples, researchers found.

    But people who had the virus showed different signals from their immune system, particularly those with a Parkinson’s-related gene mutation called LRRK2, researchers said.

    “We plan to look more closely at how genes like LRRK2 affect the body’s response to other viral infections to figure out if this is a special effect of HPgV or a broader response to viruses,” Koralnik said.

    Researchers plan to continue tracking how common the virus is among Parkinson’s patients, and how it might trigger the brain disorder.

    “One big question we still need to answer is how often the virus gets into the brains of people with or without Parkinson’s,” Koralnik said. “We also aim to understand how viruses and genes interact; insights that could reveal how Parkinson’s begins and could help guide future therapies.”

    More information

    The National Institute on Aging has more about Parkinson’s disease.

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