Buckle Up For A Wild Week

US Steps Up Africa Push As China Expands Economic, Security Footprint Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times, The Trump administration says it has helped close 37 commercial deals worth $25.67 billion in Africa as Washington moves to compete with a much larger Chinese economic footprint across the continent. "China continues to flood Africa with exports," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia told Fox News in an interview published Aug. 27. Garcia said Chinese state-subsidized overcapacity threatens local industries and has left African countries exposed to debt and economic...

Continuing Jobless Claims Tumble To 2-Year Lows The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time rose from 203k to 219k last week (higher than the expected 210k), but still hovering within the low-low range of the last four years... Source: Bloomberg New Jersey and Oregon saw the largest WoW rise in initial claims while Texas and New York saw the biggest decline... But, while initial claims rose, continuing jobless claims tumbled to the lowest level since May 2024... Source: Bloomberg Soft survey data continues to signal a stressed labor market, while...

Texas Approves AI Data Center Co-Location Next To Wind Farm, With Curtailment Caveats By Marlene Wilden of UtilityDive The Public Utility Commission of Texas last week approved a net metering arrangement for a 260-MW AI data center co-located with a wind farm of approximately the same capacity in a case that could serve as a template for other co-located loads in the Lone Star State. The data center is the second one planned for the site, and the developer had argued it should not be subject to the same curtailment requirements as...