Oil Extends Decline As Rubio Rules Out New Strikes, Iran-Oman Transit Deal Nears Finalization

Early Returns Show Surprises In California As Other States Wrap Up Update (0030ET): Voters in six states went to the polls today for key primaries. While many races followed expectations, California delivered notable early drama with slow-counting mail ballots still to come. California Governor (Top-Two Primary) The race to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom remains the biggest story. In a crowded nonpartisan jungle primary, early returns (approx. 45-50% counted) show: Steve Hilton (R) leading at ~26.7% Xavier Becerra (D) close behind at ~25.8% Tom Steyer (D) trailing at ~19.6% Chad Bianco (R) is further back. If trends...

Wall Street's Trillion-Dollar Bet On "Tax Alpha" Tax alpha — the practice of improving investment returns by reducing taxes — has become one of the fastest-growing strategies on Wall Street, according to Bloomberg.  Rather than focusing only on beating the market, many investment firms now design portfolios to minimize taxes, often producing higher after-tax returns even if pre-tax performance is similar to traditional strategies. After years of rising markets, many wealthy Americans hold large unrealized gains in stocks and funds. To address the resulting tax burden, asset managers have developed a wide...

Is Uber Weaponizing Labor Unions To Slow Robotaxi Rivals Ride-hailing giant Uber is reportedly aligning with drivers' unions in several cities to slow robotaxi deployments and promote regulations requiring "hybrid networks" that combine autonomous vehicles with human drivers, according to the Financial Times. The unholy alliance is taking shape in states and cities including New Jersey and Washington, DC, where Uber and organized labor are pushing back against the rapid expansion of autonomous taxi services. In New Jersey, Uber lobbyists proposed requiring any platform offering robotaxi services to ensure that human drivers...