An interest rate cut is looking further out of reach—and this week’s renewed conflict in the Middle East boosted the odds of a hike in the coming months.

The Federal Reserve doesn’t expect rates to change this year, according to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting last month.

President Donald Trump declared early Wednesday that the interim peace deal with Iran was “over,” and the U.S. had launched new strikes on the country by evening. That sent the implied probability of a rate increase before September up to 68.8% by Wednesday afternoon, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocketed to a $130 billion valuation in its first-ever funding round as it seeks to challenge SpaceX’s dominance.

Democrat Graham Platner suspended his Senate campaign amid fallout from a sexual assault accusation, though he said that his decision was “certainly” not an “admission of guilt.”

Meta managed to overtake Tesla in market value Wednesday, though both stocks are falling amid investor anxiety over AI. Analysts are looking to Meta’s earnings report later this month for a window into its massive AI spending and whether its fledgling cloud computing business can generate meaningful revenue.

In hopes of turning around a slump in electric vehicle sales since the Trump administration eliminated a $7,500 federal rebate, California is now offering its own incentive to EV buyers. The state’s budget provides first-time buyers a $3,500 rebate on new electric cars and light trucks priced up to $50,000—half of the rebate will be covered by........

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