Beer Demand Goes Flat As Even Alcoholics Pull Back With Gas Above $4
Beer sales across the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend were troublingly soft, according to a new Goldman report, which attributed the weakness primarily to a “challenging macro backdrop” and unusually cold weather across parts of the Lower 48 states.
The Gulf-related fuel price shock has kept the national average for 87-octane gasoline above the politically sensitive $4-per-gallon threshold for more than 66 days, or roughly two months. Consumers are already pulling back on purchases at gas stations and convenience stores, with the latest evidence showing a sharp slowdown in energy drink sales growth amid rising fuel prices.
The next victim of the fuel price shock, amid a dismal consumer backdrop of sliding personal savings and a fading tax-refund sugar high, appears to be beer – generally considered a consumer staple product. The latest high-frequency data cited by Bonnie Herzog shows beer trends over the Memorial Day weekend were troubling.
“As expected, the challenging macro environment appears to be the largest drag on beer trends – as consumers have less disposable income and are prioritizing more non-discretionary purchases – while unfavorable weather in several parts of the country further pressured consumption patterns with Memorial Day weekend being the wettest and one of the coldest holiday weekends in the past 5 years,” Herzog wrote in the note.
Herzog’s “Bev Bytes” Beer Distributor Survey covers feedback from roughly 45 beer distributors, representing about 145,000 retail outlets or 23% of U.S. alcohol-selling locations, providing clients with a solid real-time snapshot of beer demand.
That snapshot showed demand remained uneven, with Constellation Brands standing out as a winner, while Heineken, Boston Beer, and Molson Coors lagged behind.
About half of the respondents in the survey said beer sales slowed in April and May compared with the first quarter, citing a softening in consumer spending, unfavorable weather, and category switching to ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages sold pre-mixed in cans or bottles, and/or THC products.
Most notable takeaways from the survey:
1. Nearly half of all distributors indicated that beer category sales decelerated in April/May vs Q1 – citing a pressured consumer backdrop, unfavorable weather, some category switching (e.g., RTDs & THC), a secular shift away from alcohol, and weak marketing;
2. Consumers are facing increased pressure as a result of the challenging macro/operating backdrop – with notable pressure on the Hispanic consumer;
3. Recent volume trends for STZ in May have been encouraging following a relatively weaker Cinco De Mayo;
4. Recent scanner trends appear to be soft for Modelo Especial – though distributors still see further upside and expect the brand to grow this year;
5. Miller Lite & Coors Light remain pressured with further deceleration in April/May vs Q1;
6. Distributors are cautious on Corona but are mostly positive on Sunbrew;
7. Distributors are split if TAP will be able to successfully grow Monaco Cocktails;
8. Most distributors are upbeat about Sun Cruiser – with most expecting trends to accelerate in 2H vs 1H this year, SAM’s brand portfolio elsewhere including Twisted & Truly remain pressured; and
9. SAM’s recent innovation LYTT is seeing mixed traction – most view this as an interesting concept, but unsure how it would be received by consumers and durability of growth in context of its novelty packaging.
Herzog pointed out that “tempered beer category growth trends over the Memorial Day holiday weekend and lackluster category growth outlook largely come as no surprise, especially considering the challenging macro environment – we take a selective approach to identifying relative winners within the space that we believe are best positioned to outperform.”
Beer Stock Coverage:
STZ – Our 12-month price target of $180 is based on an equal-weighted EV/EBITDA of 10.8x (vs 10.9x prior) and P/E of 13.4x (unchanged), both of which are based on our Q5-Q8 estimates. We slightly lower P/E multiple to reflect macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures affecting the consumer. Risks to our estimates and price target include: Modelo/Corona Extra lose traction with consumers; Corona Light does not stabilize/return to growth; greater than expected spike in input cost inflation or lower productivity savings; STZ fails to build its new brewery in Southeastern Mexico.
TAP – Our 12-month price target of $50 is based on an EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.1x (weighted 42.5%), P/E of 8.0x (wtd 42.5%), & M&A value based on EV/EBITDA of 9.4x (wtd 15%) all based on our updated Q5-Q8 estimates. Risks include: TAP cedes recent market share gains to Bud Light as that brand recovers; Acceleration plan fails to deliver mgmt’s intended transformation across the broader beer/FMB portfolio driving declines in TAP’s beer volume and market share (across both core economy SKUs and Above Premium beer/FMB) or consumer preferences shift away from mainstream/budget-priced beer and TAP’s Beyond Beer strategy fails to resonate with consumers.
SAM – Our 12-month price target is $192 and is based on an equal-weighted EV/EBITDA multiple of 8.0x and P/E multiple of 16.6x, both based on our Q5-Q8 estimates. Risks include: hard seltzer category growth accelerates and Truly gains momentum; Truly gains significant share and household penetration; SAM successfully stabilizes the Sam Adams brand; and supply chain capacity constraints for hard seltzer ease.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement to mark the 37th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Tiananmen Square Massacre.
“On June 4, the world marks 37 years since the Chinese Communist Party ordered its troops to attack thousands of peaceful demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square,” Rubio said in a statement late June 3 in the United States, which is hours behind China.
“Chinese students, workers, and other civilians who lost their lives had gathered to exercise their natural rights and demand democratic reforms and accountability for corruption. We remember their lives and honor their legacy,” he said.
“No amount of censorship can erase the past. Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday.”
Mention of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre is heavily censored in mainland China, with terms such as “June 4,” “6/4,” “64,” “六四” (in Chinese), and related phrases routinely blocked across all information platforms by China’s internet police. Closer to the sensitive date, even terms like “that year” are censored in an effort to suppress all mention of the Chinese lives lost that day and what they stood for.
Despite being unsuccessful in China, the protests sent shockwaves throughout the world and helped strengthen the resolve of people in other communist states, such as East Germany and Romania, also seeking liberty.
At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dispatched Vice Premier Yao Yilin to East Germany in October 1989 to share its methods for suppressing protests.
This year may be particularly sensitive for the CCP, following the November 2025 leak of classified video footage of the 1990 military trial of Maj. Gen. Xu Qinxian, who refused to deploy troops against the protesters in 1989.
Xu’s testimony revealed operational details of the military response in 1989—information that the CCP considered to be state secrets.
The video footage was quickly scrubbed from the Chinese internet after it was leaked, but it generated widespread attention among Chinese-speaking users outside of mainland China.
Every year, the CCP harasses or rounds up dissidents, activists, journalists, lawyers, and Tiananmen-related figures for preemptive detention or house arrest ahead of the June 4 date as part of its “stability maintenance” operations.
But in a first such action in more than three decades, the Tiananmen Mothers group, representing the families of victims of the massacre, was blocked from visiting the graves of their loved ones at Beijing’s Wan’an Cemetery by police on June 4, according to Radio Free Asia.
Ahead of the date, arrests were also underway. In May, pro-democracy activist Mao Qingxiang in Hangzhou was detained by Chinese police after he shared a video of recently released dissident Xu Guang, whose post-prison remarks included a call to “never forget June 4.”
Chinese in Hong Kong have also been blocked from marking the anniversary, with the annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park that once drew tens of thousands of people in remembrance of the human rights travesty banned since 2020 under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
(Top) Hong Kong police officers occupy Victoria Park in the afternoon of June 4, 2021, to prevent people from entering; (bottom) The June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park in 2017. The Epoch Times
Known pro-democracy voices in the city have also been monitored or harassed in an attempt to deter any bigger incidents. But Chinese around the world in cities such as Taipei, Sydney, London, and New York will gather for vigils to commemorate the June 4 anniversary.
In a statement the morning of June 4, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called on China to acknowledge the deadly clampdown on Chinese protesters in Tiananmen Square 37 years ago and “face the wounds of history” for a better future.
“What was shot and crushed that year was not only the life and youth of those who participated in the democracy movement, but also the desire and practice of the pursuit of freedom and democracy by an entire generation of China,” he said in a post on social media.
“I sincerely hope that China will face up to the June 4 incident 37 years ago, recognize the truth, comfort the pain, and open reconciliation and dialogue.”
Lai said that a “sound government” should support the next generation to “live a better life than themselves, instead of killing their dreams and erasing their opinions with violence, surveillance, etc.”
“Taiwan will stand with all those who pursue freedom and democracy until the truth is seen, the pain is comforted, until no one else loses their lives in the pursuit of freedom. Because a country that respects its people, protects freedom, and practices democracy is a country that is truly worthy of respect,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump also made a statement condemning communism as June 4 arrived in China.
“Remember, breathtaking ‘Popularity’ first, and then, guaranteed DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Has anyone ever seen a Happy Communist?” he added.
Korean Officials Are “Paying Close Attention” As Foreign Outflows Trigger Bond/Won Collapse
Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ll know that South Korea’s stock market has been rocketing higher on the back of the AI/Semi speculation as SK Hynix and Samsung have dominated (accounting for over 40% of the KOSPI market cap)…
But, as the following chart from Goldman Sachs shows, this surge in Korean stocks has been driven by domestic Retail investors as Foreign investors have fled that market en masse…
These outflows have sparked a collapse in the Korean Won (exacerbated by pressure some Asian currencies face as the Iran war drags on), now at its weakest versus the USDollar since 2009…
…and pushed yields for South Korean bonds to their highest in almost 3 years…
With all that in mind, Bloomberg reported earlier in the week that South Korean officials have intensified monitoring of the government bond market through daily phone calls and a private messaging group with market participants, as authorities step up efforts to contain rising yields.
Since May 18, a group of deputy directors in the finance ministry’s treasury-bond division have been calling bond dealers and asset managers before the start of trading to gauge market sentiment and investor positioning, Hwang Soon Kwan, deputy finance minister for treasury, said in an interview. In some cases, the discussions are held in person, he said.
“We are paying close attention to managing the bond market and are determined to respond firmly to any excessive moves,” Hwang said Friday in Seoul.
The ministry also set up a private KakaoTalk chat room on May 21 that now includes about 17 participants, according to Hwang.
Members include Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, senior ministry officials, researchers, primary dealers and fund managers, who share research reports and market views on a daily basis.
The moves are not intended to press yields down, but to signal authorities are closely monitoring the market, he added.
The government last week reduced planned bond issuance for June by about 21% from the previous month, adding to efforts to ease upward pressure on yields.
Additionally, just days later, Bloomberg reports that Finance Minister Koo Yun Cheol said authorities were closely monitoring FX market developments “with a high degree of vigilance to prevent anxiety from spreading,” and vowed to “take prompt, necessary measures in case of excessive market moves.”
Asian policymakers are coming up against the limit of their currency defense as elevated oil prices hurt the region’s importers.
Authorities in Indonesia and the Philippines also stepped up measures to defend currencies.
“The authorities are doing what they can, but given that the won is being driven by external factors, it’s likely difficult to control,” said So Jaeyong, chief economist at Shinhan Bank in Seoul.
More than 1 million scam-related online accounts were taken down, and millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency were frozen, as part of a crackdown on Southeast Asian scam networks.
The crackdown operations, conducted by U.S. and international agencies led by the Department of Justice (DOJ), began on May 18, when the DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force brought together the FBI, Royal Thai Police, and law enforcement agencies from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand to identify and disrupt criminal scam networks.
Meta, Microsoft, Starlink, and Coinbase were part of joint operations held in Washington and Bangkok, Meta said in a June 3 statement.
“More than a million online assets were disrupted as a result of the operation – including 1.4 million accounts, pages, and groups across Facebook and Instagram, 20,000 Microsoft accounts, and thousands of Starlink kits – and the Royal Thai Police has arrested 63 individuals involved in scam operations,” Meta said.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase “froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency assets tied to criminal networks.” In addition, Starlink “terminated connectivity for thousands of Starlink kits that were attributed to unlawful use,” it said.
Criminal syndicates behind the fraud have exploited millions of people globally via romance scams and investment fraud, and through utilizing forced labor. This makes coordinated disruption critical to protecting people, Meta said.
FBI Director Kash Patel thanked Meta for the company’s assistance in a June 3 post on X, and said the operation was “just the beginning!”
The DOJ said that the joint initiative interrupted malicious network connections hosted by scammers. Moreover, servers and hosting infrastructure associated with the scam networks in Southeast Asia were decommissioned.
Many scam centers are run from Laos, Cambodia, and Burma along the border with Thailand, across several industrial-scale compounds.
As for forced labor, criminal networks lure unsuspecting people to Thailand with promises of high-paying jobs, then seize their identification and coerce them to work at such sites. The victims run scams against targets under the threat of violence.
In its recent statement, Meta said that intelligence-sharing among entities has led to the identification of several potential new scam center locations and networks.
“Blockchain technology is one of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against financial crime,” Leah Bressack, vice president at Coinbase, said.
“Unlike traditional financial systems, the transparent and immutable nature of transaction data means bad actors can’t hide – every transaction leaves a trail. That transparency is exactly what allowed us to work with law enforcement to trace, freeze, and disrupt these criminal networks.”
Crackdown On Fraud
The crackdown follows President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order on March 6 to counter scam operations – Combating Cybercrime, Fraud, and Predatory Schemes Against American Citizens.
“Cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes are draining American families of their life savings, stealing the benefits of years of work, and destroying the lives of our youth,” Trump said in the order.
“It is the policy of the United States to protect Americans from, and harden our financial and digital systems against, these threats. The United States shall counter attacks on Americans with a commensurate response that includes law enforcement, diplomacy, and potential offensive actions.”
According to the recent DOJ statement, the Scam Center Strike Force is a “critical node” in executing Trump’s order.
Online scams pose a major financial threat to Americans. An April 2025 report from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center revealed that the center received 859,532 complaints of suspected internet crimes in 2024.
The total financial losses from these crimes amounted to $16 billion, a 33 percent increase from the previous year.
Older adults were significantly affected, with 147,127 complaints filed by people aged 60 or older, totaling $4.88 billion in losses.
Mapping America’s Robotaxi Boom As Driverless Fleets Hit More Cities
Robotaxi deployments are entering the scaling phase across major U.S. cities as Waymo, Lyft, Tesla, Zoox, and other autonomous vehicle firms push fleets deep into cities.
The autonomous rideshare market remains in its early chapters, but the direction of travel is clear even to the modest observer: robotaxis are moving from the test phase to becoming an increasingly common sight on the roads.
With that comes the general public capturing these robotaxis doing some pretty weird stuff in the wild, such as bottlenecking in a quiet Atlanta neighborhood last month…
The latest update on commercial AV deployments comes from Goldman analysts led by Eric Sheridan, who told clients these deployments are gaining momentum.
Based on NHTSA crash data from July 2025 through mid-April 2026, along with Waymo and Tesla disclosures on miles and trips, Tesla robotaxis had an accident every 100,000 to 120,000 miles, while Waymo had an accident every 150,000 to 175,000 miles.
Tesla’s Austin fleet includes a mix of vehicles with and without safety monitors, while Waymo operates commercially across more cities and has a much larger fleet.
Sheridan estimates that Waymo’s fleet size is over 3,800 vehicles (including 577 in Texas), while Tesla’s fleet in Texas is around 42 vehicles.
SensorTower data for the US market shows that Waymo’s app usage continued to expand in April, though momentum appears to be slowing. Monthly active users rose 20% year over year, a slower pace than in recent months.
Announced current and future deployments
Sheridan’s ratings and price targets on robotaxi or robotaxi-aligned companies:
Increased deployments will likely usher in rising regulatory pressure from local, state, and even federal governments. We wouldn’t be surprised if taxi or human drivers revolted at some point. Or at least some left-wing NGO mount a pressure campaign with paid protests.
Federal safety agencies are currently investigating Waymo incidents, New York backed away from allowing commercial robotaxi service this year, and metro areas such as Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco are considering restrictions.
The emerging problem for robotaxi firms is that, even if AVs crash less often per mile than human drivers, highly visible accidents in unusual real-world conditions are becoming a political and regulatory headwind.
Consider this before the next Waymo ride.
What this Waymo post is doing isn’t really about Waymo. It’s not about sanitation, or sex work, or operational edge cases. That’s just the wrapper. The real function of the post is emotional routing. It takes a complex transition — autonomous systems entering messy human reality… pic.twitter.com/Jt87RkG64x
Zelensky Pens Lengthy Letter To Putin: ‘Enough Of War, I Am Proposing A Meeting’
On Thursday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter sent to the Russian leader. It said Ukraine is also ready for a “full ceasefire.”
“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us – and you. I am proposing a meeting,” Zelensky said in the letter. “Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” he added.
The letter, which is somewhat lengthy at one point says, “The choice is yours now. Enough of war” and then spells out that “Ukraine proposes to end this war.”
“This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited,” Zelensky added. And then interestingly, “We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.“
The new letter was issued just Europe’s most influential powers of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are trying to again jump-start Ukraine war peace talks, collectively operating as the E3 group.
They seek to implement a new framework aimed at engaging Russian President Vladimir Putin in direct negotiations to end the war. Reuters on Wednesday reports that “A window for dialogue is slowly opening between Russia and Europe on Ukraine, although it is likely to be months before talks can begin, a German government official said at a briefing on Wednesday.”
It seems this window of opportunity is based to some degree on perceptions that the war tide and momentum is finally shifting in Ukraine’s favor, given the increasing effectiveness of Ukraine’s devastating cross-border drone attacks of late.
European leaders apparently view the current battlefield and political dynamics as having strengthened Kiev’s bargaining position, creating what they believe is the optimal moment to press Moscow for talks. It seems that Zelensky agrees, and believes that it’s time to get back to the negotiating table.
Putin on sidelines of the ongoing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum: We can control whole Donbass region AND strike a deal. One thing doesn’t contradict the other, why would you think that it does? — Putin to AP News Director
We can control whole Donbass region AND strike a deal. One thing doesn’t contradict the other, why would you think that it does? — Putin to AP News Directorhttps://t.co/T9H7QsH7g4pic.twitter.com/9waCc6M6oO
Putin also said Thursday that his view is there’s no need to stop fighting in order to start talks.
Below is Zelensky’s full newly published letter, kept in the original formatting, and as issued in an official English version.
* * *
Open Letter
To the President of the Russian Federation
From the President of Ukraine
When you came to power in Russia more than 26 years ago, many people in Ukraine viewed you positively. That is how it was. But that is now in the past.
Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers. As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.
For 26 years, your time in power has completely changed the agenda of relations between Ukraine and Russia. From discussions about trade and other civilian matters, our nations have moved to talking almost exclusively about strikes and losses.
You have spent nearly half of your 26 years in power in Russia waging war against Ukraine.
Whatever you may say about NATO, geopolitics, or the Russian language, this war is your personal choice — a war without a real cause. That is how history will remember it.
Those years could have been very different.
We often hear that you are comfortable with this war. Of course, not in those cases when it comes to the security of your residence in Valdai or your parade in Moscow. Your own life is valuable to you.
But now we can all see that Russians are finally becoming less comfortable with this reality — with the fact that the war is bringing more and more negative consequences to Russia.
They do not like our drones and missiles.
They do not like gasoline shortages and constantly rising prices.
They do not like constant restrictions.
They do not like your intention to launch a second wave of mobilization in order to expand the war into another direction in Ukraine or to use it against other countries neighboring Russia.
They do not like the fact that there is no end in sight to your war.
Yes, you can still force Russians to exist this way. But your resources are shrinking significantly.
You will not have enough money or political capital to keep buying the loyalty of Russians the way you have for the past 26 years.
And we will do everything we can to ensure that the world helps bring that moment closer.
As you yourself like to say, “we need to run the numbers.”
Yesterday, I received a report on the losses of your army on the front in Ukraine during May. Once again, the number exceeded 30,000 Russian soldiers killed and seriously wounded. We have been maintaining that level month after month, and we have video confirmation of every one of your losses — these are not empty claims.
We know that 63 percent of your battlefield losses are killed, while only 37 percent are wounded. In the 21st century, no army can afford such a ratio. And the share of those killed will continue to grow.
It is not as if we in Ukraine are concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers after everything your war has brought to our country.
But I do care about Ukrainians.
We are losing our people, and every loss is painful to us. Even when the ratio of Ukrainian losses to Russian losses is one to five or one to six, it still matters greatly.
It also matters that you regularly postpone, every few months, your own deadlines for capturing our regions — especially the Donetsk region. And you will not capture it this year either.
But we in Ukraine do not want a permanent war. We know very well that life without war is infinitely better. And we want to achieve that.
I am convinced that the majority of Russians would respond positively to this as well — and you know it.
Many did not believe that Ukraine would be able to hold out for so long. You did not believe it. And those who advised you did not believe it either. That was a mistake.
You did not expect full-scale resistance from Ukraine, and you did not foresee that things would go this far. Yet here we all are — in the fifth year of this full-scale war.
Do not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now.
Ukraine has preserved its independence. And it will preserve it. Despite all predictions to the contrary.
We have united many around the world to stand with Ukraine and against you. We found the weapons and the financing we needed.
We receive support. You receive sanctions. And this will continue until there is justice for Ukraine — the justice we seek and the justice that can be achieved.
We will not allow those who are trying to convince you that sanctions against Russia will be significantly eased, and that support for Ukraine will be significantly reduced, without any meaningful change in your position toward Ukraine, to succeed. The example of Orban shows how those who choose to help Russia in its war against us end in disgrace.
Ukraine has endured harsh winters while you tried to destroy our energy system. We held firm — and even in darkness, the resilience of Ukrainians remained intact.
We brought the war onto your territory, and you would not have been able to cope with it without North Korea’s help. You are the first ruler of Russia to turn to Pyongyang for assistance.
And today you are fully dependent on China — also for the first time in Russia’s history.
You believed Ukrainians would not have the strength to defend themselves. Yet today, our people are helping our partners in the Middle East and the Gulf build their own defenses.
You hoped for internal unrest in Ukraine. Instead, it was your own military formations that staged a mutiny against you. June 23 will mark another anniversary of that event, and silence will not erase this fact from history.
And now it is you whom your own officials, businessmen, and propagandists look at with obvious fatigue. The world can see it.
The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia — even among those in the wider world who help you bypass sanctions and keep your economy afloat.
You cannot fail to notice it. After 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll. And with time, the fatigue with you will only grow.
We have seen intelligence reports showing that you are now considering plans to continue the war into 2027 and 2028. We also know that you hope ballistic missiles will achieve for you what everything else has failed to achieve. You want to draw Belarus even deeper into this war, and we are now forced to prepare for that as well. We see that you are trying to orchestrate something around Transnistria. Your propagandists threaten, in one way or another, every country neighboring Russia. Do you really want to go through all of this?
The choice is yours now.
Enough of war.
Ukraine proposes to end this war.
This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited.
We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.
Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you.
I am proposing a meeting.
Everyone heard your representatives, smiling, say that I could supposedly come to Moscow. But after these 26 years, there is nothing for a Ukrainian leader to do in your capital — just as there is nothing for a Russian leader to do in Kyiv.
There are countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace. Switzerland, Türkiye, the countries of the Arab world — many are able and willing to host such a meeting.
It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be.
I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting.
We have heard that you were promised in Alaska the resolution of certain issues concerning Ukraine and Europe. But you can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage.
Other agreed participants could join the bilateral track to be established between us.
Since the war is taking place in Europe, and since Ukraine needs security guarantees, while you also seek security guarantees for yourself, it would be logical to involve those who can genuinely serve as guarantors.
We believe Europe should be part of this process — those who truly have the capacity to influence the situation.
We also believe that the United States must be part of the process. This is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world.
We’ve already experienced many agreements with Russia, including the Minsk agreements, that ultimately failed. That is why we must first find direct answers between us to the questions that remain, and not hide from difficult issues behind formulas, technical working groups, or endless time lost in shuttle diplomacy.
Your war has permanently set Ukraine and Russia apart.
The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin.
Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice, and current developments around Iran only reinforce that point. An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another. We believe it would not simply be an attempt, but a real ceasefire — if that is what you want.
You know that the United States has the capability to monitor a ceasefire along the line where hostilities stop.
Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war, and this could become a good prologue to ending the war.
Serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war.
We must determine what kind of future awaits the generations of Ukrainians and Russians who will come after us.
If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us.
But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes.
We can work toward that fatigue.
You can stop your war.
Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by this war.
Glory to Ukraine!
* * *
Despite the long appeal, President Putin and the Kremlin have demonstrated a willingness to allow a long war to drag on, and are unlikely to be moved. Putin has said there’s no need for a truce unless a deal is already close or about to be signed. But the two sides aren’t any closer to being at the negotiating table as yet.
“Bring Your Own Capacity” – Google And Voltus To Deploy Virtual Power Plant
Google signed a three-year Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) agreement with Voltus for up to 100 MW of accredited distributed capacity in the PJM Interconnection. Voltus will aggregate batteries, smart thermostats, electric vehicles, and other flexible assets from homes and businesses into a Google-funded Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
When the grid needs relief, the software dispatches those resources in concert. Participants get paid, and Google gets capacity without waiting for traditional interconnection queues.
A VPP is not a physical plant at all. It is coordinated software that turns thousands of small, customer-sited resources into something that behaves like dispatchable generation. Distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar panels, batteries, smart thermostats, and flexible loads already sitting on the grid become a decentralized fleet.
Instead of building another transmission line or expensive peaker plant that sits idle most of the year, the VPP squeezes more value out of what already exists. Brattle Group analysis suggests better utilization of existing infrastructure could save U.S. consumers over $100 billion this decade.
Voltus has positioned itself as the leading operator in this space. The company manages more than 7.5 GW of DERs across all nine North American wholesale markets and launched its BYOC offering specifically to help large loads shortcut interconnection delays. Google is the first named hyperscaler customer. The deal runs in PJM, the largest U.S. grid operator and one already feeling the strain of AI-driven load growth.
This move fits the broader pattern of Google methodically assembling exposure to nearly every generation and flexibility technology currently in play. Considering the alternative is to just sit back and watch grids like PJM start to go black in the years ahead…
On the firm, always-on side, the company struck a deal with NextEra to restart the 615 MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa. Google is also looking to offtake power from Kairos’ molten salt reactors in Tennessee.
For next-generation geothermal, Google has a long-running partnership with Fervo Energy. The Nevada pilot is already feeding carbon-free power to Google data centers, and the companies expanded via a Clean Transition Tariff structure with NV Energy for an additional 115 MW. Google also holds PPAs with Ormat under the same tariff framework.
On the renewables and storage front, Alphabet closed its $4.75 billion acquisition of Intersect Power earlier this year. Intersect develops co-located data center and energy infrastructure, including large-scale solar and battery storage projects.
Google has maintained a steady drumbeat of wind and solar PPAs for years; the Intersect deal accelerates co-location and gives the company more direct control over project development timelines.
Long-duration batteries even caught Google’s interest with the Form Energy deal for iron-air technology and the batteries that will likely participate in the new Voltus VPP.
The through-line is speed. PJM and other grids are not adding transmission and firm generation fast enough to match announced data center builds. Hyperscalers have responded with every available lever: restarting nuclear, advancing geothermal, buying developers outright, and now directly funding distributed capacity.
Lights Out For Sleep Number, Shares Crash On Potential Bankruptcy Filing
Sleep Number Corporation shares crashed after multiple outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, reported that the mattress and bedding retailer is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
WSJ said that Sleep Number is “expected to use the Chapter 11 process to restructure its balance sheet while continuing operations. The reorganization could also include a potential sale of the business.”
As of late 2024, Sleep Number had 640 retail stores across the US, with a footprint actively shrinking in recent years.
The company has been hit hard by a confluence of factors – think higher interest rates have reduced demand for big-ticket items, like a $5,000 bed, industry pressure, and tariffs. Plus, let’s not forget that all the demand was pulled forward during the easy-money bubble of the Covid era.
Revenue fell 16% in 2025 to $1.4 billion …
… while the stock has plunged about 97% over the past four months to roughly 32 cents.
WSJ noted that Sleep Number recently hired Guggenheim Securities to evaluate opportunities to strengthen its balance sheet and improve liquidity. The struggling retailer has secured $55 million in additional liquidity through a new $25 million term loan and $30 million in added flexibility from existing lenders.
Our read-through: another consumer discretionary story has collapsed, with demand for big-ticket home goods continuing to sink under elevated interest rates and a tapped-out consumer nearing the end of the tax-refund sugar high.
Heavily Shorted Rumble Soars After Landing “Largest Customer Commitment To Date” In $270M AI Cloud Deal
Shares of the free-speech video platform and cloud-services company Rumble soared in premarket trading after it announced in an 8-K filing that it had signed a multi-year, $270 million deal with a third-party cloud customer for dedicated GPU cloud capacity powered by Nvidia Blackwell B300 systems.
The deal, announced Thursday morning, is Rumble’s largest customer commitment to date and signals the video platform’s push deeper into AI infrastructure and cloud computing services.
“Rumble entered into a multi-year, $270 million agreement with a third-party cloud customer, representing Rumble’s largest customer commitment to date,” the company wrote in the filing.
The filing continued, “Under the agreement, the customer has committed to purchase dedicated GPU cloud capacity from Rumble powered by NVIDIA Blackwell B300 systems,” adding, “The agreement includes potential for greater value and extended length based on market success.”
Rumble went public through a SPAC merger with CF Acquisition Corp. VI, a Cantor Fitzgerald–backed blank-check company. The deal closed in mid-September 2022, and the shares began trading on Nasdaq.
Since then, shares have traded sideways, unable to break above $16 resistance, and have plunged as low as $3.39 in early 2024.
News of the AI cloud-capacity deal sent shares soaring 14% in premarket trading.
Notably Rumble is heavily shorted, with 28% of the float short, or about 24.5 million shares. Days to cover stand around 7.1.
What’s notable about Rumble is that it’s no longer a free-speech YouTube alternative, but is now shifting toward AI infrastructure and GPU cloud services.
Satellite imagery appears to show damage to a US air base in Kuwait following Iranian strikes on Wednesday.
New imagery of the site released by Soar Atlas seems to show a destroyed shelter at the US Ali Al Salem Air Base, despite US Central Command (CENTCOM) insisting that all the missiles and drones targeting the site were “defeated”.
Soar Atlas noted that the area surrounding the base “appears charred, with multiple impact craters visible nearby”.
In a statement, Centcom said that Iran had fired “several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors”, but claimed that “all failed to hit their intended targets”.
It added that the two missiles fired at Kuwait “fell short or broke apart enroute” and that three missiles launched at Bahrain “were immediately intercepted” by air defences.
Kuwait’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a volley of Iranian missiles had struck the country’s international airport and diplomatic missions. Local officials reported that one person was killed in the attack – who was later identified as an Indian citizen – and another 60 injured.
DropSite News: New Soar Atlas satellite imagery appears to show damage at the U.S. Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait following yesterday’s Iranian attacks.
⭕️ BREAKING: New Soar Atlas satellite imagery appears to show damage at the U.S. Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait following yesterday’s Iranian attacks.
Video footage from the airport showed extensive damage, with fires raging in terminal one, a collapsed roof and billowing clouds of smoke.
After the attacks, Kuwaiti defence ministry spokesperson Brigadier General Saud al-Otayan condemned what he described as “criminal Iranian aggression”.
Iran on Wednesday said that the strikes on Kuwait’s airport were the result of a US Patriot missile interceptor hit, a claim that Centcom immediately denied.
Judging from #Iran‘s regime’s large scale attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, it appears increasingly emboldened that it can escalate and test U.S. red lines, taking advantage of a U.S. reluctance to end the ceasefire. The recent Iranian strikes could have killed Americans. The below… https://t.co/TI3Ji5n88w
