August 31, 2026

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Time to wake up, campers. It’s the last day of August, and for some, the symbolic end of summer. The “-ber” months are nigh, and with them, come the crunching of leaves, the wearing of flannels, and, of course, the eating of pies.

But, don’t despair, summer warriors. There are still technically three weeks left. That’s plenty of time to get sunscreen in your eyes, suffer inner-thigh chafe, and accidentally burn yourselves on a metal seat belt buckle.

—Brendan Cosgrove, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman

In today’s newsletter, we’ll look at:

Trump’s plan to take over Venezuela’s oil reserves
NASA’s super-powerful new telescope
The NFL’s first Navajo player

Markets: Year-to-Date

Nasdaq

26,402.42

+13.60%

S&P

7,711.76

+12.65%

Dow

53,559.99

+11.44%

10-Year

4.720%

+55.7 bps

Bitcoin

$78,708.11

-10.06%

Marvell

$216.62

+155.28%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 11:30am ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Geopolitics and Friday’s jobs report are expected to drive events on Wall Street this week, with some tech earnings sprinkled in for good measure.
Stock spotlight: Chipmaker Marvell is ready for a brand new day of trading today after shares Sadie Sank more than 10% on Friday, despite an earnings beat.

oil change

The US’ crude awakening in Venezuela

Jose Isaac Bula/Anadolu via Getty Images

Everybody agrees President Trump’s new deal with Venezuela is tapping into something besides oil reserves. Whether that something is energy security, or something else, is in the eye of the beholder.

What’s the deal? On Friday, Trump announced on social media that his administration had struck a deal with Venezuela to obtain majority control of one-fifth of the country’s oil reserves, or about 65+ billion barrels. As part of the deal, the US will have a direct financial stake in a private company, which, per the Wall Street Journal, will:

Be led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt.
Have rights to the oil fields for 100 years.
Become the second-biggest corporate holder of proven oil reserves in the world, behind Saudi Aramco.

That typing sound you hear is Taylor Sheridan reworking scripts for the next season of Landman.

The deal is fueling mixed reactions

Trump said the arrangement will greatly increase the US’ oil supply and help replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which sits at its lowest level in decades amid the Iran war. That plan faces a Capitol Hill-shaped speed bump, though, since Congress has to green-light strategic reserve spending.

What about Democrats? For some lawmakers, the oil deal is confirmation that the US’ removal of President Nicolás Maduro in January was motivated by oil, not the federal drug trafficking offenses that he’s been charged with. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine called it “corruption at epic scale.”

What is Venezuela saying? Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said the deal will bring in tens of billions of dollars in investment, resulting in thousands of jobs and $209 billion in tax revenue, all while modernizing the country’s oil infrastructure.

But not everyone is convinced. Venezuela’s hard-liners aren’t thrilled with such close US cooperation, while Rodríguez’s opposition is upset they weren’t involved in negotiations, according to Bloomberg.

Will this help gas prices? Probably not in the short term. Venezuela’s oil infrastructure will need more than a spit shine to get up and running. And that could take years, which is one of the reasons oil companies have been reluctant to move into Venezuela following Maduro’s removal.—BC

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World

Tour de headlines

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

🤖 OpenAI plans to cut ties with Cursor after SpaceX bought it. OpenAI is severing its relationship with the coding agent and cutting off access to its models following Cursor’s acquisition by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. “We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service,” OpenAI said in a statement. The move deepens the feud between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk, after Musk sued the company he co-founded for allegedly violating its mission. Musk lost that lawsuit in May, but said he plans to appeal. In response to the news that OpenAI will cut ties with Cursor, Musk said, “I couldn’t care less.”

🇮🇸 Iceland voted against a chance to join the EU. In a narrow referendum, Icelanders voted against resuming talks to join the European Union, the country’s national broadcaster reported yesterday. Many of the “no” voters were reportedly concerned that joining the bloc would threaten Iceland’s control of its lucrative fishing industry. The result is seen as a setback for the EU, which is trying to attract new member states and gain a stronger foothold in the Arctic, per the New York Times. “Yes” voters thought that joining the EU could boost the country’s economy and stabilize its geopolitical standing. Iceland is the only NATO member without its own military.

📺 Trump calls for Meet the Press host Welker to face “rebuke or punishment.” In a social media post yesterday, President Trump called for NBC News journalist Kristen Welker to be reported to the FCC for saying he has “mixed results” on his endorsements of candidates. Trump’s record of primary endorsements is historically strong, but six of his preferred candidates for House and governor races lost this month, per NBC’s reporting. According to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter, the FCC is barred by law from punishing Welker, but could use the president’s directive as pretext for targeting NBC, as it did with ABC following Trump’s criticism of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.—AE

On the space case

New telescope could uncover the universe’s secrets

Saul Loeb/Getty Images

Dark matter and dark energy account for 95% of the universe, but we still know even less about them than where all your missing socks went. NASA’s new space telescope could help scientists learn more.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (named after NASA’s first chief astronomer) launched into space yesterday atop a SpaceX rocket toward an observation point about 1 million miles from Earth, where it will survey the cosmos like never before:

Its field of view is more than 100 times wider than Hubble’s—and its camera is much faster. It can observe in a month what it would have taken Hubble a century to do, the Associated Press reported.
Roman has a special instrument to block out starlight, making it easier to image planets orbiting other stars.
The telescope’s main mirror was repurposed from a powerful spy satellite donated by the National Reconnaissance Office.

Roman’s ultimate goals are to 1) shed light on the enigmatic nature of dark energy and 2) understand more about the many Earth-like planets that scientists theorize are out there. “Roman’s vast reach will allow us to find the weird, the rare, and the unusual,” a senior project scientist told the AP.

The Roman candle was almost unlit. The Trump administration proposed canceling the $4.3 billion project as part of budget cuts before Congress stepped in to fund it.—AE

Reader poll

Do you believe there is other intelligent life in the universe?

Yes, it’s statistically likely.
Maybe, but we’ll never find them.
No, it’s just us.
Don’t make me think about stuff like this.

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Calendar

The week ahead

Apple executives Tim Cook and John Ternus

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Apple terns over a new leaf: Tim Cook says, “Good morning!” for the last time as Apple CEO today, with Senior VP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus set to take the reins tomorrow. Cook, who is staying on as executive chairman, has left Ternus with some big sneakers to fill: According to Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan, while Cook was CEO, Apple’s market cap grew about $32 million per hour, every hour, for 15 years. He came, he saw, he cooked.

Xi–Putin meetup: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting today in Kyrgyzstan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. The two-day get-together will also include officials from India, Pakistan, and Iran, so it’s probably safe to say the US will come up in conversation. Xi and Putin last met in May.

August jobs report: The labor market looked a little shaky last month, unexpectedly losing 23,000 jobs, but hiring is expected to have bounced back in August. Analysts predict a 58,000 job gain when the data is released on Friday, according to a recent Reuters poll. But the top-line number may not tell the whole story in the US economy’s current low-hire, low-fire environment. The Federal Reserve will be taking notes, with a mid-September interest-rate decision just around the corner.

But wait, there’s more:

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will push the Trump administration’s trade policies when G20 finance officials meet in Asheville, North Carolina, today and tomorrow. Then, if there’s time, selfies at the Biltmore.
Palo Alto Networks, Dell Technologies, and Medtronic will report earnings tomorrow, while Broadcom and Snowflake will deliver results on Wednesday.
After last weekend’s amuse-bouche, Week One of the college football season kicks off this Thursday, with games running through Monday.—BC

Brendan’s got good news

Putting the Nation in National Football League

Sam Hodde/Getty Images

Mondays are bad enough, so the Brew’s own Brendan Cosgrove scoured the internet for a positive news story to help you start the week off right.

Undrafted rookie Shiyazh Pete may not have made the Dallas Cowboys’ final 53-man roster, but he’s still got star power. The 6-foot-9, 309-pound offensive tackle made history during the preseason when he became the first member of the Navajo Nation to sign an NFL contract.

Earlier this preseason, when Pete got a few snaps against the Arizona Cardinals, he received a standing ovation from fans, many of whom were wearing his Cowboys jersey. He said he lost count of how many Navajo Nation flags he saw. After the game, he won over even more fans with his inspiring locker room speech.

For Pete’s sake: The Cowboys ended up releasing Pete yesterday, but his agent said that after a “memorable preseason,” he “should get the opportunity to continue developing somewhere.”—BC

Tennis trivia

Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City is the largest tennis venue by capacity (nearly 24,000).

Where is the second-largest? Hint: It’s also in the US.

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Stadium 1 in Indian Wells, California

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: enigmatic, meaning “mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand completely.” Thanks to Carla from Aberdeen, OH, and several others for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✳︎ A Note From Miso Robotics

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Written by Adam Epstein, Brendan Cosgrove, and Neal Freyman

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☕ Oil change