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Brought to you by AWS Making cloud and AI decisions this year at AWS Reinvent evaluate what's working with the leaders who've already made those calls. Save $1,200 with early bird pricing through August 25th.
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Register@AWS.com reinvent2people have now died from the cyclosporiasis outbreak, and there's a spiny desert plant that could one day make your toilet paper softer.
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The company has been scouring the earth for material that could replace wood fiber for 20 years.
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Plus rip to the Ford Taurus. Why did Ford stop making boring cars? It's Monday, August 3rd. I'm Danny Lewis for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola. This is the PM edition of what's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world. We start today's show with the latest on the cyclosporiasis outbreak that spread across the US this summer. Two people in Michigan have now died, the first deaths tied to the outbreak. Michigan public health officials say that both of the people had significant underlying health conditions and that those may have been exacerbated by the illness and dehydration. Cyclospirasis is not generally life threatening in the U.S. turning to the Middle East, Iran says there are no talks underway or planned with the US President Trump this weekend called off a major strike on the country to provide more time for negotiations on freeing traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. But the Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected Trump's suggestion that talks were underway, though Tehran did acknowledge that it is continuing talks with Oman on how to manage the Strait of Hormuz. In a social media post today, Trump called Iran's leadership quote duplicitous. Stocks rallied and oil fell today on hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough. On Iran, the Nasdaq soared more than 2%. The Dow and S and P both gained more than 1%, with the Dow closing at a record its first since early July. And Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell 4.7%. It's trading just under $84 a barrel in earnings today. Marriott says the conflict in Iran put a significant damper on second quarter sales, and the hotel chain is bracing for persistent challenges from the war, while Marriott's second quarter revenue rose 5% to more than $7 billion. That missed analyst expectations. And in the Middle East, Marriott saw a 43% drop in a crucial lodging metric. Revenue per available room shares fell about 7%. And Tyson Foods lowered its profit outlook for the year as soaring cattle prices continue to weigh on the meatpacking company's bottom line. Tyson says it expects its beef division to lose up to $650 million this fiscal year, but its stock closed up 2.9%. And as you heard on our show last week, Chevron and ExxonMobil just posted blockbuster earnings. President Trump has a problem with that.
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But they made too much money. Too much money. Chevron too much money. ExxonMobil too much, too much money.
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The companies are benefiting after the Iran war sent energy prices higher.
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They going to give some of that back to the public and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price.
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Exxon and Chevron declined to comment. Ford used to be known for frankly, boring cars. Cheap hatchbacks, minivans, and the good old family sedan like my high school friend's 1994 Ford Taurus that we lovingly called the Silver Bullet. But Ford no longer makes any of those cars. Instead, the automaker's new lineup is all about passion, and it's been great for Ford's bottom line. WSJ Autos reporter Ryan Felton joins us now from Detroit to explain just what's behind Ford's new strategy.
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The overall umbrella term is, is no boring cars. They don't want something that looks like everything else anymore. You know, you definitely could see that in some of the styling choices that they make, but also just the fact that they've leaned into some of the iconic ones. You got the Mustang, the F150, the Bronco.
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But one of the things about boring is that those tend to be a little bit more affordable, right? Henry Ford once wrote that he'd rather sell lots of cars at a small profit than to make more money on fewer sales. Why is the company now going in the opposite direction of its founder?
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They're adamant that they're not abandoning the affordable market and that we're just kind of in this transition period. They say that they're intent on getting back into the space by the end of the decade. But in the meantime, yes, the cheapest options that Ford has available is a small pickup truck and a small Bronco that is not totally welcoming and inviting to everyone. You have to really like it.
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What does this all mean for Ford dealers?
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I think you see some dealers grousing about this, but the small car segment is a much smaller percentage of the overall market than it was, you know, 10, 20, 30 years ago. So what the competitors are fighting over is 5, maybe 6, 7% share of the overall market that they're all divvying up.
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That's WSJ Autos reporter Ryan Felton. Thanks for joining us.
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Thank you.
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Coming up, a backyard battery startup has raised a billion dollars as demand for electricity booms. That's just ahead,
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brought to you by AWS in cloud and AI, the gap between announcement and application is shrinking. At aws re Invent 2026, new services launch on stage and are immediately unpacked through sessions, peer conversations and live walkthroughs. AWS Re Invent is where leaders understand not just what's new, but how it works in practice and what it means for their strategy. Register and save $1,200 with early bird pricing through August 25th. Register@AWS.com Reinvent.
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In Washington, the two Republican senators who had stood in the way of Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general say they now plan to advance him. That's after Blanch said he had formally rescinded the controversial $1.8 billion Anti Weaponization Fund. The fund could have been used to pay President Trump's allies. The Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Blanche's nomination is set for tomorrow. But even after winning the backing from the two senators, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, it's not clear if Blanche has enough support in the full Senate to win the role. Also unclear just how legally binding the Justice Department's new move is. We exclusively report that a home battery startup co founded by the son of Michael dell has raised 1 billion doll. That company is called Base Power, and it now has a $13 billion valuation. Zach Dell's company is three years old and it's riding the trend of a nationwide boom in residential electricity storage. It's installed more than 23,000 home batteries across Texas and the Chicago area, giving customers up to 36 hours of backup electricity. Basepower does about 100 installations a day and hopes to double that by the end of the year. And finally, could paper products wave goodbye to wood? After a 20 year search, Kimberly Clark says it may have found a new material for making paper towels and toilet paper. WSJ business reporter Natasha Khan is here now to tell us why the company behind brands like Scott Cottonelle and Huggies is so excited about Hesper Aloe. Okay, Natasha, what is Hesperaloe?
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Well, it's a plant with long, pointy leaves. It grows in arid climates. When the company found it growing at an abandoned Arizona test crop facility, it had been unattended for years, but the plants were thriving, so it was signed to them that it could be a durable crop. Scientists have told me that the Hesperala requires less water to cultivate. So it's another potential benefit when they're growing it in a region where water can be scarce.
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So why is Kimberly Clark so gung ho about this plant?
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The company has been scouring the earth for material that could replace wood Fiber for 20 years. And one of the things that they're particularly excited about with Hesperalo is that cost and scale seem promising, that it can make stronger and softer paper based products. And they're hoping that it could also have a less environmentally damaging footprint as well. They've had a previously stated ambition to eventually stop using fibers from natural forests in their products. So they really began this 20 year quest for potential sources. So looking at wheat straw, leftover corn, they even looked at chicken feathers and seaweed, really trying to pulp everything to see if it might give them a similar result as wood fiber traditionally has. They've told us that there's a long research Runway ahead, but at this point, the company says that it's the first to do substantial research on Hasparallo and already holds more than 30 patents related to these findings. They are right now building a facility in Arizona to further evaluate whether Hesperalo is a viable commercial crop. That facility is slated to open next year.
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All right, WSJ's Natasha Khan, thanks for joining us.
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Thank you.
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And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Talia Arbel. I'm Danny Lewis for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.
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Brought to you by aws. In Cloud and AI, the gap between announcement and application is shrinking. At aws re Invent 2026, new services launch on stage and are immediately unpacked through sessions, peer conversations and live walkthroughs. AWS Re Invent is where leaders understand not just what's new, but how it works in practice and what it means for their strategy. Register and save $1,200 with earlybird pricing through August 25th. Register@AWS.com Reinvention.