highs

Imagine losing your home and belongings to a wildfire, then losing your best friend when he was killed by a suspected driver under the influence, all happening within months of each other.

Max Meier, a star defensive tackle for Loyola High who has committed to Stanford, dealt with that kind of awful adversity this year, losing his family home in the Palisades fire, then losing classmate Braun Levi in May when he was hit by a car while walking on a Manhattan Beach street.

To hear Meier’s response and wisdom while dealing with two tragedies offers hope for the future.

“I think in this life, everyone has demons in the closet,” Meier said. “Everyone has bad things that happen But we realize in these moments, as horrible as they are, losing your things in a fire, they’re replaceable, but losing someone who was like an older brother, can’t replace that. He’s somebody I’ll be be chasing to live like he did. As a teenager it was tough, but you learn about life and how every day you have to give it your all. I’ve actually started to live my life more fully and started to live every day the best I can.”

As a football player, at 6 feet 5 and 250 pounds, Meier is enjoying his best season as a senior with 9 1/2 sacks, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Loyola lost close to a dozen players who abandoned the program one by one in the offseason. They gave up, thinking the Cubs were not going to be good or leaving because they disliked something. Those who stayed had to place their trust in themselves.

“There’s no better motivator knowing every single person left and you’re the ones left,” he said. “This summer, we’re like, ‘There’s 10 games left and you’re either going to give up or let’s show everyone what we got and why they wrote us off.’ We have some problems. Every team does. We’re really motivated to show what we can do.”

Playing at SoFi Stadium on Oct 19 and coming away with a 13-10 upset victory over Gardena Serra was a moment Meier and his teammates will cherish. The Cubs lost to Bishop Amat 30-14 on Friday night and are 4-4 and 1-2 in the Mission League.

“Warming up under all those seats is just ridiculous,” he said. “I thought it was the most awesome thing. That turf was super fast. You could hear things super loud and it gave you an idea what a college stadium might feel like, I thought it was the best experience all time. It was a thing on my bucket list. Getting a sack at SoFi never thought of something I want to do, but I did it. It was cool.”

Since Meier lost his home, he was eligible to switch schools this year and play immediately. His two sisters graduated from Palisades. He has friends at Palisades. But he was never leaving Loyola.

Everyone, from parents to classmates to alumni, banded together to help those affected by the fire. They provided food, clothing and emotional support.

“After the fires, I realized how special it is,” he said. “All that’s left in my closet is from Loyola. They’re the most amazing people to me.”

So understand what you’re getting each time you face Loyola this season — a team dedicated to each other and having each other’s backs. And in Meier, the Cubs have someone who’s going to represent Loyola values for years to come.

“Breathing on this earth is a humble thing,” Meier said.

Lacking confidence as a 14-year-old freshman, Melion Busano entered high school with one thought in mind.

“Just get the four years over with,” he said.

In September 2022, while getting 30 minutes to try out for the basketball team at Eagle Rock High, his confidence was shaken even more.

“They said if we send you a text, you made the team. I never got that text,” he said. “I was in denial. ‘Maybe they forgot me.’ After the third or fourth week, I was [thinking], ‘Maybe they didn’t send that text.’”

Rejection left him adrift, but then came the moment that changed his life. While carrying around a camera for film class, the JV football coach, Vince Vergara, noticed him, pulled him aside and asked, “Hey, do you want to play football?”

He joined the JV team as a sophomore. His mother had refused to let him play football years ago after seeing the 2015 film, “Concussion.” This time, she told him, “Be careful.”

He started from scratch.

“I had to learn on the fly,” he said. “I didn’t know what type of run plays or nothing. Never played youth football, never played flag.”

Last season as a junior, he made varsity and had 211 yards rushing and two touchdowns. This season, as a much improved 5-foot-10, 195-pound senior, he’s become so valuable that coach Andy Moran said he’s the best running back in the City Section, having rushed for 824 yards and 13 touchdowns going into the Northern League title decider against Franklin on Friday.

“He doesn’t go down and everybody has prepared to stop him and hasn’t,” Moran said.

He had 143 yards rushing against Granada Hills Kennedy, 108 yards against Monrovia, 146 yards against Bell, 141 yards against Marquez and 107 yards against L.A. Marshall.

His father was a Marine for 20 years and came here as a teenager from Belize. His mother is from the Philippines.

“Sadly I have not gone to either but would love to go,” he said.

His first name stands for “My Lion.”

“You’re a lion, so you’re fierce,” his father tells him.

With renewed confidence, Busano has discovered a love for football and a belief he can keep getting better with experience.

He even tried out for basketball again and made the team, then decided to focus on football.

His father told him, “Try again, work harder, make yourself a better person.”

It’s all part of the high school experience — experimenting, exploring and dealing with the positives and negatives that happen to everyone in their teenage years. His younger brother also made the football team.

“Now I’m kicking myself why didn’t I do this my freshman year,” Busano said. “Now I appreciate the little things, about discipline, always do your job, don’t do someone else’s job. It’s helped me grow up as a person. I was very ignorant and blind walking into this. I felt I probably won’t be the worst player but probably second string, but I came onto the field and started. It was, ‘Wow.’”

Soon he hopes to visit Belize or Manila to learn more about his parents’ home countries.

“My dad says my grandma has a house where you can wake up and look out the window and the beach is right there,” he said. “I want to visit both.”

He’s a 17-year-old seeing a whole different world and a whole different future with the help of his football experiences.

Walmart (WMT -0.63%) is a stock that most investors probably consider to be a safe investment. Its stores are go-to locations for consumers, whether they’re buying groceries, day-to-day essentials, or discretionary items. The business has been resilient over the years and has shown strength while other retailers have struggled.

That safety has lured in investors at a time of uncertainty in the markets. But has that bullishness pushed its value up too much, too quickly? Currently, Walmart’s stock is trading at not just a 52-week high, but also at an all-time high. Is it still a good buy at these levels, or could it be due for a pullback?

Image source: Getty Images.

Walmart’s stock is trading at elevated levels

Investors have been paying a premium for Walmart’s stock due to the safety it offers and the solid, resilient earnings numbers it has been posting in recent quarters. But there’s no denying that the premium is high right now, with Walmart trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of nearly 40, which is far higher than its 10-year average.

WMT PE Ratio data by YCharts

Usually, for retail stocks such as Walmart, whose businesses are growing in the single digits, investors aren’t willing pay more than 30 times their trailing earnings, unless they are expecting significantly more growth ahead. However, that doesn’t look to be the case with Walmart; it’s forecasting between 3.75% and 4.75% full-year growth for its net sales for the current fiscal year (which ends in January).

Meanwhile, the company admits that it is facing rising costs due to tariffs and it may have to absorb some of the increases. Not only might the business’ margins suffer, but consumer demand may also diminish in future quarters if prices increase. This could lead to some underwhelming quarterly results in the months ahead.

Walmart could have even more problems to worry about

Another reason Walmart may encounter challenges is due to rising competition from Amazon, arguably its archrival at this point. Amazon recently announced that it is offering same-day grocery delivery in over 1,000 U.S. cities and its goal is to double that number by the end of the year. While Amazon’s grocery business hasn’t been a huge concern for Walmart in recent years, the tech giant is by no means giving up.

By offering same-day delivery options for groceries, that could be the move that puts Amazon head to head with Walmart in a key market, which could make it more challenging for the big-box retailer to not only grow its sales, but also its bottom line. And without strong earnings growth, Walmart’s already rich valuation could look much more expensive in the future.

Should you buy Walmart stock right now?

Walmart has a solid business that has generated nearly $700 billion in sales over the past 12 months. It’s a beast in retail and it isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future. Based on its strong fundamentals, it can remain a solid long-term investment.

That being said, investors should never ignore valuation because buying a stock at a high price can limit your gains from owning an investment, and it leaves little to no margin of safety. If you’re paying close to 40 times earnings for Walmart’s stock at a time when there’s growing economic uncertainty and when competition is also intensifying, that can result in a lot of pain, at least in the short term.

Given the high share price and downside risk that Walmart possesses right now, I think investors may be better off looking at cheaper growth stocks to buy.

Oct. 6 (UPI) — The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs Monday after ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices reached a mega-deal that ignited a rally, despite the U.S. government shutdown entering its second week.

Chipmaker AMD shares closed 23.71% higher as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.71% to end the day at a new record high of 22,941.67. The S&P 500 gained 0.36% to close at 6,740.28. Despite record closes for the Nasdaq and S&P, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1%.

AMD, one of Nvidia’s key rivals, announced earlier Monday it had agreed to a multi-year deal to supply chips to OpenAI, which could end-up taking a 10% stake in the chipmaker.

“Excited to partner with AMD to use their chips to serve our users!” Sam Altman, OpenAI co-founder and chief executive officer, wrote in a post on X.

“This is all incremental to our work with NVIDIA (and we plan to increase our NVIDIA purchasing over time),” Altman added.

Nvidia announced last month it would invest as much as $100 billion to help power OpenAI’s new AI models. After Monday’s news of the AMD-OpenAI deal, which boosted tech stocks and optimism for AI, Nvidia’s shares closed down 1%.

“The AI narrative continues to gain momentum,” said Louis Navellier, founder and chief investment officer of Navellier & Associates.

The deal “gives some competition for NVIDIA, which currently dominates AI chips, and accelerates the timeline for data center buildouts,” Navellier added.

OpenAI said it will deploy 6 gigawatts of AMD’s Instinct graphics processing units across multiple generations of hardware for the next few years. The first 1-gigawatt rollout of chips is expected to take place in about a year.

“We have to do this,” OpenAI president Greg Brockman told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

“This is so core to our mission if we really want to be able to scale to reach all of humanity, this is what we have to do.”

At the time of this writing, the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.34%) is less than 1% off its all-time high and up 73% since the start of 2023. Artificial intelligence (AI) and investor appetite for risk have contributed to the torrid gains, making the market relatively expensive.

You may have seen headlines saying that the S&P 500 is overvalued compared to its historical averages. Or that red-hot growth stocks have run up too fast. But that doesn’t tell the full story.

Three simple valuation metrics — earnings, trailing price-to-earnings ratio, and forward price-to-earnings ratio — explain what’s going on with the market’s valuation. Here’s why they matter, why the S&P 500 isn’t as expensive as it seems, and what that means for your investment portfolio.

Image source: Getty Images.

This growth-driven market commands a premium price

The S&P 500 is an index featuring the 500 largest companies in the U.S. by market cap. The more valuable a company, the greater its influence on the index through its stock price. So a $4.5 trillion-plus company like Nvidia has more than 10 times the influence as a $400 billion company like Home Depot. But that also means Nvidia has 10 times the impact on S&P 500 earnings.

Just like individual companies, the S&P 500 has an earnings per share (EPS) metric. This is just an average of the earnings of each company adjusted for weight in the index. So again, Nvidia’s earnings will have 10-plus times the impact as Home Depot’s.

Ten particularly influential growth stocks, known as the “Ten Titans,” now make up 39% of the S&P 500. But many of these companies are being valued for where they will be several years from now rather than where they are today. Meaning that their price-to-earnings ratios (P/E) and forward P/E ratios are elevated, thereby bloating the valuation of the S&P 500.

According to data from FactSet, the forward P/E of the S&P 500 is 22.5, compared to a five-year average of 19.9 and a 10-year average of 18.6. Based on forward earnings projections for the next year, which tend to favor growth stocks, the S&P 500 is 13.1% pricier than its five-year average and 21% more expensive than its 10-year average. Even if companies live up to expectations, their stock prices may not go up in the near term simply because these results may already be priced in.

Valuation matters less for investors with a long-term time horizon. If the S&P 500 goes nowhere for a year or two but earnings keep growing, the narrative will flip, and the index will look cheap. So the five- or 10-year return could still be solid, reinforcing the importance of approaching the stock market with a long-term time horizon rather than trying to make a quick buck.

S&P 500 gains can be misleading

Using P/E ratios and forward P/E ratios compared to historical averages only tells part of the story. Those two metrics alone may suggest that all stocks are expensive, but that’s not the case.

Data by YCharts.

As mentioned before, the S&P 500 is up 73% since the start of 2023, but the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index has returned just 33.3% — a nearly 40 percentage point difference. Instead of weighting by market cap, the S&P 500 equal-weight gives all S&P 500 components the same influence on the index. Nvidia moves the S&P 500 equal-weight index the same as any other company does.

When the S&P 500 outperforms its 500 equal-weighted index, it means that megacap companies are doing better than companies with smaller market caps. When the equal-weighted index outperforms, it means the megacap names are dragging down the index.

Since the start of 2023, megacap companies have drastically outperformed smaller S&P 500 names. Over the last decade, the S&P 500 rose 253.1% while the equal-weight jumped 161.6%. It would have been especially difficult for an individual investor to keep pace or outperform the S&P 500 during this period without significant exposure to megacap growth stocks.

Buying the S&P 500 for the right reasons

The biggest takeaway from these metrics is that the S&P 500 is expensive because a handful of growth stocks are driving its returns. But that doesn’t mean that all S&P 500 stocks are pricey. In fact, that’s hardly the case.

Many consumer discretionary and consumer staples companies have dirt cheap valuations due to pullbacks in spending. Even pockets of the tech sector are beaten down, namely in the application software industry, due to concerns of AI disruption for software-as-a-service business models.

Investors looking for stocks at a better value may not want to buy the S&P 500 at an all-time high. Or at least have it make up a smaller percentage of their portfolios. Whereas folks who believe that the Ten Titans will keep driving market gains may argue that the S&P 500 can grow into its lofty valuation because these companies are extremely well run, have tons of growth potential, high margins, and exceptional balance sheets.

In sum, the S&P 500 is no longer a balanced index, but rather a growth index. And that means investors should only consider buying it if its composition and valuation suit their risk tolerance.

Ayala High basketball coach Sameer Bhatt, who also teaches AP Government, says of his senior point guard, Joshua Townsell, “He’s the epitome of what you want a student athlete to be.”

On Monday, Townsell and 10 other Southern Section athletes were honored at the 20th Dr. Jim Staunton Champions for Character Awards.

Besides being given a $1,000 scholarship, Townsell received a gift certificate for free Raising Cane’s chicken for a year. That’s what he was most bragging about.

His coach sent out an email to the entire Ayala faculty, saying, “While he may not seek the spotlight, the impact he has made on our basketball program, and the wider Bulldog community, is nothing short of remarkable.”

He has a 4.0 grade-point average and serves as a mentor to many of his teammates. He has volunteered to assist in water development projects in Nigeria and community service in Pomona. He’s also a star point guard who was first-team all-league as a junior.

Teammates will be congratulating him — and asking to accompany him when he goes for a chicken dinner.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

The S&P 500 hit another record high this week. It’s now up about 18% over the past year. That has most stocks trading at much higher valuations than they were a year ago. The rally has also compressed dividend yields.

Despite the market’s rally, there are still some attractive opportunities, especially for investors seeking higher dividend yields. Enterprise Products Partners (EPD -0.58%), Energy Transfer (ET -0.80%), and Clearway Energy (CWEN -0.02%) (CWEN.A -0.11%) stand out to a few Fool.com contributing analysts right now. Here’s why they’re compelling buys even as the S&P 500 is at an all-time high.

Image source: Getty Images.

Enterprise Products Partners is strong and still growing

Reuben Gregg Brewer (Enterprise Products Partners): Nobody is going to accuse Enterprise Products Partners of being a hare. It is, decidedly, a tortoise. But given the huge 6.8% distribution yield, few income-focused investors aren’t likely to complain. That’s doubly true when you consider that this master limited partnership’s (MLP’s) distribution is covered by a huge 1.7x by distributable cash flow. A lot would have to go wrong before the distribution was at risk.

Adding to the feeling of security here is the fact that the company is investment-grade rated. Even if distribution coverage faltered, Enterprise Products Partners could lean on its balance sheet for a little while to muddle through a difficult period. But even that is unlikely because the MLP’s business is fee-based. Essentially, it charges customers for using its energy infrastructure assets, like pipelines. The prices of oil and natural gas are far less important than demand for these globally vital fuels. Even when commodity prices are weak, demand for energy still tends to be resilient.

This helps explain why Enterprise Products Partners has been able to increase its distribution annually for 27 consecutive years. That streak, meanwhile, is likely to continue, noting that the MLP is in the middle of a $6 billion capital investment program. As those new projects come online, cash flow will grow and support continued distribution growth. The level of the S&P 500 index, high or low, isn’t likely to change any of these facts much.

The coming growth reacceleration

Matt DiLallo (Energy Transfer): Energy Transfer stands out in today’s high-priced stock market. Units of the master limited partnership (MLP) are currently down about 15% from their 52-week high. As a result, the company has the second-lowest valuation in the energy midstream sector, at less than nine times earnings, which is well below the sector average of 12 times earnings. That low valuation is a big reason why Energy Transfer’s yield is 7.5%.

Slowing growth is the main factor driving down the MLP’s unit price this year. Energy Transfer expects its earnings to be at or below the low end of its guidance range, implying less than 4% growth. That’s well below the 10% compound annual growth rate the company delivered from 2020 through 2024. Energy Transfer has fewer growth catalysts this year as it hasn’t completed many expansion projects or major acquisitions.

However, that’s about to change. Energy Transfer is investing $5 billion into organic capital projects this year, with most expected to come online by the end of 2026. These projects should begin providing meaningful incremental cash flow starting in 2026 and continuing into 2027, which should fuel a growth reacceleration during that period. In addition, the company has more projects in the backlog, including the $5.3 billion Transwestern Pipeline Expansion Project, which should enter service by the end of the decade. It also has several other projects under development.

Energy Transfer is currently in the best financial shape in its history. That puts it in a strong position to continue approving growth capital projects and make acquisitions when the right opportunity arises.

With its unit price down and an exciting growth reacceleration set to kick off in 2026 and ramp up into 2027 as new projects launch, Energy Transfer stands out as a compelling buy right now. It can provide investors with an attractive income stream and high-octane upside potential.

Lock-in dividend growth through at least 2027

Neha Chamaria (Clearway Energy): Clearway Energy yields a hefty 6.3%. That high yield is backed by rising dividends, with the company even setting out dividend per share goals through 2027. The stock, however, has slipped nearly 15% in the past two months. It’s a compelling opportunity to buy.

Based on Clearway Energy’s last quarterly dividend payout, its annualized dividend per share (DPS) comes up to $1.78 per share. The company is targeting a DPS of $1.98 in 2027, which is a neat 11% growth in absolute terms. Since Clearway Energy typically raises its dividend every quarter, that goal looks easily doable. Also, it has its growth plans in place to back those dividends.

Clearway Energy is among the largest clean energy companies in the U.S. with a focus on wind, solar, and battery storage. Its parent company, Clearway Energy Group, has a renewables pipeline of 29 gigawatts. So there’s ample opportunity for growth for Clearway in the form of asset dropdowns from its parent. And it can always supplement growth through third-party acquisitions.

With 2025 kicking off on a strong note thanks to wind project repowering, acquisitions, and opportunities from its parent, Clearway Energy recently upped its guidance. It expects to generate $2.50-$2.70 in cash available for distribution (CAFD) per share in 2027. That should comfortably cover its targeted 2027 DPS, making this high-yield renewable energy stock a solid buy now.

With investor sentiment around nuclear energy gathering momentum by the day, Oklo (OKLO 12.02%) has become unstoppable. The nuclear energy stock surged 11.9% today to all-time highs of $92.48 per share, as of 1 p.m. ET Monday.

Oklo stock has risen a jaw-dropping 330% in 2025 so far, as of this writing. Yes, you read that right, and today, you may thank President Donald Trump for sending the red-hot stock to a new all-time high.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nuclear power deals incoming

In a press statement released this morning, the U.K. government of revealed a flurry of deals that it will sign with the U.S. this week during Trump’s state visit to the nation. The U.K. government says it is the “golden age of nuclear power.”

The landmark partnership between the U.S. and the U.K. called the Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy seeks to speed up the development and deployment of nuclear energy projects in both countries. The list of projects to be inked include multibillion-dollar deals, including plans to build up to 12 advanced modular reactors and develop data centers powered by small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.K.

Although most of the deals are between private companies for now, the partnership will open the U.K. market to U.S. nuclear energy players, potentially paving the way for billions of dollars in investments between the two countries.

Investors believe Oklo could benefit, too, especially given its relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Oklo stock deserves the attention, but…

Oklo is developing a small, modular fast-fission nuclear power plant called the Aurora powerhouse that can supply clean nuclear energy 24/7 and can even use recycled fuel. Oklo already has a site permit from the DOE to set up a commercial plant in Idaho, is in a DOE reactor pilot program, and has fuel supply agreements with the DOE, among other things.

Oklo is also focused on nuclear waste recycling. Just days ago, the company announced plans to build a $1.68 billion fuel recycling facility in Tennessee.

Oklo’s multifaceted relationship with the DOE and recent partnerships for data centers have sent the stock to the moon. The attention isn’t unwarranted, but with its market capitalization already crossing $13 billion, the valuations for a start-up that could still take years to commercialize its first product and generate any revenue look too stretched for comfort now.

Shares of little-known company Ibex (IBEX 36.38%) went parabolic today, shooting 41.1% higher in early-morning trading. The stock was still trading around 33% up at 1:15 p.m. ET Friday.

Ibex is a business process outsourcing company, providing a wide array of services such as customer and technical support, lead generation, surveys, and business intelligence and analytics.

Turns out, Ibex’s efforts to build a digital business have already started to pay off, and that is drawing attention to the stock today. The keyword here is artificial intelligence (AI).

Image source: Getty Images.

AI-driven growth

Ibex reported numbers for its 2025 fourth quarter and fiscal year (ended June 30) after the Sept. 11 market close. Ibex’s Q4 revenue jumped 18% year over year to $147 million, driven by strong growth in its top three markets: retail and e-commerce; healthcare; and travel, transportation, and logistics.

The real deal, however, is what Ibex’s full earnings report looked like:

• Record fourth-quarter and full-year revenue
• Highest revenue growth in 11 quarters
• Fastest revenue growth in three years for the full year
• Record free cash flow

These are big milestones, but they’re not really why Ibex stock is going to the moon. It’s these words from CEO Bob Dechant: “Importantly, this quarter marked the shift from proof of concept for our AI solutions to full-scale deployments, setting the table for future growth.”

Ibex is “transforming into a digital-first business” by leveraging AI through its Wave iX platform, which uses generative AI to improve customer experiences. Earlier this month, Ibex said it is targeting the government sector now.

What’s next for Ibex stock?

The company’s capital expenditures more than doubled to $18.4 million in 2025, driven by capacity expansion. Ibex generated record free cash flow of $27.3 million in the year and repurchased nearly 3.9 million shares, almost 23% of its outstanding shares.

Following Ibex’s strong earnings report, analysts at RBC Capital were quick to raise their price target on the stock to $39 per share from $31 a share. Ibex stock already hit an all-time high of $42.99 per share today.

With Ibex projecting 7.5% revenue growth at the midpoint for FY 2026 and capital expenditure of $20 million to $25 million on further expansions, this is one stock you should have on your radar.

Since President Donald Trump stared enacting tariffs earlier this year, everyone from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to the average retail investor has been trying to figure out how they will affect the economy and whether they will reignite inflation.

So far, the economy and inflation seem to be OK. However, it’s still early, and the tariffs are constantly changing, which makes understanding the longer-term impact even more difficult.

The Trump administration and many in support of tariffs have said that they will not lead to higher inflation and have been lobbying Powell to lower interest rates. But make no mistake: President Trump has a tariff problem that could be a roadblock for a stock market hovering around all-time highs.

Somebody is going to have to bear the cost

Tariffs are a tax on imported goods, intended to make foreign goods more expensive, therefore aiding the competitive position of domestically made goods. So far, Trump’s tariffs have brought in significant revenue, including more than $29 billion in customs and excise taxes in July. In prior years, the monthly customs and excise taxes have amounted to less than $10 billion.

Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour.

However, most economists and other experts point out that someone has to foot the bill, which is why they are concerned about an eventual rebound in inflation. Up until now, inflation has remained subdued, or at least not risen like some expected, although core inflation rose in both June and July.

But the biggest indicator that higher inflation could be cooking came after a recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report. Although the PPI is not as widely followed as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the July PPI certainly moved markets this month.

That index looks at the change in producer prices across industries and essentially serves as a gauge of wholesale inflation. What investors should think about is that if manufacturers are seeing price increases, how long until those funnel down and eventually hit consumers?

The July PPI increased 0.9% from the prior month, significantly higher than the consensus estimate of 0.2%. It was the biggest monthly increase since June of 2022, a period of extremely high inflation in the U.S.

CalBay Investments Chief Market Strategist Clark Geranen recently told CNBC: “The fact that PPI was stronger than expected and CPI has been relatively soft suggests that businesses are eating much of the tariff costs instead of passing them on to the consumer. Businesses may soon start to reverse course and start passing these costs to consumers.”

Prior to the PPI report, traders betting on changes in the federal funds rate had placed a nearly 99% chance that the Fed would cut interest rates at its September meeting. As of this writing on Aug. 19, that percentage had dropped to about 85%, according to CME Group‘s FedWatch tool.

The stock market is pricing in significant rate cuts

President Trump’s problem, in my view, is that the market is pricing in significant interest rate cuts. Between now and the end of 2026, the forward curve indicates there will be five cuts. While the market doesn’t necessarily want the Fed to have to make cuts due to some kind of severe recession or economic downturn, incremental cuts to support the economy and keep it on sound footing are expected to bolster the market, which seems to be a contributor in driving it to new all-time highs on numerous occasions this year.

Powell won’t cut rates five times if the Fed sees inflation moving higher, because that could put the economy in a stagflation scenario, where unemployment and inflation are both moving higher, making it more difficult for the Fed to achieve its dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment.

I think the tariffs at the very least will keep the market and the Fed in a period of uncertainty, making it potentially difficult for the Fed to cut rates as much as the market hopes. With the stock market hovering near all-time highs and with a stretched valuation, I believe this dynamic could create a roadblock for the market.

By&nbspEuronews&nbspwith&nbspAP

Published on 13/08/2025 – 12:38 GMT+2
•Updated
12:54

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Shares charged higher in Europe and Asia on Wednesday after US stocks hit new records when data that showed inflation across the United States improved slightly last month.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added to its record set a day earlier.

The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed.

A recent rally in share prices has been driven partly by relief over an extended truce in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, and partly by persisting hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Those were reinforced by a moderation in the consumer price index in July.

Germany’s DAX rose 0.8% to 24,207.78 and the CAC 40 in Paris picked up 0.4% to 7,784.63. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher, to 9,157.26.

Asian markets

“Asia woke up in full risk-on mode, riding the coattails of a US session that looked like someone hit the ‘infinite bid’ button after CPI didn’t blow the inflation doors off,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

China and the US agreed to a 90 day extension, from 12 August, of their pause in drastically higher tariff rates on each others’ exports to allow more time for talks on a broad trade agreement. Although uncertainty over what the negotiations will yield remains, the truce has relieved pressure on companies and countries across Asia that rely heavily in supply chains routed through China.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.6% to 25,613.67, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.5% to 3,683.46.

In Japan, relief over the Trump administration’s confirmation that its exports will face a flat 15% US import duty has driven strong buying of computer chip-related companies and other exporters.

The Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% to 43,274.67.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.1% to 3,224.37. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.6% to 8,827.10.

Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.9% and the Sensex in India gained 0.5%. In Bangkok, the SET climbed 1% after the Bank of Thailand cut its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.5%.

US markets

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% to top its all-time high set two weeks ago. It closed at 6,445.76.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1% to 44,458.61, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4% to set its own record of 21,681.90.

The better-than-expected report on inflation raised hopes the Federal Reserve will have the leeway to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September.

Tuesday’s report said US consumers paid prices for groceries, gasoline and other costs of living that were overall 2.7% higher in July than in the previous year. That’s the same inflation rate as June’s, and it was below the 2.8% that economists expected.

Lower rates would give a boost to investment prices and to the economy by making it cheaper for US households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment. President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for cuts to help the economy, often insulting the Fed’s chair personally while doing so.

The Fed has hesitated, worried that Trump’s tariffs could make inflation much worse.

The Fed will get one more report on inflation and another on the US job market, before its next meeting, which ends 17 September. The most recent jobs report was a stunner, coming in much weaker than economists expected.

Critics say the broad US stock market is looking expensive after its surge from a bottom in April. That’s putting pressure on companies to deliver continued growth in profit.

In other dealings early Wednesday, US benchmark crude oil dropped 26 cents to $62.91 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 20 cents to $65.92 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar fell to 147.24 Japanese yen from 147.84 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1727 from $1.1677.

July 21 (UPI) — Two U.S. stock indexes — Standard and Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq Composite 500 — ended trading Monday with record highs as companies release earnings this week, though investors brace for U.S. tariff increases.

The S&P 500 hit a high of 6,305.60 with a rise of 8.81 points, or 0.6%, above the record 6,297.36 set Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq reached 20,974.18, a rise of 78.52, or 0.38%, after a record 20,895.66 on Friday.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day with a loss of 19.12 points, or 0.04%, to reach 44,323.07 and off the record 45,073.63 on Dec. 4. The index’s high this year was 45,008.75 on Jan. 30, 10 days after Donald Trump took office for his second term.

DJIA was in the green during the day with the other indexes higher.

Morgan Stanely Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Mike Wilson forecasts the S&P will climb to 7,200 points by mid-2026 in a report by USA Today.

The Magniciant Seven technology stocks have not released data yet with sixt of them rising Thursday Apple (0.62%0, Alphabet (2.8%), Amazon (1.43%), Meta (1.23), Microsoft (0.002%).

Declining were Nvidia (0.6% and Tesla (0.35%).

Tesla, with a stock price of 329.49 is down 13.39% year to date. The stock slumped to 221.86 on April 8, but over five years Tesla is up 247.72%.

The 11 CNBC technology sectors ended trading within a small range — from Consumer Discretionary up 0.6% to energy down 0.96%.

Earnings reports have already been strong.

Verizon’s stock price climbed 5% after posting better-than-expected earnings and revenue, and finished with a rise of 4.04%. Of the 62 S&P companies that have reported, more than 85% beat expectations, according to FactSet data as reported by CNBC.

Earnings for the second quarter, which ended June 30, are tracking 5% over one year, according Bank of America.

“Rarely do you injure yourself falling out of a basement window,” Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said to CNBC. “With expectations so low in earnings, I think that the end result will end up being better than anticipated. That is encouraging for the market, as well.”

Stoval said he believes the S&P could hit 6,600 before declining.

“A lot of the negativity has typically been shaken out of the market during these corrections, and now we’re seeing articles about maybe the economy is not as bad as we thought it was, consumer confidence is on the mend and we’re not seeing the inflation numbers be adversely affected by tariffs,” he said. “Maybe it’s just a matter of time before those things kick in, but at least for now, I think investors are saying, ‘You know what, the market is indicating that it wants to go higher.'”

Dan Greenhaus at Solus Alternative Asset Management was more cautious. He told Bloomberg News: “Given the better-than-expected inflation and economic data — not to mention corporate commentary which thus far has been pretty good — I’m not sure I’d put too much stock in the technicals right now.”

Stocks lately haven’t been volatile, especially compared with April. Before trading this week, the S&P went 17 sessions without a move of more than 1% in each direction.

Trump threatened tariffs on the April 2 “Liberation Day” of across-the-board tariffs on most U.S. trading partners and much higher for offenders.

Indexes then tumbled to lows this year and the bond market was battered. On April 8, the S&P was down 17.5% to 4,982.77, Nasdaq went into a bear market with a decline of 23.4% to 15,267.93 and DJIA off 15.4% 37,645.59.

Then a day later, Trump paused the reciprocal tariffs to July 9. Last week, Trump announced new figures on 25 countries, including 50% against Brazil, 35% against Canada, 30% against the 29 European Union nations, 30% on Mexico.

Deals have been reached with some nations, including Britain, China and Vietnam.

Looming is the Aug. 1 trade deadline for countries to begin paying higher tariffs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS News‘ Face the Nation on Sunday it is a “hard deadline.”

“That’s gotten these countries to the table, and they are going to open their markets or they’re going to pay the tariff,” Lutnick said.

The U.S. economy has been in good shape as the U.S. unemployment fell to 4.1% in June. Consumer prices rose 2.7% over one year, up 2.4% from the previous month. Transportation services were up 3.4%, food at 3%, and uses and trucks as 2.8%, according to Trading Economies. Specifically, energy costs decline by a smaller margin than the previous month.

“I think you’re going to see inflation stay right where it is,” Lutnick said. “Americans can expect ‘shockingly low’ prices.

The federal fund rate remained at a target range of 4.25% to 3.5% after its the Federal Reserve’s June 17 and 18 meetings.

The Fed’s last rate change was a 25 basis point reduction on Dec. 18.

Trump has been pressuring Chairman Jerome Powell to lower the rates. But Powell is urging caution and said a reduction could spur inflation and slow economic growth.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury was down to 4.382%.

Gold COMEX for August traded at 3,410.30, a rise of $52, which is below the record 3,452.80 on June 13.

West Texas Intermediate Crude for August settled at $67.00, a decline of 34 cents. On May 5, it was $57.13, the lowest since January 2021. One ounce of gold had a high of $80.04 on Jan. 15.

The price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was averaging $3.14 nationwide, down a penny from last week, according to AAA on Monday. One year ago it was $3.50.

July 10 (UPI) — The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 each established record highs, while the Dow made significant gains on Thursday following the potential 50% tariffs on copper and Brazilian imports.

The S&P 500 was up by about 22 points and 0.4% at a record high 6,289.15 during afternoon trading after opening at 6,266.80. It closed at 6,280.46, which was up 17.20 and 0.27% for the day.

The Nasdaq Composite also reached a record high on Thursday and was trading at 20,646.66 during the afternoon, which was up 34.07 and 0.17%. It closed at 20,630.66.

The Dow closed at 44,458.30 on Wednesday and briefly traded above 44,770 during the afternoon hours.

The market rallies continue a months-long climb for the stock market and occurred a day after President Donald Trump announced 50% tariffs on copper and products sourced in Brazil on Aug. 1.

Thursday’s rally also happened a day after tech firm Nvidia became the world’s first company to top $4 trillion in market capitalization.

Nvidia produces chips that drive artificial intelligence.

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The euro breached the $1.17 mark on Thursday, reaching levels last seen in September 2021. This 13% year-to-date surge positions the common currency on course for its strongest annual performance since 2017 — and potentially even since 2003. The rally therefore brings the euro closer to the psychologically significant 1.20 threshold.

Since Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January 2025, the euro has appreciated roughly 15% against the dollar. But what are the reasons behind the euro’s recent success, and how much further can it rise?

Fiscal turn in Germany is a game changer

The explanation lies in an unusual convergence of fiscal stimulus in Europe, waning confidence in US monetary policy, and a build-up of speculative dollar short positions that are fuelling the euro’s ascent.

While the European Central Bank (ECB) has extended its rate-cutting cycle, the key shift underpinning the euro’s strength has come from fiscal policy — particularly in Germany.

In March, the Bundestag approved a constitutional amendment exempting military and infrastructure spending from the country’s strict “debt brake” law.

This legal reform paved the way for a €500 billion infrastructure fund, earmarked for green energy, digital transformation, and regional development through 2035 — all structured off-budget to bypass debt constraints.

Simultaneously, Berlin has pledged to increase defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, aligning with NATO’s Readiness 2030 goals and the broader €800 billion ReArm Europe initiative.

US turmoil weighs on dollar sentiment

Across the Atlantic, the US economy has shown signs of softening. First-quarter GDP contracted, driven partly by a front-loading of imports ahead of new tariffs which were set to take effect in April.

However, market attention has focused more sharply on the political pressure mounting against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Despite Powell reiterating this week that rate cuts are premature — citing solid growth and tariff-driven inflation uncertainties — investor confidence in Fed independence has been shaken.

According to BBVA analysts: “Jerome Powell is not leaning toward a rate cut as soon as July, although there is an internal debate at the Fed about the timing of the next rate cut, and it may well continue to grow.”

They added that the dollar’s weakness has deepened “amid reports that US President Donald Trump is considering selecting and announcing a replacement for Fed Chair Jerome Powell by September or October”. This is despite the fact that Powell’s term is set to end in May 2026.

Markets interpret this as a potential “shadow chairman” scenario, where someone behind the scenes could keep interest rates low, thereby putting negative pressure on the dollar.

Euro-dollar outlook: What analysts are watching

Francesco Pesole, analyst at ING, underscored the growing relevance of upcoming US employment data.

“News on the jobs market has significant impact potential now that inflation figures for May have failed to trigger a dovish response by Powell. The rationale could be that if something moves on the second part of the mandate (full employment), a few more FOMC members could join the dovish ranks despite inflation concerns.”

He noted that markets currently price a one-in-four chance of a rate cut on 30 July and 62 basis points of easing by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, investor positioning continues to steer euro-dollar movements.

Matthew Ryan, Head of Market Strategy at Ebury, said: “EUR/USD is almost entirely driven by rising dollar shorts, rather than a more positive outlook for the common bloc’s economy.” In other words, the euro is rising against the dollar because investors are betting against the greenback, rather than placing more faith in the euro.

Technical indicators also point to continued momentum. Luca Cigognini, analyst at Intesa Sanpaolo, commented: “The short-term structure of EUR/USD remains generally bullish. A break above 1.1717, now a resistance level, could push the euro toward 1.1750, raising the next target to 1.1800/1.1820.”

Beyond those levels, traders are eyeing resistance at 1.1910 — the highs of August 2021 — followed by the psychological barrier at 1.20.

Higher targets include 1.2350 (January 2021) and 1.2550 (February 2018), but much will depend on how economic indicators and political developments evolve in the second half of the year.

BRITS can look forward to basking in glorious 29C sunshine this weekend following days of rain.

Thousands of sun lovers are sure to flock to the seaside and stow out beaches as the mercury rises across the UK.

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The Met Office forecasts a warm start on Saturday morning, with figures as high as 23C by 10am in the capital.

Much of Britain will hover in the mid to late teens, before temperatures climb in the afternoon.

By 4pm, most of the UK will be basking in sunshine between 21C to 28C, with the exception of lows of 16C in the Scottish Highlands.

And, a warm and sticky night can be expected as figures are set to remain high even after the sun goes down.

Sunday kicks off in a similar fashion, with temperatures in the mid 20s expected by 10am.

The forecast then echoes that of Saturday throughout the day.

A heatwave in the UK is met when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days, with temperature values meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature thresholds.

Across the north and west of the UK this is 25C, and across Greater London and the Home Counties, 28C.

However, Brits may have to brace themselves for “thundery showers” on Wednesday.

Before the glorious weather returns, downpours are expected across much of the UK.

Scattered showers are predicted in the north, while those in Wales and the Midlands are forecast a drizzly morning.

Thursday will also bring a mixture of sunny spells and showers across Britain.

Meanwhile, it is predicted to feel breezy this evening, with the best sunsets in the south east of England.

It will remain cloudy through the night, with some rain forecast in the north and west.

The Met Office has also revealed the forecast for Glastonbury – with revellers bracing for a variety of weather conditions.

When the festival opens on June 25, reasonably warm temperatures of around 24C between 1pm and 4pm, can be expected.

This is then predicted to drop off into a cooler evening with temperatures in the high teens.

There is also a 40 per cent chance of rain on Wednesday evening, climbing to 50 per cent between 4am and 7am Thursday morning.

Glastonbury attendees can expect milder weather averaging in the high teens and low twenties.

The milder weather might be offset by wind chill, as gusts are expected to reach around 30mph between 10am and 4pm on Thursday.

It might pay to be prepared with warmer jackets, suncream and hayfever meds -with a high pollen count and UV rating at 1pm Thursday.

As the music begins on Friday, crowds can expect it to be “cloudy changing to sunny intervals by late morning” according to the Met Office.

With Supergrass kicking off the Pyramid stage at 12pm, they’ll be met with temperatures of around 22C, as well as relatively high humidity and wind speeds.

As the music begins on Friday, crowds can expect it to be “cloudy changing to sunny intervals by late morning” according to the Met Office.

With Supergrass kicking off the Pyramid stage at 12pm, they’ll be met with temperatures of around 22C, as well as relatively high humidity and wind speeds.

This follows a stunning weekend to mark the summer solstice on June 22.

Hundreds headed out early last Saturday to watch the sunrise over Stonehenge in celebration.

Those who marked the year’s longest day elsewhere experienced 18C temperatures in Salisbury and Greater London by 5am, according to the Met Office.

The weather agency also confirmed that Yeovilton in Somerset and Crosby in Merseyside had the highest recorded overnight figures in England, both reaching 19.7C by 6am.

The mercury in Cumbria and Lancashire also reached highs above 19C.

The pebbles at Brighton Beach, in East Sussex, could hardly as people soaked up the rays.

Hand held fans were also in demand at Royal Ascot as the hot weather continued on day five of the prestigious event.

One Royal Ascot spectator was even taken to hospital, with 42 others given medical attention on site for heat-related illness.

And, a number of horrified Brits were evacuated after being trapped on a train for two hours with no air con.

Weary passengers have slammed Thamelink after their service from Bedford to Brighton came to a screeching halt on the hottest day of the year so far.

The train broke down between Elephant and Castle, and Loughborough – but ticketholders were left waiting in their carriages during the sweltering heat on Sunday.

There was no air conditioning, and a major evacuation was eventually carried out after several hours.

People were led onto the tracks to fend for themselves, and claimed they were given no instruction on where to go next.

In lighter scenes, one delivery courier could be seen hurling what appeared to be drinks up to passengers stranded on a Thameslink train on a viaduct in south London.

Travellers cheered as the delivery driver chucked the items up with impressive accuracy to parched and agitated customers on board the train.

Incredible footage shows the driver hurling the items up as passengers, sweating in the intense heat, sat on the edge of the train and on the viaduct itself, as the train doors had been opened.

Temperatures hit up to 33.2C in Charlwood, Surrey, making it the hottest day of the year so far, according to the Met Office.

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Nick Garcia, the throws coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, calls shotputter and discus thrower Aja Johnson “the dragon slayer.”

She’s only 5 feet 3 but slays taller girls competing in those events.

Last weekend, she won the Southern Section Division 3 shotput and discus titles. This weekend she will try to qualify for the state championships when competing at the Masters Meet at Moorpark High. She won the state discus title last year. She was state champion in the shotput in 2023.

Aja Johnson of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Under Garcia’s guidance, Johnson uses technique, athleticism, agility and explosiveness to excel in the two events. She has committed to Louisville. Notre Dame athletes have won every Division 3 shotput or discus title since 2021. …

The City Section Division I baseball semifinals will be held Wednesday at Stengel Field in Glendale with a trip to Dodger Stadium on Saturday at stake. Carson will play Taft at 3 p.m., followed by Banning taking on Verdugo Hills at 6 p.m.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Mark Twain was America’s first celebrity, a multiplatform entertainer loved and recognized all over the world. Fans from America to Europe to Australia bought his books and flocked to his one-man shows, and his potent doses of humor and hard truth enthralled both the highborn and the humble. After he died, his work lived on through his novels, and his influence has endured — this year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “James” by Percival Everett, reverses the roles of the main characters in Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” replacing the narration of the teenaged Huck with that of the slave Jim.

Ron Chernow writes books about men of great ambition ranging from President Ulysses S. Grant to financier J.P. Morgan — his biography of Alexander Hamilton inspired the long-running Broadway musical — and is an expert chronicler of fame’s highs and lows. But in taking on Twain’s story, he signed on for a wild ride. Twain was both a brilliant writer who exposed America’s hypocrisies with humor and wit, and an angry man who savored revenge, nursed grudges and blamed God for the blows fate rained down on his head. “What a bottom of fury there is to your fun,” said Twain’s friend, the novelist William Dean Howells.

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, Twain grew up in the slaveholding community of Hannibal, Mo., a town he would immortalize in “Huckleberry Finn” and its prequel, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” The restless young man drifted from one job to another, then found his first calling as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi, an experience that would inform Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi” and other books. The river gave him his pen name (the phrase “mark twain” indicated a safe water depth) and inflicted an early blow in the loss of his younger brother: encouraged by Twain, Henry Clemens signed on to a riverboat crew, then died when the boat exploded. Twain blamed himself.

Twain’s river idyll ended with the Civil War. Traffic dried up, and to escape conscription into the Confederate Army, Twain headed west with his brother Orion to the Nevada territory. He reveled in the rambunctious disorder of its mining towns, and as a young reporter there he uncorked his ebullient sense of humor. His literary career began in earnest when he moved to San Francisco, and helped by California writers such as Bret Harte, he went national when in 1865 a New York newspaper picked up his story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Twain moved east, and his career took off like a rocket.

On a travel junket that inspired his first book, “Innocents Abroad,” Twain saw a portrait of his future wife, Olivia “Livy” Langdon. He fell for her image and contrived to meet her, and despite Twain’s many eccentricities, her distinguished family accepted him. They married, and their life in Hartford, Conn., padded by Livy’s family wealth, was a gracious dream, as the greatest of Twain’s age — Grant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Helen Keller — sought his company. But tragedy struck again: their first child, a son, died at 18 months.

The couple had three more children — daughters — and Livy’s seemingly bottomless wealth supported him. She edited his manuscripts, ran his household and smoothed his rough edges. But the couple’s Achilles’ heel was their shared taste for luxury. They routinely lived beyond their means, running up bills even as Twain, a reckless investor with terrible business sense, gambled with both his publishing earnings and her inheritance.

Throughout it all, he kept writing. The most enduring of Twain’s books is “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” published Stateside in 1885 when Twain was 49, the story of a runaway boy and an escaped slave who flee down the Mississippi River. A sequel to Twain’s comic novel “Tom Sawyer,” it penetrated the dark heart of Hannibal’s savage treatment of Black people. Chernow writes that “if Tom Sawyer offered a sunlit view of antebellum Hannibal, in ‘Huck Finn’ Twain delved into the shadows. As he dredged up memories anew, he now perceived a town embroiled in slavery.”

Ron Chernow has previously authored biographies on historical figures including Ulysses S. Grant and Alexander Hamilton.

(Beowulf Sheehan)

“Huck Finn” was the apotheosis of Twain’s gift for truth-telling, as he exposed the sadistic oppression of Black people and made the slave Jim the hero. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the book has been banned for its use of a racial slur, but Chernow makes a strong case for the book’s significance, buttressed by “James” author Everett’s summation: “Anyone who wants to ban Huck Finn hasn’t read it.”

Twain’s book sales failed to balance the household budget, and the family had to move to Europe to curtail expenses, the beginning of years of exile. Their departure from America was the end of a dream and the beginning of a nightmare. Twain’s daughter Susy, who had remained in America, died of bacterial meningitis at age 24. Then Livy died. Her loss unleashed Twain’s anger at pitiless fate, and his relationships with his two surviving daughters became increasingly estranged. “Ah, this odious swindle, human life,” he swore, after his daughter Jean endured a major epileptic seizure.

“In most lives there arrives a mellowing, a lovely autumnal calm that overtakes even the stormiest personalities,” Chernow writes. “In Twain’s case, it was exactly the reverse: his emotions intensified, his indignation at injustice flared ever more hotly, his rage became almost rabid.” He continued to write and make appearances, drawing huge crowds, honing his image as a white-suited, cigar-chomping seer. But he also became self-indulgent and self-isolating, assisted by a poorly paid helper, Isabel Lyon, who took over most aspects of his life, an arrangement that was a prescription for disaster. His main companions were his “angelfish,” prepubescent girls he arranged to keep company with (Chernow makes a strong case that there was no sexual abuse in this arrangement), but his retreat into a second childhood couldn’t shield him from the final, catastrophic family loss that came shortly before his own death.

The downward trajectory of Twain’s life shadows his story in elements of Greek tragedy. Twain was a cauldron of creativity and often courage, speaking for Black equality and the suffrage movement, and against anti-Chinese harassment, colonialism and kings. But in his final years, he allowed grief and bitterness to swamp his life, and one wonders at how such a brilliant man could have such little understanding of himself. At 1,200 pages, this is not a book for the casual reader, and Chernow never quite gets to the core of the contradictions in Twain’s conflicted soul. But he tells the whole story, in all its glory and sorrow.

“Mark Twain” is a masterful exploration of the magnificent highs and unutterable lows of an American literary genius. Twain himself once said that “Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of a man — the biography of the man himself cannot be written.” But this one feels like the truth of one man’s star-crossed life.

Gwinn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who lives in Seattle, writes about books and authors.

On a day in Southern California when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees in many locations, Teagan O’Dell of Santa Margarita High turned the pool at Mt. San Antonio College into her personal cool sandbox, swimming to two records during the Southern Section Division 1 finals.

Bound for the California Golden Bears and competing in her final section championship, O’Dell set the Division 1 record in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1 minute, 53.43 seconds, only five one-hundredths of a second from her national record set when she was a sophomore. She also set a record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.09.

She helped Santa Margarita win two relay events.

Santa Margarita won the girls’ and boys’ Division 1 team championships and will be trying to win a state championship next weekend in Clovis.

Track and field

It was so hot on Saturday that a more than three-hour heat delay was imposed in the middle of the Southern Section Division 3 track and field preliminaries at Yorba Linda. Running competition began at noon but was halted 90 minutes later while monitoring the heat index to make sure it was safe to resume. Action resumed at 5 p.m.

Servite’s 4×100 relay team, the fastest in the state, qualified first in 40.27 before the delay occurred.

Newbury Park’s Nicholas Durbiano (second from left) ran a 10.54 100 meters qualifying time at the Southern Section Division 2 prelims.

(Nick Koza)

In Division 2 in Ontario, Newbury Park’s Nicholas Durbiano ran 10.54 seconds in the 100 meters to lead qualifiers. Bishop Alemany’s Demare Dezeurn cruised to 10.56 at Carpinteria in Division 4. In Division 1 at Trabuco Hills, Julius Johnson ran a wind-aided 10.34 seconds.

Journey Cole from Redondo Beach ran the fastest girls’ 100 in Division 1 with a qualifying time of 11.49.

Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel had the second-best mark in the state this year in the girls’ discus at the Division 1 prelims at 159 feet, 8 inches.

The Division 1 200 prelims saw Jack Stadlam of Temecula Valley run 21.03.

Lacrosse

Loyola has advanced to the Southern Section Division 1 championship match in boys’ lacrosse after an 11-9 win over Foothill. Cash Ginberg scored four goals and Tripp King had three goals and one assist.

On a scorching Friday afternoon at L.A. Valley College, Loyola and Harvard-Westlake High tennis players gathered for a moment of silence wearing T-shirts that read “Live Like Braun,” in honor of Loyola captain Braun Levi, who was killed last weekend in Manhattan Beach while walking on a street.

A 33-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and homicide.

Loyola players decided after much reflection and mourning to play Friday’s Southern Section Open Division playoff match against Harvard-Westlake.

“We want to play for Braun,” coach Brian Held said.

A moment of silence was held. Levi’s mother, Jennifer, was there receiving hugs and support.

All week at Loyola, students have been supporting each other trying to heal. A celebration of Levi’s life will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at Loyola.

In an email, Sylvia Almanzan, the grandmother of a Loyola student, wrote, “The Loyola faculty has been amazing during this time of providing counselors and support not only to the students but families as well. I just wanted to state how this remarkable young man touched so many lives especially my grandson’s in such a positive way.”

Levi’s doubles partner, Cooper Schwartz, was originally not going to play on Friday as a way to not tarnish his memory winning the Mission League title with Levi. He changed his mind and played with a new partner. They won their matches 7-5, 7-6 and 6-4 and on match points, Schwartz used Levi’s racket.

Harvard-Westlake won the match 14-4 to advance.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].