Top News Today: Stocks Fall, Oil Rises After U.S.-Iran Clashes Near Strait

MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks fell after renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran near the Strait of Hormuz.

TREASURYS: Long-term Treasury yields rose and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note tested multiyear highs after the escalation in the Middle East.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar slipped against rivals as traders weighed the odds of a Federal Reserve hike in the near term.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose after the U.S. struck Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, triggering retaliation from Iran.

HEADLINES

Fighting Flares in Middle East After U.S. Strike on Iranian Rocket

Launchers

WASHINGTON-U.S. forces attacked two Iranian rocket launchers in the

Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the U.S. Central Command said, marking the

first American strike in weeks and heightening the risk of a return to

all-out conflict in a region already battered by war.

The command said that the Iranian launchers, which were deployed on

Larak Island, were preparing to fire rockets filled with sea mines into

the strait when they were struck.

"Last week, Centcom completed clearing sea mines from the strait's

international shipping routes," said Capt. Tim Hawkins, the spokesman for

the command. "We simply will not allow Iran to emplace more mines."

FTC Files Lawsuit Alleging Amazon Deceived Advertisers

WASHINGTON-The Federal Trade Commission on Monday filed a lawsuit

against Amazon.com alleging that the e-commerce giant manipulated prices

businesses paid to advertise on its retail platform, reaping tens of

billions of dollars for itself over seven years.

The lawsuit, joined by a bipartisan group of more than 20 state

attorneys general, alleged that Amazon deceived advertisers by secretly

raising the minimum price advertisers had to pay to place ads promoting

their products.

The case, filed in a Seattle federal court, becomes the

consumer-protection agency's third major case against Amazon, which

agreed to pay $2.5 billion last year to settle an earlier suit alleging

it tricked people into signing up for its Prime service and made it hard

to cancel the subscription. Another lawsuit alleging that Amazon engaged

in illegal monopolization is headed for trial next year.

Eli Lilly to Buy Merida Biosciences for Up to $2.875 Billion

Eli Lilly remains on a shopping spree, agreeing to pay up to $2.875

billion in cash for biotechnology company Merida Biosciences in a deal

that bolsters the drugmaker's immunology portfolio.

Eli Lilly on Monday said privately held Merida is advancing a new

class of precision therapeutics for serious autoimmune and allergic

diseases, with its lead program in Phase 1 development for Graves'

disease and thyroid eye disease.

The Merida deal continues a spate of acquisitions by the Indianapolis

company, which is flush with cash from its market-leading

weight-loss-drug franchise.

State Farm Sued by Los Angeles County Over Handling of Wildfire Claims

LOS ANGELES-Los Angeles County sued State Farm Monday over its

handling of insurance claims after the deadly and destructive 2025

wildfires, alleging that delays and denials of claims by California's

largest private insurer violated unfair competition laws.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that

State Farm denied claims and delayed payouts for policyholders whose

homes were destroyed or damaged by the fires in Pacific Palisades and

Altadena.

The lawsuit said that State Farm assigned multiple adjusters to people

seeking payments, failed to issue payments to cover living expenses after

the fires, made misrepresentations to discourage policyholders from

pursuing claims, and didn't properly handle claims of smoke damage in

homes left standing, the lawsuit said.

GameStop Sees Higher Profit as eBay Investment Offsets Lower Sales

GameStop expects second-quarter profit to climb, boosted by investment

gains from its stake in eBay, but said sales likely fell from a year

earlier.

The videogame retailer on Monday said it anticipates net income of

$290 million to $310 million for its 13 weeks ended Aug. 1, up from net

income of $168.6 million in last year's comparable quarter.

The forecast includes about $238 million of net gains related to its

eBay derivative asset and equity investment, partially offset by a loss

of roughly $75 million on digital assets and related receivables, the

company said.

Aon Strikes Roughly $17 Billion Deal for Insurance Brokerage USI

Aon agreed to buy insurance brokerage USI Insurance from

private-equity firm KKR for roughly $17 billion, including debt.

The companies unveiled the deal Monday, after The Wall Street Journal

reported Sunday the deal was imminent.

SLB to Buy Data Center Cooling Firm Kelvion for $4.1 Billion

SLB agreed to acquire thermal management company Kelvion from

private-equity funds for $4.1 billion.

The oil drilling and production company said Monday that the

acquisition is meant to strengthen its growing data center business.

"This transaction accelerates our ambition to become an industrial

technology partner to the data center industry and help customers address

the growing infrastructure complexity required to scale AI," SLB Chief

Executive Olivier Le Peuch said.

TALKING POINT A Hedge-Fund Titan's Divorce Is Putting Wall Street's Staggering Wealth on Public View

NEWARK, N.J.-Hedge-fund billionaire John Overdeck took to the witness stand last week to explain that he had always shared his riches with his wife, Laura Overdeck. That included the hundreds of millions of dollars in pay that he put into a joint account during their marriage, he said.

"In fact, she was able to withdraw $75 million the day before she filed for divorce," said Overdeck, co-founder of Two Sigma, the quant-trading powerhouse.

Overdeck didn't flinch when he mentioned the figure, just one of the many staggering sums being bandied about in a blockbuster divorce trial under way in a New Jersey courthouse. The trial could result in one of the largest divorce settlements ever and shake up the power struggle atop Two Sigma, where John Overdeck has been locked in a bitter feud with his co-founder, David Siegel.

John Overdeck is offering to give his estranged wife $723 million to settle their split. Laura Overdeck says their marital assets should include his stake in Two Sigma, which her attorney estimates is worth $6.2 billion. She wants 35% of that, or $2.17 billion.

The case is offering a view into how Wall Street's hedge fund titans generate their supersize wealth, and the lifestyle that money affords. It is also showcasing the complex strategies the superrich deploy to protect what they have earned. The onetime couple shared a life that included a 6,000-square-foot home in Short Hills, N.J., a charitable foundation with $900 million in assets and trust funds set up for family members, including the grandchildren they had one day hoped to welcome.

The unraveling of marriages among the ultrawealthy has long been a subject of fascination on Wall Street and beyond. Earlier this year, billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson settled his divorce case after a five-year legal battle in which his ex-wife sought more than $1 billion in damages. In their 2015 divorce settlement, Citadel Chief Executive Ken Griffin and Anne Dias agreed their prenuptial agreement was valid. It awarded Dias a $22.5 million payment, an additional $1 million for each year they were married and joint ownership of their Chicago penthouse.

The breakup of the Overdecks is a high-profile example of how messy a divorce can get, especially at upper-income levels, when the two sides don't have a prenuptial agreement.

--Jasmine Li, Miriam Gottfried and Peter Rudegeair

Expected Major Events for Tuesday 00:30/JPN: Aug Japan Manufacturing PMI

05:00/JPN: Aug Consumer Confidence Survey

05:00/JPN: Aug Auto sales

06:00/GER: Jul Retail Trade

06:00/UK: Aug Nationwide House Price Index

06:00/RUS: Aug Russian Manufacturing PMI

07:45/ITA: Aug Italy Manufacturing PMI

07:50/FRA: Aug France Manufacturing PMI

07:55/GER: Aug Germany Manufacturing PMI

08:00/ITA: 2Q GDP

08:30/UK: Jul Bank of England effective interest rates

08:30/UK: Jul Monetary & Financial Statistics

08:30/UK: Jul Money and Credit - Lending to Individuals, Lending to Businesses, Broad Money and Credit

08:30/ITA: Jul Unemployment

08:30/UK: Aug S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI

08:30/UK: 2Q Household Finance Review

09:00/ITA: Aug Cities CPI

09:00/ITA: Aug Provisional CPI

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

August 31, 2026 16:34 ET (20:34 GMT)