France’s farm ministry said the country’s corn crop is expected to fall 35% to 9.0 million metric tons, the lowest since at least 1980, after a heat wave and drought damaged fields. U.S. Department of Agriculture data show June corn use for fuel alcohol totaled 466.7 million bushels, up 4.5% from a year earlier, while the ethanol blend rate in U.S. gasoline hit a record 11.29% in May as higher oil prices boosted biofuel demand. The USDA also reported June soybean crush at 6.53 million tons, up from both the prior month and a year earlier. Ukraine’s agriculture ministry warned grain exports could drop to 29.6 million metric tons from 64.4 million metric tons in the 2026-27 marketing years if port operations are not regular.

A softer U.S. PPI report signaled easing inflation pressure, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield down 4 basis points and lowering the implied odds of a Fed rate hike in September to 35%. All three major U.S. indexes closed higher, with the S&P 500 up 0.65%, the Dow up 0.13%, and the Nasdaq 100 up 1.15%. Chip shares strengthened, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 0.8%. A drop of more than 2% in crude oil prices added support, while the Euro Stoxx 50 edged up 0.18%.

OpenAI has said its chief revenue officer, Denise Dresser, is leaving less than a year after joining the company as it prepares for a public listing. The company said she will be replaced by Dali Rajic, the former president and chief operating officer of cybersecurity firm Wiz. The departure follows another senior exit within days and comes as OpenAI works to expand enterprise sales, a segment executives have said made up about 40% of its business in January and was expected to approach 50% by year-end.

DATA Foundation has kept team and lead investor tokens locked past Aug. 13, even though that date appeared in an earlier public supply schedule, and it has not published a new unlock date. The foundation said on June 25 it extended those lockups by an additional 18 months, but did not specify when the extension starts or how it is enforced. Early Backers and Core Contributors account for 41.6% of the project’s allocation buckets, with both set to unlock over 48 months. Separate coverage also flagged a potential wider unlock wave tied to returning VC funding and noted Pump Fun plans to unlock $127M of insider tokens on July 12, about double PUMP’s recent average daily volume.

Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials released its fiscal third-quarter report, posting results that beat analysts’ expectations. The company also issued guidance for the next fiscal quarter. The outlook signaled management’s positive view of future business conditions, bolstering market confidence.

Rocket Lab disclosed a replacement $1.94 billion at-the-market equity distribution program that carries forward only the unsold balance from its prior agreement and is framed as not adding dilution risk. The company also reported a $2.4 billion contract backlog and record second-quarter revenue of $234 million, up 62% year over year. Management guided for third-quarter gross margin of 29% to 31%, citing temporary pressure tied to lower-profit satellite platform sales.

Tether Holdings Ltd. said it has completed its first full audit of its financial statements, with the results showing its reserves were sufficient. At the end of 2025, reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion. In the second quarter of 2026, the company reported $1.5 billion in net operating profit, largely driven by income from U.S. Treasurys and repurchase agreements. As of June 30, it reported $187.75 billion in assets and $183.64 billion in liabilities, leaving a $4.11 billion reserve buffer, and added 14 tons of gold during the quarter.

Australia-based Corporate Travel Management has been accused of serious overcharging while delivering a UK government refugee-accommodation contract, with the amount involved nearing A$100 million. Investigators found the company billed for more rooms than hotels actually had, and also engaged in double-billing or charged for exclusive hotel use where no exclusivity existed. In 2021, it was contracted to arrange 1.4 million hotel nights across about 60 UK hotels, but an internal review later identified a gap of almost 50 million British pounds between what it billed the government and what it paid hotels.