Finance

SpaceX says it will build a 125,000-acre launch facility in Louisiana that could send up about 30 rockets per day. Louisiana Economic Development says the deal would bring $100 billion in investment and around 10,000 jobs. Economic development records show SpaceX would pay the Vermilion Parish government about $25 million annually in exchange for avoiding billions of dollars in property taxes over 25 years. The planned spaceport site is about a 45-minute drive south from Abbeville.

Tesla has officially reopened reservations for the next-generation Roadster, requiring a $5,000 upfront payment and a $45,000 wire transfer within 10 days for a total $50,000 deposit that is fully refundable. The car is scheduled to make a public appearance in Waco, Texas, on October 1. The reopening comes nearly nine years after Tesla first began taking reservations, and the final retail price is expected to be revised from the earlier $200,000 guidance.

Anthropic is considering releasing a new AI model as it tries to close the gap with OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Since Astra launched this month, business adoption has risen, with Ramp data showing it accounts for about 13% of enterprise AI spending versus roughly 8% for Anthropic’s Claude Fable. Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate exceeded $65 billion by the end of July and it forecasts roughly $190 billion to $200 billion in revenue in 2028.

The U.S. average diesel price reached a record $6.45 per gallon this week, up 74% from a year earlier. Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz averaged 7.6 million barrels a day in August, 13.1 million barrels below the August 2025 average. With about three-fourths of the nation’s commercial trucks running on diesel, higher fuel costs are expected to filter into retail food prices. Global daily oil supply has fallen by about 7 million barrels since early 2026.

Credit Acceptance Corporation has reached a settlement with 41 state attorneys general that provides $694 million in cash and debt relief nationwide. In Georgia, $28 million will be paid directly to 4,890 consumers. The lawsuit alleged the company used deceptive, unfair and abusive practices in its subprime auto lending, including approving loans for borrowers it allegedly knew could not afford them.

Newly unsealed court filings show Microsoft and OpenAI executives discussed internally whether their AI systems were built using publishers’ content taken without permission. One Microsoft internal document described large-scale scraping of creative work as an “astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” adding that creators were not compensated. The filings also cite evidence that Bing Chat reproduced articles nearly verbatim, that GPT memorized more than 100 New York Times articles, and that the Times’ click-through rates fell 87% to 93% when users searched via Bing Chat rather than traditional web search.

Delta Air Lines plans to lift its daily flight volume at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to more than 200 at the peak of summer 2027, serving nearly 70 destinations. The carrier says it will be LAX’s largest airline by flights, seats and premium seats during summer 2027. Delta also announced new routes to Monterey and Philadelphia, and plans to increase service on the Raleigh-Durham route. The airline previously invested $2.3 billion in its Sky Way project connecting Terminals 2 and 3.

Tyson Foods and eight major pork processors agreed to pay $117 million to settle a class action. The lawsuit alleged the companies exchanged competitively sensitive information through Agri Stats to coordinate pork prices and supply, in violation of antitrust law. Tyson will pay the largest share, $85 million. The settlement covers consumers who indirectly bought pork products between 2014 and 2018, and all defendants deny wrongdoing.

A US jury found in favor of Stratasys in its patent infringement lawsuit against Bambu Lab, awarding about $27.6 million in damages. The verdict determined that Bambu Lab infringed four patents related to desktop 3D printing. Bambu Lab said it will appeal the decision. Stratasys filed the case in August 2024 and initially alleged infringement of ten patents.

Anthropic is expected to go public later this year at a valuation of about US$2 trillion, and could file with the SEC as early as this month. That would put it ahead of OpenAI, whose CEO has said the company plans to delay an IPO until 2027. OpenAI is also in talks with investors to raise a new funding round at a valuation of at least US$1.2 trillion.