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Top Midday Stories: Trump Says US to Be Guardian of Hormuz Strait; Meta to Invest Over $50 Billion in Louisiana Data Center Expansion

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All three major US stock indexes were down in late-morning trading Monday, as the US and Iran exchanged airstrikes over the weekend.

President Donald Trump said Monday on Truth Social that the US will act as "THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT" and will receive reimbursement for all incurred costs "at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped." Trump said the strait is open and will remain so for all non-Iranian vessels.

In company news, Meta Platforms (META) said Monday it plans to invest over $50 billion in its Richland Parish, Louisiana, infrastructure project to expand its computing capacity to 5 gigawatts. The tech giant will finance seven new natural gas-generating plants and three grid-scale batteries to completely cover its power requirements. Meta shares were down 1% around midday.

Funds managed by Blackstone (BX) Credit & Finance, in partnership with Apollo Global Management (APO) and KKR-managed (KKR) insurance vehicles will invest $5.34 billion in Williams' (WMB) five Power Innovation projects in exchange for a 49% noncontrolling equity interest in the projects, Williams said Monday. Blackstone shares were down 0.8%, and Williams shares were down 0.1%. Apollo and KKR shares were down 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) said Monday its net revenue for June totaled about 442.68 billion New Taiwan dollars ($13.79 billion), up 6.2% from the previous month and up 67.9% from a year earlier. Its shares were down 1.2%.

First Hawaiian (FHB) said Monday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TriCo Bancshares (TCBK) in an all-stock deal. Under the deal terms, TriCo shareholders will receive 2.095 First Hawaiian shares for each TriCo share, valued at $63.12 per share based on First Hawaiian's July 10 closing price. First Hawaiian shares were down 4.6%, while TriCo shares were up 10.5%.

Ferguson Enterprises (FERG) said Monday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire FWI Holdings, or FloWorks, in a deal with an enterprise value of about $1.6 billion. The deal is expected to close in Q3, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Ferguson shares were up 2.1%.

Roughly a dozen states are set to file a lawsuit Monday in federal court in an effort to block Paramount Skydance's (PSKY) acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Paramount and Warner Bros. shares were up 2.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

A federal appeals court on Monday vacated a district court's earlier dismissal of plaintiff claims that they were not warned that prenatal ingestion of Kenvue's (KVUE) Tylenol and its generic equivalents could cause autism spectrum disorder attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Kenvue shares were down 1.6%.

Price: $662.82, Change: $-6.39, Percent Change: -0.95%

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