US equity indexes closed mixed Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned of more strikes on Iran, though he said it wouldn't amount to a full-scale war, softening earlier comments suggesting the ceasefire with Tehran "is over."
* Trump threatened Wednesday to unleash additional military strikes against Iran after saying Tehran's attacks on commercial ships signaled the end of the ceasefire, the Associated Press reported. He later said the most recent exchange of fire did not herald a return to full-scale war.
* According to minutes released from Kevin Warsh's first meeting as Federal Reserve chairman in mid-June, policymakers are sharply divided on the future path of interest rates. Some anticipate that cooling inflation may allow cuts, while others warn that persistent price pressures might spur increases.
* August West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $3.78 to settle at $74.22 per barrel, while September Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen up $4.55 at $78.71.
* Alibaba (BABA), ByteDance, and DeepSeek may receive permission from China to buy a limited volume of Nvidia (NVDA) H200 chips to offset a shortage of AI chips, The Information reported. Nvidia shares rose 3.7%, the biggest gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
* Major US biopharmaceutical companies' H2 performance is likely to be driven largely by fundamentals as the focus shifts away from economic factors, Morgan Stanley said. Moderna's (MRNA) shares slumped 7.5%, the second-biggest drop on the S&P 500.