Amid the political inertia (or wholesale retreat) miring efforts to forestall the most catastrophic consequences of global warming, the industry primarily responsible for it saw a historic victory Friday. Following an unprecedented, 20-month fight between Chevron and Exxon-Mobil, Chevron emerged the winner. The prize? Chevron can now buy another fossil fuel company, Hess, for $53 billion. The ruling by an arbitration court ended a period of strategic limbo that hurt Chevron’s stock and prompted questions over the quality of the company’s due diligence when it agreed to snap up Hess in 2023. 

Mike Wirth, chief executive of Chevron Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Exxon, which operates and owns 45% of Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block, claimed it had a right of first refusal over the disposition of Hess’s 30% stake. Acquiring Hess and its interest in Guyana significantly increases the quality of Chevron’s oil assets beyond the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, narrowing the gap with Exxon. “This creates a premier international and oil and gas company,” declared Chevron Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth. Meanwhile, some hedge funds are really cashing in on the deal. —David E. Rovella

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JPMorgan is expanding its research—to private companies. The coverage comes as private companies play a bigger role in shaping industry dynamics and innovations, such as artificial intelligence and software. In a first unsurprising move, the bank launched coverage of OpenAI on Friday.

Unlike traditional equity research on public firms, JPMorgan’s new offering won’t include ratings, price targets or estimates on private companies, Hussein Malik, the bank’s head of global research, said in an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. The goal is to provide investor clients with structured information and tracking, he said.

“Private companies are increasingly pivotal in shaping the growth and outlook of industries,” Malik said in an external note to clients. “Understanding their impact is and will remain crucial for both public and private market investors to make informed investment decisions.”

When At Home Group’s lawyer stood before a US bankruptcy judge last month asking to wipe out almost $2 billion of the retailer’s debt, the reason came quick: tariffs. It’s a line that’s showing up in more and more courtrooms. Tile importer Mosaic Cos. blamed them, as did auto-parts supplier Marelli Holdings and aluminum trader Sinobec Group. In all, tariffs have been laid out as a key reason in at least 10 bankruptcies in the US since early April, when President Donald Trump unveiled his wave of so-called reciprocal tariffs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

But if you take recent government data and other economic readings at face value, the tariff blame game doesn’t hold up—at least not yet. For one, it’s simply too early for the latest duties to have made a material impact on corporate performance, especially for companies that typically carry several months’ worth of inventory. 

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has inched past Bank of Nova Scotia in market capitalization to become Canada’s fourth-most valuable bank. CIBC has been the top-performing major Canadian bank over the past year, with its shares soaring 47%, giving it a market value of C$94.6 billion ($68.9 billion) as of Friday’s close. 

Scotiabank meanwhile has been the worst performer of the group. That’s largely due to underwhelming earnings as the bank executes a long-term strategy of trying to shrink the capital it allocates to Latin America. With borrowing costs stabilizing and the Canadian housing market showing signs of resilience, investors have turned toward lenders with heavier exposure to domestic retail banking. As a result, CIBC has emerged as a relative safe haven amid global market volatility. 

US consumer sentiment rose to a five-month high in early July as expectations about the economy and inflation improved. The preliminary July sentiment index rose to 61.8 from 60.7 a month earlier, according to University of Michigan data released Friday.

But in context, the figure remains below levels seen throughout last year as Americans continue to fear the eventual consequences of Trump’s trade war. “Consumers’ expectations over business conditions, labor markets and even their own incomes continue to be weaker than a year ago,” Joanne Hsu, director of the survey, said in a statement.

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