The board of CBS Inc. (NYSE: CBS) will look into sexual harassment charges against CEO Les Moonves, according to The Wall Street Journal:
Some CBS Corp. directors discussed over the weekend whether Chief Executive Leslie Moonves should step aside from the company pending its investigation into allegations he sexually harassed women, according to people familiar with the matter.
The board of CBS, which is scheduled to meet via conference call Monday in advance of its second-quarter earnings announcement Thursday, is expected to select a special committee to oversee the investigation, the people said. The board intends to make a broad inquiry into CBS’s workplace culture, not just the alleged behavior of Mr. Moonves, they said.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may enter the streaming media business, where it will take on Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). According to The Wall Street Journal:
Walmart Inc. is exploring a subscription video-streaming service that would seek to challenge Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. by offering programming that targets Middle America, according to people familiar with the plans.
Planning is still in the early stages and Walmart hasn’t given the project a green light, the people said. But a decision to move forward could come by late summer or early fall, according to one of these people.
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“Mission: Impossible — Fallout” was number one at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. It took in $61.5 million.
With an estimated $61.5 million, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout fell a bit shy of Mojo’s pre-weekend expectations, but still managed to deliver the franchise’s largest three-day opening, topping the $57.8 million opening for Mission: Impossible II back in 2000. The opening also represents the second largest debut for Tom Cruise after the $64.8 million debut for War of the Worlds in 2005 and for Paramount this is the studio’s largest opening since 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($65.5m). Given the film’s position as the last major blockbuster of summer 2018 and the positive reaction from both audiences and critics, Fallout should exhibit strong legs looking ahead.
Russia has been selling U.S. debt. According to CNBC:
The Russian government, previously considered a significant holder of U.S. debt, has been steadily — and sharply — paring down the vast majority of its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities.
Russian holdings of Treasury securities declined 84 percent between March and May, falling to $14.9 billion from $96.1 billion in just two months, according to a U.S. Treasury Department report released July 18.
Several large car companies may meet to address Trump tariffs. According to CNBC:
Several auto manufacturing powers have been talking to each other in recent days about their fears and a possible coordinated response to Trump’s “Section 232” investigation, which he ordered on May 23, into whether auto imports are a threat to U.S. security, sources say.
The probe could be completed within weeks, although similar ones ordered last year that led to tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium took about 10 months. The Commerce Department has 270 days to offer recommendations to the president after such a probe starts. He then has 90 days to act upon them.
Texas will become the world’s third largest producer of oil. According to CNNMoney:
Plunging drilling costs have sparked an explosion of production out of the Permian Basin of West Texas. In fact, Texas is pumping so much oil that it will surpass OPEC members Iran and Iraq next year, HSBC predicted in a recent report.
If it were a country, Texas would be the world’s No. 3 oil producer, behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia, the investment bank said.
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