On October 9, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a $20 billion currency swap line with Argentina’s central bank and said that the US had begun directly purchasing pesos in foreign exchange markets to prop up the country’s currency. Six days later, he announced the Treasury was arranging an additional $20 billion facility with private banks and sovereign wealth funds. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has spent around $400 million buying pesos in multiple interventions.
The main objective of the rescue effort is to support Milei, whose libertarian reform agenda has earned enthusiastic backing from Trump. And Milei has delivered impressive results since taking office in December 2023, slashing monthly inflation from 25% to 1.5%, achieving a fiscal surplus in his first month, cutting 15% of the federal workforce, and reducing the poverty rate by around 10 percentage points.
However, Milei’s currency policy has become his Achilles heel. His attempts to defend exchange rate bands that keep the peso artificially strong—a strategy that’s drained Argentina’s dollar reserves and fueled capital flight. A heavy loss in Buenos Aires province elections in early September triggered a run on the peso that sent it plunging to record lows, and bond yields soared, precipitating US support.
Despite Trump’s efforts, the peso’s recovery was brief and continues to hover near its lows. Forward contracts indicate investors are betting on post-election devaluation. The intervention has triggered political backlash in the US with critics questioning why Washington is bailing out a country whose soybean farmers compete directly with those in the US. The results of the October 26 midterm election, where Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party won half the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the seats in the Senate, will only strengthen his reform agenda.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s libertarian leader is lavishing praise on President Trump ahead of his first White House visit on Tuesday. It’s a tactic that has helped transform President Javier Milei ’s cash-strapped country into one of the Trump administration’s closest allies.
The effusive declarations are nothing new for Milei — whose dramatic cuts to state spending and attacks on “woke leftists” have won him a following among U.S. conservatives.
“Your commitment to life, freedom and peace has restored hope to the world,” Milei wrote on social media Monday, congratulating the U.S. president on securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza, where a truce is holding after a devastating, two-year Israel-Hamas war.
“It is an honor to consider you not only an ally in the defense of those values, but also a dear friend and an example of leadership that inspires all those who believe in freedom,” he said.
The Trump-Milei bromance has already paid off for Argentina — most recently, to the tune of a $20 billion bailout.
Experts say Milei comes to the White House with two clear objectives. One is to negotiate U.S. tariff exemptions or reductions for Argentine products.
The other is to see how the United States will implement a $20 billion currency swap line to prop up Argentina’s peso and replenish its depleted foreign currency reserves ahead of crucial midterm elections later this month.
In a crisis, turning to Trump
The Trump administration made a highly unusual decision to intervene in Argentina’s currency market after Milei’s party suffered a landslide loss in a local election last month.
Along with setbacks in the opposition-dominated Congress, the party’s crushing defeat created a crisis of confidence as voters in Buenos Aires Province registered their frustration with rising unemployment, contracting economic activity and brewing corruption scandals.
Alarmed that this could herald the end of popular support for Milei’s free-market program, investors dumped Argentine bonds and sold off the peso.
Argentina’s Treasury began hemorrhaging precious dollar reserves at a feverish pace, trying shore up the currency and keep its exchange rate within the trading band set as part of the country’s recent $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
But as the peso continued to slide, Milei grew desperate.
He met with Trump on Sept. 23 while in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. A flurry of back-slapping, hand-shaking and mutual flattery between the two quickly gave way to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly promising Argentina a lifeline of $20 billion.
Markets cheered, and investors breathed a sigh of relief.
Timing is everything
In the days that followed, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo spent hours in meetings in Washington trying to seal the deal.
Reassurance came last Thursday, when Bessent announced that the U.S. would allow Argentina to exchange up to $20 billion worth of pesos for an equal sum in dollars. Saying that the success of Milei’s program was “of systemic importance,” Bessent added that the U.S. Treasury directly purchased an unspecified amount of pesos.
For the Trump administration, the timing was awkward as it struggles to manage the optics of bailing out a nine-time serial defaulter in the middle of a U.S. government shutdown that has led to mass layoffs.
But for Argentina, it came in the nick of time.
Aware of how a weak currency could threaten his flagship achievement of taming inflation and hurt his popularity, Milei hopes to stave off what many economists see as an inescapable currency devaluation until after the the Oct. 26 midterm elections.
A devaluation of the peso would likely fuel a resurgence in inflation.
“Milei is going to the U.S. in a moment of desperation now,” said Marcelo J. García, political analyst and Director for the Americas at the Horizon Engage political risk consultancy firm.
“He needs to recreate market expectations and show that his program can be sustainable,” García added. “The government is trying to win some time to make it to the midterms without major course corrections, like devaluing or floating the peso.”
No strings attached
Milei was vague when pressed for details on his talks with Trump, expected later on Tuesday. Officials say he would have a two-hour meeting with the U.S. president, followed by a working lunch with other top officials.
He was also expected to participate in a ceremony at the White House honoring Charlie Kirk, the prominent right-wing political activist who was fatally shot last month. Milei often crossed paths with Kirk on the speaking circuit of the ascendant global right.
“We don’t have a single-issue agenda, but rather a multi-issue agenda,” Milei told El Observador radio in Buenos Aires Monday. “Things that are already finalized will be announced, and things that still need to be finalized will remain pending.”
It’s not clear what strings, if any, the Trump administration has attached to the currency swap deal, which Democratic lawmakers and other critics have slammed as an example of Trump rewarding loyalists at the expense of American taxpayers.
There has been no word on how Argentina, the IMF’s largest debtor, will end up paying the U.S. back for this $20 billion, which comes on top of IMF’s own loan for the same amount in April. And that one came on top of an earlier IMF loan for $40 billion.
Despite all the help, Milei’s government already missed the IMF’s early targets for rebuilding currency reserves.
“The U.S. should be concerned that Argentina has had to return for $20 billion so quickly after getting $14 billion upfront from the IMF,” said Brad Setser, a former Treasury official now at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“I worry that this may prove to just be a short-term bridge and won’t leave Argentina better equipped” to tackle its problems, he added.
But in the radio interview before his flight, Milei was upbeat. He gushed about U.S. support saving Argentina from “the local franchise of 21st-century socialism” and waxed poetic about Argentina’s economic potential.
“There will be an avalanche of dollars,” Milei said. “We’ll have dollars pouring out of our ears.”
This cloud artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure provider’s latest deal could ensure years of solid growth.
It’s been just six months since CoreWeave(CRWV -4.96%) went public, and the stock has more than tripled in its short life as a public company, despite witnessing bouts of volatility during this period. The stock’s rapid rise has been fueled by its fast-improving revenue pipeline, but at the same time, investors have been worried about certain factors.
From CoreWeave’s rapidly rising debt to stock dilution on account of its $9 billion Core Scientific deal, shares of the company have slipped significantly since hitting a high nearly three months ago. However, the company’s latest deal with Nvidia(NASDAQ: NVDA) could help assuage investors’ concerns to some extent and set CoreWeave up for more upside.
Image source: Getty Images
Nvidia’s guarantee is great news for CoreWeave investors
CoreWeave has built its business by offering dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) data centers powered by graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia. It rents out its cloud computing capacity to the likes of Meta Platforms and Microsoft, which account for the majority of its top line. It has also added a third big customer in the form of OpenAI.
The ChatGPT maker offered an initial contract worth $11.9 billion to CoreWeave in March this year, before enhancing the size of the deal by another $4 billion. And now, Nvidia has signed a $6.3 billion contract with CoreWeave that will guarantee the latter’s revenue growth in the long run. Under this agreement, Nvidia will be purchasing any unsold data center capacity from CoreWeave through April 2032.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CoreWeave pointed out that “Nvidia is obligated to purchase the residual unsold capacity” of its data centers in case its “data center capacity is not fully utilized by its own customers.” CoreWeave’s existing data center capacity is falling short of demand.
CFO Nitin Agrawal remarked on the August earnings conference call that CoreWeave’s “growth continues to be capacity-constrained, with demand outstripping supply.” This is evident from the fact that its contractual backlog increased by close to $14 billion year over year in Q2, driven by the multibillion-dollar contracts the company signed in the quarter.
For comparison, CoreWeave’s Q2 revenue increased to $1.2 billion from $395 million in the year-ago period. Not surprisingly, the company is laser-focused on bringing online more data center capacity so that it can fulfill its massive revenue backlog worth $30 billion. It currently operates 33 dedicated AI data centers in the U.S. and Europe, with active power capacity of 470 megawatts (MW).
However, it has been increasing its contracted data center power capacity at a nice clip so that it can bring more active capacity online. Specifically, CoreWeave’s contracted data center power capacity increased by 600 MW in the previous quarter to 2.2 gigawatts (GW). But even that might not be enough in the long run, as according to McKinsey, data center capacity demand could grow by 4x between 2023 and 2030.
The firm estimates that global data center capacity demand could hit 220 GW in 2030 from 55 GW in 2023 in a midrange scenario. So there is a good chance that CoreWeave could remain capacity-constrained in the long run thanks to the AI-powered data center boom. For instance, McKinsey is expecting a deficit of more than 15 GW in data center power capacity in the U.S. itself by 2030.
As such, CoreWeave may not be left with any residual capacity to sell to Nvidia going forward, as there is a good chance that data center demand will continue to be stronger than supply on account of AI. And now, Nvidia’s guarantee gives CoreWeave investors an extra cushion that should ensure healthy long-term growth for the company, even if there’s a drop in AI computing capacity requirements.
What should investors do?
Nvidia’s guarantee suggests that the demand for AI computing is likely to remain robust in the long run. This should ideally translate into a bigger backlog and stronger growth for CoreWeave, which is just what analysts are expecting from the company through 2028.
The massive opportunity in the cloud AI infrastructure market should help CoreWeave sustain impressive growth rates beyond 2028. For instance, even if it clocks 20% annual top-line growth in 2029 and 2030, its revenue could hit $25.6 billion. If the stock is trading at even 5 times sales at that time, in line with the Nasdaq Composite‘s average sales multiple, its market cap could get close to $130 billion. That would be more than double CoreWeave’s current market cap.
Importantly, CoreWeave can now be bought at 16 times sales, which isn’t all that expensive when we consider its remarkable growth.
So investors looking to capitalize on the AI cloud infrastructure market’s long-term growth potential can consider buying this AI stock right away, especially considering that the Nvidia deal is a vote of confidence in CoreWeave’s — and the AI data center market’s — prospects.
Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Chelsea academy graduates usually have a couple of well-trodden pathways – breakthrough, loan, first team. Or breakthrough, loan, sale.
The Blues have moved on more than 40 homegrown players in the past decade, and made £315m from selling academy-developed talent in the last four seasons alone – £100m more than Manchester City.
But their latest high-profile prospect George has bucked that trend so far and can look at how Levi Colwill, Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James have progressed to first-team success.
George’s strike against Fulham on 20 April, aged 19 years and 75 days, saw him become the club’s youngest scorer in the Premier League since Callum Hudson-Odoi netted against Burnley in January 2020.
The winger’s breakthrough season included Carabao Cup games against Barrow and Morecambe, substitute league appearances against Arsenal and Brighton, and more than 750 minutes in 12 Conference League games, including a goal in the quarter-final first-leg win at Legia Warsaw.
George, who turned 19 in February, is disrupting the ‘Chelsea’ narrative thanks to a level of dedication unusual even in this era of youth development.
The last Chelsea player to come through the youth system into the first team without a loan was one of his idols, Hudson-Odoi in January 2018.
A source told BBC Sport that in his early years at Chelsea, George was a ‘middling’ player in his age group until around the age of 10.
It was at that point his dad hired a goalkeeper as well as a personal coach, David ‘Guru’ Sobers, to raise his game.
In midweek, George would train with Chelsea, and then from the age of 13 on Fridays, he would play against men in nine-a-side matches at either Vauxhall or Nine Elms Power League in South London.
On Saturdays, he would train again and go through post-match analysis with Sobers from his Power League matches the previous evening, before going back to Chelsea on Sunday to play.
“I used to spend hours travelling on public transport to do two-hour sessions, or longer, with Tyrique as I thought I could help him,” Sobers told BBC Sport.
“We would spend hours doing one-versus-one, technical work, shooting drills, and I enjoyed the fact that he would push himself so much.
“I’d be a ‘bad’ referee when he played against 18-year-olds, so he would get kicked – but have to get up and win the ball back.
“We did tactics on his Friday session during these matches. I think it helped our young players, we also had guys now at Manchester City, West Ham and Reading, become fearless, especially when coming back to their own age group.”
60. The energy from Grimsby has been brilliant tonight.
With an hour gone, they still seem to have plenty in the tank.
The next goal is criitical in this game, Man Utd have enough quality on the pitch to turn this match in an instant.
Grimsby 2-0 Man Utd
58. What a chance for the Red Devils.
Mbuemo swings a cross into the box and Heaven has a completely free diving header.
Somehow, he puts his effort over the crossbar.
Woeful effort.
Grimsby 2-0 Man Utd
56. This weather may be helping the hosts.
The rain is torrential and makes conditions very difficult to play passing football in.
Man Utd have a free-kick some thirty yards out, good chance to ask some questions of the keeper.
Grimsby 2-0 Man Utd
54. Green does brilliantly to hold the ball up.
He seemed to have got in behind the defence but did not have the legs to make the most of it.
Grimsby are still looking dangerous on the attack here.
View from SunSport’s Gareth Davies at Kassam Stadium
A word for 39-year-old James Milner, named as Brighton skipper on his first start for four days short of a year.
He was named as skipper, and kept things ticking along nicely as Albion’s class kept them way out in front.
It was almost too easy for Brighton, who made it 3-0 seconds before the hour mark when Diego Gomez scored right footed from close in with the home defence opened up again.
Grimsby 2-0 Man Utd
52. That was a massive chance for Grimsby.
It should give them confidence that the Red Devils look very open when the hosts come at them.
As the rain pours down, Man Utd get a low cross into the box but the mixture of keeper and defender allows the League Two outfit to clear.
President Trump this week threw his full support behind a massive project to turn a sacred Apache site outside Phoenix into one of the world’s largest copper mines, meeting with mining executives at the White House and ridiculing a recent court decision that temporarily halted the transfer of federal lands to their companies.
Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum met in the White House on Tuesday with several executives from Rio Tinto and BHP, the two multinational mining companies behind the planned Resolution Copper mine. As proposed, the mine would turn Oak Flat — a long-preserved site of rocky outcroppings and desert waterways on the edge of the Tonto National Forest — into a nearly two-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep industrial crater.
Trump also posted about the project on his Truth Social site, calling the three-judge U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel that blocked the transfer a “Radical Left Court” and saying it was “sad” that “Radical Left Activists” could stall such a project.
“3,800 Jobs are affected, and our Country, quite simply, needs Copper — AND NOW!” Trump wrote.
He also wrote, without evidence, that those fighting the mine are “Anti-American” and working on behalf of “other Copper competitive Countries.”
The San Carlos Apache Tribe, which is among the plaintiffs suing to block the mine, called the court’s decision a “last minute victory” in its ongoing battle to save the land.
“The Apache people will never stop fighting for Chí’chil Biłdagoteel,” tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said in a statement, using the traditional Apache name for Oak Flat. “We thank the court for stopping this horrific land exchange and allowing us to argue the merits of our pending lawsuit in court.”
Trump’s decision to directly weigh in further elevates the already large profile of a monumental legal battle. It has aligned environmental activists and religious liberty proponents, and has major implications for the nation’s ability to meet its rapidly growing demand for copper, which is an essential element in telecommunications networks, electric vehicles and other growing technologies.
Oak Flat was federally protected land for decades. Members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe describe it as sacred land home to spiritual guardians akin to angels, and say it has been used for coming-of-age and other tribal ceremonies for generations.
In 2004, prospectors discovered that one of the world’s largest copper ore deposits, estimated to hold enough copper to supply up to a quarter of U.S. demand, sat somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 feet below the surface.
The battle to extract the deposit has raged ever since, but particularly since 2014, when former Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake inserted language mandating the land transfer into a last-minute defense appropriations bill.
A lawsuit brought by the group Apache Stronghold and led by Apache elder Wendsler Nosie Sr. resulted in a split 9th Circuit ruling against the Apache and in favor of the mining companies in March 2024.
In May, the Supreme Court declined to hear an Apache appeal of that decision, clearing the way for the U.S. Forest Service to issue a final environmental impact report and hear a last round of public comment before handing the land over to Resolution Copper.
The decision marked a major loss to the mine opponents, but it did not end other lawsuits filed to stop it — including one filed by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and another by a group called the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.
On Aug. 15, a district court judge in Arizona issued an order clearing the way for the land transfer to move forward on Tuesday.
The groups appealed, and the three-judge 9th Circuit panel put the district court decision on hold Monday, pending its own hearing of arguments over the transfer — one of which is that the federal government bypassed a required step in the environmental review process.
The panel — composed of two Clinton appointees and one Trump appointee — said it was not taking a position on the merits of those arguments, and would “expedite” the case, with all briefs due by Oct. 14.
The court’s reprieve, if only temporary, was cheered by Apache groups and other organizations whose members use the Oak Flat land for rock climbing and other recreation. Some also spoke out against Trump’s remarks, calling them anti-American.
Rambler, the San Carlos tribe chairman, said the mine’s opponents “are working to save the U.S. from making a disastrous decision that would give up American resources to foreign interests,” and that Trump had been “misinformed” to think otherwise by the mine’s supporters.
Rambler said BHP and Rio Tinto are foreign companies with ties to Chinese state-owned companies, and will be exporting the copper taken from Oak Flat — “likely to China.”
Rambler said he looks forward “to sitting down with the administration and providing factual information to protect American assets.”
Nosie, in a statement provided to the The Times, also accused Trump of siding with foreign interests over those of indigenous Americans.
“Our nation cannot survive if we sacrifice what is sacred in pursuit of temporary profits,” he said.
Wendsler Nosie Sr., a longtime opponent of the proposed Resolution Copper mine, gathers with other opponents to the mine at Oak Flat in 2023.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
He said the Apache people are grateful for all of the support they have received from people of all political stripes and religious backgrounds, who he said have recognized the fight for what it is — a “moral one.”
“If we destroy our sacred land and poison our environment, we are betraying our children and grandchildren and hurting ourselves,” he said. “The future of the entire human race is at stake.”
A Resolution Copper spokesperson said they are confident the 9th Circuit will “ultimately affirm” the district court’s “well-reasoned” ruling in favor of the land transfer.
“Over the past 11 years, the Resolution Copper project has undergone a rigorous, independent review under the National Environmental Policy Act, led by the U.S. Forest Service. This review has included extensive consultation with numerous Native American Tribes with ancestral ties to this land, local communities, civil society organizations, and a dozen federal, state, and county agencies,” the spokesperson said. “The collaborative process has directly led to major changes to the mining plan to preserve and reduce potential impacts on Tribal, social, environmental, and cultural interests.”
The spokesperson said the project has other local support and “the potential to become one of America’s biggest copper mines, contributing $1 billion annually to Arizona’s economy and creating thousands of local jobs in a region where mining has played an important role for more than a century.”
Tuesday’s meeting at the White House included Trump and Burgum, as well as current Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm, incoming Rio Tinto chief executive Simon Trott and BHP chief executive Mike Henry, as well as other White House officials.
The Resolution Copper spokesperson said the discussion centered on “the mining industry’s capacity to deliver long-term domestic supplies of copper and other critical minerals” from the Oak Flat deposit.
A BIG high street banking chain is axing a lifeline service for all customers within weeks.
M&S Bank is stopping customers from paying off their credit card bills in-store, by cheque, or using bank giro credit – a move campaigners say will make life harder for older and vulnerable people.
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M&S Bank currently offers credit cards, personal loans, travel insurance, store payment cards and a buy now pay later credit to over three million customersCredit: Alamy
The bank, run as a joint venture between HSBC and M&S since 2004, had already paused in-store credit card payments back in April.
Now, the decision has been made permanent, according to This is Money.
To make matters worse, a letter sent to customers confirmed that from October, payments by cheque or giro credit will no longer be accepted at banks, building societies, or post offices.
The decision has caused a stir, with critics claiming it’s yet another blow to older people who are being left behind in an increasingly digital world.
Baroness Ros Altmann, a pensions expert, said: “You’re pushing away your most loyal, older customers who’ve probably shopped with you for decades.
“It might only be a minority who use these methods, but with M&S Bank’s huge customer base, it’s still a lot of people.
“These changes tend to hit older folks hardest.
“Many don’t have access to online banking or smartphones, and some prefer cash to help them budget better.”
M&S Bank currently offerscredit cards,personal loans, travelinsurance, store payment cards and a buy now pay later credit to over three million UK customers.
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, also raised concerns.
Switch bank accounts for free perks
She highlighted research showing that 27% of people still manage their accounts through branches, while 31% feel uneasy about banking online.
“Reducing payment options will limit some older people, especially those who aren’t online or who prefer cash,” she said.
M&S Bank has defended the decision, saying only “1%” of customers use these older payment methods.
A spokesperson said: “Most customers are choosing to use digital channels for their banking needs.
“We’ve introduced a pay-by-bank option via the M&S Bank app, alongside direct debit and bank payments, to make things easier for them.”
They added that the axed options were “legacy payment methods” and pointed out that customers can still pay at a bank, but giro forms will no longer be printed with statements.
M&S Bank used to offer current accounts prior to 2021.
However, the bank closed this product offering on August 31, 2021, in a shock move that also resulted in the closure of all 29 in-store bank branches on July 2 of the same year.
From December 31 this year, Lloyds Banking Group will withdraw this service for all customers.
CREDIT CARD NEED-TO-KNOWS
NOT using a credit card effectively can wreak havoc on your finances and your credit score.
If you don’t keep up with repayments or default on your debt, you are likely to get a black mark on your credit record, which could affect your ability to get a credit card, loan or mortgage in the future.
It’s important not to let yourself get sucked into overspending.
You should always clear the full balance as soon as possible.
If you have a poor credit score, don’t bank on being approved for a card or getting the 0% deal you’d hoped for.
Card providers only have to give the advertised rate to 51% of applicants, so you could end up paying more interest than you bargained for.
After your 0% period is up, lenders can charge upwards of 40% interest, so if you have not repaid the debt fully by then, try to move the debt onto another 0% deal.
If you’ve got a poor credit record, you’re less likely to get the best rates.
And if you are looking for a new credit card, don’t apply for lots at once.
Doctors give everything to save lives during a violent gang war in one of the last remaining trauma hospitals in Haiti.
The streets of Port-au-Prince have become a combat zone. Fighting between armed groups and beleaguered government forces has caused hospitals to shut down, overwhelming the ones that remain with mostly civilian casualties. Doctors at the Tabarre Hospital are caught in the crossfire and doing everything they can to save lives, including sacrificing their own comfort and safety. This is the story of the doctors and patients trying to survive in a country torn apart by violence.
