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| Greetings N2K reader! | This week’s world famous news haiku competition™ is about the New York Times taking the Pentagon to court in a battle over the First Amendment. Pick a winner in today’s poll below! And now for something completely different! | —Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor | | News You Need2Know | | | What’s the stock market up to, eh? | $SPX ( ▲ 0.21% ) $DJI ( ▲ 1.34% ) $NDX ( ▼ 0.25% ) | | Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter | $DIS ( ▲ 2.42% ) $DJI ( ▲ 1.34% ) $ORCL ( ▼ 10.83% ) $DIS ( ▲ 2.42% ) $LIY ( ▲ 33.26% ) | | Rare champagne from Charles and Diana’s wedding goes un-auctioned | | My mate Cosmo’s dad played the trumpet at Charles and Diana’s wedding, but I doubt he drank any of their rare champagne. And nor will anyone else be, it seems…because a rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne — labeled specifically for the iconic 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana — failed to sell at auction in Denmark when bids did not meet the minimum price. Auction house Bruun Rasmussen had expected the exclusive bottle to fetch up to 600,000 Danish kroner (approximately $93,000), but alas no deal was reached. | It’s not exactly an auspicious bottle to toast with, though, is it? “Cheers to the eventual death of the bride with her lover while being pursued by the paparazzi as the groom continues to see the woman he’s always been secretly in love with” is kinda…niche. | “The bids did not reach the desired minimum price, and therefore it was unfortunately not sold,” said Kirstine Dam Frihed, a spokesperson for the auction house. | The champagne, one of only 12 known bottles created to commemorate the royal wedding, bears a special label: “Specially shipped to honor the marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. 29 July 1981.” | Thomas Rosendahl, head of the auction house’s wine department, described the bottle as “really, really rare” and noted that while some bottles were served during the wedding, others were “forgotten or kept away.” | Henrik Smidt, fine wine manager at Copenhagen-based Kjaer and Sommerfeldt, added, “You have the combination of one of the most famous weddings ever… and a very rare vintage. All wine connoisseurs and collectors would love to own this.” | Apparently they wouldn’t. | | | Song of the Day: Tom Smith, ‘The Lights of New York City’ |  | Tom Smith - Lights Of New York City |
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| Tom Smith's "Lights of New York City," a track from his 2025 debut solo album “There Is Nothing in the Dark That Isn't There in the Light,” is full of nostalgic longing, cinematic feel, and pensive trumpet — just like this newsletter. | | Free yourself from advertising forever! | Now you can sign up for an optional ad-free version of Need2Know! Subscribe for just $5 a month, or $50 a year, and you can continue to enjoy this reasonably high-quality newsletter uninterrupted. Bonus: The immense satisfaction that comes from supporting journalism*! | *This counts as journalism, right? | | | ADVERTISEMENT | Exxon and Chevron Have an Unlikely New Competitor | | Energy giants like Exxon and Chevron are buying land in America’s lithium hotspot. Now they’ve got a new neighbor. EnergyX has now acquired 35k gross acres in Southwest Arkansas, right next door. With tech that can recover 3X more lithium than traditional methods, they’re aiming for America’s lithium crown. General Motors already invested. Join them and 40k people as an early-stage EnergyX investor today. | Invest in EnergyX Now | Energy Exploration Technologies, Inc. (“EnergyX”) has engaged Nice News to publish this communication in connection with EnergyX’s ongoing Regulation A offering. Nice News has been paid in cash and may receive additional compensation. Nice News and/or its affiliates do not currently hold securities of EnergyX. | This compensation and any current or future ownership interest could create a conflict of interest. Please consider this disclosure alongside EnergyX’s offering materials. EnergyX’s Regulation A offering has been qualified by the SEC. Offers and sales may be made only by means of the qualified offering circular. Before investing, carefully review the offering circular, including the risk factors. The offering circular is available at invest.energyx.com/. | | | |
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| A sell-off for Oracle weighs on Wall Street even as the Dow jumps 600 points | | In a day of mixed fortunes, Wall Street was largely buoyant, with the Dow Jones $DJI ( ▲ 1.34% ) Industrial Average surging by 625 points, or 1.3%. However, Oracle's $ORCL ( ▼ 10.83% ) significant sell-off cast a shadow over the broader market, raising questions about its aggressive investment in AI. | The tech giant saw its shares plummet by 13.4%, marking its worst day since the dot-com bust in 2001. This dip followed Oracle's announcement of a 14% growth in revenue for the latest quarter, which fell short of analysts’ expectations despite surpassing profit forecasts. | Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison tried to address the AI investment concerns, emphasizing the company's shift to "chip neutrality." He said: “There are going to be a lot of changes in AI technology over the next few years, and we must remain agile in response to those changes.” | He did not convince investors, it seems. Elsewhere in the market, Eli Lilly $LIY ( ▲ 33.26% ) climbed 2.6% following positive trial results, while Disney $DIS ( ▲ 2.42% ) saw gains after announcing a $1 billion investment in OpenAI (see story below!). Meanwhile, Treasury yields slipped slightly, reflecting ongoing economic uncertainty. | |
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