gm.
here's what happened over the weekend, plus a look at how companies get graded when they borrow money.
3 things worth your time
1. france's school protests grew into a wider cost-of-living movement. saturday brought violence.
on saturday, demonstrations across france over rising living costs and public services were marred by clashes with police, fires, and looting. by sunday, authorities reported around 1,800 arrests nationwide, according to AFP.
the movement grew out of student protests over school conditions and teacher shortages. it broadened to include anger over fuel prices, inequality, and cuts to public services. saturday's marches brought together students, unions, and other groups.
many marches remained peaceful. elsewhere, rioters set cars alight in paris, a tourist office was burned in lyon, and demonstrators forced their way into marseille's city hall. organizers had sought to revive the momentum of the yellow vest movement, which challenged emmanuel macron over fuel costs and household finances in 2018 and 2019.
2. tesla's roadster went airborne. production is still planned for 2028.
on thursday, tesla showed a redesigned roadster at a SpaceX facility in texas. the two-seat electric car climbed an inverted ramp, rotated in the air, and landed with help from built-in thrusters. another demonstration sent it over a line of vehicles.
elon musk said production would begin in 2028. tesla first showed a next-generation roadster in 2017, so that target would put production more than a decade after the original reveal. no new purchase price was announced at the event.
the roadster serves as a showcase for what tesla and SpaceX can build together. production is targeted for 2028, after years of delays.
3. anthropic reportedly has a “junk” credit rating. here's what that means.
on friday, the financial times reported that anthropic, the company behind claude, received a BB+ credit rating from KBRA in june. the rating was newly reported, not a new downgrade.
a credit rating is an agency's assessment of a borrower's ability to meet its debt payments. it addresses whether lenders are likely to get paid back, rather than whether a company's products are impressive or its stock could go up.
on KBRA's scale, BBB- is the lowest investment-grade rating. BB+ sits one step below it, in the speculative category commonly called “junk.” that label signals greater credit risk. it doesn't mean a company has already missed a payment.
the distinction can change who is willing or allowed to lend, and at what price. lenders generally demand more interest to take more risk. some investment funds also limit how much lower-rated debt they can hold.
anthropic can still raise money: the rating preceded a $35 billion chip-financing deal led by apollo, according to the financial times. the issue is the price and terms of that funding. moving into investment grade could widen its pool of lenders and help lower borrowing costs as it pays for more computing capacity.
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one more quick thing
the NBA is removing some bets from partner sportsbooks.
on friday, the league restricted several types of wagers, including bets on the opening tip, individual players recording the first basket or other first statistic, and “unders” on players expected to play fewer than 12 minutes.
it also barred parlays combining unders on the same player's statistics. that means bundling bets that one player will finish below several thresholds, such as points, rebounds, and assists. the NBA says the changes target bets more susceptible to manipulation.
there's a familiar example: former raptors player jontay porter was banned in 2024 for helping bettors profit by limiting his playing time. leaving a game early can keep several statistics low at once, which is why bets bundling those unders are a concern.
see you thursday.
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not financial advice. aggregated community trends and commentary.