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Fantasy football tight end rankings for Week 3: Here Kittle, Kittle

Has there been a more disappointing position in fantasy football this season than tight end?

The answer, of course, is no. Just five of them even have 100 receiving yards through two games.

Only three of the top 10 tight ends in average draft position are currently among the top 10 in fantasy points: No. 8 George Kittle, No. 3 TreyMcBride and No. 6 Kyle Pitts. So who will bounce back this week?

Fantasy football rankings for Week 3 are based on the point-per-reception (PPR) scoring used in most seasonal and daily fantasy football formats. One point is awarded for every 10 rushing and receiving yards and one point for every 20 passing yards. Six points are awarded for touchdowns scored, four points for passing TDs and one point for receptions.

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Rankings are compiled by Daniel Dobish, TheHuddle.com. 

Fantasy football Week 3 tight end rankings

(*-check status before kickoff)

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Meet the NFL’s youngest player, Jets RB Braelon Allen

The New York Jets and Tennessee Titans were tied at 17 late in the fourth quarter of their Week 2 matchup when New York made a consequential play call.

With just under five minutes left in the game, the Jets decided to run the ball with their backup running back Braelon Allen rather than starter Breece Hall.

Allen paid off the decision. His offensive line opened up a massive hole on the right side and the Wisconsin product scampered through it before finding his way to the end zone to give the Jets a lead they would not relinquish.

In doing so, Allen became the youngest player in NFL history to score two touchdowns in a single game. That record might be hard to beat given Allen’s age and the barriers for entry the NFL has in place specifically to keep players from breaking into the league at too young an age.

Here’s what to know about the NFL’s youngest players for the 2024 season.

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Who is the youngest player in football?

Braelon Allen is the youngest player in the NFL for the 2024 season. The Jets rookie is the lone 20-year-old playing in the league, as he won’t turn 21 until Jan. 20, 2025.

Allen played collegiately at Wisconsin and was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft by the Jets. He ran for 3,494 yards and 35 touchdowns on 597 carries with the Badgers, and established himself as a professional prospect thanks to his massive 6-foot-1, 235-pound frame.

Allen opened the season as New York’s primary backup running back and figures to get a handful of touches each game as a complement to the third-year star. He became the youngest player in NFL history to score two touchdowns in a game in the Jets’ 24-17 Week 2 win over the Titans.

It isn’t easy for young players to break into the NFL. The league has specific barriers for entry that stipulate players must be at least three years removed from high school to be eligible for the NFL draft.

The goal of this policy is to ensure that players who make it to the pros are ready for the level of physicality that the NFL offers.

Of course, some players have found ways to skirt those requirements to get to the league faster. Completing high school early and reclassifying to a different year is the most popular way for players to get to the NFL a year early, but even then, the league’s barriers for entry have largely prevented teenagers from making it to the league.

But 20 year olds like Allen? They are becoming slightly more common in the NFL.

Youngest NFL players in 2024

Denver Broncos running back Audric Estime was the only other NFL player close to 20 years old when the season started. He saw his first action with the Denver Broncos on Sept. 8, just two days after his 21st birthday.

The NFL’s 25 youngest players as of Sept. 1 were all less than 22 years old. They are as follows:

Braelon Allen, RB, Jets (20 years, 225 days)
Audric Estime, RB, Broncos (20 years, 360 days)
Nate Wiggins, CB, Ravens (21 years, 4 days)
Cam Little, K, Jaguars (21 years, 15 days)
Malik Nabers, WR, Giants (21 years, 35 days)
Trey Benson, RB, Cardinals (21 years, 42 days)
Keon Coleman, WR, Bills (21 years, 107 days)
Calen Bullock, S, Texans (21 years, 124 days)
Xavier Worthy, WR, Chiefs (21 years, 127 days)
Mekhi Wingo, DT, Lions (21 years, 137 days)
Jonah Elliss, OLB, Broncos (21 years, 151 days).
Jaylen Wright, RB, Dolphins (21 years, 153 days)
Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE, Panthers (21 years, 158 days)
Blake Fisher, OT, Texans (21 years, 160 days)
Terrion Arnold, CB, Lions (21 years, 163 days)
Joe Alt, OT, Chargers (21 years, 186 days)
Trevin Wallace, LB, Panthers (21 years, 192 days)
James Williams, LB, Titans (21 years, 199 days)
Cooper DeJean, CB, Eagles (21 years, 206 days)
JC Latham, OT, Titans (21 years, 206 days)
Troy Franklin, WR, Broncos (21 years, 208 days)
Dallas Turner, EDGE, Vikings (21 years, 212 days)
Kamari Lassiter, CB, Texans (21 years, 222 days)
Kingsley Suamataia, OT, Chiefs (21 years, 227 days)
Chop Robinson, EDGE, Dolphins (21 years, 243 days)

Youngest players in NFL history

Pre-Super Bowl era

Jim Snyder is officially the youngest player to see NFL action. He was just 16 when he suited up for the Milwaukee Badgers during the 1925 season. He played just one game, and his statistical output is unknown.

The NFL had 23 total teenagers play during its early days, according to Stathead. None have done so since 1944, when 19-year-old Tom Bedore and 18-year-old Frank Santora played for Washington and Boston Yanks, respectively.

Super Bowl era

Amobi Okoye is the youngest NFL player of the Super Bowl era. The Houston Texans selected him 10th overall in the 2007 NFL draft when the Louisville product was just 19. The defensive tackle turned 20 on June 10th of that year but made his NFL debut at 20 years, 91 days old.

Okoye played six NFL seasons with the Texans and Chicago Bears, totaling 177 tackles and 16 sacks. He is one of just five 20-year-old players to see the field since the Super Bowl era, along with Allen, Arthur Brown, Tremaine Edmunds and Kevin Jefferson.

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Three Mile Island nuclear plant to help power Microsoft’s data-center needs

A unit of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant will be restarted as part of a new energy-sharing agreement with Microsoft, which plans to use it to power the data centers it operates as part of its push into artificial intelligence.

In a joint release, Microsoft and Constellation Energy, Pennsylvania’s main utility, said Three Mile Island Unit 1, a unit separate from the one that sparked the infamous shutdown nearly five decades ago, will be used to provide clean energy to the tech giant as the artificial intelligence arms race heats up.

Constellation shut down Unit 1 in 2019 due to operating losses. Unit 2 was shut down in the wake of the 1979 incident that saw a partial core meltdown that led radioactive compounds to be released into the environment.

Studies have produced a range of estimates for the death toll over the course of 30 years as a result of the radiation release — but it is often cited as having set back America’s nuclear-energy push for a generation.

Today, energy has become the new coin of the realm for companies investing in artificial intelligence. That’s because the data centers tasked with running the complex calculations needed to power artificial intelligence applications require enormous amounts of power. Restarting Unit 1 will mean bringing 800 megawatts back onto the grid, greater than the amount of hydroelectric power supplied by the Hoover Dam.

Additional shuttered nuclear factories now being considered for reactivation amid the broader AI-data center push can be found in Michigan and Iowa, while a half-dozen other states are reversing moratoriums on new nuclear plants.

Microsoft’s vice president of energy touted the clean-energy benefits of reviving the facility in a statement.

“This agreement is a major milestone in Microsoft’s efforts to help decarbonize the grid in support of our commitment to become carbon negative,’ Bobby Hollis said. ‘Microsoft continues to collaborate with energy providers to develop carbon-free energy sources to help meet the grids’ capacity and reliability needs.”

Earlier this week, Microsoft and investment group BlackRock announced a new, $100 billion initiative to develop data centers for artificial intelligence. While analysts are still debating what the AI push has accomplished to date, companies worldwide see it as the next great business opportunity.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently shrugged off doubts about AI’s payoff, comparing it to the trajectory of the Industrial Revolution

‘There was not that much industrial growth, and then it took off,’ he said at a recent conference. ‘1817 in the United States to the 1940s was just one of those golden ages.’

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Report: NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth to sign extension with NBC

The No. 1 team on NBC’s Sunday night football will stay intact, at least for the foreseeable future.

NBC is scheduled to broadcast two more Super Bowls in the next six years, including Super Bowl 60 in 2026 and Super Bowl 64 in 2030.

Collinsworth, 65, who has won seven Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Studio Analyst, makes about $12.5 million a year and has teamed up with Mike Tirico to call games.

Collinsworth has been in the broadcast booth for ‘Sunday Night Football’ since 2009, first teaming up with Al Michaels before Michaels left for Amazon Prime in 2022.

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NFL bold predictions: Who will turn heads in Week 3?

With just two weeks down, the preseason narratives are starting to give way to the reality of the regular season.

There have been several surprises to start off the season, including which teams leapt to a 2-0 mark and which ones sagged to 0-2. Week 3 promises to erase at least two groups from the unbeaten ranks, as the Houston Texans and Minnesota Vikings will put their perfect starts on the line against one another, as will the Los Angeles Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers. And there undoubtedly will be a few more unexpected twists between the start of Sunday and the culmination of the ‘Monday Night Football’ doubleheader.

Here are four bold predictions for Week 3 from USA TODAY Sports’ NFL writers:

Malik Willis will have (another) ‘career day’ in Tennessee…of all places

This depends, of course, on the status of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who returned to practices this week on a limited basis as he heals from an MCL sprain in his left knee. Packers coach Matt LaFleur said the decision on Love – originally projected to miss three to four weeks after being injured in the season opener – could go right up until the teams release their inactive lists 90 minutes before kickoff.

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But why risk a setback? Willis, a third-year pro who has been with the Packers for less than a month, demonstrated against the Indianapolis Colts last weekend that he’s a decent alternative. I mean, he accomplished more in his one game as the fill-in starter for Love than he did during his entire two seasons with the Tennessee Titans. He passed for a ‘career high’ of, uh, 122 yards. He completed 85.7% of his, well, 14 passes. He didn’t commit a turnover. He passed for his first NFL touchdown. And he won. Willis, drafted by Tennessee in the third round in 2022, heads back to Nashville swearing that he is not seeking revenge after his potential with the Titans gave way to the emergence of Will Levis (second round, 2023).

Willis started three games for the Titans as a rookie (with a high passing mark of 99 yards) and in 11 games over two seasons threw 66 passes. Without throwing for a single TD, his Titans stint was summed up with a measly 49.4 passer rating. So much for the diamond-in-the-rough narrative for the project from Liberty. Then came a break: Willis got his next NFL chance with LaFleur, a QB guru who also made the career trek from Nashville to Green Bay.

Here’s to predicting that with LaFleur pushing the buttons, Josh Jacobs running the rock and a bevy of dynamic receivers, Willis will set another career high for passing yards against his old teammates. OK, that equates to at least 123 yards. I’d be really going on a limb in predicting a 300-yard game. Nonetheless, I’d suspect that Willis had to notice something in practicing against the Titans D for two years that he can use on Sunday.

— Jarrett Bell

Lamar Jackson’s MVP performance will lead winless Ravens to first win

The Ravens are too dependent on Jackson, but they need a stellar performance from the two-time MVP to get their first victory of the season. Jackson will put his MVP cape on versus the Cowboys and deliver in a contest that already feels like a must-win game for the Ravens. The dual-threat quarterback will throw for over 200 yards and rush for 100 yards. Jackson has nine games in his career with 200+ passing yards and 100+ rushing yards, the most in NFL history. Sunday will be his 10th ever game with such a stat line.

Baltimore’s defense needs to generate a pass rush and make a couple stops to help Jackson and the offense out. But Jackson is 20-1 in games started versus NFC opponents.

— Tyler Dragon

Dolphins and Jaguars both find a way to win on the road

Things are bad in Jacksonville, to the point quarterback Trevor Lawrence said, “We suck right now.” Going against a Buffalo Bills team that has looked deadly on offense at times through two games on ‘Monday Night Football’ is not an ideal prescription. Can the Lawrence and Doug Pederson combination really be deemed a failure? Because coming back from 0-3 feels impossible and would doom the pairing to that distinction, making this a desperation victory more than anything else.

The Dolphins, meanwhile, had the extended layoff to anticipate Skylar Thompson starting in place of the injured Tua Tagovailoa. Seattle is off to a 2-0 start under rookie head coach Mike Macdonald, but the Dolphins’ speedy playmakers find a way to hit enough home runs to pull off the road upset.

— Chris Bumbaca

Cardinals pull off the upset of the weekend

I typically prefer to be more narrow with my bold prediction than merely picking one winner. But it appears I’m on an island among USA TODAY Sports’ NFL writers in rolling with the Arizona Cardinals to upend the Detroit Lions, so let’s dig into this one.

Dan Campbell’s crew hasn’t carried over last season’s performance seamlessly, with the offense ranking 28th in red-zone efficiency after scoring just one touchdown in seven trips during last week’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s reasonable to believe Ben Johnson’s attack will click at some point, but likely not after just seven days.

Any hitch could prove to be Detroit’s undoing, as the red-hot Cardinals are suited for a shootout thanks to an offense that ranks second in scoring. With Kyler Murray in top form, Marvin Harrison Jr. coming on strong and James Conner again flying under the radar as a formidable lead back, Arizona poses plenty of problems with how many ways it can strike. The Cardinals will have to account for Aidan Hutchinson, who leads the NFL with 5 ½ sacks after feasting primarily on backups through his first two games, but Murray no doubt will be on high alert.

— Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz

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What is Packers QB Jordan Love’s status for Week 3?

(This story was updated to add new information.)

The Green Bay Packers earned their first win of the 2024 NFL season in Week 2 despite being without quarterback Jordan Love.

Malik Willis started against the Indianapolis Colts in place of Love, who was dealing with an MCL sprain he suffered in Green Bay’s season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The injury occurred late in the game when Love was tackled by two Eagles players and had his knee bend awkwardly as he threw the ball away. He limped off the field after the injury and did not return.

Love’s injury was expected to be a multi-week problem, but the Packers opted not to put him on IR to offer them flexibility. That decision may pay off as Love practiced ahead of the Week 3 game, though he is being listed as questionable.

Here’s what to know about Love’s injury and his status for Green Bay’s clash with the Tennessee Titans.

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Jordan Love injury update

Love returned to Packers practice on Wednesday less than two weeks after he suffered the knee injury against the Eagles. Green Bay slapped him with a ‘limited’ designation, but his return to the field marked a significant step forward in his recovery.

On Thursday, Love practiced in pads, building upon the progress he had shown Wednesday.

But coach Matt LaFleur said Friday that Love is questionable for the game and ‘we’re working through that’ on getting him cleared.

‘He’s doing everything in his power,’ LaFleur said. ‘He wants to be out there more than anybody. But we’ll work through it, we’ll give up till game time and we’ll see where we’re at.’

Love didn’t practice at all for the Packers ahead of their Week 2 matchup against the Colts. He earned a ‘DNP’ designation each day before being ruled ‘doubtful’ for the contest that Friday, per Green Bay’s injury report.

Jordan Love practice video

Love was spotted at practice wearing a red non-contact jersey and a protective sleeve on his injured left leg. He participated in stretching and drills during the portion of practice open to media.

Jordan Love status for Week 3 vs. Titans

Love said Wednesday he was hoping to play but is going to evaluate his options as the week progresses.

‘I’m going to take the week and just take it day by day and see how it feels,’ he said, per Ryan Wood. ‘I’m not going to make any decisions right now. I’m hopeful that I can get to that point where I can get in there, but we’re just going to take it day by day.’

Though his ability to be on the field consecutive practices should be viewed positively by Packers fans eagerly awaiting his return, LaFleur said the quarterback was being listed as questionable.

How long is Jordan Love out?

There is no definitive timetable for Love’s return to action. However, the Packers opted not to place him on IR, so that indicates Green Bay’s medical staff believes there is a chance that Love can return to action without missing four games, which would have put him on track to return in Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport originally reported that Love was targeting a Week 5 return. It’s possible that timeline has accelerated given Love’s return to practice.

It’s also possible that the Packers will exercise caution and avoid rushing Love back into action. He is the team’s $220 million franchise quarterback, after all.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Dems roundly condemn death threats against Supreme Court they’ve repeatedly disparaged

Democrats roundly condemned political violence after news that a suspect had been arrested for threatening to hurt and kill six of the Supreme Court’s nine Justices and some of their family members.

‘Threats and acts of violence are unacceptable. Period,’ Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told the Washington Post. ‘As President Biden and Vice President Harris have always said, violence has absolutely no place in our country. Violent rhetoric and threats are unacceptable,’ White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said. ‘There’s absolutely no place for political violence in this country – full stop,’ said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

It remains unknown exactly which justices 76-year-old Alaska resident Panos Anastasiou intended to attack. 

However, a complaint filed against him Wednesday indicated that his threats included anti-Black slurs, and there is only one Black Supreme Court Justice – Clarence Thomas, who typically votes with the Court’s conservative majority. Additionally, the complaint laid out that Anastasiou’s threats included extreme remarks about a former president described by Anastasiou as a ‘convicted criminal.’ Former President Donald Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a felony, earlier this year.

Democrats have repeatedly slammed the Supreme Court as illegitimate. In a foretelling speech from Duke Law School on Monday, Kannon Shanmugam, who is widely considered one of the nation’s top appellate litigators and has argued 35 cases in front of the Supreme Court, said that ‘attacks on the legitimacy of the courts are contributing to the threat of violence against judges in general.’ 

‘Enough is enough. When will the media press Democrats like Sen. Schumer, Sen. Durbin, Sen. Whitehouse, VP Harris and others to stop their baseless attacks on the Supreme Court that have created actual threats to the safety of our Justices?’ questioned GOP Florida Sen. Rick Scott following news of Anastasiou’s arrest. ‘Hey, look, someone who took Chuck Schumer seriously,’ said Trent England, the founder and executive director of conservative nonprofit Save Our States. Other critics pointed to how Anastasiou was a frequent donor to Democrats. 

Trump’s ability to shakeup the Supreme Court with new Justices has not sat well with Democrats. 

In a fiery speech in front of the Supreme Court after a preliminary draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked in spring 2020, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, both nominated by Trump, in his crosshairs: ‘I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,’ Schumer exclaimed outside the steps of the Supreme Court in 2020. ‘You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.’

‘The Supreme Court is not well. And the people know it,’ a cohort of Democratic senators said in an August 2019 brief after the High Court took up a case about the constitutionality of a New York City law restricting legal gun owners from transporting their firearms.

In 2020, during the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s final Supreme Court nomination that would eventually make it to the bench, then-Sen. Kamala Harris called the confirmation ‘illegitimate’ and ‘reckless.’ Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Harris warned that there is ‘a national movement afoot to attack hard-won and hard-fought freedoms.’ 

‘I don’t want to, at this point, use my voice in a way that is alarmist,’ she added earlier this year in an interview with the New York Times. ‘But this court has made it very clear that they are willing to undo recognized rights.’ 

Meanwhile, in July, Sen. Ed Markey said: ‘Donald Trump and his MAGA partners’ were to blame for the fact that ‘Our most fundamental freedoms are under attack from an illegitimate, extremist U.S. Supreme Court majority.’ 

‘They started by breaking the rules for confirming justices and ended up breaking the Supreme Court itself,’ Markey said.

The DOJ indicated Wednesday that Anastasiou was charged with nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce. He faces up to 10 years in jail. 

‘Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear,’ Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday. ‘Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families.’

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After repeated promises from Biden administration that a cease-fire is close, war in Middle East is escalating

After months of public optimism about the prospects of a ceasefire, Biden administration officials have soured on the prospects of an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

‘We aren’t any closer to that now than we were even a week ago,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby admitted to reporters on Wednesday. He called the prospects of a completed deal ‘daunting.’ 

‘No deal is imminent,’ one U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal. ‘I’m not sure it ever gets done.’

Israelis point the finger at Hamas for killing six hostages earlier this month, including a U.S. citizen. Arab officials lay blame on Israel for explosive pagers and walkie-talkies and airstrikes aimed at killing Hezbollah fighters for making the prospect of a multi-front war more likely. 

‘There’s no chance now of it happening,’ an Arab official said after the recent campaign against Hezbollah. ‘Everyone is in a wait-and-see mode until after the election. The outcome will determine what can happen in the next administration.’

For Biden, a former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who ran on his diplomacy chops, failure to secure a deal would be a blow to his legacy. It would mean a presidency bookended by a chaotic pullout from Afghanistan at the start and the false hope that peace — and the return of some 250 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 — was just around the corner after the outbreak of war in the Middle East. 

Along with the recent attacks on Hezbollah, officials cited another main reason for pessimism to the Journal: the number of Palestinian prisoners that Israel would be asked to release to bring home its hostages.

Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state, told Fox News Digital he’s less pessimistic about the potential for a deal. 

‘Nobody’s walked away from the table. They haven’t stated they’re done. Qatar and Egypt are still partnering with us on these talks. The three-stage agreed-upon framework is still in place,’ he said.

‘The hangups are on the implementation side, not the framework side,’ he said, noting that negotiations as far as which prisoners will be released, how their safety will be guaranteed and what to do with Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar remain open-ended. 

‘These implementation issues keep coming up,’ he said. ‘That’s where you keep hearing Hamas growing its demands, adding new names, expecting more. And that’s where you hear Israel, you know, calling for the Philadelphia corridor, which suddenly has dropped out of the discussion, right? They both want more and more advantage and gains on their side, which is why negotiators are exasperated.’

While the Biden administration continues to try to find ways forward on a deal, public comments that have strung along hope for months are now conflicted by some of the privately held sentiment that cease-fire efforts are futile. 

On July 19, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a cease-fire deal was within sight. 

‘I believe we’re inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line in getting an agreement that would produce a cease-fire, get the hostages home and put us on a better track to trying to build lasting peace and stability,’ Blinken said.

On Aug. 17, President Biden said he was ‘optimistic’ a deal could be reached. ‘We are closer than we’ve ever been,’ he said, adding that he was sending Blinken to Israel to continue ‘intensive efforts to conclude this agreement.’ 

On Aug. 19, Blinken said that Israel had ‘accepted a proposal’ and the next step was for Hamas to agree.

‘The next important statement is for Hamas to say ‘yes,’ and then, in the coming days, for all of the expert negotiators to get together to work on clear understandings on implementing the agreement,’ Blinken said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

‘This is a decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a cease-fire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.’

But those comments came one day after Hamas had said it would not agree to that proposal. They objected to Israel having control of the Rafah and Philadelphia corridors, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded. 

Then again on Sept. 2, Biden claimed the U.S. was ‘very close’ to finalizing a cease-fire deal that would see the release of hostages. Asked why he was optimistic despite other deals having failed, he said, ‘Hope springs eternal.’

Even this week, Blinken expressed optimism about a deal, though he warned after the pager blasts that ‘escalation’ threatens to thwart progress.

‘It’s imperative that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict,’ Blinken said at a news conference in Egypt. 

He said he was focused on a deal that would bring calm on all fronts, including Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Blinken said that 15 out of 18 paragraphs of a deal had been agreed by all sides.

He blamed long wait times for messages to be passed between the parties for leaving space to disrupt the talks. 

‘We’ve seen that in the intervening time, you might have an event, an incident — something that makes the process more difficult, that threatens to slow it, stop it, derail it — and anything of that nature, by definition, is probably not good in terms of achieving the result that we want, which is the cease-fire,’ Blinken said.

After Egypt, he went to Paris to discuss the prospects of a deal with his European counterparts. 

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Wednesday with the relatives of the seven remaining U.S. hostages held in Gaza, where the families said they ‘expressed ​frustration with the lack of tangible progress’ to Sullivan. 

On Thursday, ​​Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a televised address called the pager attacks ‘a declaration of war’ and that attacks against Israel would continue until the war with Gaza is over. Likewise, Israel’s defense minister vowed to continue striking Hezbollah in Lebanon, aiming to stop the group’s rocket and missile attacks so some 70,000 Israelis who live in the northern border region could return home. 

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A Sector Rotation Dilemma …

First of all, I apologize for my absence this week. I caught something that looked like Covid, and felt like Covid, but it did not identify (pun intended) as Covid. Apart from feeling lousy, also my voice was gone, so making a video was not a good idea.

I am getting back into the trenches now (not 100% yet), at least with this short article, after an eventful week marked by a historic interest rate decision.

What’s happening in sector rotation?

The weekly Relative Rotation Graph for US sectors above largely shows a continuation of the rotations set in motion a few weeks ago.

There has been a small increase in the energy and Communication Services sectors. Energy is far to the left inside the lagging quadrant and, based on RS-Ratio, the weakest sector at the moment. Communication Services is very close to the benchmark and on a very short tail, which has also been pretty erratic over the last few weeks.

The Real Estate sector inside the leading quadrant lost some steam (upside momentum), but based on RS-Ratio, it is still the strongest sector.

All other sectors remain on the same trajectory, with XLU, XLP, XLF, and XLV leading the dance into the leading quadrant. When slicing the sector universe into offensive, defensive, and sensitive, this means that all defensive sectors are inside the leading quadrant and traveling at a strong RRG heading.

Then, there are two offensive sectors also inside the leading quadrant: Financials and Real Estate, which are also very interest rate-driven sectors.

All sensitive sectors (XLI, XLE, XLK, XLC) are on the left hand side of the graph with only XLI showing a positive RRG heading.

Dilemma

But here’s my dilemma: The market’s response has been pretty bullish so far, with SPY breaking through overhead resistance this week. It pretty much ignores the defensive sector rotation but also the strong negative divergences between price and RSI/MACD.

So, do I go with the flow in the upward break and call off any risk for corrective action? Or do I stand by the analysis from a defensive sector rotation and pretty strong divergence signals from classical technical indicators for a little longer and try to see through the current bullishness?

Here’s the S&P chart, which shows the run-up to the late 2021 peak and the current market behavior.

The two charts above show the market behavior of 2021 up to the week of the upward break aligned with the current market.

These two RRGs show the rotation for defensive sectors around the peak in 2021-22 and the current.

Price Pays, but Don’t Bet The Farm

I am the first to admit that price pays, and you cannot buy the RSI or the MACD. Still, history makes me think that long-lasting negative divergences between price and these indicators, as we see them now, have proven to be pretty reliable—reliable enough for me not to go all-in and bet the farm on the upside.

Combine that with the current defensive sector rotation and the strong resemblance to the setup shortly before the market peaked in early 2022, and I strongly lean toward a “Let’s see how this plays out in coming weeks” approach.

#StayAlert (and don’t get sick ;), have a great weekend. –Julius

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Elon Musk’s X and Starlink face nearly $1 million in daily fines for allegedly evading ban in Brazil

Elon Musk’s X faces steep daily fines in Brazil for allegedly evading a ban on the service there, according to a statement from the country’s supreme court on Thursday.

The fines, imposed by Brazil’s supreme court (Supremo Tribuno Federal or STF) amount to $5 million in Brazilian reals, about $920,000, a day. The court said it would continue to impose “joint liability” on Starlink, the satellite internet service owned and operated by SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace venture.

The suspension of X in Brazil was initially ordered by the country’s chief justice Alexandre de Moraes at the end of August, with orders upheld by a panel of justices in early September. The court found that under Musk, X had violated Brazilian law, which requires social media companies to employ a legal representative in the country and to remove hate speech and other content deemed harmful to democratic institutions. The court also found that X failed to suspend accounts allegedly engaged in doxxing federal officers.

X recently moved to servers hosted by Cloudflare, and appeared to be using dynamic internet protocol addresses that constantly change, enabling many users in Brazil to access the site. In a previous setup, the company had used static and specific IP addresses in Brazil, which were more easily blocked by internet service providers at the order of regulators.

Musk, who owns the company formerly known as Twitter, has been lashing out at de Moraes for months, and continued to do so after the order was issued. He’s characterized de Moraes as a villain, comparing him to Darth Vader and Harry Potter character Voldemort. He has also repeatedly called for de Moraes to be impeached.

Brazil previously withdrew money for fines it levied against X from the accounts of X and Starlink at financial institutions in the country. The new fines will begin as of Sept. 19, with the court calculating a total based on “the number of days of non-compliance” with its earlier orders to suspend X nationwide.

While Musk presents himself as a free speech absolutist, X has acquiesced to requests to remove profiles and posts in countries including India, Turkey and Hungary.

Musk and X may be in the process of complying with Brazil’s takedown orders as well. Correio Braziliense, a Brazilian publication, reported on Wednesday that X has started blocking accounts as per suspension orders issued by the country’s supreme court.

Among the apparently banned accounts were those of some internet influencers who are reportedly being investigated for spreading misinformation and promoting attacks against democratic institutions in Brazil. 

X said it wasn’t intending to restore access for Brazilian users.

“When X was shut down in Brazil, our infrastructure to provide service to Latin America was no longer accessible to our team,” a company spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday. “To continue providing optimal service to our users, we changed network providers. This change resulted in an inadvertent and temporary service restoration to Brazilian users. While we expect the platform to be inaccessible again in Brazil soon, we continue efforts to work with the Brazilian government to return very soon for the people of Brazil.”

Brazil’s national telecommunication agency, Anatel, has been ordered by de Moraes to prevent access to the platform by blocking Cloudflare, as well as Fastly and EdgeUno servers, and others that the court said had been “created to circumvent” a suspension of X in Brazil.

Cloudflare didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company is reportedly cooperating with authorities in Brazil.

Before the suspension, X had an estimated 22 million users in Brazil, according to Data Reportal.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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