Raphael Stevens

Most U.S. infrastructure was built decades ago and therefore designed for a climate that no longer exists.
Sectors with the worst grades from the American Society of Civil Engineers include airports, power and telecommunications infrastructure.
There is a $3.7 trillion spending gap over the next 10 years to get U.S. infrastructure to a state of good condition, according to the ASCE.

U.S. infrastructure is barely getting a passing grade, and one of the fastest growing problems is climate change. Airports are flooding, bridges are melting from extreme heat, and telecommunications are getting slammed by increasingly extreme weather.
In 2023, at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, historic rainfall turned runways into rivers, shutting down operations and stranding passengers. In New York City last summer, extreme heat caused metal on a bridge over the Harlem River to expand so much that the bridge got stuck open.

Every single category of U.S. infrastructure is at growing risk from climate change — a finding by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which trains engineers and informs federal, state and local building codes.
ASCE’s latest infrastructure report card gave the nation overall a “C” grade, saying climate-related challenges are widespread, affecting even regions previously resistant to these events.
“We continue to see more extreme weather events, so our infrastructure, many times, was not designed for these types of activities,” said Tom Smith, ASCE’s executive director, adding that it will only get worse.
“Whether it’s ice, snow, drought, heat, obviously, hurricanes, tornadoes, we have to design for all of that, and we have to anticipate not just where the puck is now, but where we think it’s going,” Smith said.
Sectors with the worst grades include airports, power and telecommunications infrastructure. CNBC asked First Street, a climate risk analytics firm, to overlay its risk modeling on these specific locations nationally. It found that 19% of all power infrastructure, 17% of telecommunications infrastructure and 12% of airports have a major risk from flood, wind or wildfire.

Most U.S. infrastructure was built decades ago, and therefore designed for a climate that no longer exists. This has a direct impact on investors in the infrastructure space.
Sarah Kapnick, formerly chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and now global head of climate advisory at JPMorgan Chase, said her clients are asking more and more about the climate impact to their investments.
“How should I change and invest in my infrastructure? How should I think about differences in my infrastructure, my infrastructure construction? Should I be thinking about insurance, different types of insurance? How should I be accessing the capital markets to do this type of work?” Kapnick said.
Both Kapnick and Smith said making infrastructure climate-resilient comes back to the science.
“Climate and science is something that we take very, very seriously, working with the science, connecting it with the engineering to protect the public health, safety and welfare,” said Smith.
But that science is under attack, seeing deep cuts from the Trump administration, which fired hundreds of employees at NOAA, FEMA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology — key government agencies that advance climate science.
“There’s going to be this adjustment period as people figure out where they’re going to get the information that they need, because many market decisions or financial decisions are based on certain data sets that people thought would always be there,” Kapnick said.
The nation’s infrastructure also needs funding. ASCE estimates there is a $3.7 trillion spending gap over the next 10 years to get U.S. infrastructure to a state of good condition.
The Trump administration cuts to spending so far include ordering FEMA to cancel the nearly $1 billion Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which was specifically aimed at reducing damage from future natural disasters. More

Ford sales rose 14.2% during the second quarter over the year-earlier period.
Rival automaker GM reported a 7.3% sales increase for the second quarter.
South Korean automakers Kia and Hyundai both reported their best-ever first-half sales results on Tuesday, up 8% and 10% from a year ago, respectively.

Ford sales rose 14.2% during the second quarter over the year-earlier period, about 10 times the estimated 1.4% industry increase, the automaker said Tuesday.
New vehicle sales for the second quarter totaled 612,095, led in part by gains in its F-Series trucks and “electrified” vehicles, which includes hybrids and EVs.

F-Series trucks saw their best second quarter since 2019, climbing 11.5% to 222,459. New pickup sales overall totaled 288,564 for the quarter, Ford said.
Sales of Ford electrified vehicles totaled 82,886 during the second quarter, up 6.6% from 2024. But of those “electrified” vehicles, pure EVs saw a 31.4% drop, while hybrids were up 23.5%.
For the first half of the year, Ford sold a record 156,509 EVs and hybrids, up 14.7% from the same time last year.
Auto industry forecasters Cox Automotive and Edmunds forecasted new vehicle sales would increase 1.7% and 2%, respectively, for the second quarter from the year-earlier period. They cited a strong market in April and early May as driving the increases, while June sales were expected to be softer.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump implemented 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and many auto parts imported into the U.S. The levies initially pulled forward demand from price-conscious buyers, but analysts expect that increase in demand to fade if higher prices take hold. 

Rival General Motors reported a 7.3% sales increase for the second quarter and a nearly 12% increase for the first half of 2025. The automaker credited its growth to sales within its trucks, crossovers, EVs and gains in the luxury market led by Cadillac.
South Korean automakers Kia and Hyundai both reported their best-ever first-half sales results on Tuesday, up 8% and 10% from a year ago, respectively. More

The English Premier League and Microsoft announced a new partnership that infuses AI into the league’s app, website and fantasy sports platform.
With Microsoft AI, fans will be able to access videos, articles and stats dating back to the league’s founding in 1992.
Under the partnership, Microsoft is also becoming the league’s cloud computing partner.

Kobbie Mainoo of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Aston Villa FC at Old Trafford on May 25, 2025 in Manchester, England.
Alex Livesey | Getty Images

The English Premier League is bringing artificial intelligence to the soccer pitch through a new partnership with Microsoft.
The five-year agreement will integrate Microsoft’s Copilot AI into the English Premier League app, offering fans access to more than 300,000 articles, 9,000 videos and statistics from the league dating back to its founding in 1992.

Future iterations of the technology will translate text and audio into a user’s native language and will enhance the digital Fantasy Premier League offerings.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“This partnership will help us engage with fans in new ways — from personalized content to real-time match insights,” Richard Masters, English Premier League CEO, said in a news release.
The English Premier League is widely seen as the most prestigious soccer organization in the world and is the most-watched, airing matches in 189 countries and reaching 900 million homes globally, according to the league.
“By leveraging our secure cloud and AI technologies — including Azure AI Foundry Services with Azure OpenAI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Dynamics 365 — we will transform how football is experienced, delivered, and managed on and off the field,” Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, said in a statement.

Under the partnership, Microsoft is also becoming the league’s cloud computing partner after a previous contract with Oracle ended.
The English Premier League season begins Aug. 15. Before that, fans can watch the Premier League Summer Series, a tournament of “friendly,” or exhibition, matches, from July 26 to Aug. 3 in the U.S. The first matches will be held at MetLife Stadium near New York City with Everton facing AFC Bournemouth and Manchester United facing West Ham United. More

U.S. consumers are spending more on luxury jewelry while pulling away from handbags and clothes, according to a Citigroup analysis of credit card data.
The run-up in gold prices is just one factor in play, according to Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet.
Luxury spending decreased less than feared in May, but it’s too early to say that upper-income consumers have reached a turning point, he said.

Domenica Graci, the CEO and Founder of travel agency One Luxury, is seen wearing a golden Vintage Alhambra bracelet from Van Cleef & Arpels, a golden Love bracelet from Cartier, a golden Juste un Clou nail bracelet from Cartier and an Essential Lines bracelet from Cartier.
Moritz Scholz | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Luxury retail was expected to stage a turnaround in 2025 after a promising fourth quarter marked by holiday shopping and post-election euphoria. Instead, U.S. credit card spending on luxury goods fell during the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2024, according to data from Citigroup.
For the month of May, luxury spending held up better than expected, dipping 1.7% year over year, compared with a 6.8% decline in April and 8.5% in March. Combined spend for the top luxury brands, such as Hermès, even eked out a 0.2% uptick on an annual basis, according to Citi’s analysis of a subset of transactions by the bank’s 10 million-plus U.S. cardholders.

However, these gains aren’t equally distributed. Jewelry has proven to be a bright spot, consistently outperforming other categories like leather goods and ready-to-wear.
Monthly spend on luxury jewelry has increased on an annual basis each month since September, according to Citi. In May, total luxury jewelry spend surged 10.1% year over year.
What’s more, while other categories were buoyed by increases in average spend by customer, jewelry was the only product type to also see an increase in individual customers. Within the jewelry category, however, a cohort of high-end brands lost 2.7% of customers, but those who remained spent 11.7% more on average.
Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet told CNBC that sales have likely been buoyed by the perception of jewelry as investment pieces. Jewelry can also carry more sentimental value, he said, as a gift or to commemorate a life milestone.
“When you have $3,000 to spend on luxury, you know, are you going to buy a piece of jewelry or a handbag for the same price?” he said. “Perhaps the piece of jewelry gives you superior intrinsic value given the precious metals content and superior emotional value and meaning.”

Chauvet added that the recent run-up in gold prices provides further justification.
“It is probably sensible to buy a Cartier bracelet now, given they have increased prices by less than 5% since the beginning of 2025, when gold prices have appreciated by over 25%,” he said.

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Handbag brands, on the other hand, have steadily increased prices as much as 30% to 40% since the pandemic without the consumer getting more bang for their buck, he said.
“Handbags have offered limited newness,” Chauvet said, with the caveat that a few fall and winter 2025 collections showed some promise. “In the last five years, from brand A to brand B, most bags shapes and styles are very difficult to differentiate from one another.”
Luxury watch spending has seen some gains this year, but less consistently than that of jewelry. Across all luxury watch brands, spending increased 14.7% compared with May 2024. However, results for the top watch brands fell 10% in May on an annual basis.
While surges in Swiss watch exports have made headlines, Chauvet said it was largely driven by retailers stocking up and watch manufacturers rushing product to U.S. subsidiaries in reaction to President Donald Trump’s threatened 31% tariff on Swiss goods.
The spending uptick in May may reflect an uplift in consumer sentiment but not necessarily a turning point for high-end shoppers, according to Chauvet. While equity markets have rebounded, the U.S. dollar is down about 10% year to date.
“We know the U.S. consumer feels better about life when the dollar is strong,” he said. “One example of that in luxury is your ability to travel and to spend abroad on luxury is augmented by a strong dollar.”
Other potential threats to consumer spending loom large. The 90-day pause in Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs is less than two weeks from expiring, and the Iran-Israel conflict has roiled oil prices, Chauvet noted. More