California-based nuclear startup Valar Atomics used its Ward 250 advanced reactor to power an NVIDIA Blackwell chip in a demonstration at its Utah site on Wednesday, briefly hosting a website. Output was very small, but this is the first time a next-generation reactor in the US has generated power for such equipment. The reactor reached criticality last month, marking the start of a self-sustaining fission reaction. Valar and NVIDIA said they have agreed to jointly explore developing nuclear-pow

Emerging-market currencies have given back their year-to-date gains as traders price a higher US rate path and a firmer dollar. The MSCI EM currency index fell 0.2%, leaving it roughly flat YTD and tracking toward its lowest close since April 7. Markets are increasingly pricing a hawkish shift at the Fed; a Fed official is scheduled to speak later today at the ECB Sintra forum alongside European and UK peers. Asian currencies led declines: the won fell to its weakest since 2009 after foreign investors sold a net 1.46 trillion won (~$938m) of Korean equities.

U.S. special envoy Matthew Whitaker warned ahead of a summit with President Trump in Ankara that some European NATO members are not meeting defense-spending commitments. Under U.S. pressure, NATO leaders agreed at The Hague last year to raise defense-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Whitaker said Poland, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states and Germany are leading, but several allies are lagging either because current spending is insufficient or because they have no credible path to meet the Hague pledge. He said Trump expects all allies to move immediately toward the 5% target and to act quickly.