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Texas authorizes use of gold and silver as legal tender for day-to-day transactions. (00:22) ESPN and MLB renew talks for scaled-back broadcast deal -- The Athletic. (01:32) Netflix boosts its live programming slate with a new NASA feed. (02:49)
This is an abridged transcript.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill into law that designates gold and silver as legal tender for everyday financial transactions within the state.
The bill is expected to take effect in May 2027.
Under the new law, the comptroller's office will contract with a debit card provider to facilitate transactions; Texans will be able to deposit gold or silver into their accounts, and the debit card will convert those holdings into dollar amounts at the point of sale.
While specific details such as transaction fees and merchant participation are still being developed, the system is envisioned to function much like a standard debit card.
Citi analysts said they foresee gold prices consolidating in the $3,100-$3,500/oz range in Q3, as prices moderate due to geopolitical de-escalation in the Middle East and an improved global growth outlook.
The bank said it expects gold prices to fall back to $2,500-$2,700 by H2 2026, and it "strongly [recommends] gold producers take insurance against downside in prices from current levels."
Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) ESPN and Major League Baseball are in talks to repair their fractured relationship and bring professional baseball back to the network.
According to The Athletic, the talks are in the early stages and would only provide the network with local broadcast rights and pieces of ESPN’s former package.
The relationship disintegrated early in 2025 when ESPN and MLB “mutually” decided to end their 35-year partnership at the end of the 2025 baseball season. While ESPN felt they were overpaying for broadcast rights, the league accused ESPN of undervaluing content, especially as the network cut back its coverage to 30 regular season games -- a third of its previous coverage.
MLB said that ESPN’s demand to reduce rights fees was “unacceptable” and decided to “mutually terminate" their agreement with the network.
ESPN was paying an average of $550M per season for MLB games under its previous 7-year contract versus the $10M Roku (ROKU) pays for Sunday afternoon games, and the $85M by Apple (AAPL) for a Friday night package.
According to The Athletic, if the two were to hammer out a deal it would likely be for just 3 years as deals with Fox, TNT, and the MLB’s international packages are all up for renegotiation at that time.
NASA’s work is becoming even more accessible.
The space agency announced on Monday that it will offer NASA+, its live programming on Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Audiences now will have another option to stream rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks, mission coverage, and live views of Earth from the International Space Station.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has a global audience of more than 700 million people, which is a huge jump from the 12.4 million subscribers that NASA has on its YouTube channel.
NASA+ also remains available for free, with no ads, through the NASA app and on the agency’s website.
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Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the red. Crude oil is down 0.1% at $65/barrel. Bitcoin is down 0.5% at $106,000. Gold is up 1.3% at $3,345.
The FTSE 100 is down 0.2% and the DAX is down 0.3%. The market in Hong Kong is closed for a holiday.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Wolfspeed (WOLF) +70% – Shares skyrocketed after the silicon carbide company announced a pre-packaged Chapter 11 restructuring aimed at slashing debt by 70% ($4.6B) and cutting annual cash interest payments by 60%.
On today’s economic calendar:
9:30 am Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will participate in a policy panel before the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking 2025,"Adapting to Change: Macroeconomic Shifts and Policy Responses"
10:00 am Construction Spending
10:00 am JOLTS
