CNBC

The billionaire founder of Rockstar Energy has purchased millions of shares of Celsius Holdings and is calling for the ouster of that company’s CEO after its earnings miss this week. Russ Savage now controls more than 12 million shares of Celsius, he told CNBC. Celsius markets its energy drinks to athletes and other health-conscious consumers and has exploded in popularity in recent years. Read the full story: cnb.cx/4wOxeWo

Gas prices could remain stubbornly high even after the summer driving season ends, as the world faces a tight fuel market due to a shortfall of refining capacity caused by the wars in Europe and the Middle East. U.S. drivers could see pump prices hit a Labor Day record if Washington and Tehran do not reach a stable agreement on the Strait of Hormuz, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Prices set a Labor Day high of $3.83 per gallon in 2012, De Haan said. Prices should ease a bit in the fall as demand softens due to seasonal factors, De Haan said, but the global shortage in refining capacity could result in gas that is unusually expensive for that time of year. More details: cnb.cx/4xspNUO

MIT associate professor Kevin Esvelt joins CNBC's "Squawk Box" to discuss a new study from the Arc Institute that found AI created new recipes for virus genomes after prompts from scientists, Covid origins, and more. Watch the full interview: cnb.cx/4pZTQAt

Affordability is the “defining challenge” when it comes to economic mobility, according to a new report by the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The survey of 30,000 Americans across income levels found that 90% of those polled cited groceries and food prices as a top cost concern, even over other key expenses, such as housing and healthcare. More: cnb.cx/4wcuvES

The U.S. economy surprisingly shed jobs in July, and it's leading investors to think that an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in September is increasingly unlikely. Read more: cnb.cx/4wI1Sk9

The availability of lower-priced homes for sale is increasing, but that doesn’t mean buyers can afford them, new research suggests. Sales of starter homes fell 5.4% in May compared with a year earlier, despite there being 4.5% more available, according to a report from real estate firm Zillow. The typical value of a starter home — defined as the lowest-priced third of properties — was $202,000 nationally in May, up 2.3% from the same month in 2025. More: cnb.cx/4fKJH7u

The "SaaSpocalypse" was raging this week. Then it got a reprieve. The pennies-on-the-dollar acquisition of one-time highflyer Airtable, followed by plunges in HubSpot, Datadog and Figma on earnings reports, all served to underscore investor concerns that artificial intelligence models are eating away at the value of costly software products. "I do think that companies are going to continue to use these coding agents to build functionality to maybe act as a little bit of pressure on renewals," said Matt Hedberg, a software analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

For years, the crypto industry’s biggest challenge has been finding users beyond traders. Now, some of its largest companies think they’ve found them in AI agents. CNBC's Tanaya Macheel explains. Find the full report: cnb.cx/4g2NrQx

The Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved a Russia sanctions bill that was long championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., before his death last month. The legislation, named the The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, aims to hurt Russia's war effort in Ukraine by penalizing purchasers of Russian oil and Russian leaders. It passed with bipartisan support 86-11 and will now proceed to the House, which is on recess until September.

President Donald Trump is “considering” firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, the White House said. Trump first tried to fire Cook last year on mortgage fraud allegations, but Cook denied the charges and filed a lawsuit challenging her dismissal. Read more: cnb.cx/4g3C7Ut