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A shock decline in U.S. jobs rattles markets, a new Turkey-Pakistan-Saudi defense pact redraws regional alliances, and the Senate approves sweeping Russia sanctions with global implications. We'll also unpack promising obesity-pill research and why Wall Street is now betting on the outcomes of clinical drug trials.

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Nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly fell by 23,000 in July — a brutal miss against the Dow Jones consensus that had penciled in 83,000 new jobs. Unemployment held near forecasts at 4.2%, but an outright contraction is the first negative print in years.

The report immediately reshuffled Fed expectations and rattled equity desks looking for weekend cover. Wage growth, hours worked, and prior-month revisions are now the numbers everyone will chew over before September.

Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia locked themselves into a mutual defense pact Friday, agreeing that an attack on one counts as an attack on all three. Pakistani officials framed the deal as a direct response to the region's spiraling conflict.

The agreement pulls three major militaries into closer alignment just as tensions across the Middle East keep climbing. Analysts say it could reshape defense politics well beyond the region's current war.

The Senate voted 86-11 Friday to pass a sweeping Russia sanctions bill that the late Sen. Lindsey Graham spent years championing. Graham died before seeing the vote, but the bill carries his name and his push for tougher penalties on Moscow.

The measure lets Trump slap tariffs as high as 100% on countries still buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India. House approval is the next hurdle, and some Democrats are wary of handing the president that much new tariff power.Senate Passes Sweeping Russia and Iran Sanctions Bill

Spain says it will impose its own border controls against Italy if Rome doesn't lift the checks it introduced after roughly 78,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta from Morocco. Italy has rejected the pressure, insisting it won't bow to "ultimatums or impositions."

Mexico and Peru have restored diplomatic relations, nine months after an asylum dispute severed them. Betssy Chávez, Peru's former prime minister, triggered the rupture by seeking refuge inside Mexico's embassy in Lima.

Parts of eastern and central Europe broke temperature records this week, fueling wildfires and dropping river levels to dangerous lows. Barge traffic and cooling water for power plants are the next dominoes if the heat holds.

A federal appeals panel backed a lower court's injunction halting a Trump-linked ballroom project, all but guaranteeing the Supreme Court gets the next look. Construction isn't halted immediately under the ruling.

Senator Bill Cassidy said he will vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, likely saving a nomination that had been on the brink after Lisa Murkowski's opposition. The math now tilts back toward confirmation before next week's floor vote.

A federal judge ruled that a Virginia board's decision to name schools after Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby "cannot be divorced from racial discrimination." The board now has to rename them.

SK Hynix said it will invest $38 billion building new memory chip plants as AI-driven demand outpaces supply and pushes prices higher. Investors are watching for any hint the supply-demand gap starts to close.

Volkswagen's controlling Porsche and Piëch families called for an accelerated overhaul to fend off Chinese EV rivals eating share in Europe and beyond. Immediate cost cuts and product overhauls are on the table.

The July miss took the urgency out of a September Fed rate hike, with upcoming inflation reports now the swing factor. The odds of a move haven't vanished — just softened.

A new vaccine in clinical trials is targeting shigella, a leading cause of diarrheal disease that kills over 1 million people a year — nearly half of them children under five. A working shot could reshape pediatric health outcomes across low- and middle-income countries.

An HZDR team in Germany developed two methods for breaking down PFAS, the "forever chemicals" whose carbon-fluorine bonds are among the toughest in chemistry. Scale them up and water treatment gets a serious upgrade.

A phase II trial published in Nature Medicine showed an oral GLP-1 drug helped adults with obesity or overweight lose up to 12% of body weight over 36 weeks. A pill could sidestep the supply and injection barriers dogging the current market.

The Athletics and longtime GM David Forst mutually agreed to part ways, ending a three-decade run with the franchise as it prepares to relocate to Las Vegas. The front office reset lands just as the team hunts for its Vegas-era identity.

A Texas judge dismissed a misdemeanor gun charge against Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden. The dismissal clears the immediate cloud over the All-Star heading into the season.

The NFL suspended Colts cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt for violating the personal conduct policy, following a five-day jail sentence he served earlier this year. Indianapolis will be short in the secondary to open the season.

William Orbit, the producer behind Madonna's "Ray of Light" and work with Blur, U2, Pink, and All Saints, has died at 69. Tributes described a "genius and pioneer" whose atmospheric sound shaped a generation of pop.

Katseye singer Sophia Laforteza is stepping back from group activities to protect her mental health and wellness, the band confirmed Friday. Her bandmates say she has their full support while she recovers.

Actress Virginie Efira told Variety at the Locarno Film Festival that she was a longtime fan of Showgirls before Paul Verhoeven ever cast her in the divisive "Benedetta." She said she waved off his warning about explicit scenes without a second thought.

What it is: Prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket now host wagers on the outcomes of clinical trials for real drugs, letting users buy contracts on whether a therapy hits its endpoints. Researchers have called the practice "ghastly." What began as a niche use of prediction markets is quickly expanding into one of medicine's most ethically contentious intersections of finance, research, and public health.

The detail: The contracts function like binary options — a "yes" pays out if the trial succeeds, a "no" if it fails. Kalshi is regulated by the CFTC and operates onshore. Polymarket runs on crypto rails and is more accessible offshore. Volumes on individual biotech contracts are modest but growing, spanning small oncology startups to large cardiovascular studies. Traders increasingly view these markets as an alternative way to gauge a drug's prospects ahead of official results, with prices shifting rapidly as new scientific data, conference presentations, or enrollment updates emerge.

Why it matters: Critics argue the markets create incentives for insider trading — trial investigators, contract research staff, and even patients themselves could trade on nonpublic information. There's also worry that enrolled patients could be swayed by a market's odds, or that short sellers could try to interfere with enrollment or dosing. Drug developers already deal with leaks from message boards and social media. A liquid market only sharpens the incentive. Supporters, however, contend that prediction markets can aggregate dispersed information more efficiently than traditional analyst forecasts, potentially providing another signal about the likelihood of success.

What to watch: Whether the FDA, SEC, or CFTC decides these contracts need new guardrails around trial-related trading. Kalshi and Polymarket argue the markets add price discovery and useful information for patients weighing enrollment. Expect a fight over whether "information" and "insider betting" can be cleanly separated when the underlying asset is a human trial. Court rulings and future regulatory guidance could ultimately determine whether these markets remain a niche financial experiment or become a permanent feature of biotech investing.

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—The Five Minute Daily Team