Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
1) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the state's Republican Senate runoff, defeating incumbent John Cornyn with approximately 63% of the vote. Paxton will face Democrat James Talarico in the November election, and Talarico has released a video focusing on Paxton's 2023 impeachment by the Texas House of Representatives. Republican leaders in Washington will have to decide how much to spend to back Paxton, who has significant baggage, including a history of scandal, to ensure the Texas seat stays in GOP hands.
2) There is some optimism that the US and Iran will reach a peace deal despite fresh hostilities and uncertainty over the vital Strait of Hormuz. The strait remains essentially shut, subject to blockades by the US and Iran, but at least two non-Iranian supertankers exited the chokepoint on Tuesday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cautioned that any peace pact would likely take a few days to finalize. Meanwhile, US forces hit targets near the strait, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired at multiple US aircraft after they entered Iranian airspace.
3) Strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. joined peers at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank AG in seeing a 17% return for the S&P 500 Index this year. Earnings growth powered by the AI boom will drive further gains in stocks, the Goldman team led by Ben Snider said as they increased their year-end target for the US benchmark to 8,000 points, ditching a previous forecast of 7,600.

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