Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on the stories moving money and markets.
Meta is reaching deep into its pockets to close out one of its most damaging legal exposures. The social media giant has agreed to pay up to sixteen point seven billion dollars to settle a sweeping case alleging failures in child protection on its platforms. The case had been set to go to trial in California, and this settlement signals Meta preferred certainty over courtroom risk.
Shifting to the macro picture, Canadian tourism into the United States has dropped sharply, with land border arrivals down nearly thirty-four percent since twenty twenty-five. The decline tracks directly with escalating trade tensions following tariff threats from Washington. Alaska is the most exposed state economically, but fifteen states in total are feeling the drag on hospitality, retail, and service revenues.
On the dividend calendar, three names go ex-dividend on August twenty-eighth of twenty twenty-six. Evercore, the investment banking advisory firm, trades ex-dividend at eighty-nine cents per quarter against a share price near two hundred eighty-nine dollars. Koppers Holdings and Diversified Energy round out the slate, with yields that will appeal to income-focused investors watching the ex-date closely.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
