📊 Gaza City, Grant Cuts, and Rate Hike

Building collapse, $177B elimination, and benchmark increase.

Sep 17, 2026

Greetings! Happy National Guacamole Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

Forwarded this email? Subscribe to PM Daily below:

SPONSORED SECTION

Sponsor PM Daily! Unlike other free daily newsletters, PM’s ad model works differently: 1. one single sponsor slot per issue; 2. 100% share of voice (SOV) guaranteed; 3. higher return on ad spend (ROAS) from your first placement.

No-brainer, little risk, high upside. Q3 slots are filling up quickly! Reach our rapidly scaling, high-intent, vetted premium audience by replying to this email right now.

🌎 GLOBAL NEWS

🇵🇸 Gaza City building collapse kills 21 amid shattered housing. A five-story building damaged by Israeli strikes collapsed in Gaza City, killing at least 21 Palestinians as they slept, including 11 children and five women. At least 14 others were injured. Six displaced families had been sheltering there despite knowing the structure was unstable. Gaza civil defense rescuer Aboud Majdalawi said they had nowhere else to go. Nearly a year after the ceasefire, reconstruction has not begun. Israel says rebuilding will not proceed until Hamas disarms, while only a handful of excavators have entered Gaza. Roughly 2M Palestinians now live in less than half the territory, largely dependent on aid and surrounded by Israeli forces. More than one-fifth of Gaza City buildings assessed in March were structurally unsafe. Two-thirds of households were living in tent camps by August. That physical ruin sits inside a wider disputes over annexation, apartheid, blockade, collective punishment, displacement, embargo, ethnic cleansing, famine, genocide, illegal occupation, irredentism and settler-colonialism. United Nations bodies have documented or alleged several of those conditions, including famine, ethnic-cleansing concerns, unlawful occupation and de facto annexation, and its commission concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice has separately found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful. International observers, diplomats and watchdogs note Israel has violated the October 2025 ceasefire at least 4,379 times, killing at least 1,372 Palestinians. Rescuers now face the physical aftermath with few machines, dwindling fuel and hundreds of bodies still believed buried under earlier strike debris. Editor’s Note: The polycrisis afflicting Gaza is officially considered a genocide by the United Nations (UN) and International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), with famine declared formally by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), confirmed by UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNICEF, World Food Program (WFP), and World Health Organization (WHO), along with Global Sumud Flotilla eyewitnesses.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia seeks allies as missile defenses run low. Saudi Arabia is asking partners for air-defense help as its stock of missile interceptors dwindles during fighting with Yemen’s Houthis. Two regional officials said Riyadh approached France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt about deploying defensive support. The request comes as America’s own interceptor inventories have fallen during six months of war with Iran. Saudi officials have not publicly confirmed the outreach. The kingdom also accused the Houthis of attempting a drone attack on Mecca, which Riyadh called a red line. The Houthis denied targeting Islam’s holiest city. Saudi Arabia says it intercepted the drone about 1,100 kilometers from Yemen’s border. The threat comes while a major Saudi oil pipeline remains shut for weeks after a separate attack attributed to Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Houthi forces have also attacked Saudi infrastructure, threatened Red Sea shipping and seized islands around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Iran continues targeting vessels near the Strait of Hormuz. Oil remains above $100 per barrel as both major maritime routes face pressure. Saudi Arabia must protect military installations, government sites and oil facilities across a vast territory. Oman and Egypt are pursuing diplomacy aimed at de-escalating the Yemen front. American and Houthi representatives also met in Oman over regional tensions. Vice President JD Vance said Washington remains in constant contact with Riyadh but has also spoken directly with the Houthis. Analyst Adam Baron said the crisis now reaches beyond Saudi-Houthi fighting because international shipping routes are also at stake.

🇺🇸 LOCAL NEWS

✂️ Trump administration grant cuts reach up to $177B nationwide. President Trump’s administration has cut, frozen or delayed up to $177B in federal grants since his second term began, according to a new tracking project built from federal spending data. The disruptions touch all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Health, nutrition, environmental programs and disaster relief account for the largest share. The States United Democracy Center and Grant Witness created the Lost Funds database to catalogue the changes. Organizers say the total approaches 10% of annual federal discretionary spending. Examples include maternal-health funding in Michigan, education research in Mississippi and assistance for minority farmers in Iowa. California, Texas, New York, Illinois and North Carolina have the largest amounts of interrupted funding. The database draws on USASpending.gov and is designed to update as agencies act and lawsuits proceed. Grant Witness co-founder Scott Delaney said aggregating the disruptions makes their scale more visible. States United research director Kelly Rader said states increasingly face the effects of federal funding changes. Some courts have already ruled against particular administration grant cuts. The tracker includes grants that were eliminated, frozen or delayed rather than only money permanently canceled. Its organizers say the disruptions exceed the routine turnover that accompanies a change in administrations. States United describes itself as a nonpartisan organization focused on rule of law and elections. Grant Witness is composed of scientists, researchers and attorneys tracking federal funding changes. The White House was asked for comment on the analysis.

🚔 Three charged in alleged $12M California homelessness-aid fraud. Federal prosecutors charged three people with stealing $12M in federal and state homelessness funding in Southern California, alleging money intended for vulnerable residents financed private spending. Lakiya Malone, 48, and Michael Young, 46, were arrested in Los Angeles. Donye Mitchell, 55, remained a fugitive when charges were announced. All three worked for nonprofits receiving money for housing and social services. Prosecutors allege they billed for nonexistent services, accepted bribes or diverted funds for personal use. Young founded Home At Last, which has received more than $118M in public funding since 2019. Authorities allege he controlled supposedly independent contractors and misused about $7.5M through fake vendors. Prosecutors say proceeds funded Tahiti trips, real estate and an Inglewood nightclub. Mitchell, CEO of Big Blue Umbrella, received more than $1.2M for housing and mental-health services. Prosecutors say he misrepresented the nonprofit’s capabilities and spent funds on debt, relatives, video games and legal expenses. Malone is accused of taking more than $180K in bribes and enrolling people who were not homeless into aid programs. A fourth person, Abundant Blessings executive director Alexander Soofer, separately pleaded guilty to stealing at least $2M. About 72K to 75K people live in shelters or encampments across Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. Local governments spend $1B annually on homelessness. Reviews have repeatedly found weaknesses in recordkeeping and audit trails. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said the administration is using the cases to intensify scrutiny of taxpayer-funded aid programs.

🗂️ MISC

🏦 Federal Reserve raises rates for first time in three years. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to about 3.9%, its first increase since 2023, as policymakers confront persistent inflation. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) also signaled another increase could come before year-end. Median projections put the rate near 4.1% by December. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation remains too high and has not moved toward the central bank’s 2% target quickly enough. The increase can eventually raise borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. It arrives as households already face elevated prices for groceries, gasoline and housing. Renewed fighting between America and Iran has driven gasoline prices more than 7% higher over the past month. Warsh said those energy shocks helped convince officials to tighten policy. The American economy has also shown signs of strengthening since rates were held steady in July. President Trump has repeatedly demanded rate cuts and previously said he would be disappointed if Warsh did not lower borrowing costs. Warsh has said he made no such commitment and would act independently. Other major central banks are also tightening as energy prices rise. The European Central Bank increased rates last week, while the Bank of Japan is expected to act September 18th. The two-year Treasury yield rose to 4.74% after the decision. Futures markets increasingly expect another Federal Reserve increase by December. The next policy meeting comes in late October, shortly before the midterm elections.

📉 Stocks fall as Federal Reserve signals more rate increases. American stocks slipped after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate for the first time in three years and indicated further tightening may follow. The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) fell 0.4% after surrendering an earlier gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 631 points, or 1.2%. The Nasdaq composite edged down less than 0.1%. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation remains too high while the economy appears strong enough to withstand tighter policy. Officials now project the federal funds rate ending the year around 4.1%. Traders assign a 38% chance that rates could reach 4.25% to 4.50% by December. The two-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.74% from 4.67%. The 10-year yield edged to 5.01% from 5%. Bank stocks weakened as investors weighed slower loan demand and pressure on lending margins. Huntington Bancshares ($HBAN) fell 5.6%, Citizens Financial Group ($CFG) lost 4.8% and JPMorgan Chase ($JPM) declined 1%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services ($JBHT) sank 13.3% after warning that earnings could fall 5% to 10% from the second quarter. Brent crude dropped 2.7% to $105.83 per barrel after nearing $110 in recent sessions. That oil retreat provided limited relief from broader rate pressure. Nvidia ($NVDA) rose 0.8%, while Advanced Micro Devices ($AMD) gained 1.6% as AI shares recovered further from earlier losses. The session ended with investors absorbing a higher cost of money, still-elevated energy prices and a possible added increase before year-end.