Attendees walk the convention center floor during the opening day of Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, U.S. July 24, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 2 Attendees walk the convention center floor during the opening day of Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, U.S. July 24, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

SAN DIEGO, July 25 (Reuters) – Comic fans are embracing the latest showdown between Marvel and DC as their superhero films “Fantastic Four” and “Superman” compete for box office dominance, reigniting a rivalry spanning over eight decades.

Whether it’s the thrill of seeing the comic book superhero The Thing shout “It’s clobbering time!” before throwing a punch or watching Superman and his faithful pup Krypto save the day, fans are heading to movie theaters to support their favorite films.

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“Well, clearly I’m a Marvel fan,” Danielle Stroski, who was dressed as the shapeshifter character named Mystique from Marvel’s X-Men comics, at the San Diego Comic-Con.

“But I have a little white dog at home, so I love me some ‘Superman’ as well. And I know the little white dog is stealing the show for ‘Superman,’ so it’s going to be close. But I got to go Marvel,” she added.

The 42-year-old from California predicted “Fantastic Four” would outperform “Superman” at the box office.

DC fan Lito Loza, dressed as Superboy, voiced his support for “Superman.” “I’ve already seen ‘Superman’ three times, and I’m very, very happy with what James Gunn did with it. It makes me feel hopeful,” he said, referring to the director.

The filmmakers, meanwhile, encourage fans to support both movies.

“I’m a huge Superman fan. I’m a huge James Gunn fan. I’m thrilled that both of us are coming out this month,” director Matt Shakman of “Fantastic Four: First Steps” told Reuters at the London premiere.

“I think we share a lot of similar optimism in our tone and our feeling in the worlds that we’re building. And there’s room for ‘Superman,’ there’s room for ‘Fantastic Four.’ I’m thrilled. Go see both,” he added.

“Superman” director Gunn, who directed the Marvel movie “Guardians of the Galaxy”, said in an interview in Los Angeles that he grew up reading both Marvel and DC comic books, appreciating their distinct tones.

In theaters on July 11, “Superman” introduced David Corenswet as the Man of Steel. The movie grossed around $173 million globally and $264 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo.

Warner Bros has heavily invested in “Superman,” aiming to launch a new era at DC Studios under Gunn, named co-CEO, alongside producer Peter Safran. Upcoming projects include a Supergirl film slated for June 2026, a film based on the character Swamp Thing as well as TV shows for HBO Max.

Disney said “Fantastic Four,” which stars Pedro Pascal, opened with $24.4 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada on Thursday night while Daniel Loria, senior vice president at Boxoffice predicts that “Fantastic Four: First Steps” will open domestically at $115 million to $135 million.

While sales are currently around $115 million to $125 million, he said there was an increase in ticket purchases over the last week that will likely bring sales to the $115 million to $135 million range.

Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Rollo Ross in San Diego; Editing by Jacqueline Wong

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Summary

Companies Aug 1 deadline looms for US trading partners

Fed policy decision Weds, US jobs report Fri

Results due from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta

NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) – A looming U.S. deadline for more severe global tariffs is among a barrage of upcoming events threatening to disrupt an increasingly calm U.S. stock market that has set a string of all-time highs.

President Donald Trump has extended a deadline to August 1 for when higher levies will take effect on an array of trading partners unless deals are struck. That could boost market volatility heading into next Friday.

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“There is going to be a lot to digest for markets into next week,” said Matthew Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife John Hancock Investments.

“Expectations from the markets have gone up relative to several months ago,” Miskin said. “So it’s just going to be another big week for trying to meet loftier expectations.”

RECORD HIGHS, FALLING VOLATILITY

The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab kept tallying new all-time highs during the week. Equities have recovered from a plunge after Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff announcement set off fears of a recession that have since ebbed.

The S&P 500 has surged 28% since its low for the year a week later, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab has jumped 38% in that time.

“We just got three years of return in three and a half months,” said Chris Galipeau, senior market strategist at the Franklin Templeton Institute. “The equity market needs to consolidate this move.”

Market volatility measures have eased considerably. The Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX) , opens new tab spiked to 60 in April, but has been below its long-term median of 17.6 for most of July and on Wednesday posted its lowest close in five months.

Meanwhile, the record-setting rally has lifted valuations to historically expensive levels . The S&P 500 was trading at 22.6 times earnings estimates, well above its long-term average P/E ratio of 15.8, according to LSEG Datastream, which could make the market vulnerable to disappointments in the coming week.

S&P 500 performance in 2025

Higher tariffs on the European Union and many other countries could take effect on August 1. Trump had paused many of the most severe of his reciprocal tariffs in April, following the bout of extreme market volatility.

“There is a particular belief and conviction that the market has that the administration just won’t be as aggressive as they’ve been threatening because of what was experienced in early April,” said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “The next hurdle in the trade (situation) is really to see what sticks.”

FED OFFICIALS AWAIT TARIFF IMPACT

The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady in its monetary policy decision on Wednesday, as central bank officials want more data to determine if tariffs are worsening inflation before they ease rates further.

A packed week of corporate results includes Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab , four of the “Magnificent Seven,” whose stocks heavily influence benchmark indexes because of the companies’ massive market values.

With about 30% of S&P 500 companies having reported results, overall second-quarter earnings are on track for a 7.7% increase from a year ago, according to LSEG IBES. That would beat a 5.8% estimated rise on July 1.

The week ends with the monthly U.S. employment report on Friday. Employment in July is expected to have increased by 102,000 jobs, according to Reuters data as of Thursday, after rising by 147,000 jobs in June.

“We’ve had relatively strong economic data that almost shows a modest re-acceleration in the economy in June and I think markets are priced to reflect this re-acceleration,” Miskin said.

Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Alden Bentley and David Gregorio

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BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) – Beijing issued on Saturday a warning for geological disasters including landslides and mudslides after intense rainfall the day before, with storms circulating China’s north unleashing for a second time a year’s rain on nearby Baoding.

The Beijing meteorological agency’s alert for 10 of the city’s 16 districts came as local authorities also warned of flash floods in mountainous areas.

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In neighbouring Hebei, extreme overnight rains in Fuping, a part of the industrial city of Baoding, saw records broken at a local weather station with 145 mm (5.7 inches) per hour of precipitation, state broadcaster CCTV said.

The Xizhuang station recorded a maximum rainfall of 540 mm over an eight-hour period, superseding Baoding’s average annual rainfall of about 500 mm.

Just a day ago, storms dumped similar amounts of precipitation on Yi, another part of Baoding.

The rain held destructive power, CCTV said, affecting more than 46,000 people and forcing 4,655 of them to evacuate.

Northern China has witnessed record-breaking precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities including Beijing to flood risks. Some scientists link the higher rainfall in China’s usually arid north to global warming.

China’s Water Resources Ministry has issued targeted warnings to 11 provinces and regions, including Beijing and Hebei, for floods arising from small and medium-sized rivers and gushing torrents from mountains.

The alert also sought to ensure that reservoirs and silt dams are safe during floods.

Across the country, heavy rainfall has caused 13 rivers scattered through seven provinces to swell past their flood warning levels by as much as 1.4 m (4.6 feet), CCTV reported, citing the ministry’s findings on Saturday morning.

Among them, one tributary of Inner Mongolia’s Dahei River and another of Shaanxi’s Yanhe River recorded their biggest floods since records began.

The storms are part of the broader pattern of extreme weather across China due to the East Asian monsoon, which has caused disruptions in the world’s second-largest economy.

In a separate bulletin, CCTV also said two small reservoirs in northeastern Jilin province were operating above the flood limit, as rivers continue to swell. Local authorities have begun activating five large reservoirs to help with flood water discharge.

Extreme rainfall and severe flooding are highly monitored by Chinese authorities as they challenge the country’s ageing flood defences, threaten to displace millions, and wreak havoc on a $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.

Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Jan Harvey

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A sign marks the offices of Sarepta Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., July 22, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

July 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it was investigating the death of an eight-year-old boy who received Sarepta Therapeutics’ (SRPT.O) , opens new tab muscular disorder gene therapy Elevidys.

The death occurred on June 7, the agency said, sending shares of the company down more than 3% in extended trading.

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The patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who died in Brazil, was treated with Elevidys but was not a participant in a clinical trial, Roche, which partners with Sarepta outside the U.S., told Reuters in an email.

The reporting physician has assessed the death as unrelated to treatment with the gene therapy, Roche said, adding that the death was reported to the health authorities as required per local regulations, and that it was continuing to gather and analyze the information from this event.

Sarepta has come under intense regulatory scrutiny after two non-ambulatory teenage boys died due to acute liver failure associated with Elevidys, and a 51-year-old man who had received its experimental gene therapy SRP-9004 died from the same condition.

Late on Monday, the company said it would comply with a request from the FDA to pause all shipments of Elevidys in the United States. Its partner Roche also paused Elevidys shipments in some countries outside the U.S. later.

The FDA’s request had come after the company disclosed the death of the patient on SRP-9004.

Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath

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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies before a House Appropriations Committee hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump’s budget request for the Department of Commerce, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 2 U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies before a House Appropriations Committee hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump’s budget request for the Department of Commerce, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

July 24 (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Thursday that TikTok will have to stop operating in the United States if China does not approve a deal for the sale of the Chinese-owned short video app that is used by some 170 million Americans.

Lutnick, speaking on CNBC, also said the United States must control the algorithm that makes the social media platform work.

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Last month, President Donald Trump extended by 90 days to September 17 a deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the U.S. assets of TikTok. Trump’s action took place despite a 2024 law that mandated a sale or shutdown by January 19 of this year if there had not been significant progress.

“China can have a little piece or ByteDance, the current owner, can keep a little piece. But basically, Americans will have control. Americans will own the technology, and Americans will control the algorithm,” Lutnick said.

“If that deal gets approved, by the Chinese, then that deal will happen. If they don’t approve it, then TikTok is going to go dark, and those decisions are coming very soon.”

TikTok did not immediately comment.

A deal had been in the works this spring that would spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm, majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors. This stalled after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods

Trump has three times granted reprieves from federal enforcement of the law that mandated the sale or shutdown of TikTok that was supposed to take effect in January.

The letters said the Justice Department was irrevocably relinquishing any claims against the companies for potential violations of the law, citing Trump’s determination that an abrupt shutdown would interfere with his overseeing national security and foreign affairs.

Some Democratic lawmakers argue Trump has no legal authority to extend the deadline and suggest the deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements.

Reporting by David Shepardson and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Frances Kerry and Chris Reese

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