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Justin Thomas completes epic turnaround at Players Championship

American Justin Thomas was in danger of missing the cut at The Players Championship for the second consecutive year, but the 2021 Players Champion performed a historic turnaround. 

Thomas got off to a rough start at the 2025 Players Championship on Thursday and shot a 78 in the opening round, registering three bogeys, two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey on his scorecard. He entered Friday’s second round sitting at 6-over on the tournament, well below the projected cut line of 1-under.

Then, Thomas got to work. 

Thomas tied the 18-hole course record at TPC Sawgrass by shooting 10-under 62 during the second round on Friday, a record previously set by American Tom Hoge in the third round in 2023. Thomas’ 16-stroke turnaround marks the largest improvement from the first to the second round at The Players Championship.  

“I’m just happy to have a tee time tomorrow,” Thomas said after wrapping up his second round.

Thomas opened the second round with birdies on the first two holes and went on to hit 11 total birdies on Friday, which set a record for the most birdies in a round at The Players Championship. 

Thomas had an opportunity to break the course record entering the 18th and final hole of the day. He needed par or better on the Par 4, 462-yard hole, but Thomas ended his historic second round with a bogey, his first of the day. Despite missing out on the record, Thomas said he’s satisfied with how he locked in on Friday.

“I was losing to I think everybody that was playing golf yesterday at one point. I really wasn’t worried or upset about the golf I played, I was more upset about the round and how I was mentally out there. I feel like I wasn’t sharp. I was just really spacy,’ he said. ‘So I really made a conscious effort (today.)”

Thomas’ best finish at the Player Championship came in 2021, when he won the tournament. Last year, he missed the cut into the weekend. He is currently tied for 29th place at 4-under. 

Australian Min Woo Lee and American Akshay Bhatia are tied atop the leaderboard at 11-under through two rounds of play. American J.J. Spaun is in third place at 10-under. Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is tied for fourth place with Collin Morikawa and Alex Smalley at 9-under. 

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

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US Electricity Demand to Surge — Nuclear Energy Key, but Supply Challenges Remain

The US is on the brink of an unprecedented rise in electricity demand, with projections showing a 35 to 50 percent increase by 2040, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

This surge, largely driven by artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, manufacturing expansion and mass electrification, underscores an urgent need for a diversified energy strategy.

While renewable energy and natural gas will both play vital roles, nuclear power is emerging as a key component — though its growth may be constrained by uranium supply challenges.

Nuclear energy’s key role in electricity supply

As demand for electricity skyrockets, nuclear power is positioned as a crucial solution due to its reliability and ability to provide continuous, carbon-free energy. Industry leaders stress that without significant investment in nuclear infrastructure and uranium supply chains, the US could struggle to sustainably meet its energy needs.

John Kotek, senior vice president of policy and public affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, one of the groups that commissioned the S&P study, emphasized nuclear energy’s potential, stating, “The S&P Demand Growth Report highlights the tremendous growth in electricity demand and the critical gaps that must be filled to meet future needs.’

He added that nuclear power is well positioned to serve power needs from the manufacturing sector, as well as AI and data center demand. Kotek also pointed to growing partnerships between nuclear energy producers and major tech firms like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which require reliable around-the-clock power for their AI data centers.

However, uranium supply constraints could present long-term challenges. The nuclear fuel cycle depends heavily on uranium market stability, and geopolitical factors could further complicate sourcing. According to the World Nuclear Association, global uranium production has struggled to keep pace with growing demand.

In 2022, uranium mines supplied only 74 percent of power utilities’ annual needs, with the remainder coming from secondary sources such as stockpiled reserves and recycled materials. The depletion of these reserves over time, combined with increasing nuclear energy adoption worldwide, could stress uranium supply chains.

At the end of 2022, uranium stockpiles stood at approximately:

  • 36,000 metric tons in Europe
  • 40,000 metric tons in the US
  • 132,000 metric tons in China
  • 49,000 metric tons in the rest of Asia

China and Russia have taken steps to secure long-term uranium supply, with China investing in mines across Niger, Namibia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Canada. Russia’s ARMZ Uranium Holding acquired Uranium One in 2013, ensuring a steady uranium flow for its domestic reactors. The US and Europe, by contrast, rely more heavily on market-driven supply chains, making them more vulnerable to price fluctuations and geopolitical instability.

“Facing an unprecedented increase in electricity demand, America is provided with a golden opportunity to modernize our power sector while securing domestic leadership in cutting-edge future technologies,” said Marty Durbin, president of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute.

“To meet this challenge, we need policies that support both existing nuclear reactors and the development of next-generation nuclear technology,” he further emphasized.

US needs all types of energy to meet electricity demand

Against that backdrop, many policymakers and industry leaders argue that nuclear energy must be prioritized in future energy planning. The S&P report suggests that an additional 10 to 25 gigawatts of nuclear and geothermal capacity will be needed by 2040 to maintain grid reliability, along with increases in natural gas and renewable capacity.

‘We must bring equal urgency to accelerate the development and deployment of new nuclear generation capacity and fossil generation with carbon capture,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association.

This push aligns with policy efforts to streamline nuclear development.

Recent US government initiatives aim to fast track small modular reactor deployment, expand domestic uranium enrichment capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign uranium supplies. However, bringing new nuclear plants online can take a decade or longer, highlighting the need for quick action to ensure supply chain stability.

S&P notes that the US already has the technology to bridge the gap between electricity supply and demand — it sees a need for government, industry and consumers to work together on solutions.

‘It is time to join together behind a true all-of-the-above energy strategy that lowers prices, creates jobs, and supports our national security,’ Grumet concluded.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Seequent Unveils Evo: Using Open-source Tech to Reshape Mining Exploration

Geoscience software company Seequent has grown from a small startup to a 750 employee operation over the past two decades. With the launch of its latest platform, Evo, at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, it is introducing new technology that could significantly impact the mining sector.

Seequent is aiming to expedite exploration and enhance accuracy in mining by centralizing geoscience data, streamlining workflows and improving collaboration between industries.

Designed to integrate data from multiple sources, Evo enhances decision making, optimizes resource extraction and supports environmental management. With open APIs and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, it extends the functionality of existing tools like Leapfrog, while leveraging cloud computing for faster processing of large datasets.

“What this industry needs more than anything is innovation,” said Graham, noting that the Seequent team comes from an array of backgrounds, including medical science. “(The mining sector) has to change the way it works, and usually, when you look at the pattern of technology, the most dramatic innovations come from outside your industry, not inside.”

The data fragmentation challenge

One of the issues Evo seeks to address is data fragmentation.

While today’s geologists and miners are privy to more data than ever, much of this data is distributed across different systems and locations, preventing companies from achieving full visibility and control.

To streamline the process for mining sector workers, Evo centralizes geoscience data from various sources, improving accessibility, collaboration and analysis. By integrating data that is spread across platforms, Evo helps users work with up-to-date information and draw insights from past projects.

Its geospatial search incorporates Cesium technology, and Seequent has introduced two related applications, Driver and BlockSync, to enhance functionality. Graham explained that to achieve this, Evo was designed to be open instead of siloing data and forcing mining companies to also be technology companies.

‘It’s enabling things to move quickly and easily across whatever the device,” he continued. “We saw this problem years ago, but we knew it would take cloud and cloud architecture to break this paradigm, and so what Evo is doing is it’s breaking that paradigm, and it’s approaching the world from the perspective of being open.”

The open platform design enables seamless connectivity and automation, even with competing software, according to Graham. This approach is key as even though mining companies are not tech firms, they often employ skilled professionals who can leverage automation and coding tools.

Additionally, the system allows users to develop custom solutions without relying solely on third-party vendors, marking a significant shift in how technology can be used in the industry.

Critical minerals discovery and jurisdictional risk

With the search for critical minerals deposits intensifying on a global scale, Graham said that technologies like Evo can can be leveraged to analyze data and better pinpoint deposits.

“We know the discovery process and the development process now is just a whole lot more complex,’ he said during the interview. ‘(Deposits are) harder to find, they’re deeper, the grades are lower, the easy stuff is gone. So the way to deal with that is to use the best science you can find.

The Seequent CEO also acknowledged the geopolitical challenges facing mining executives.

“Being a mining CEO and a mining executive right now has got to be one of the most complex tasks in the world,” said Graham, pointing to trade restrictions, tariffs, inflation, permitting challenges, community expectations and unpredictable geopolitical shifts as some of the reasons why the job is difficult.

“As an executive, the one thing you have to do is build a resilient and adaptable organization that can see its way through these kinds of changes,” he said. “Adaptability is the key, and this is what we can bring to a mining company — a flexible, adaptable technology framework that enables you to flex your organization fast, revisit scenarios and recalculate.”

Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Opawica Explorations Announces Non-Brokered Private Placement for Aggregate Proceeds of CAD $300,000

(TheNewswire)

March 14 th 2025 TheNewswire – Vancouver, Canada – Opawica Explorations Inc. (the ‘Company’ or ‘Opawica’) (TSXV: OPW) (OTCQB: OPWEF), a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on precious and base metal projects, is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered Private Placement (the ‘Private Placement’) of up to 1,500,000 units of the Company (‘Units’) at a price of $0.20 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $300,000.

Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company and one Common Share purchase Warrant, with each Warrant exercisable into one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.30 per share at any time up to 24 months following the closing date of the Private Placement. The Company also maintains a Warrant Acceleration option allowing Opawica to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants if the daily trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is greater than $0.42 per Common Share for the preceding 10 consecutive trading days. All securities issued under the Offering and including Warrants will be subject to a four (4) month holding period.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds to define and drill new exploration targets at its Arrowhead and Bazooka properties, general working capital and market awareness. The Private Placement remains subject to receipt of all required approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, as well as execution of formal documentation.

The qualified person has not verified the information on the adjacent properties and the information disclosed is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Opawica Projects.

About Opawica Explorations Inc.

Opawica Explorations Inc. is a junior Canadian exploration company with a strong portfolio of precious and base metal properties within the Rouyn-Noranda region of the Abitibi Gold Belt in Québec. The Company’s management has a great track record in discovering and developing successful exploration projects. The Company’s objective is to increase shareholder value through the development of exploration properties using cost effective exploration practices, acquiring further exploration properties, and seeking partnerships by either joint venture or sale with industry leaders.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Blake Morgan

President and Chief Executive Officer

Opawica Explorations Inc.

Telephone: 236-878-4938

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management’s current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company’s exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labor issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

Copyright (c) 2025 TheNewswire – All rights reserved.

News Provided by TheNewsWire via QuoteMedia

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Dollar General CEO warns consumers are cash-strapped and says 2025 won’t be better

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said on Thursday that inflation continues to hurt the discounter’s customers and that the macroeconomic environment won’t improve this year.

On the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Vasos said customers are expecting value and convenience “more than ever” from the dollar-store chain.

“Our customers continue to report that their financial situation has worsened over the last year, as they have been negatively impacted by ongoing inflation. Many of our customers report they only have enough money for basic essentials, with some noting that they have had to sacrifice even on the necessities,” Vasos said. “As we enter 2025, we are not anticipating improvement in the macro environment, particularly for our core customer.”

Dollar General’s core consumer is “always strained” due to their economic status, but also resourceful, Vasos said.

“We’ve started to see where [our customer is] getting her sea legs, if you will, on the additional inflation that’s been very sticky out there, and she’s starting to understand her budgets even more,” Vasos said.

Part of the uncertainty, Vasos said, stems from the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the consumer.

When Trump imposed tariffs during his first term in office in 2018 and 2019, Dollar General had to raise some prices in line with others in the industry, Vasos said. But the general store was able to mitigate the impact back then and is “well positioned” to do so again this year, he said.

“Given the already stressed financial condition of our core customer, we are closely monitoring these and any other potential economic headwinds, including any changes to government entitlement programs,” Vasos said.

CFO Kelly Dilts said the company’s 2025 guidance factors in continued economic pressure on the consumer, but does not account for further changes to tariff policy or government initiatives like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which subsidizes food for low-income Americans.

For the fourth-quarter, Dollar General said same-store sales growth of 1.2% was driven entirely by 2.3% growth in average transaction. Customer traffic fell 1.1% during the period, “impacted by ongoing financial pressures of our core consumer,” Vasos said.

Alongside its fourth-quarter earnings, Dollar General said Thursday it would close 96 Dollar General stores and 45 Popshelf stores and will convert six other Popshelf stores into flagship banner locations this year. Popshelf primarily serves higher-income shoppers with lower-priced products.

Shares of Dollar General rose 5% Thursday morning.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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Egg prices are falling, with a dozen now less than $5

After surging for much of the year, egg prices have declined sharply over the past week as consumers pulled back on purchases, allowing supplies to resettle at more normal volumes.

The result: The average cost of a dozen large white eggs is now $4.90, compared with an all-time high of $8.64 on March 5, the United States Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

That’s the lowest level registered since Dec. 20.

The prices for this measure remain significantly higher than the long-term average of around $2.

And the prices consumers are paying at the grocery checkout in the post-pandemic-lockdown era are still higher than their pre-Covid levels.

But in its latest daily market report, the USDA described underlying price trends as ‘sharply lower’ amid ‘light to occasionally moderate’ retail demand.

A USDA report a week ago said there had been a lull in outbreaks of the viral bird flu that has ravaged egg-laying poultry stocks, providing ‘an opportunity for production to make progress in reducing recent shell egg shortages.’

‘As shell eggs are becoming more available, the sense of urgency to cover supply needs has eased and many marketers are finding prices for spot market offerings are adjusting downward in their favor,’ the USDA said.

Shoppers, meanwhile, ‘have begun to see shell egg offerings in the dairycase becoming more reliable,’ the agency said.

Prices will also have more room to trend downward thanks to the Easter holiday falling three weeks later than last year, it said.

‘This will give the marketplace a change to adjust prices down to a more acceptable level ahead of the holiday demand season,’ it said.

Soaring egg prices had become a hot-button political issue in recent weeks, with the Trump administration’s Justice Department opening an investigation into the matter.

The rising prices also caused overall food-at-home cost to accelerate in recent months after it had cooled dramatically from the highs seen in the throes of the pandemic and post-lockdown period.

Still, food price levels remain higher across the board compared with the pre-pandemic era, thanks to the heavy bout of inflation the U.S. economy has experienced in recent years.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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Bearish ADX Signal on S&P Plays Out – Now What?

In this exclusive StockCharts video, Joe revisits a critical ADX signal that gave a major market warning, explaining the pattern and a new low ADX setup to watch. He breaks down SPY and QQQ support zones, sector rotation, and reviews viewer symbol requests including T, WBD, and more. Don’t miss this technical analysis update to stay ahead of the market!

This video was originally published on March 12, 2025. Click this link to watch on Joe’s dedicated page.

Archived videos from Joe are available at this link. Send symbol requests to stocktalk@stockcharts.com; you can also submit a request in the comments section below the video on YouTube. Symbol Requests can be sent in throughout the week prior to the next show.

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Most overpaid men’s college hoops coaches

The decision to promote Hubert Davis as Roy Williams’ successor seemed inspired after North Carolina went all the way to the national championship game in Davis’s debut, eventually losing to Kansas in a battle of college basketball blue bloods.

Since then, however, the Tar Heels’ results have come in short of expenses and expectations.

That UNC could miss the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years has raised serious questions about Davis’s ability to keep this program among the nation’s best. At $3.75 million in total compensation for the 2024-25 season, Davis is the highest-paid coach at a public university in the ACC — without the recent results to show for this investment.

The list of the sport’s most overpaid coaches begins with Davis, who is in danger of becoming just the second UNC coach since 1975 to miss the tournament twice in the span of three seasons.

Hubert Davis, North Carolina

Winning twice in the ACC tournament could get UNC into the 68-team field and take some of the heat off Davis amid another forgettable season. But the administration and fan base expect much more, of course, and it’s hard not to compare Davis’s struggles to get things off the ground with the way Duke’s Jon Scheyer — hired one season after Davis — has the Blue Devils surging toward a No. 1 seed in this year’s bracket. Davis will be under extreme pressure to deliver in the regular season and postseason in 2025-26.

Bobby Hurley, Arizona State

Hurley has three NCAA Tournament appearances in his decade at Arizona State and now six losing seasons, capped by this year’s extremely disappointing 13-17 finish. In a make-or-break year for Hurley’s job security, the Sun Devils finished one spot from the bottom in the new-look Big 12 and failed to win more than one league game in a row after posting solid non-conference victories against Grand Canyon, St. Thomas, New Mexico and Saint Mary’s. They lost in the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Hurley earned $3.54 million in compensation this season.

Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska

The Cornhuskers’ late-season collapse from firmly inside the bracket to off the bubble entirely erases the good vibes from last year’s tournament appearance and raises the temperature on Hoiberg’s seat heading into the 2025-26 season. The former Iowa State and NBA coach has the support of his athletics director and remains popular with the fan base, so Hoiberg will be given the chance to turn things around. But at 80-108 overall and with just one tournament bid in his six seasons — and this year’s team finishing third from the bottom in the Big Ten — the returns on the program’s investment haven’t been there. Hoiberg ranks fifth among Big Ten coaches in compensation at $4.75 million, including a one-time payment of $500,000, as part of a contract that runs through the 2029 season.

Jamie Dixon, TCU

The most recent document related to Dixon’s salary, from the 2022 calendar year, showed the TCU coach making $4.1 million, including bonuses. That compensation would rank fifth in the Big 12 in 2024-24, behind Kansas’s Bill Self, Baylor’s Scott Drew, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson. That’s lofty company for a coach who has four tournament bids since behind hired in 2016 but has yet to get TCU out of the opening weekend. After making three appearances in a row, this year’s team flirted with the bubble before ending the regular season with four losses in five games, including a dreadful road loss to Colorado, to sit at 16-15 entering the Big 12 tournament. TCU lost, 69-67, to Colorado in the opening round.

Fran McCaffrey, Iowa

Give him credit for longevity: McCaffrey has been at Iowa since 2010, winning one Big Ten tournament title, posting eight 20-win seasons and making seven trips to the NCAA Tournament, though the Hawkeyes haven’t advanced past the round of 32. But Iowa has been on a recent slide, winning 19 games in 2022-23, another 19 games with an NIT appearance last year and bellyflopping at 16-15 and in a tie for 12th in the Big Ten this season. McCaffrey is making $3.4 million this season.

Follow colleges reporter Paul Myerberg on social media @PaulMyerberg

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

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