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Good morning. Today is Wednesday, July 16th. I'm Julie Morgan. A record day for MP Materials, new hiring goals at Ex-Pang and Stalantus pulls back on hydrogen.

MP Materials close 20% higher on Tuesday and is up 5% in pre-market action. MP posted an all-time intraday high of $62.87 on Tuesday after unveiling

its $500 million deal with Apple. The deal is to develop a recycling

line for rare earth materials that will allow MP to reprocess rare earth elements for use

in Apple products. The partnership includes a $200 million prepayment from Apple for a supply of

magnets scheduled to begin in 2027, to be produced at MP's

Fort Worth, Texas facility using magnets recycled at the company's Mountain Pass, California

mining complex. For Apple, the deal guarantees a steady flow of rare earths and magnets free from

China. An analysts say the cost to support U.S. magnet production

pales in comparison to the long-term risk that it could lose access entirely to the critical

components. The deal comes days after MP agreed to a multi-billion dollar deal with the Department

of Defense that will see the Pentagon become the company's largest

shareholder and financial backstop. The CEO and chairman of Ex-Pang has raised the hiring plan

for the year 2025, targeting 8,000 new hires, an increase from its earlier objective of

6,000. With this new hiring pushed, the total head count is projected

to be near 30,000 by the end of 2025, according to a Reuters report. The report added that the

ramped-up hiring highlights higher recruiting and smart driving and positions available in areas

like large AI models.

And sticking with the topic of automakers,

Stalantis will discontinue its hydrogen fuel cell technology development program.

The automaker said on Wednesday that there's limited availability of hydrogen refueling infrastructure, but there's high capital requirements and a need for

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