Oil climbs back towards $100 a barrel as Houthi militants expand the conflict in the Middle East,

and the U.S. surges troops to the region.

One of the great things about our country is that it is a large, powerful country,

has the ability to be present in the Western Hemisphere, in the Indo-Pacific, in Europe, in Africa,

in the Middle East, and anywhere else

where our interests are vital.

Plus, shares of Alphabet and Tesla tumble as the big spending tech giants turn cash

flow negative.

And investors look on warily as Nike tries to reboot its troubled operations in China.

It's Thursday, July 23rd. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall

Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories

moving your world today. Oil futures are rising again today, after Iran-backed Houthi

militants claimed attacks on a pair of Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. That says

analysts had begun to warn of the risk to energy markets of simultaneous supply disruptions

in the Bob El Mandeb Strait near Yemen and the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the U.S. is

surging special operations forces to the Middle East, putting bombers on both sides of the

Atlantic on high alert, and sending over 150 medics to a military hospital in Germany.

The preparations give President Trump more options as he considers expanding the conflict

against Iran and potentially targeting the Houthis, something Secretary of State Marco Rubio heard here,

courtesy of Sky News, addressed today as peace negotiations with Iran continue to stall.

The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal, the people that are in charge there,

they either break it or they want to change it. So it looks like they're not ready to make a deal.

...