Palantir, the secretive data analysis software company best known for its contracts with government agencies, is reportedly planning to go public via direct listing in late September, according to Bloomberg.

Why it matters: This would be only the third company since 2018 to do a direct listing, after Spotify and Slack. The company is also in the process of raising $961 million, with $550 million of it already secured.

Chevron is making a Series A investment in the three-year-old nuclear fusion startup Zap Energy, marking the latest foray by an oil-and-gas giant into companies outside a core business.

Why it matters: It's the first nuclear power investment from Chevron Technology Ventures, the company's in-house VC arm that's spreading money around a range of energy technologies.

The jobs rebound in clean energy sectors, broadly defined, slowed greatly last month, per a newly released analysis.

The big picture: Clean energy industries added just 3,200 jobs last month, far fewer than in June, according to the BW Research Partnership's analysis of unemployment claims.

BodyArmor is making noise in the sports drink market, announcing seven new athlete partnerships last week, including Christian McCaffrey, Sabrina Ionescu and Ronald Acuña Jr.

Why it matters: It wants to market itself as a worthy challenger to the throne that Gatorade has occupied for nearly six decades.

The consumer price index rose 0.6% last month for the second straight time, with gasoline accounting for a quarter of the gain. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy prices, jumped by 0.6%, marking the biggest gain since January 1991.

Why it matters: The back-to-back CPI increases combined with Tuesday's bounce back producer price index reading, suggest inflation is far from dead.

The S&P 500 nearly closed at an all-time high on Wednesday and remains poised to go from peak to trough to peak in less than half a year.

By the numbers: Since hitting its low on March 23, the S&P has risen about 50%, with more than 40 of its members doubling, according to Bloomberg. The $12 trillion dollars of share value that vanished in late March has almost completely returned.

Facing enormous financial pressure and uncertainty around reopenings, media companies are giving up on their years-long building leases for more permanent work-from-home structures. Others are letting employees work remotely for the foreseeable future.

Why it matters: Real estate is often the most expensive asset that media companies own. And for companies that don't own their space, it's often the biggest expense.

With tax revenue in free-fall and expenditures dramatically rising, the coronavirus pandemic is on pace to hit cities' finances even harder than the Great Recession.

Why it matters: Almost all cities are required to balance their budgets, and at this rate they'll have no choice but to cut more services, layoff or furlough more workers and freeze capital projects.

If you don't know how broken something is, you're not going to be able to fix it.

• That's the crisis facing policymakers trying to repair a devastated economy without knowing the true degree to which the pandemic has hurt the country.

It's not just emotional buying, real estate agents say: There are smart and strategic reasons that Americans of all ages, races and incomes are moving away from urban centers.

Why it matters: Bidding wars, frantic plays for a big suburban house with a pool, buying a property sight unseen — they're all part of Americans' calculus that our lives and lifestyles have been permanently changed by coronavirus and that we'll need more space (indoors and out) for the long term.

1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9 a.m. ET: 20,651,113 — Total deaths: 750,030— Total recoveries: 12,851,449 — Map.
2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9 a.m. ET: 5,197,749 — Total deaths: 166,038 — Total recoveries: 1,755,225 — Total tests: 63,731,305 — Map.
3. Public health: Cases are falling, but don't get too comfortable.
4. Business: The pandemic real estate market — Newsrooms abandoned.
5. Sports: NFL says its positive test rate is under 1%.
6. 🎧 Podcast: The financial toll of the pandemic.

The U.S. budget deficit ballooned to $2.81 trillion from last October through July — a record for the budgetary period, per a Treasury statement published Wednesday.

Details: $63 billion was added to the deficit last month. That was the lowest monthly figure since the pandemic began, amid a fall in government spending and as the tax filing deadline was extended to July 15.