A GDP report, a hawkish dissent, and a Gaza deal nobody quite believes
Trump announced Thursday that Hamas has agreed to disarm and Israel will withdraw from Gaza. The deal, unveiled as part of the fall's 20-point plan, requires a complete cessation of military operations and full humanitarian-protocol implementation before any second phase begins, according to a roadm…
America's economy grew just 1.5% in the second quarter, missing forecasts and decelerating from 2.1% in the first. Rising imports weighed on growth even as consumer and business spending held up; government outlays fell, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Core PCE inflation eased to 3.3% year-ov…
China's collapsed oil imports are quietly propping up global energy markets. Chinese crude purchases have run more than 40% below year-ago levels since February's US-Israel strikes on Iran began, yet Beijing's domestic economy has absorbed the shock without visible strain, Axios reports, citing cust…
A Russian ballistic missile destroyed a Kyiv drone factory owned by a Delaware-registered US company. The Friday strike on Terminal Autonomy appears to be the first time Moscow has directly targeted American-owned manufacturing in the war, the Guardian reports. The plant made AQ-400 Scythe and AQ-10…
Oil settled lower Thursday as Saudi Arabia moved to build a 14-nation maritime coalition around the Red Sea. Brent fell 1.88% to $89.03 a barrel and WTI dropped to $83.59, even after a volatile session touched $93.31 following fresh US-Iran strikes, Reuters reports. Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan an…
China's Politburo signalled only cautious economic support despite a visible consumer slump. The ruling body called Wednesday for "more proactive" tax and spending policy but stopped short of endorsing broad stimulus, the New York Times reports. Retail sales rose just 1.0% in June even as exports ju…
A Shanghai firm has been formally named as the maker of China's first domestic immersion DUV lithography tool. Reuters identified Shanghai Aishengna Electronic Technology Group as the state-owned developer, with a 7nm-capable scanner targeted for completion by 2038, Tom's Hardware reports. The namin…
The US Senate voted 86-12 to advance a Russia sanctions bill with tariff provisions. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act, named for its late co-author, pairs sanctions with a secondary-tariff mechanism that Al Jazeera says could impose duties up to 100% on countries still buying Russian ene…
Mortgage rates hit their highest level in a year, driven by war-linked inflation fears. NPR reports rates climbed as bond markets digested this week's Fed hold and hawkish dissent, a sharp jump from 6.72% a year ago. Higher Treasury yields are now feeding directly into household borrowing costs, com…
George and Amal Clooney evacuated their French property as wildfires closed in this week. "We do not know whether our beautiful home will survive," the couple said, according to the Guardian, as blazes across southwestern France and Spain continue displacing tens of thousands on both sides of the bo…
Chinese automakers now hold 15% of the UK car market, forcing established brands into deep discounting. The share gain has come fast enough that Britain's auto industry chief is warning publicly about pressure on domestic manufacturers, Automotive News reports. A separate FT analysis finds Britain l…
Washington imposed new blanket tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners Friday, including the EU and China. The move follows accusations that the countries failed to curb transshipment of goods meant to dodge existing duties, OFI Magazine reports. Beijing's commerce ministry separa…
US Latinos generated $4.4 trillion in GDP last year, a figure that would rank as the world's fourth-largest economy on its own. The number, drawn from Latino Donor Collaborative research reported this week, underscores a demographic bloc whose economic weight continues to outpace its political visib…
Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni detailed the wire's strategy of licensing AI training data instead of litigating. No new licensing deal or lawsuit has landed since to test whether the approach holds against a determined AI developer's refusal to pay. The strategy stays a stated position, …
Fed funds futures show traders pricing a 57% chance of a September rate hike, up from roughly 30% before Wednesday's decision. The repricing follows the first three-way hawkish dissent in a decade, with Cleveland, Minneapolis and Dallas all voting to raise rates while Chair Warsh held the line at 3.…
Spain's wildfire crisis widened again as France ordered 4,000 more evacuations on its side of the border this week. The Clooneys' own evacuation from a French property near the fire zone has drawn fresh international attention to a crisis that has already displaced over a third of a million people a…
Canada is watching the US-EU trade deal for lessons ahead of its own August byelections. A Globe and Mail commentary argues the EU's experience negotiating with Washington shows there is no durable settlement available under the current administration, a warning Ottawa should heed as it calculates i…
Puerto Rico's news cycle stayed quiet again Friday, with no dated developments in today's corpus beyond stories already covered in prior editions. The island's absence from this week's tariff, energy and fiscal headlines continues; nothing here rises to the bar for a fresh item.
A US materials scientist is publicly defending decades of research ties with Chinese labs amid rising tech-war scrutiny. Elsa Reichmanis told the South China Morning Post that science should remain distinct from geopolitical rivalry, arguing collaboration with Chinese teams over her career produced …