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Intelligence for the New World Economy
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US stocks wrap up best quarter since 2020
Chip stocks in particular soared thanks to a global memory shortage stemming from the AI boom.
US stocks wrap up best quarter since 2020
Chip stocks in particular soared thanks to a global memory shortage stemming from the AI boom.
View / The AI age is missing its phone company
View / Trump and Xi’s urban dreams confront reality
The World at a Glance
Updated 6:49pm EDT
1
US stock indexes closed out their best quarter since 2020, as strong corporate fundamentals outweighed lingering geopolitical risk.
2US officials arrived in Qatar for talks on the Iran war, but will meet with mediators, not Iranian negotiators.
3An Indonesian court sentenced a tech tycoon to 10 years in prison in a closely watched graft case.
4Extreme weather — and mitigation against it — will shape the future of competition between the US and China, two scholars wrote.
5Australia doubled the maximum penalty for social media companies that fail to comply with the ban on under-16 users.
6The US Supreme Court ruled against President Trump’s attempt to end automatic birthright citizenship, dealing a setback to a key administration priority.
US, Iran to hold indirect talks, complicating efforts to end conflict
Officials from the US arrived in Qatar for talks on the Iran war, but were set to meet with mediators, not Iranian negotiators.
Silicon Valley’s go-to fixer on AI’s unfixable problem
Bradley Tusk says consumers won’t rally behind the technology.
SpaceX, US government discuss stock donation for Trump Accounts
The Trump administration has weighed whether to take stakes in other AI firms.
Supreme Court strikes down caps on coordinated campaign donations
The ruling represents a victory for Republicans.
EU, China agree October deadline for trade negotiations
Europe is grappling with a huge influx of Chinese exports that threaten deindustrialization.
As Hormuz opens, oil markets are awash in supply
The sudden gut in crude markets has pushed prices to their lowest level since the US-Iran war began.
Few Ukrainians approve of US leadership, poll finds
Just 7% of Ukrainians said they approve of US leadership, according to a Gallup poll taken in April.
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Politics
Supreme Court rejects Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
The decision, which was expected, is nevertheless a blow to a key administration priority.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Supreme Court strikes down caps on coordinated campaign donations
The ruling represents a victory for Republicans.
Cheney Orr/Reuters
Few Ukrainians approve of US leadership, poll finds
Just 7% of Ukrainians said they approve of US leadership, according to a Gallup poll taken in April.
Stringer/Reuters
Trump’s Board of Peace charts path forward
Questions continue to swirl about the organization’s work in Gaza.
Supreme Court punts on future Fed firings
The high court ruled that the president can dismiss members of most independent agencies without cause, but that the US central bank is different.
Supreme Court says Trump can’t fire Fed governor — for now
In a separate ruling, the justices made it easier for the president to fire officials at other independent agencies.
American national pride recedes across parties, poll finds
One-third of US adults say they are “extremely proud” to be an American, according to Gallup.
Democrats’ ‘Project 2029’ goes after tech companies with online safety plan
The liberal counterweight to conservatives’ Project 2025 is rolling out a series of policies to set the stage for an already crowded field of 2028 presidential hopefuls.
New Hampshire becomes the Senate midterms’ sleeper race
Democrat Chris Pappas warns his party not to be “overconfident.”
Threats to US payment rails helped trigger Bessent’s AI worries
Advanced models have heightened banks’ fears of an outage that would hamstring their ability to send money.
Only Trump can end his own blockade
The US president is preventing the reauthorization of a key surveillance law, and refusing to sign a bipartisan housing bill.
Business
US stocks wrap up best quarter since 2020
Chip stocks in particular soared thanks to a global memory shortage stemming from the AI boom.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Susquehanna seeks $70M for insider trading
Susquehanna Investment Group sued 100 unnamed defendants who it says placed suspicious trades before Beijing last month targeted three online brokers popular with mainland Chinese investors trading foreign stocks.
Honeywell ditches conglomerate model
The sector-spanning corporate empire is “outdated,” Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier told Semafor.
The AI age is missing its phone company
In a world drowning in content, the value is increasingly in the pipes that deliver it to eyeballs.
Silicon Valley’s go-to fixer on AI’s unfixable problem
Bradley Tusk says consumers won’t rally behind the technology.
Technology
Australia toughens social media ban
The country doubled the maximum penalty imposed on social media companies that fail to comply with the ban on under-16 users, as evidence grew that children are circumventing restrictions.
Hollie Adams/Reuters
Indonesian tech tycoon sentenced
An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a tech tycoon to 10 years in prison in a closely watched graft case.
Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters
AI investment increasingly shapes global economy
Memory chip demand has already pushed consumer electronics prices up, and RAM prices are expected to increase 40-50% in the coming quarter.
SpaceX, US government discuss stock donation for Trump Accounts
The Trump administration has weighed whether to take stakes in other AI firms.
AI spending boom could end in global bust, report says
The AI spending spree risks an extended “investment bust” that could imperil the global economy, a report warned Sunday.
US releases powerful Anthropic model Mythos to some US companies
The move comes the same day as a new OpenAI model sees a limited release.
Energy
China faces major emissions dilemma in steel sector
Steelmakers must decide whether to stick to traditional methods to reline their blast furnaces, or switch to new low-emissions technologies.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
As Hormuz opens, oil markets are awash in supply
The sudden gut in crude markets has pushed prices to their lowest level since the US-Iran war began.
Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo/Reuters
Iran says no high-level US talks planned
Iran contradicted the US’ assertion that the countries plan to hold high-level talks in Qatar on Tuesday to shore up their shaky ceasefire.
Stringer/Reuters
Gulf
Abu Dhabi buys into Argentina LNG
XRG, ADNOC’s international investment arm, will take a stake in three upstream blocks in Argentina that will supply gas to the country’s first LNG export terminal.
An LNG plant in Texas. Arathy Somasekhar/Reuters.
US investors lead $30M funding for Gulf AI startup 1001
Startup plans to bring AI efficiencies to the region’s aviation, ports, and energy infrastructure.
China racks up advantages from Iran energy crisis
China’s relative insulation from supply and price shocks will “deepen economic dependencies” that Beijing could leverage for geopolitical advantage, a new report argued.
Iran says no high-level US talks planned
Iran contradicted the US’ assertion that the countries plan to hold high-level talks in Qatar on Tuesday to shore up their shaky ceasefire.
Sovereign wealth funds pivot to private markets and infrastructure
Research from Invesco found that infrastructure allocations have grown faster than any other alternative asset class over the past five years.
China
How climate affects US-China competition
Extreme weather — and mitigation against it — will shape the future of competition between the US and China, two experts wrote in Foreign Affairs.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
European tech leaders more worried about US than China
“The sharp edge of the tech discussion here is actually aimed at the US,” Jacob Kirkegaard, at the Brussels think tank Bruegel, told Semafor.
Merz visits China in February. Andres Martinez Casares/Pool via Reuters
Chinese AC makers profit on Europe’s heatwaves
On Alibaba’s international retail site, a Midea AC model that debuted this month is completely sold out in Germany.
Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Africa
South Africa faces security test as anti-migrant violence escalates
Anti-immigration protestors are demanding the removal of undocumented migrants and tighter border enforcement, setting their own deadline of June 30.
Malawian migrants at the Durban drive-in temporary repatriation site. Siyabonga Sishi/Reuters.
African teams celebrate World Cup successes
Nine of the 10 participating African teams have progressed to the knockout stage.
Phil Noble/Reuters
Sierra Leone grants oil block rights to Nigerian firm
The deal comes as Sierra Leone plans to issue more offshore licenses in a bid to reignite investor interest in the industry.
Nigeria discovers new mineral deposits
The discovery of copper, lithium, and rare earths is a potential boost for the West African nation as it seeks to diversify its oil-dominant economy.
Nigeria faces ‘highest’ inflation risk among emerging markets, S&P says
S&P said higher energy and fertilizer prices triggered by the Iran war and El Niño were driving inflation.
Ethiopia agrees $1B bond restructuring deal
The agreement moves Africa’s second-most populous country closer to resolving its longstanding debt crisis.
Security
South Africa braces for wave of anti-migrant violence
Thousands of migrants are fleeing South Africa as the country braces for violence after an anti-immigrant group set a Tuesday deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave.
Ihsaan Haffejee/Reuters
Putin acknowledges ‘difficult period’ as Ukraine ramps up attacks
Kyiv struck a Russian defense plant and set fire to a major oil refinery as part of its efforts to weaken Moscow’s wartime economy.
Stringer/Reuters
Russia’s fuel crisis worsens
Fuel prices at Russia’s airports have spiked 17% in June.
Stringer/Reuters
Media
Daily Wire, under pressure, seeks strategic investors, targets IPO
The Daily Wire is in talks to take on at least $100 million in investment, with an eye on an initial public offering in a few years’ time.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr
OpenAI’s $100 billion ad bet
The tech giant rolled out new tools for creatives.
The Atlantic beefs up its video podcasts
One of America’s oldest magazines is investing in video after seeing notable growth in its audience.
David Droga on AI and the end of ‘mediocre’ human-made ads
As he sees it, the advertising industry is in the throes of a profound technological shift.
Conservatives make the case for right-wing ads at Cannes Lions
The Daily Wire and others are offering an overtly partisan alternative to advertising gatherings that often stay far away from politics.
CEO Signal
How Antonio Neri turned HPE into an unlikely AI stock
The veteran dealmaker says he’s ‘building the best networking business on the planet’.
Courtesy of HPE/Graph Massara/Semafor
Former IEA chief says world faces a ‘third oil shock’ despite US-Iran deal
Nobuo Tanaka says the Hormuz crisis has accelerated a seismic shift in the global energy order, but business leaders can learn from it.
Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
How a marathon-running CEO set the pace for Cigna
David Cordani says the insurer had to “actively listen” to rebuild trust with its customers.
Courtesy of Cigna/Graph Massara/Semafor
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