Latest Developments

Europe
The Guardian

US treasury secretary warns oil and gas companies to lower prices: ‘We’re watching’

Scott Bessent, the US secretary of the treasury, speaks during a panel at a conference at the Washington Hilton in Washington DC on 26 June. Photograph: Nathan Posner/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenScott Bessent, the US secretary of the treasury, speaks during a panel at a conference at the Washington Hilton in Washington DC on 26 June. Photograph: Nathan Posner/ShutterstockUS newsUS treasury secretary warns oil and gas companies to lower prices: ‘We’re watching’Scott Bessent says he ‘encourages them to be good actors’ after Trump ranted about prices not dropping fast enough Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, issued a veiled warning to oil and gas companies to lower their prices on Tuesday, a day after Donald Trump berated those retailers on social media for not dropping their prices fast enough and demanded they target $2.50 a gallon. “I would encourage them to be good actors, especially in the 250th anniversary, because we’re watching,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday morning, addressing big oil, independent and international retailers. Bessent also said that oil companies were probably making “record profits”, and said it was “time to do something for the American people”. Trump shared these sentiments in a Truth Social post on Monday, writing that if retailers don’t drop their prices, “big problems lie ahead”. Oil prices have fallen sharply this month, after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict. Though recent clashes between the two countries have threatened the collapse of the peace deal, the price of Brent crude is only $1 more expensive than before the conflict began, and the index is heading for its biggest quarterly loss since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Still, the current national average price for a gallon of gas is $3.85 – cheaper than prices a month ago but still higher than levels during last year’s Fourth of July holiday. Both Bessent and Trump’s invoked the upcoming 250th anniversary of the country’s founding and the Fourth of July holiday, another example of how the administration is trying to prepare for the nation’s birthday. Trump has ordered several renovations in Washington in particular in preparation for this year’s celebrations. A record-high 72 million people are expected to travel during the holiday, despite higher gas prices compared with last year, according to AAA. The number of people driving or flying over the holiday weekend has remained relatively flat since last year, the group found, while other modes of transportation such as cruises have gained popularity. Domestic car rentals are 10% more expensive than last year, and domestic round-trip flight tickets overall are averaging at $830 a ticket, AAA found.

US treasury secretary warns oil and gas companies to lower prices: ‘We’re watching’
North America
CNBC Economy

Job seekers giving up: Labor force participation rate falls to lowest in 50 years, outside of Covid era

On the surface, a June drop in the unemployment rate helped provide some upside to what was an otherwise downbeat jobs report — but it was for all the wrong reasons. That's because the decline in the jobless level to 4.2%, the lowest in a year, came largely from an exodus of workers from the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday. In fact, the measure of the working-age population either employed or looking for a job slid to 61.5%, the lowest since March 2021. Excluding the Covid-era jobs market, it was the lowest labor force participation rate in exactly 50 years. The decline in the labor force marks a "massive exodus" driven by multiple factors, said Mike Reid, head of U.S. economics at RBC. "The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% as both the number of unemployed workers and the size of the labor force pulled back," Reid wrote in a post-report commentary. "This may well be a story of retirements but could also be a story of prior job seekers dropping out of the labor force." Within the bureau's household survey, where the participation numbers are drawn, is a story of a consistently contracting labor force potentially driven by unemployed workers simply giving up. In June alone, the labor force, a measure of those either employed or not employed and looking for work, plummeted by 720,000. Similarly, the rolls of those counted as not in the labor force, a group that includes the unemployed and those not looking for work, jumped by 832,000. And while the establishment survey, which counts jobs filled, showed growth for the month of 57,000, the survey of households, which counts the actual level of those working, tumbled by 507,000. On a year-over-year basis, the labor force is down by just over 1 million, while the level of the employed also has fallen by 1.06 million and the ranks of the unemployed have risen by 40,000. The employment-to-population ratio slipped to 59% in June, the lowest since October 2021. All that has happened while the unemployment rate has risen by just one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.2%. "What really affects me is not so much the unemployment rate," said Dan North, senior economist for North America at Allianz. "What's an important development is the participation rate, and this is a big leg down in one month, and over the past year it's a pretty big leg down. I think this is a more important number." The drop in participation is sometimes attributed to a shrinking immigrant population and retiring baby boomers and Gen Xers. However, in June the biggest plunge came from what is defined as "prime age" workers, or those between the ages of 25 and 54. That rate fell 0.6 percentage point to 83.3%, its lowest since December 2023.

Job seekers giving up: Labor force participation rate falls to lowest in 50 years, outside of Covid era
North America
CNBC Finance

Premier Lacrosse League plans to bring in team owners by 2028 'or soon thereafter,' co-founder says

The Premier Lacrosse League wants to begin selling its teams to individual owners or groups by 2028 "or soon thereafter," league co-founder Paul Rabil told CNBC. In the next decade, Rabil said, he wants the league to expand from eight teams to as many as 16, with each franchise owned independently, similar to other U.S. professional leagues. The PLL is in its eighth season, and currently the league, itself, owns the teams. Rabil, 40, is perhaps the most famous American lacrosse player in history, playing Major League Lacrosse from 2008 to 2018 before co-founding the PLL with his brother, Mike. The PLL merged with MLL in 2020. The PLL is one of a number of emerging sports leagues, along with League One Volleyball, the Professional Women's Hockey League and the Basketball Africa League, that have begun with a single-entity ownership model. League One Volleyball has recently begun selling off teams to interested owners who pay expansion fees to take control of franchises. The BAL is beginning that process now, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum told CNBC Sport last month. The demand to own sports teams has skyrocketed in recent years as valuations for the biggest sports — the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL — have soared. The spike in team valuations for the so-called Big Four U.S. sports leagues has pushed a class of investors toward more affordable teams in Major League Soccer, the National Women's Soccer League and the WNBA. Emerging sports leagues like the PLL are seeking to prove they can join this mezzanine class of leagues that can garner team valuations in the hundreds of millions or even close to a billion dollars. Earlier this week, the PLL raised $100 million in a Series E funding round to grow the league. Rabil is banking on the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics to give exposure to the league and the sport. Lacrosse hasn't been a medal sport in the Summer Games for about 120 years but is returning in 2028. "The first allotment of tickets sold out in 48 hours for lacrosse, so there's good hype building," Rabil said. However, Rabil said, if a large private equity fund or a strategic company such as TKO Group, which owns World Wrestling Entertainment, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Professional Bull Riders, would like to acquire the league, "we would absolutely have those discussions." Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Premier Lacrosse League plans to bring in team owners by 2028 'or soon thereafter,' co-founder says
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Gen Zs less hardy than their parents, regional survey finds

A regional survey has confirmed the popular belief that those aged under 30 are less resilient than their parents or grandparents. Sign up for ST InvestMe and unlock full access to exclusive insights and financial literacy courses today. SINGAPORE – When it comes to financial and health matters, a regional survey has confirmed the popular belief that Gen Zs, or those under 30, are less resilient than their parents or grandparents. For instance, only 41 per cent of Gen Zs who are working feel they are doing well financially, compared with 54 per cent of those aged 62 to 84. Granted, the younger ones have worked for only a few years and have a longer runway to do better, but the survey by insurer AIA found that they still lose out to older folks when it comes to mental and physical well-being. No wonder older folks often describe this group of youngsters as the strawberry generation because they are emotionally sensitive and “bruise easily” when faced with stress or pressure. The survey probed whether these two groups have different attitudes when it comes to dealing with certain financial issues. Overall, the results show that compared with the older generations, Gen Zs place less importance on money matters, especially when it comes to traditions and social norms. For instance, 63 per cent of older folks would frown upon adults who do not support their elderly parents and would describe such people as “ungrateful”. But almost the same proportion of Gen Zs (61 per cent) would think that it is not compulsory for children to support their parents since they have their own financial obligations to bear. The difference in agreement between the generations appears to suggest that there is a change in how younger people view wealth and how it impacts their lives. For instance, 63 per cent of Gen Zs think that success in life need not be related to money, but about half of those in the older age groups still believe that wealth is important in determining a person’s worth.

Gen Zs less hardy than their parents, regional survey finds
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Rethink wealth and build a meaningful life at the July 18 InvestMe event

Sign up for ST InvestMe to find out how you can invest to live, and not live to invest. We have heard this advice countless times: work hard, save more, invest early, grow your wealth and retire in peace. But somewhere between chasing that job promotion, paying off loans, and scrolling through endless videos about stocks, property and financial independence, a question often gets lost: How much money is enough? For young adults, investing can feel overwhelming when you are looking to buy a new home, save for home renovations and retirement, look after ageing parents, and somehow still have enough left to enjoy life today. It does not help that social media coughs up stories of overnight millionaires, young couples with children travelling in business class, and dining at Michelin-starred restaurants, making it seem like everyone else is getting ahead and leaving you behind. For young parents, the concerns may differ, but are no less daunting. How much should you put aside for your children’s education? Should you budget for local or overseas universities? For older parents, should you dip into your savings and help your child financially? The Invest To Live, Not Live To Invest panel discussion is designed for those of you who want your money to support your lives – not consume you. You will learn from The Straits Times’ panel experts – Alfred Chia, chief executive officer of SingCapital, and David Teo, senior consultant psychiatrist and deputy medical director at Connections MindHealth – how much money is enough, and how to avoid behavioural traps. The session, moderated by ST senior business correspondent Angela Tan, will present tips on how you can allocate funds for housing, childcare, insurance and savings. The panel will also look at ways to plan for retirement and, yes, answer questions on whether it is too late to invest in gold or certain stocks. You will learn how to build simple investment habits, avoid common money mistakes and create plans that suit your priorities and lifestyle. More importantly, the session will touch on investments that generate the highest returns over a lifetime: health, relationships, financial skills and experiences. Finally, the goal of investing is not to die with the largest possible portfolio, but to build a life rich enough that the money can quietly do its work in the background, while your attention is devoted to people and things that matter the most.

Rethink wealth and build a meaningful life at the July 18 InvestMe event
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Why reviving the stock exchange on Lyons Range is a tall ask

The defunct Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) on Lyons Range hogged the limelight last month, thanks to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led new government proposed reviving the 118-year-old bourse. Recently in his Budget speech, the West Bengal Finance Minister, Swapan Dasgupta, said CSE is on the verge of closure due to several hurdles, and the State government would support its revival to reclaim Kolkata’s place as a financial hub. The revival of the CSE would have multifarious advantages, including easier access to capital for Eastern India, lower costs of listing and trading and creating new jobs, said the Minister on the floor of the Assembly while presenting his Maiden Budget. The proposal also envisages the listing of profitable State-owned enterprises (PSUs) on the CSE to unlock corporate value and boost State revenues. Trading on the CSE was suspended in April 2013, following regulatory non-compliance with the exchange failing to set up or tie up with a clearing corporation. CSE members continued to trade directly on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) platform. However, this service stopped in 2024. While CSE members remain enthusiastic about reviving the exchange, bringing the bourse back to life will be an uphill battle. An exchange cannot survive without broad stakeholder support. While the government may extend assistance, the real test lies in attracting market participants. Winning over traders will be particularly difficult, as the NSE and BSE already offer superior infrastructure — from trading platforms and clearing corporations to depository services and market surveillance. Even if the CSE upgrades its infrastructure, its relatively lower liquidity would translate into higher impact costs, reducing trading efficiency and investor returns. Companies seeking to raise capital are also likely to favour the larger exchanges because of their wider investor base, deeper liquidity and more advanced market ecosystem. The challenges are evident from the experience of Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Ltd (MSEI), which, despite backing from banks and marquee investors such as Groww and Zerodha’s Rainmatter Investments, continues to struggle for market share. More recently, NCDEX received regulatory approval to launch equity and derivatives products and plans to begin with mutual fund offerings before expanding further. There have also been suggestions that the CSE should focus on attracting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from East India. However, following a series of scams on the NSE SME and BSE SME platforms — particularly those involving the siphoning of funds by promoters — this can prove quite risky. The exchange also faces a credibility deficit. It needs a significant image makeover to restore investor confidence and market relevance. In 2017, SEBI identified 145 of the CSE’s 331 listed companies — nearly 45 per cent — as shell companies. Such entities typically have little or no genuine business activity and are often used for money laundering, tax evasion and concealing beneficial ownership. Government backing alone will not be enough to revive the CSE. The road ahead remains challenging, and a successful turnaround will require sustained regulatory reforms, strategic direction, and broad-based market participation. It is widely accepted that healthy and efficient markets require robust competition. However, given the current market dynamics, this exercise is likely to prove futile.

Why reviving the stock exchange on Lyons Range is a tall ask
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Chinese firms crash India’s power party as Nifty hits three-day high

Markets extended their winning run to a third consecutive day on Friday, but a policy shift rattled the country’s power equipment stocks. The government allowed four Chinese manufacturers to bid on critical domestic power projects, bypassing the security clearance norms in place since 2020. Shares of GVT&D, Power India, and CG Power fell sharply, unwinding gains built on India’s infrastructure boom story. “...the competition just got real,” noted Sarvam Goel, Founder of Pocketful, adding that while the two-year exemption is limited in scope, one of the key pillars of the domestic power sector’s re-rating, the exclusion of Chinese competition, has developed a crack. Against that backdrop, the Nifty 50 closed at 24,270.85, up 95.15 points or 0.39 per cent, while the BSE Sensex rose 261.79 points or 0.34 per cent to 77,763.91. The index opened with a gap-up above 24,200 but gave back intraday highs in the second half as profit booking trimmed gains. India VIX fell 3.7 per cent, signalling easing volatility. IT sector was the showstopper. HCL Technologies surged 5.74 per cent after winning a $1.14 billion AI-led transformation contract with a Fortune Global 50 company, a deal that shifted the narrative for a sector that had been under pressure. The Nifty IT index rebounded nearly 2 per cent, extending its two-day gain to over 6 per cent. Realty, healthcare, and pharma also outperformed. On the other hand, PSU banks remained under pressure. Union Bank of India shed over 7 per cent after reporting slower-than-expected loan growth in its June quarter business update, compounded by an ex-dividend trading day. SBI fell 1.01 per cent and Axis Bank dropped 1.51 per cent. Broader markets were mixed. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined 0.19 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 edged up 0.04 per cent. For the week, the Nifty gained 0.89 per cent and the Sensex added 663 points, with the Realty index the standout performer, up 7.20 per cent, while the Energy index lost 1.40 per cent. The macro backdrop was supportive. Weaker-than-expected US jobs data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting, with rate futures pricing in just an 18 per cent probability of a hike, down from roughly a third earlier in the week. Crude oil hovered near $69 per barrel on Friday, close to pre-Middle East conflict levels, as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to recover amid progress in US-Iran negotiations, a relief for India’s import bill. The rupee traded around 95.39 against the dollar, firming alongside regional peers on the back of the softer US labour market data, with near-term resistance seen at 95.80 and support at 94.95. TRADING ECONOMICSInvesting.com India Looking ahead, markets are expected to maintain a gradual upward bias, but the focus will quickly shift to stock-specific action as the June-quarter earnings season kicks off. Investors will also keep a close eye on the southwest monsoon. June rainfall came in 40 per cent below the Long Period Average, and while the IMD forecasts July at 94 per cent of normal, it has revised its full-season outlook down to 90 per cent due to El Niño conditions. The Defence Acquisition Council meeting, where procurement proposals worth over ₹1 lakh crore are expected to be tabled, could also keep defence stocks in play next week. “...buy on dips” remains the recommended strategy, say analysts, with 24,150 as the immediate support level and 24,500–24,700 as the next resistance zone for the bulls. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Chinese firms crash India’s power party as Nifty hits three-day high
Europe
BBC Business

AI is 'not smart' so what's next in artificial intelligence?

"We don't have robots that are nearly as good at understanding the physical world as a rat," says Yann LeCun, one of the leading figures in the world of artificial intelligence. He worked at Facebook-owner, Meta, for a decade, where he was chief AI scientist, but left in 2025 and founded Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs (AMI Labs). His goal is to move AI beyond current systems like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. They have their uses, he says, but will never be able to tackle complicated situations in the real world, like getting a robot to do household chores. "They're not a path towards human level or human-like intelligence, or even animal-like intelligence, because they cannot deal with real world data, they just are not built for that," he tells me on the sidelines of VivaTech, France's leading technology conference. So, Paris-based AMI Labs is busy developing a new type of artificial intelligence not based on the tech behind ChatGPT and its rivals. Investors think it has potential. Earlier this year AMI Labs announced that it had raised more than $1bn (£760m), with investors including US computer chip giant Nvidia and the fund that manages the private wealth of Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos. That so-called seed funding round - the earliest round of start-up fundraising - was one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are extremely good at some things like coding, mathematical problems and generating text, LeCun says. "They [LLMs] basically just accumulate knowledge... They can regurgitate something, you train them to regurgitate, but they're not particularly smart. They don't have an underlying understanding," he says. In the real world there is a bewildering array of outcomes to any action, which requires a more flexible type of artificial intelligence. LeCun holds a pen upright on its tip. What happens when you let go, he asks? Even a toddler would know that the pen would topple over. But no human would bother to guess in which direction the pen might fall, there's no way to tell. But an LLM might try to generate a single prediction about the pen's next move based on statistical patterns from its training data.

AI is 'not smart' so what's next in artificial intelligence?
North America
CNBC Finance

Ford CEO wants level playing field with Toyota, GM imports as USMCA trade talks reopen

DETROIT — As negotiations officially reopen for the USMCA North American trade deal, Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley is clear about what the automaker wants under the new talks: a more level playing field. He told CNBC he wants automakers such as Ford that largely produce their vehicles domestically to be awarded under the deal. Along with that, Farley said other automakers — such as General Motors and Toyota Motor — that may produce here but also heavily rely on imported vehicles should get more penalties. "It's imperative that any new agreement makes it easier, not harder, to compete with U.S. makers who import from Japan, South Korea and global competitors that import from those locations," Farley told CNBC during a phone interview Wednesday. "That's the key for us." GM and Toyota are No. 1 and No. 2 in U.S. sales, respectively, while also being the top two importers of vehicles in 2025. GM imported 1.17 million vehicles, or 41% of its U.S. sales, while Toyota imported more than 1.19 million units, or 47%, of its domestic sales, according to industry data. Hyundai Motor, which plans to roughly double its amount of U.S.-produced domestic sales to 80% by 2030, was the largest importer of vehicles from South Korea, followed by GM. Ford, meanwhile, reports it assembled more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. last year — more than any other auto manufacturer, including 311,000 units for export to more than 60 international markets. It imported 378,000 vehicles, or 17%, of its 2.2 million sales last year. "Ford's a leader of U.S. auto production with the most U.S.-built vehicles but, more importantly, we import very few, and we export the most, and we have the most UAW [union] workers here," Farley said. "So we're very proud, especially of the ratio between what we build here and what we import." Farley's comments come as the Trump administration has decided not to renew its trilateral trade pact with Canada and Mexico, instead opting to conduct annual reviews of the treaty that could eventually lead to an end to the agreement by 2036. The auto industry represented about 18% of America's trading with its neighboring countries last year, according to industry data, making it one of the key sectors in the discussions. Automakers and others watching the talks are concerned that reopening the deal could create additional trade uncertainty that leads to lower investments and fewer jobs. A consortium of U.S. trade groups representing most automakers, dealers and suppliers on Wednesday voiced support for a trilateral deal like the countries currently have. "We urge the leaders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to swiftly reach consensus on an extension of USMCA that preserves the existing trilateral partnership, returns to preferential treatment for qualifying goods, and continues the stability and predictability that has helped the industry thrive for the past six years," they said in a statement.

Ford CEO wants level playing field with Toyota, GM imports as USMCA trade talks reopen