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The World
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) told Democratic leaders he would not support an economic package that contains new spending on climate change or includes new tax increases targeting wealthy Americans or corporations, marking a massive setback for party lawmakers who had hoped to advance a central element of their agenda before the midterm elections this fall. The major shift in negotiations — confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to describe the talks — threatens to upend the delicate process to adopt the party’s signature legislation seven months after Manchin scuttled the original, roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better Act, which President Biden had endorsed. (Washington Post)
Italy was plunged into political turmoil when prime minister Mario Draghi offered to resign after a split in his national unity government. The former European Central Bank president said the conditions were no longer in place for him to carry on after the populist Five Star Movement refused to support his government in a critical parliamentary vote. His resignation was quickly rejected by Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella, who asked Draghi to address parliament next week to assess how much support his government would have. The rejection creates time for Italy’s political class to try to patch together a compromise to prevent the country from being tipped into early elections. (Financial Times)
Oil prices have fallen below $95 a barrel for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, as fears of an impending global recession grip commodity markets and batter forecasts for demand. (Financial Times)
Emirates has criticized London Heathrow’s decision to limit flights, calling it “airmageddon” and saying it will ignore the move in a growing backlash from airlines against the airport’s attempt to avert travel disruption. The Dubai state-owned airline said the airport’s decision to cut flights and limit the number of passengers for the remainder of the summer was “entirely unreasonable and unacceptable”. (Financial Times)
Delta flew a plane from Heathrow to the U.S. just to deliver 1,000 pieces of stranded luggage. The London airport’s capacity troubles because of staff shortages and soaring demand have contributed to delays, cancellations and lost bags. (New York Times)
Back anyone but Sunak, Johnson begs defeated rivals: Boris Johnson is urging defeated Tory leadership candidates to back “anyone but Rishi”, The Times has learnt. The prime minister has said he will not endorse any leadership candidates or publicly intervene in the contest. He is understood, however, to have held conversations with failed contenders to succeed him in which he made clear his view that Sunak should not become prime minister. (The Times)
Homebuyers in the US are backing out of deals at the highest rate since the pandemic began. In June, 15% of pending home sales fell through. As the housing market slows, some homebuyers have more room to negotiate. Others are canceling purchases as rising mortgage rates make some homes no longer affordable. (CB Insights)
Economy
JPMorgan Chase Sees Economic Turmoil Brewing, but Few Signs of Recession So Far: Customers are still spending and businesses are still borrowing, though investment-banking revenue fell sharply. (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street’s two most outspoken CEOs said the US is more than prepared to withstand an economic downturn. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and his Morgan Stanley counterpart, James Gorman, both said Thursday that they aren’t steering their firms toward shelter even as they see a confluence of global events denting the economy in the months ahead. (Bloomberg)
St. Louis Federal Reserve president Jim Bullard says he will be in favor of raising the policy interest rate by 75 basis points at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to be held on July 26 and July 27. The inflation rate for June in the U.S. surged by 9.1%, hitting a new 41-year high. Bullard, in an interview with Nikkei on Wednesday, said that although inflation has not peaked, he expects it to slow down in 2023 -- and he does not support raising the policy interest rate by 100 basis points for now. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Senior Fed governor open to 1 percentage point rate rise: Christopher Waller would support ‘larger hike’ at July meeting if ‘incoming data’ warrants move. (Financial Times)
China GDP: economy grew by 0.4 per cent in second quarter, lowest in 2 years. China’s economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, down from the 4.8 per cent growth seen in the first three months of the year. Retail sales rose by 3.1 per cent in June from a year earlier, while industrial production also rose by 3.9 per cent last month. (South China Morning Post)
Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network Ltd. disclosed more details on its collapse, including that it has a $1.19 billion deficit on its balance sheet. The platform held about $4.3 billion of assets against $5.5 billion of liabilities as of Wednesday, according to a court filing. It suffered from a series of unexpected losses, including losing 35,000 of Ether tokens due to the misplacement of “keys” by its staking service provider StakeHound. (Bloomberg)
Paul Krugman: Crypto Is Crashing. Where Were the Regulators? (New York Times)
In 2021, investors funneled billions into startups via mega-rounds — or deals over $100M. This flood of cash helped mint more than 500 startups valued at $1B+. We’re now turning the corner on the mega-round frenzy. While around $6 out of every $10 in funding came via mega-rounds in 2021, under half of Q2’22’s global funding total came from these big checks. (CB Insights)
Technology
MacBook Air M2 Review: Apple’s Laptop Upgrade Bests M1 Air on Screen, Processor and Webcam Apple’s latest MacBook Air has a faster chip, but the real allure is its bigger, brighter screen and improved webcam, plus the return of klutz-proof MagSafe charging. (Wall Street Journal)
After 14 years, three revisions, and two different processor architectures, the iconic wedge shape of the MacBook Air is now history. In its place is a MacBook Air with a completely new design that’s the same thickness from front to back. Virtually every aspect of the new MacBook Air has been updated or changed — it’s the biggest update to the Air since it originally debuted nearly a decade and a half ago. These kinds of changes are a big deal because the Air is the default laptop option for millions of people. Beyond that, the Air sets the standard for thin and light laptops that every other manufacturer chases. In addition to the design and hardware changes, this new Air has Apple’s latest in-house processor, the M2. It also comes with a higher price tag — it starts at $1,199, $200 more than the model that preceded it, and a model with a decent amount of storage runs $1,499 or more. (The Verge)
Intel has informed customers it will raise prices on a majority of its microprocessors and peripheral chip products later this year, citing rising costs, Nikkei Asia learned. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Chip giant TSMC warns of 'excessive inventory' at clients. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Sensor Tower: total revenue generated by non-game apps hit ~$3.4B in Q2 2022 on the US App Store, surpassing mobile games, which hit ~$3.3B, for the first time. (TechCrunch)
Smart Links
Supply of US Homes for Sale Rises for First Time in Three Years: Higher mortgage rates have kept more buyers on the sidelines and helped ease a shortage of inventory. (Bloomberg)
Chicago’s U.S. attorney sues Cubs, alleging disability law violations in Wrigley Field renovations. (Chicago Tribune)
Stripe Cuts Internal Valuation by 28%: Payments processor was last valued by private investors at $95 billion. (Wall Street Journal)
NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off about 20% of its team. (The Block)
Record-high tax revenues over the last year will give Texas lawmakers an astounding extra $27 billion to spend in the 2023 legislative session. (Texas Tribune)
Checking a bag is a total nightmare this summer. (Washington Post)