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The World
China’s leader Xi Jinping has replaced the two missing generals who had been commanding the country’s missile forces, in effect confirming the largest purge at the top levels of the military in a decade. General Li Yuchao, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, and his deputy General Liu Guangbin disappeared from public view several months ago amid what foreign experts and intelligence officials say is a drive to crack down on corruption and enforce Communist party discipline. Beijing has not made any announcements about the whereabouts of Li and Liu, but foreign officials briefed on intelligence regarding the matter believe the two generals are being investigated for allegedly leaking military secrets. (Financial Times)
North Korea turns to Russia, China as Asia enters 'Cold War 2.0'. For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started, North Korea has invited foreign visitors to the country. The occasion was the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended combat in the Korean War, and the visitors were representatives of North Korea's wartime allies. North Korean state media reported Friday on a massive military parade staged in Pyongyang with a Russian delegation led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation led by Li Hongzhong, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, in attendance. (Nikkei Asia)
The Mining World Turns to Saudi Cash for Critical Metal Supply. A $2.6 billion deal announced last week has set the stage for a potentially landmark shift in the metal and mining investment landscape: the arrival of Saudi Arabia as a pivotal player. The agreement with Vale SA gives the kingdom a 10% slice in one of the world’s crucial suppliers of nickel and copper — essential metals needed to decarbonize. It’s also held other talks, including with Barrick Gold Corp. about investing in a big Pakistan copper mine, according to people familiar with the matter. Speaking privately, executives at top miners said the value of Thursday’s deal made clear that the Saudis are ready to splash cash around. (Bloomberg)
India and Brazil are pushing back against a Chinese bid to rapidly expand the BRICS group of emerging markets to grow its political clout and counter the US, officials with knowledge of the matter said. The countries have raised objections in preparatory talks for a summit in Johannesburg next month where Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will discuss potentially expanding the group to include Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. China has repeatedly lobbied for expansion during those meetings, said the officials, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. (Bloomberg)
Alcohol-Related Deaths Are Rising Among Women: A new study shows that alcohol-related deaths among women are rising at a faster rate than those among men, particularly for people 65 and older. The study analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on over 600,000 deaths linked to alcohol between 1999 and 2020, including those from alcohol poisoning, alcoholic liver disease, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, acute intoxication and mental and behavioral disorders linked to alcohol consumption, among other causes. (New York Times)
The Mojave Desert is burning in California’s biggest fire of year, torching Joshua trees: The York fire, which began in the Mojave National Preserve and spread into Nevada over the weekend, is uncontained. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
US stocks notch longest monthly winning streak in two years: US stocks have recorded their longest monthly winning streak in two years, as optimism about falling inflation and resilient growth encourages increasingly broad market gains. The S&P 500 rose 3.1 per cent in July, including a 0.2 per cent gain during the final session of the month on Monday. The increase marked the fifth consecutive month higher for the blue-chip index and the longest such run since the summer of 2021. The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.2 per cent on Monday, bringing its gain since the end of June to 4 per cent. (Financial Times)
Local Malls, Stuck in ‘Death Spiral,’ Plunge in Value: Older, low-end malls are worth at least 50% and in some cases more than 70% less than they were when mall valuations peaked in late 2016, said Vince Tibone, head of U.S. retail and industrial research for real-estate research firm Green Street. Now, as more than $14 billion of loans backed by these properties comes due in the next 12 months, according to Moody’s Analytics, struggling malls are defaulting on their debt. With mortgage rates up sharply, refinancing that debt will be more challenging and expensive. About a fifth of all malls financed through commercial mortgage-backed securities are underwater, meaning the properties are worth less than the loans they back, said Kevin Fagan, head of commercial real-estate economic analysis for Moody’s. In some cases, they are worth a lot less. (Wall Street Journal)
The number of freshly minted unicorns -- unlisted companies valued at $1 billion or more -- is plummeting worldwide as investors have become more risk-averse amid concerns about a potential economic slowdown caused by monetary tightening in the U.S. and elsewhere. With the money spigot running dry, the average monthly number of new unicorns fell to 7.3 companies in the first half of the year, down roughly 80% from a peak of 50.5 recorded for all of 2021, according to U.S. data provider PitchBook. In the U.S., venture capitalists have begun to shift focus to discovering and nurturing promising companies rather than finding investment opportunities for quick gains. (Nikkei Asia)
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the Biden administration is seeking to carefully target U.S. controls on exports to China, but rules will cost firms some revenue. Restrictions should not be so broad "that you deny American companies revenue and China can get the product elsewhere, or China can get the product from other countries," Raimondo said at a forum. Rules "will deny some revenue to American companies, but we think it's worth it." Last week, U.S. chip company executives met with top Biden administration officials, including Raimondo, to discuss China policy, as the most powerful semiconductor lobby group urged a halt to more curbs under consideration. Raimondo said the administration is meeting with companies "to get to the right place so we don't damage American business but quite frankly protect American national security." (Reuters)
Some of Europe’s biggest banks are setting aside more cash to absorb potential losses on loans, as rising interest rates increase pressure on borrowers. UK-based Barclays reserved £896 million ($1.2 billion) in the first half of this year to cover possible defaults by borrowers, more than double the amount in the same period last year, it said Thursday. So far, there are “limited signs of stress” across the bank’s loan portfolios, Anna Cross, group finance director at Barclays, told reporters. Loan loss provisions at Deutsche Bank (DB) jumped 72% to €401 million ($446 million) in the second quarter, Germany’s biggest lender said Wednesday. The bank also struck a cautious note on full-year loan losses in its earnings announcement, citing “an uncertain macro-economic environment.” (CNN)
Technology
New Ultrasound Therapy Could Help Treat Alzheimer’s, Cancer: Ultrasound, the decades-old technology known for giving early glimpses of unborn babies, could hold a key to a problem that has long challenged drug developers: getting medicines to hard-to-reach places to treat diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer. A cutting-edge approach that combines ultrasound waves with tiny bubbles of inert gas injected into the bloodstream can get more chemotherapy to tumor cells and enable drugs to breach one of the most stubborn frontiers in the human body—the blood-brain barrier. It is also being explored as a new way to deliver gene therapy. (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon said it will dedicate more warehouses to the company’s same-day delivery operations, signaling that it will keep investing in delivery even as it trims spending. (The Information)
Flow Neuroscience, a small Swedish company treating depression with brain-stimulating headsets, released early data showing that its device relieved depressive symptoms in clinical trials. The company has not yet formally written up the data for a journal. But Flow leaders have included the data in an application for Food and Drug Administration approval and provided STAT with topline data ahead of releasing them publicly. If the trial methods and results hold up under the FDA’s scrutiny, it would be the first device of its kind approved to treat depression in the United States. Flow already sells its devices over-the-counter in Europe, where it received regulatory approval in 2019. (STAT News)
How Silicon Valley is helping the Pentagon in the AI arms race: Silicon Valley venture capitalists rushed to back it, investing $100mn in the small company in 2021 compared to $90mn in total prior to that. Shortly after, it started developing its “Saildrone Surveyor” for the US Navy — a 65-foot autonomous vessel around the length of two whale sharks designed for deep ocean intelligence, such as surveillance and reconnaissance. “We were 10 years ahead,” says Jenkins, the start-up’s chief executive, arguing that his company is a “good example of where commercial tech is so much more advanced and more nimble” than the systems being developed by the US military. (Financial Times)
Smart Links
Meta’s stock just wrapped up its ninth straight monthly gain as Wall Street cheers cost cuts. (CNBC)
Birkenstock owner eyes $8bn valuation in September IPO. (Financial Times)
Biden Orders Space Command to Stay in Colorado. (Wall Street Journal)
Asia’s Richest Families Fuel Race for Lucrative Finance Jobs. (Bloomberg)
America’s first new nuclear reactor in nearly seven years starts operations. (CNBC)