Trump Walks Back Plan to Charge Tolls in Strait of Hormuz

ECB Hikes Rates For First Time Since 2023 (As Expected); Cuts Growth, Hikes Inflation Outlook As fully expected, The ECB hiked its key rate by 25bps (for the first time since 2023) as the policymakers battle with the dilemma of economic weakness combined with rising inflation. Obviously, raising rates to dampen inflation could further slow the economy, while easing rates to support growth increases the risk that higher inflation becomes persistent. Clearly, Lagarde et al went with the former with its well-jawboned baseline having long been a hike in June with risks skewed toward...

EU Joins US-Led Pax Silica Alliance To Secure AI Supply Chains Authored by James Xu via The Epoch Times, The European Commission, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands have joined the U.S.-led Pax Silica partnership, expanding a group focused on securing supply chains for artificial intelligence and other critical technologies. Semiconductor chips on a circuit board of a computer on Feb. 25, 2022. Florence Lo/Illustration/Reuters The announcement came at a summit in Washington on June 23 hosted by the U.S. State Department. The partnership aims to strengthen cooperation on semiconductors, critical minerals, energy, and...