Meanwhile, In Dearborn, Michigan...

China Abruptly Blocks Meta's $2 Billion Takeover Deal Of Manus AI With just weeks to go before the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, China's National Development and Reform Commission unexpectedly blocked Meta Platforms' acquisition of the AI-agent startup Manus on Monday morning, signaling that Beijing has no problem with tightening control over high-value AI assets ahead of high-level talks. Bloomberg reports that China's NDRC has blocked Meta's $2 billion takeover of Manus, a Singapore-based AI-agent startup originally founded in China. Manus has been described as a general AI agent capable of automating...

Futures Rise After Trump Extends Ceasefire Even As Brent Tops $100 Futures are higher with earnings in full swing and AI winners soaring. Trump indefinitely extended the ceasefire with Iran just before its Taco Tuesday expiration, while maintaining a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, after plans for peace talks fell apart. Still, the market doesn’t seem too concerned about the lack of a resolution, and is instead focused on a Tasnim report that Iran had received "some signs" the US was ready to break the blockade. As of 8:00am, S&P futures were...

Germany To Join French Nuclear Exercise, Deepening 'Counter-Russia' Deterrence In the latest development related to what some analysts have called the 'new Cold War' and nuclear saber-rattling between Russia and the West, Germany and France are planning a major nuclear exercise later this year. The atomic drills were announced Friday, after a joint top-level meeting of the French and German governments near Cologne. "Alongside this work on a shared doctrine, German conventional forces will this year take part in a nuclear exercise of the French military," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz unveiled.  picture alliance/dpa He...