Weekend Papers Summary
FINANCIAL TIMES
-Joe Biden has defended his re-election bid despite calls from Democrats for him to bow out following a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. Biden told supporters at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, that he was there to win the state in November. The crowd responded with a chant for "four more years". Biden acknowledged his poor performance in the debate and said he knows how to tell the truth and get back up when knocked down. Democrats reported widening panic in the party after the debate, with supporters concluding Biden would struggle to beat Trump in November. Biden's performance was met with skepticism from top Democratic lawmakers, donors, and party insiders, who were rattled by his frequent lapses in speech and rambling answers.
-Joe Biden's poor debate performance has sparked panic among Democrats, who are now considering replacing him with a stronger candidate to fight Donald Trump. The contenders include Kamala Harris, California's Gavin Newsom, and Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer. Democratic governors from traditionally Republican states, such as Kentucky's Andy Beshear and North Carolina's Roy Cooper, are longer shots. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, commerce secretary Gina Raimondo, and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown are also on activists' lists.
-Warren Buffett plans to donate the majority of his wealth to a new foundation led by his three children when he dies, ending a long history of donating to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett's children, Susie, Howard, and Peter, will be the trustees of the new foundation, which will receive one of the largest wealth infusions of all time when he passes. Buffett, who turns 94 in August, disclosed he held roughly $130B of Berkshire stock on Friday. He also made clear that the Gates Foundation would not be a benefactor in his will. Buffett has gifted the foundation roughly $43B over the last two decades, including a $4B donation announced on Friday morning. His ties with the Gates Foundation date back to 2006, when he announced annual donations to it and four charities run by his family.
-The US Supreme Court has overturned the Chevron deference legal doctrine, which has given federal agencies significant latitude to set standards in areas such as environmental protection and securities regulation. The doctrine, based on a 1984 Supreme Court decision, allows courts to defer to agencies' interpretation of ambiguous rules and laws. Chief Justice John Roberts stated that courts cannot defer to an agency's interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous. Legal experts argue that overturning the Chevron doctrine could trigger litigation and push regulators to craft less sweeping rules to survive legal challenges. The decision, split along ideological lines, highlighted the far-reaching nature of the ruling, as it reshaped judicial review of agency action without grappling with the Administrative Procedure Act.
-Oliver Blume, former CEO of Volkswagen and Porsche, faces the challenge of preserving the achievements of his former professor, Wan Gang, who led China's electric vehicle revolution. Blume must ensure that German industrial giants like Volkswagen and Porsche continue to benefit from the advancements of his former professor, who also led to Chinese EV industry champions like BYD and CATL. Volkswagen has announced an investment of up to $5bn in Californian EV start-up Rivian, forming a joint venture to develop new software and gain access to Rivian's EV architecture.
-Activist hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein has faced setbacks in his bid to manage a series of BlackRock closed-end funds. Saba Capital, led by Weinstein, submitted candidates to join the boards of 10 funds, arguing they underperformed competitors and managers failed to close the gap between the funds' prices and the value of its underlying assets. However, BlackRock announced that eight funds had retained the BlackRock directors, and five termination attempts failed. Two funds have delayed their voting deadline to July 16 to reach a quorum. Weinstein's campaign against BlackRock's management is part of a wider assault on the $250B closed-end fund industry.
-Hong Kong's exclusive private clubs have seen their membership prices drop by up to 20% on the secondary market in the past year, according to brokers. The decline is attributed to the city's slowing economy and the departure of well-educated expatriates and residents. Private membership clubs have been a significant part of the city's business community since the British colonial era, with some institutions enjoying cheaper rents under decades-old agreements. Memberships typically require a substantial payment and sometimes a long wait. The pandemic's zero-Covid policy drove many expats and residents away from the city, and prices have continued to fall even after the lockdown rules ended. For example, the Aberdeen Marina Club, a 40-year-old club with seven restaurants and sports facilities, saw its membership prices drop by nearly 20% to around HK$2.75M (US$350,000).
-US inflation eased to 2.6% in the year to May, according to the Federal Reserve's target for price pressures. The personal consumption expenditures index (PCE) data was in line with economists' expectations of a slight dip from 2.7% in April. The core PCE, which ignores food and fuel price changes, was 2.6%, the lowest reading since March 2021. The Fed's target for the headline PCE index is 2% a year. The month-on-month headline rate remained flat, while core prices edged up by just one-tenth of a percentage point, aligning with the 2% annual goal.
-Lambda Labs, a cloud computing start-up that rents out servers powered by Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips, is in talks to raise another $800M to capitalize on the AI market and the scarcity of advanced graphics processing units. The proposed deal would elevate Lambda into Silicon Valley's best-funded start-ups, as demand for computing infrastructure is increasing. The funding would add to the $320M raised in February at a $1.5B valuation. Lambda also secured a $500M loan using its Nvidia chips as collateral in April to fund its cloud services expansion. This rapid financing sequence highlights the increasing demand for Nvidia's GPUs, which are becoming a sought-after commodity as Big Tech companies and start-ups compete for compute capacity. Term sheets are expected in mid-July, and JPMorgan is helping coordinate the fundraising.
-Sales of olive oil in the product’s Mediterranean heartland have fallen due to steep price increases, with Spaniards and Italians turning away from the ingredient due to droughts and heatwaves. Deoleo, the world's largest olive oil seller, has reported falling sales of its brands like Bertolli and Carbonell. The price has led to a shift in consumer habits, with people consuming less olive oil or turning to seed oils when they cross the €8 per liter barrier. Droughts and heatwaves have impacted olive oil output in Spain, Italy, and Greece, leading to a global shortfall. For the past two seasons, only 2.4M tonnes of olive oil were produced globally, far short of the typical annual demand of 3.2M tonnes.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
-President Joe Biden and Donald Trump faced off in the 2024 presidential debate, with Biden appearing hesitant and burdened by his 81-year career. This led to speculation of a new Democratic candidate. However, Biden's performance was marked by a lack of confidence and forcefulness. During the debate, Biden repeatedly stumbled when speaking, causing an immediate panic among those determined to see Trump lose in November. Some publicly broached the idea of a new candidate. Then, on Friday afternoon, appearing at a fairground warehouse in North Carolina, Biden was seen by far fewer people and seemed unlikely to quell the hand-wringing among Washington consultants, media pundits, and ordinary voters. However, Biden Two showed that, even after five decades in public life, he can still pump his fist in the air, stir a crowd to cheer, and perhaps inspire an unwieldy coalition to vote for him one more time. This contrasts with the tepid and weak debate performance by Biden One, which caused an immediate freak-out among those determined to see Trump lose in November.
-First Lady Jill Biden has expressed her commitment to President Biden's campaign, stating that she would be the most crucial figure in his decision to leave the race. Biden acknowledged that they had been counted out before the presidential debate, and she believes that her presence could make or break Biden's campaign. The first lady's embrace on stage with CNN logos behind them suggests their involvement in the decision.
-Two rulings by the conservative supermajority of the Supreme Court have been issued, highlighting the ongoing pursuit of weakening regulatory agencies' ability to impose rules on powerful business interests. The six Republican-appointed justices overturned the Chevron doctrine, a 40-year-old foundational part of administrative law, which will make it easier to challenge regulations in court by eliminating a requirement that courts defer to the expertise of federal agencies in interpreting their laws. The decision also struck down a key practice used by many agencies to enforce rules via in-house tribunals, rather than suing accused malefactors in federal court before juries. Both decisions pointed in the same direction: eroding the power of the federal regulatory bureaucracy. The current majority's pursuit of a deregulatory agenda will be part of its legacy.
-The Supreme Court has ruled that federal prosecutors misused a 2002 law in charging a pro-Trump rioter who entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021. This ruling could impact hundreds of other cases, including one against former President Donald Trump. The ruling may lead lower courts to dismiss charges against some Jan. 6 defendants, although most of those charged or convicted under the 2002 law also face other charges. The Justice Department had argued that the law applied to efforts to obstruct an "official proceeding" — the joint session of Congress that took place on January 6, 2021, to certify the Electoral College results. However, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, read the law narrowly, saying it applied only when the defendant's actions impaired the integrity of physical evidence.
-The United States Supreme Court declined to decide whether states that ban abortions, like Idaho, must comply with a federal law that requires emergency room doctors to provide abortions necessary to protect the health of a pregnant woman. Miller, who had been in the emergency room back home, said she needed to stay alive so she could be around for her two other kids. On Thursday, the Supreme Court declined to decide whether states that ban abortions, like Idaho, must comply with a federal law that requires emergency room doctors to provide abortions necessary to protect the health of a pregnant woman. This decision highlights the ongoing struggle for pregnant women in states that have banned abortions to access necessary medical care.
-Many young people in the northern English cities of Liverpool and Manchester are feeling disillusioned by politics, with polls suggesting that over half of voters under 35 plan to vote for Labour on Thursday, compared with 27% of voters over 65. The economic situation and the crumbling state of the National Health Service have led to many young people living paycheck to paycheck. Liam Kehoe, a 26-year-old worker in Liverpool, plans to vote for the center-left Labour Party on Thursday, citing the economic situation and the crumbling state of the National Health Service. Kehoe believes that young people have been left with worse prospects after 14 years of a Conservative-led government, with houses being more affordable and life being easier. The extent of the split in Britain in recent years is exceptional, with support for the governing Conservative Party dropping sharply in all but the oldest age group, according to recent polls.
-Stephen K. Bannon, a former ally of former President Donald J. Trump, will begin serving four months in federal prison on Monday after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal to delay his sentence for contempt of Congress. The court rejected Bannon's request to remain free while he challenges his conviction on charges of defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Bannon had filed a last-ditch petition to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. last week, asking for permission to hold off on surrendering to the authorities. In July 2022, Bannon was found guilty of ignoring the subpoena, which sought information about his role in the events of Jan. 6.
-The Biden administration has reportedly opposed gender-affirming surgery for transgender minors, following a report in The Times that a federal health official had urged the removal of age minimums from treatment guidelines for minors. The White House announcement came in response to an article reporting that staff in the office of Adm. Rachel Levine, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, had urged an influential international transgender health organization to remove age minimums for surgery from its treatment guidelines for minors. The draft guidelines would have lowered the age minimums to 14 for hormonal treatments, 15 for mastectomies, 16 for breast augmentation or facial surgeries, and 17 for genital surgeries or hysterectomies. The final guidelines, released in 2022, removed the age-based recommendations altogether.
-NASA and Boeing officials have confirmed that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will remain on the International Space Station for several weeks longer as teams on the ground study malfunctioning thrusters on the Starliner spacecraft. The astronauts are not stranded or stuck on the spacecraft, and there is no talk of a rescue mission. Mark Nappi, the program manager at Boeing for Starliner, said that the crew is not in any danger. Steve Stich, the manager of NASA's commercial crew program, also tried to allay worries by stating that the vehicle at the station is in good shape and that the right time to return them home would be after additional analysis on why five of Starliner's 28 maneuvering jets behaved oddly as the spacecraft approached the space station.
-The United States is pursuing a diplomatic push to prevent a full-on war between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, as the risks of either side initiating a broader regional conflict increase. US officials have pressed Israeli counterparts and passed messages to Hezbollah's leaders to avert a wider regional conflict that they fear could draw in both Iran and the United States. Israel's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, met with several Biden administration officials in Washington to discuss escalating tensions along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. Israel's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, and its minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, also visited to discuss the situation. A senior White House official, Amos Hochstein, who has assumed an informal diplomatic role mediating between the two sides, visited Israel and Lebanon, warning Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, that the US would not be able to restrain Israel if it commits to an all-out war with the militia group.
THE NEW YORK POST
-Washington officials discovered a kinkajou, also known as a honey bear, crawling along a stretch of desert along Interstate 82 southeast of Yakima. The kinkajou, which is a nocturnal rainforest (native to southern Mexico through Brazil) animal, was found at the Selah Creek Rest Area over the weekend. Animal experts suspect that the weasel-like critter was obtained through the illegal pet trade before being abandoned and left to fend for itself in the arid climate. The kinkajou was found to be "very thin”. Officials are still pending full results of the young animal, but officials say the kinkajou is in fair overall health and is recuperating at the zoo as officials look for a permanent home for the tiny beast. Kinkajous, which have prehensile tails, live in tropical rainforests.
-Joe Biden is attending two fundraisers in the Hamptons this weekend after a disastrous performance at Thursday's debate. Donors are expected to take his pulse and perform a blood pressure check, as they cannot return their money as there are no refunds. The specter of Donald Trump winning is a unifying force for Democrats, and donors are aware of the stakes. Biden will attend an event thrown by billionaire hedge funder Barry Rosenstein and his wife Lizanne, along with co-hosts including Broadway producer Stacey Mindich, Eric Mindich, Nicole and Michael Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, and Michael J. Fox.
-The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating a Southwest Airlines flight that departed from a closed runway at Portland International Jetport in Maine. The FAA reported that an airport vehicle exited the runway just before the takeoff roll. A preliminary report on the incident will be available in 30 days, but a probable cause and contributing factors will not be disclosed until the final report is issued in 12 to 24 months. Southwest is working with both agencies to understand the circumstances of the early morning Southwest departure.