FT : China proposes global body to govern artificial intelligence

China proposes global body to govern artificial intelligence
Premier Li Qiang warns ‘bottlenecks’ in chip supplies are hindering innovation

China has unveiled a sweeping plan to expand its role in artificial intelligence governance including the creation of a global co-operation organisation as Beijing vies with Washington for technological leadership.

Speaking at the opening of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai on Saturday, Chinese premier Li Qiang said AI innovation was hindered by “bottlenecks” such as the supply of computer chips.

Without explicitly mentioning the US, he took aim at “technological monopolies” and restrictions which could lead to AI becoming “an exclusive game for a few countries and companies”.

“Currently, overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences, particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts [and] institutional rules,” Li said.

“We should strengthen co-ordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible,” he said, adding that China would help create “a world AI co-operation organisation”.

After Li spoke, the foreign ministry published a 13-point plan for the global governance of AI that proposed the creation of two new AI dialogue mechanisms under the auspices of the UN and a safety governance framework.

In recent months, Beijing has promoted China’s “open” innovation and willingness to “share indigenous technologies”. The country’s top AI groups, DeepSeek and Alibaba, have made their large language models (LLMs) available to developers worldwide as open-source technology.

China’s plan includes a push for greater co-operation on open-source technology through new transnational platforms and developer communities, and sharing of crucial software and hardware such as semiconductors.

The country’s swath of advanced open-source LLMs has raised concerns in the US that low-cost Chinese tech will undermine Silicon Valley’s global dominance and pricing.

Li’s comments reflect the intense rivalry with the US over the technology, with Washington restricting exports to China of advanced semiconductors and the equipment used to make them, and pressing allies to do the same.

China has still managed to make advances, with the release of an LLM by Hangzhou-based DeepSeek this year that sparked a debate about whether the US could maintain its technological edge.

“We are willing to provide more Chinese solutions to the international community and contribute more Chinese wisdom to global artificial intelligence governance,” Li said, adding that AI would be a new engine of economic growth.

He said China was especially eager to share technologies with countries in the global south to “make the achievements of AI development better benefit the world”.

China’s foreign ministry said it had invited high-level representatives from more than 40 countries and international organisations to attend the AI conference and exhibition, which is taking place over four days.

WAIC has attracted more foreign visitors this year, in sharp contrast to what was a largely domestic conference in 2024. Former Google chief Eric Schmidt, Nobel Prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton and Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio are all due to give talks.

China’s plan comes days after the White House unveiled a plan to achieve US dominance in AI. It focused on accelerating innovation by cutting red tape, building infrastructure and ensuring the US led in international AI diplomacy and security.

It also called for the US to counter the influence of Chinese companies, which it said were frustrating efforts to build AI frameworks in line with American values at international bodies.

This month, Washington lifted a ban on Nvidia selling its H20 chip, which had been tailored for China and to comply with export controls. The pivot came after Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang issued stark warnings that cutting it out of the Chinese market would cede tech leadership to its rival Huawei.

FT : AI start-up Anthropic open to Mideast funds in talks to double valuation to

AI start-up Anthropic open to Mideast funds in talks to double valuation to over $150bn
Rival to ChatGPT maker OpenAI has so far shunned Gulf sovereign investors that ‘enrich dictators’

Artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic is in early talks to more than double its valuation to more than $150bn in a new funding round, giving it additional firepower to keep pace with rivals building advanced AI models.

The competitor to Sam Altman’s OpenAI was in the preliminary stages of funding discussions with investors and had received interest from backers willing to value the business at more than $150bn, a massive jump from Anthropic’s current $61.5bn price tag, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

Final terms have not been fixed, but the four-year old company was expected to raise at least $3bn, two of the people said, with one adding the round could reach up to $5bn.

The start-up had spoken to a number of large Middle Eastern investors and received interest from MGX, Abu Dhabi’s vast AI investment fund, about joining the new round, according to two of the people.

Anthropic has resisted raising money directly from the Middle East, although another Abu Dhabi state fund linked to MGX purchased almost $500mn of Anthropic shares from bankrupt crypto exchange FTX last year.

In a note to staff this week, chief executive Dario Amodei warned that taking investment from the Middle East could “enrich dictators”.

But he said: “Unfortunately, I think ‘no bad person should ever benefit from our success’ is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on.” The note was first reported by Wired.

Anthropic and MGX declined to comment.

The group is changing tack amid a fierce battle for funding with OpenAI and others that has seen start-ups look beyond Silicon Valley to sovereign wealth funds.

Anthropic is backed by Google and Amazon. The FT previously reported that Amazon has discussed plans for further investment beyond its current $8bn commitment. The investment would ensure that it remains one of Anthropic’s largest shareholders.

Anthropic is racing OpenAI, Elon Musk’s xAI and Big Tech rivals including Google and Meta to develop AI models capable of producing text, code and images. OpenAI has so far led the race with consumers, with its ChatGPT chatbot amassing more than 500mn weekly users.

OpenAI was valued at $300bn earlier this year and is the in process of raising tens of billions of dollars from investors led by SoftBank. MGX also invested in OpenAI last year and has partnered with the company on its “Stargate” data centre project.

Anthropic’s Claude has emerged as a significant player in coding, an increasingly important use for the nascent technology. But the start-up and its rivals are still jostling for a durable lead.

OpenAI was expected to release its latest model, GPT5, in the next month, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. OpenAI declined to comment.

Anthropic’s annualised recurring revenue, a metric used by start-ups to predict sales from recurring contracts, had risen from $1bn at the start of this year to more than $4bn, according to people with knowledge of the company’s finances. That has largely been driven by business subscriptions, which account for four-fifths of its revenue.

Despite their rapid growth, neither Anthropic or OpenAI is close to being profitable, with both burning cash to pay for the huge amount of computing power needed to train their models. They also face increasing financial demands in a fierce war for talent which has been accelerated by Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg offering top researchers packages of $100mn in recent months.

FT : Thames Water boss keeps bonus despite missing target after restatement

Thames Water boss keeps bonus despite missing target after restatement
Embattled utility undershot cash flow goal to trigger awards for Chris Weston and other managers

Thames Water is allowing senior executives to retain bonuses awarded last year, even though an accounting restatement meant they missed a cash flow target.

Chris Weston, chief executive of the beleaguered utility, provoked outrage when he took a £197,000 bonus last year for just three months’ work after joining in January 2024. Thames Water argued that the award was justified because targets for the year had been met.

However, in its annual report last week, Thames acknowledged that it had been forced to restate its accounts, meaning that it would have undershot an operating cash flow target needed for the full bonus to pay out. 

The remuneration committee decided that if the new accounting treatment had been applied beforehand, then the target would have been set lower and concluded: “After full deliberation, the committee decided that no adjustment was required.”

The decision not to claw back last year’s bonuses comes amid growing concerns over the amount of cash leaking out of Thames Water. The utility is struggling under the weight of its £20bn debt and is trying to avoid falling into the government’s special administration regime.

The company is being propped up with an expensive £3bn loan from creditors, which include US funds Apollo Global Management and Silver Point Capital. The senior creditors have also put forward a plan to take over the business after KKR walked away from a rescue bid last month.

The bondholders are stuck in a stand-off with the government and regulator Ofwat over fines for pollution and other failures that threaten to make the company uninvestable.

However, cash is draining from the business, which is funded by the bills of 16mn customers. Scores of consultancies and advisory bodies are also receiving millions of pounds in fees.

At the same time, 21 senior managers — excluding Weston — were paid £2.46mn in April as part of another controversial “retention package” agreed as part of the emergency £3bn loan.

The managers, whose names have not been disclosed, are due to receive the same sum again in December, and a further £10.8mn collectively next June — even though MPs on the environmental select committee demanded all awards be clawed back and withdrawn.

The retention payments are in addition to usual bonus and long-term incentive plan payments for some managers, the latter of which were paid this month. Thames declined to reveal the amount paid.

Water executives’ pay has become a lightning rod for anger against water utilities with the Labour government stripping bonuses from 10 bosses, including Weston, at six companies under new laws introduced this year.

Weston — who has not taken a bonus this year but is on a total pay package of £1.35mn — will be entitled to a performance-related incentive plan equivalent to a maximum of 240 per cent of salary next year, though the company said it does “not expect” to award it.

While customers are facing the biggest increase in bills since privatisation, Thames and other utilities have warned that they will raise base salaries in response to a bonus ban.

Thames Water said: “We have restated our accounts to ensure transparency. The remuneration committee gave serious consideration to whether the cause of the restatement should result in a retrospective change to the 2023/24 [performance-related pay] outcome and confirmed that it did not given the restatements were due to a change in accounting treatment. The restatement does not change the overall financial position of the company.”

FT : EU and US locked in talks ahead of key Trump meeting with von der Leyen

EU and US locked in talks ahead of key Trump meeting with von der Leyen
Leaders due to meet on Sunday in bid to avoid economically damaging transatlantic trade war

EU and US trade negotiators have been locked in intense talks ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland on Sunday, as Brussels strives for a deal with Washington to avoid an economically damaging transatlantic tariff war.

The European Commission president, who flew to Glasgow on Saturday evening, will meet the US president on Sunday afternoon for talks that EU negotiators hope will seal a trade pact to avoid 30 per cent US tariffs on European goods and a probable retaliation by Brussels.

Negotiators are circling a deal that would set tariffs of around 15 per cent on most US imports from the EU, mirroring a pact the US struck with Japan this week. 

But talks between US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and senior EU officials continued late into Saturday night as they sparred over the final details on the level of tariffs that would apply to EU steel, automotive and pharmaceutical products, people briefed on the discussions told the FT. They added that the talks were combative at times.

Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer remained in Washington on Saturday, but are expected to arrive on Sunday morning at Trump’s luxury Turnberry golf resort on Scotland’s south-west coast to finalise any deal.

Trump has threatened to impose 30 per cent tariffs on all EU exports into the US if no deal is reached by August 1. That would be in addition to the 25 per cent tariffs on cars and car parts and 50 per cent levies on steel and aluminium already in place. Trump has also launched probes that could lead to tariffs on chips, pharmaceuticals and aerospace parts. 

A growing number of EU member states are calling for Brussels to trigger already-prepared retaliatory tariffs on almost €100bn of US goods if the talks collapse.

The two sides — whose €1.6tn trade relationship in 2023 made it one of the world’s largest — have been negotiating a possible deal for almost four months. During this time the US has been charging an additional 10 per cent on EU products, along with 25 per cent on cars and 50 per cent on steel and aluminium.

The EU has been a frequent victim of Trump’s escalating rhetoric against major US trading partners and allies, with the president accusing the bloc of “ripping off” America.

On Friday as Trump arrived in Scotland, where he is also playing golf and meeting UK officials, the US president said there were around 20 “sticking points” still to be agreed with the EU. The bloc “want[s] to make a deal very badly”, he added.

Ambassadors from EU member states are set to meet on Sunday morning to be given an update on the talks. They will also need to approve any possible deal struck by Trump and von der Leyen, EU officials have confirmed. 

If there is a deal, Brussels will suspend the implementation of tariffs of up to 30 per cent on €93bn-worth of US imports from August 7.

If not, some member states are pushing the Commission to seek approval to trigger its most potent trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, early next week.

Never before used, the first stage would require Brussels to determine there was coercion. If it does, a weighted majority of member states could then approve a wide range of retaliatory measures. 

Officials said these could include charges on digital advertising sales that would hit tech companies, and excluding US companies from public tenders.

>>> Barron’s Weekend Summary

Cover:
-Disney stock should rally after suffering in limbo for the past decade, with the stock trading at $121, the same price as it was on August 4, 2015. Disney’s main moneymaker at the time was ESPN, which lowered forecasts due to ongoing subscriber losses. Shares lost 9% in a day, while Discovery, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Comcast, and CBS tumbled. Disney now appears more resilient due to the diminished risk of further declines, with a new ESPN streaming service launching soon. Disney's streaming business is profitable and growing, and while movies are slumping, there are dependable box-office performers coming. Theme parks are mostly bustling, and Disney is transforming from a media company that owned theme parks to a theme park company that owns media assets. Wall Street is overwhelmingly bullish, with more than three-quarters of analysts recommending a purchase for Disney stock.

Interview:
-no update

Tech Trader:
-Big Tech is increasing its spending on AI, particularly in the area of Nvidia chips, data centers, and the energy grid. However, artificial intelligence is also increasing the costs for human capital, particularly for prominent AI developers. Meta Platforms is reshaping the AI landscape by increasing the cost for top researchers, and only the well-heeled may be able to keep up. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is using Meta's operational cash flows, which reached $91 billion in 2024, to navigate the rapidly changing AI world. In 2025, Meta plans to spend $70B building AI data centers, outspending Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet. However, Meta is unique in that it is not renting out these AI servers in the cloud, but using them for its own purposes. This allows each of its researchers to have more computing power at their fingertips.

The Trader:
-General Motors experienced a wild week with better-than-expected Q2 results, but the stock dropped 8.1% in response. Despite a trade deal with Japan lowering import tariffs, shares jumped 8.7%. By Thursday, the stock was trading at 5.2 times 2025 earnings estimates, cheaper than any S&P 500 stock besides Viatris, the former Upjohn division of Pfizer focused on generic drugs. The low valuation feels undeserved, as earnings were not a problem despite the drop. Analysts believe tariffs masked record profit performance in North America and investors are worried about a weaker second half.
-The job market remains strong, with median average hourly earnings growing nearly two percentage points faster than inflation for the past two years. This growth is expected to be confirmed in July's payrolls report. The growth is attributed to the surge in wage growth, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Big tech firms, such as Google parent Alphabet, are also investing in artificial intelligence, with Google spending almost $40B in the first half of 2025, up from $25B in 2024. This investment is benefiting companies like TE Connectivity, which is expected to generate $800M from its data center business in fiscal year 2025, up from $300 million in 2024.

Features:
-Bin stores have become a popular destination for bargain hunters since the Covid-19 pandemic. These warehouse-like liquidation stores offer discounted merchandise from major retailers like Amazon.com and Walmart. They buy pallets of returned merchandise and overstock, sorting them into large bins by category. Prices typically decrease daily after a weekly restock, starting at $7 to $15 an item on a restock day and falling to $1 or less by the end of the week. The rising popularity of bin stores is largely a postpandemic phenomenon, as increased online shopping has led to a surplus of merchandise available for purchase on the secondary market. Additionally, a spike in inflation has strained household budgets, prompting many consumers to prioritize bargain-hunting. The good deals make bin stores attractive to lower-income and middle-income brackets.
-Berkshire Hathaway stock has experienced a decline of over 10% since CEO Warren Buffett announced his resignation at the end of the year. This has given investors an opportunity to buy when others are fearful. Factors contributing to the decline include an erosion in the "Buffett premium," concerns about the property-and-casualty insurance cycle, scant new investment activity, no stock buybacks in over a year, and a recent shift away from defensive stocks like Berkshire. However, Berkshire still has a lot to offer, with its main businesses remaining dominant in their industries and a diverse stock portfolio. Its fortress balance sheet with over $330B
in cash, a third of the company's market value, could be used for buybacks, dividends, and even a large deal, such as the purchase of railroad operator CSX.

Europe:
-Ferrari has seen a significant increase in its share price this year, gaining 18% compared to Tesla's 17% decline in 2025. This outperformance is attributed to Ferrari's technical setup, which now leans bullish, suggesting a push toward $600 in the coming months. General Motors opened earnings season for the auto group on Tuesday and closed down 8% at the day's low. The stock has fallen 25% from its all-time high of $65.74 set on Jan. 4, 2022. Ford Motor appeared largely unfazed by General Motors' weakness on Tuesday, holding firm ahead of its earnings report next Wednesday after the close. The stock is retesting a recent breakout above a cup-with-handle pattern, with the $10.97 pivot serving as a key level. This pattern forms with a rounded bottom and a handle that takes shape over five to 10 sessions with low volume and little downward price movement.
Honda is acting firmly in the early going, up better than 12% on Wednesday following the Japan trade deal announced overnight. Honda has risen 6% so far this year, compared to Toyota's 12% decline. It also pays a handsome dividend yield of 4%.

Emerging Markets:
-The MSCI Emerging Markets index has seen an 18% increase this year, more than twice the S&P 500's gain. As investors diversify their portfolios, many are looking abroad, as EM stocks trade for just 12.6 times 2026 estimated earnings, a 40% discount to the US benchmark's valuation. Portfolio manager and analyst, Rait Chopra, sees opportunities in emerging markets, including new technologies and a rising middle class in developing countries. However, Chopra argues that treating emerging markets as a monolithic asset class would be misguided due to widening differences among developing economies. Chopra and his team oversee over $15B, focusing on companies that thrive amid geopolitical shifts and produce strong returns on equity. This approach has helped the $4.2B Lazard Emerging Markets Equity fund produce an average annual return of almost 12%, beating 93% of peers.

Commodities:
-No update

Streetwise:
-No update

CrunchBase : The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Risk Management, AI Lead In A

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Risk Management, AI Lead In Attracting Capital

Sizable startup funding announcements continued to roll in this week, with the largest rounds coming in the form of growth equity investments to Quavo Fraud & Dispute Solutions and Vanta, two companies in the dispute and risk management spaces. We also saw good-sized financings tied to AI and biotech.

1. Quavo, $300M, dispute management: Dispute management software provider Quavo announced that it secured $300 million in a growth equity investment from Spectrum Equity. The 10-year-old Wilmington, Delaware-based company offers tools for banks, credit unions and fintechs to manage consumer transaction disputes.

2. Vanta, $150M, compliance and risk management: Vanta, developer of AI-enabled tools for enterprise compliance and risk management, raised $150 million in Series D funding. Wellington Management led the financing, which sets a $4.15 billion valuation for the San Francisco-based company.

3. Armada, $131M, edge computing: San Francisco-based Armada, developer of an edge computing platform for communications-challenged areas, locked down $131 million in fresh funding. It plans to use the funds to scale Leviathan, its megawatt-scale, full-stack modular data center.

4. HeroDevs, $125M, enterprise software: Salt Lake City-based HeroDevs, a provider of security and compliance tools for deprecated open source software, picked up $125 million in a growth financing round led by PSG Equity.

5. Reka, $110M, artificial intelligence: Reka, a provider of multimodal AI research and product development tools, said it landed $110 million in a round backed by Nvidia and Snowflake. The financing brings total known funding for the 3-year-old, Sunnyvale, California-based company to $170 million, per Crunchbase data.

6. (tied) Avalyn Pharma, $100M, respiratory therapies: Avalyn Pharma, a biotech developing inhaled therapies to treat rare respiratory diseases, closed on $100 million in Series D funding. Suvretta Capital Management and SR One led the financing for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company.

6. (tied) Nudge, $100M, neuroscience: Nudge, a developer of ultrasound technology to stimulate and image the brain, raised $100 million in a Series A round led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks.

8. Slingshot AI, $93M, mental health and AI: Slingshot AI, an Albany, New York-based developer of foundational AI models for psychology and mental health, announced that it raised an extension to its previously disclosed Series A funding. Radical Ventures and Forerunner led the extension round, which brings total investment for the Series A to $93 million. Andreessen Horowitz led the first Series A financing in January.

9. Yieldstreet, $77M, investment platform: Yieldstreet, a platform for investing in private market assets like real estate and private equity, secured $77 million in a financing led by Tarsadia Investments. To date, the New York company has raised over $400 million in equity funding and $500 million in debt financing, per Crunchbase data.

10. Gupshup, $60M+, conversational AI: Gupshup, a provider of conversational AI tools for businesses, closed on more than $60 million in a combined equity and debt financing backed by Globespan Capital Partners and EvolutionX Debt Capital. Headquartered in San Francisco, Gupshup also has significant operations in India.

FT : Fine wine prices have fallen sharply: here’s what collectors are buying now

Fine wine prices have fallen sharply: here’s what collectors are buying now
Prices of Bordeaux and Burgundy have suffered but the keen- eyed can pick up some bargains

Merchants of fine wine have had a difficult couple of years. Prices have performed miserably. An index of the 100 most sought after bottles, produced by the exchange Liv-ex, has dropped nearly 21 per cent in sterling terms in the two years to June. To cap it off, a weak 2024 vintage in Bordeaux and Burgundy has dissuaded clients from taking up any new releases of wine from those regions.

It’s enough to make anyone think about drowning their sorrows. But Miles Davis, a consultant at London-based merchant Vinum Fine Wines, has noted some unusual behaviour recently: his customers are buying again. 

“In the first half of June, we were fortunate enough to [have] some chunky orders,” he says.

Falling prices have helped shift what kinds of wines buyers are looking for. Traditionally, seasoned collectors would invest in younger bottles and hold on to them for 10 or more years to let the flavour — and hopefully the price tag — improve. With little indication that the market value when they come to sell will justify the holding costs, buyers these days, especially younger ones, are doing things differently.

“The wealthy we see buying fine wines today are buying them to drink [now],” says Nick Pegna, global head of wine & spirits at Sotheby’s. “They are interested in wine and the experience. They are buying mature wines [that are] available now.”

So what wines are selling right now? And after some hefty price falls, are there some bargains to be had?

Not so long ago, the market looked rosier. Up until 2020, a series of ever-warmer growing seasons and some improvements in winemaking, including using precision digital tools on viticulture, contributed to a halcyon period for Europe’s top winemakers.

Then a burst of Covid-era purchases by stuck-at-home wine connoisseurs, who bought up the best of France, Italy and the US through most of 2022, led to a final surge in prices.

A hangover from the pandemic period boom then settled in. When the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent commodity prices soaring and central banks raised interest rates sharply, fine wine buying dried up.

Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, the most widely traded, have suffered badly. A Liv-ex price index of Bordeaux’s 500 best wines has dropped 23 per cent over the two years to June. Its Burgundy 150 benchmark has lost 27 per cent.

The depth of this bear market has surprised even long-term veterans of the London fine wine market, such as Stephen Browett, chair of Farr Vintners, who has worked in the business for 45 years.

“This is looking like the weakest wine market we’ve had in a very long time. In the banking crisis of 2008, the market was very weak but then the duty came off in Hong Kong [causing] the Asian market to boom afterwards. Our business [for French wines] in Hong Kong then just exploded.”

“Buyers are in the driving seat at the moment,” adds Browett. “But no one needs to buy wine.”

Add to this the cost of safely storing these wines, which in the UK can cost from £1 to £1.50 per bottle annually before any taxes and duties. Those with large collections in storage may have thousands of pounds of added costs annually, painful if some of that collection is falling in price as well.

“What’s worrying people about this fine wine market problem is that it’s broad,” says Justin Gibbs co-founder at Liv-ex, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

In past slumps when demand for Bordeaux slowed, buyers opened their wallets to buy wines from Burgundy and Tuscany as well as vintage Champagne. “But now it’s not just Bordeaux [falling in price], it’s happening in Italy and California.”

Despite the gloom, both Gibbs and his founding partner James Miles see value worth chasing, particularly in Bordeaux. “Over the next 12 to 18 months this is a great time to be picking up bargains [there],” believes Miles. “Your downside is limited.”

With the wine industry under pressure, adds Miles, the potential for bankruptcies and liquidations will grow. That could mean discounted offers of top bottles from Bordeaux, Burgundy and elsewhere. “There will be chances across the board to buy wine 30-50 per cent from peak prices of October 2022.”

An early victim of the downturn was Bordeaux. There, winemakers have long had a practice of offering their newest vintages for sale well before bottling, known as en primeur. But previous discounts offered by the châteaux to their customers, partly to attract working capital, not only disappeared but turned into a premium to older vintages.

That dismayed the market. A reticence to pay a premium for wines, not yet bottled and which might need ageing (and storage) for a decade or more, has put off collectors.

“For sophisticated drinkers who don’t need [or want] to deal with ageing their wines, they may prefer to buy drinking wines from much earlier years,” says Chloe Ashton, managing director at 1275 Collections, a fine wine curator.

“There are small parcels of these older, greater wines sitting with châteaux or négociants [wholesalers who buy from the châteaux],” she says. Some of her clients have found supply of rare vintages, such as Mouton Rothschild 1982.

Ashton also points to those vintages which received less than stellar reviews at the time, but have since evolved into lovely wines. She suggests looking at the 1983 Bordeaux vintage for clarets or bottles from 1995 and 2001.

“The point is there is not a rule on vintages,” she adds. “In the last 10-15 years, the baseline [quality] . . . is so much better than it was.”


Collectors might rightly ask where the future buyers will come from. US and Asian connoisseurs are less active then they were two decades ago.

However some are taking small sips. Where prices have fallen, “customers are buying better but less,” according to Shaun Bishop at JJ Buckley Fine Wines near San Francisco. “That has mostly happened for Bordeaux, Burgundy less so.”

His clients were less bothered by the swelling cost of the châteaux releases during en primeur. Bishop says that what customers do not like is the uncertainty about the final delivery price of foreign wines, due to President Donald Trump’s vacillating policies on tariffs. Instead, they prefer to buy what Bishop already has in stock, which is dwindling. “The consumer right now wants something that is in a bottle and ready to go.”

Hong Kong was once the epicentre of the Asian buying boom in the mid-noughties. Paulo Pong at Altaya Wines thinks that while his customers still love Bordeaux, there’s plenty of stock available that is ready to drink. So for them “there’s no point in buying young Bordeaux and ageing”.

Altaya has had more interest in Burgundy after prices have fallen. Given the small acreage and low volumes produced — in bottles not cases — a little selling can quickly move prices of the most expensive wines.

“Increasingly, there’s a trend [in Hong Kong] of people drinking more white wine,” he says. “With Burgundy this is a challenge for us, as we can’t get enough of some top whites. And [our clients] are drinking these much younger, focusing on Premier Crus and Grand Crus from communes such as Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.” Top producers include Coche-Dury and Colin-Morey.

Fine wine values have finally fallen enough to attract some attention from collectors. Whether prices can truly recover past highs is another question altogether.

>>> Weekend Papers Summary

FINANCIAL TIMES
-China has proposed a global co-operation organization for artificial intelligence (AI) as it competes with the US for leadership. China's premier, Li Qiang, emphasized the challenges of AI innovation, such as supply of computer chips and talent exchange, and aimed to create a global AI governance framework with broad consensus. He suggested strengthening coordination to create a world AI co-operation organisation, addressing the fragmented global AI governance and promoting a more inclusive AI game.
-Thai political leader Thaksin Shinawatra has strained ties with Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, who they once considered "god brothers." The relationship has deteriorated, leading to clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border that have resulted in at least 15 deaths. Shinawatra, who is the current leader of the Pheu Thai party, has rejected mediation offers from third countries, citing the need to punish Hun Sen. Analysts argue that this personal feud between Thaksin and Hun Sen, whose son Hun Manet succeeded him as Cambodian prime minister in 2023, is making the conflict more volatile. Thailand and Cambodia have long held territorial claims over ancient temples and surrounding areas along their border. A recent exchange of fire at a contested site led to the death of a Cambodian soldier and sparked nationalist feelings in both countries.
-The Trump administration plans to spend up to $151B on technology for its "Golden Dome" project, aiming to detect and neutralize threats across all phases of flight by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles. Under the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (Shield) scheme, the government plans to spend the $151B over a 10-year period on research, development, cyber security, and weapon design and assembly. The project, designed to mimic Israel's Iron Dome infrastructure, is expected to be operational in three years. Independent analysts have cast doubt on the project's proposed budget and timeframe.
-Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to seek European partners to fund higher wages for soldiers fighting Russia's invasion, aiming to boost military recruitment amid growing fatigue in the war-torn country. He also plans to secure an additional seven Patriot air defense systems, following Germany and Norway's confirmation of sending three to Kiev to defend against Russia's missile and drone bombardments. Zelensky believes his service members can be the weapon that protects everyone.
-UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has ruled out the idea of a wealth tax to address the growing deficit in Britain's public finances. He criticized the idea as "daft" and urged people to be serious about taxing their wealth, even if it was not in their bank accounts or fine wine or art. Reynolds criticized the "populist" ideas and called for a more serious approach to taxing wealth. Chancellor Rachel Reeves declined to rule out the creation of a wealth tax, stating she would not comment on taxes outside of a Budget.
-The Japanese government stated that the US will only secure 90% of profits from joint investments with Japan if it takes on proportional risk and financing. This comes amid a rift in the Washington and Tokyo’s interpretation of their trade deal, which was announced last week. Japan secured a reduction in reciprocal and automotive tariffs from 25% to 15%, but differing perceptions of the agreement have since emerged.
-Volkswagen's CEO Oliver Blume has pledged significant investments in the US as the company seeks a separate deal with Donald Trump's administration to lower car tariffs below 15%. The German automaker is considering localising Audi production and expanding exports out of America following a €1.3bn hit from Trump's trade war. VW is heavily exposed to the higher levies, with its Audi and Porsche brands reliant on exports from Europe and Mexico for US sales. VW expects an operating return on sales of between 4% and 5% in 2025, down from a previous prediction of 5.5 to 6.5%.
-Hungary's debt service costs, accounting for about 5% of GDP, are the highest in the EU. The rising prices of staples, home prices, and rents have disproportionately affected the poorer, rural, and less-educated citizens, who make up the majority of the country's voter base. Hungary's reliance on Russian energy and closeness to Vladimir Putin have strained relations with the EU, which withheld billions of euros in funding due to Budapest's failure to implement reforms. The premier's overtures to China for investment have not translated into fully operational factories.
-Chinese investment in Hong Kong has reached a record high, with around HK$820B invested this year through the Stock Connect program, linking mainland stock exchanges to Hong Kong's. This surge in investment has helped end a post-Covid slump in Hong Kong's financial markets and highlights the city's increasing dependence on Beijing's policy and Chinese capital. The surge also indicates a growing appetite among Chinese investors to work outside the mainland's tightly controlled financial system, as yields on government bonds have fallen to record lows amid uncertain economic conditions.
-Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com is in "advanced negotiations" to buy German electronics retailer Ceconomy, valued at around €2.2B. The German company is considering a cash offer of €4.60 per share, representing a 23% premium to Ceconomy's closing share price. The acquisition would mark JD.com's renewed effort to expand outside of China, where it faces fierce competition from domestic rivals Alibaba and Meituan. JD.com has previously expressed early-stage interest in Ceconomy. Ceconomy's shares rose 14% following the statement.
-Media Matters, a prominent liberal advocacy group, is facing a crisis due to legal pressure from Elon Musk and investigations by Trump's Federal Trade Commission and Republican state attorneys general. The group is struggling to pay legal fees and has reduced its criticism, reduced its staff, and considered closing entirely. The crisis has led to a decline in its reputation and a potential closure of the organization.

NEW YORK TIMES
-The Trump administration has released a series of reports to undermine the conclusion reached by intelligence agencies that Russia had favored Trump's candidacy in 2016 and sought to improve his chances of winning. The unclassified version of the assessment, made public in January 2017, claimed that President Barack Obama and his team deliberately discredited Trump's election. The administration has combined this case with overheated and attention-grabbing claims, accusing Obama of treason and making criminal referrals about national security officials under Obama. The administration is trying to distract supporters who are angry about its broken promise to release the Jeffr. Comey report.
-The White House has announced that it will release $5.5B in frozen education funds, ending a chaotic month for school districts that had counted on the money with just weeks to go before the start of the school year. The administration had faced growing pressure from within his own party, including from 10 Senate Republicans who had signed a rare public letter urging the White House to release the funds. The Department of Education said it would begin sending the money to states next week. The Department of Education will begin sending the money to states next week. The release comes after a surprise delay from the Trump administration.
-President Trump's current visit to Scotland, nine years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, has been compared to a previous visit when he correctly predicted that the political forces driving Brexit would go beyond the UK. However, most Britons now believe Brexit was a mistake. Trump's second-term presidency has returned to his golf resort in Scotland, where he claimed that the political forces driving Brexit went beyond a single country. Five months after that visit, Trump captured the White House, playing to anxieties about immigration in ways that echoed the "Vote Leave" campaign.
-President Trump has expressed concerns over the possibility of pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein's, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking in Florida. The Justice Department officials interviewed Maxwell, who was once a fixer for the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is now imprisoned on charges of sex trafficking. The plane's banner read, "Trump and Bondi are protecting predators." This accusation echoed concerns on the ground as Todd Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi's top deputy, concluded a second extraordinary day of interviews with Maxwell. The accusation summed up concerns on the ground as Maxwell's case continues to be investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department. The possibility of a pardon remains a topic of debate among the public.
-Packaged food companies are struggling to adjust and profit as consumers lose their appetite, leading to a shift in tastes, waistlines, and wallets. The big packaged food brands that once dominated American pantries and refrigerators are now struggling as consumers spend less on brand-name cookies, spaghetti sauce, and cream cheese. The companies are grappling with various stressors, such as higher food prices, eschewing highly processed foods for healthier, more natural items, and the continued rise of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic.
-Media Matters, a prominent liberal advocacy group, is facing a crisis due to legal pressure from Elon Musk and investigations by Trump's Federal Trade Commission and Republican state attorneys general. The group is struggling to pay legal fees and has reduced its criticism, reduced its staff, and considered closing entirely. The crisis has led to a decline in its reputation and a potential closure of the organization.

NEW YORK POST
-Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has given information about "100 different people" linked to Epstein during a two-day interrogation led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year sentence, was granted limited immunity during the interrogation. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, said that this was the first opportunity she's ever been given to answer questions about Epstein's past. Maxwell declined to plead the Fifth Amendment and is expected to answer all questions during the interrogation.
-President Trump has expressed his belief that Fed Chair Jerome Powell is ready to start slashing interest rates. Trump and Powell had a good meeting on interest rates, and Powell expressed his confidence in the country's well-being. Trump believes that this conversation could lead to Powell recommending lower rates. The Fed declined to comment on Trump's optimism for a rate cut. The Fed is expected to hold a two-day meeting next week before deciding whether to slash the rate from its current range between 4.25% and 4.5%. Powell has said the Fed should wait for more data before adjusting rates due to concerns over the impact of Trump's tariffs on inflation. It seems more likely that the Fed will cut rates after its September meeting, with 62.3% odds, according to CME FedWatch. Trump has also stated that he does not intend to fire Powell, as he has frequently suggested he would.