Good morning. The EU is rushing to lock in a 10% tariff rate with the US. Donald Trump promises to send more weapons to Ukraine. And Dubai’s luxury property market is booming. Listen to the day’s top stories.
The EU is said to be seeking a preliminary agreement with the US that would allow it to lock in a 10% tariff rate beyond an Aug. 1 deadline. The euro strengthened after Politico reported America offered the bloc a trade deal. Donald Trump unveiled a 25% duty on Japan and South Korea as part of a raft of new levies on several trading partners, but also indicated he’s open to negotiations.
Trump promised to send more weapons to Kyiv, reversing a Pentagon pause on some air-defense missiles and artillery shells. He also said he wasn’t happy with Vladimir Putin for keeping up attacks. Documents reviewed by Bloomberg offer insight into how Moscow capitalized on its friendly ties with Beijing to skirt sanctions and acquire the know-how and capability to build drones to attack Ukraine.
The British government moved a step closer to approving the construction of two nuclear reactors in Sizewell after reaching a deal with French authorities over the involvement of French state-owned utility EDF, people familiar said. The progress may be unveiled as part of Emmanuel Macron’s first state visit to the UK this week.
Corporate roundup: Jane Street defended its trading activity in India and said the regulator made erroneous assertions. Apple’s top executive in charge of AI models is leaving for Meta’s “superintelligence” group, people familiar said. Blackstone is said to be exploring a joint bid for Patrick Drahi’s SFR, which is valued at up to €30 billion. Samsung’s profit more than halved amid US curbs on Chinese-bound AI chips.
Wall Street’s latest tax dodge doesn’t hide in the Cayman Islands or rely on complex derivatives. It’s engineered to turn a publicly traded fund into a tax-minimizing machine that hums quietly on autopilot.
While dividends have long been a defining feature of stock investing—a sign of corporate discipline and investor reward—Roundhill Investments plans to launch the S&P 500 No Dividend Target exchange-traded fund.
Its ambition is simple but strategic: track the performance of the famous benchmark while dodging its payouts.
The fund will sell holdings just before their dividend dates—steering income away from ETF shareholders and, in the process, away from their tax bills.
Britain is failing at both setting a clear direction and maintaining the functioning of its state, Adrian Wooldridge writes. A deeper reason for the institutional rot: The British governing class is making a poor job of reproducing itself.
Dubai’s luxury property market extended its record-setting run last quarter, shrugging off geopolitical tensions and tariff turmoil. Sales of homes priced above $10 million surged to $2.6 billion between April and June, up 37% from the prior three months, according to researcher Knight Frank.
US travelers may soon no longer have to worry about removing their shoes to go through standard airport security checkpoints, according to people familiar, with the Transportation Security Administration set to end a policy that has been for nearly two decades one of the most visible features of the post-9/11 heightened airport security system.
