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Good afternoon. Here's what you should know today, July 16: | |
- Moscow is turning to bare-knuckle diplomacy at the U.N.
- Extreme temperatures are testing the power grid
- 'Oppenheimer' hits movie theaters next weekend
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1. Markets seem convinced the Fed can pull off a soft landing. | |
| Wall Street is more confident than ever that inflation is subsiding. That's giving investors hope that the Federal Reserve might be able to pull off what once seemed impossible: containing pricing pressures without tipping the economy into recession. Over the next few days, investors will get a look at fresh data on retail sales and existing-home sales, as well as earnings from companies including Morgan Stanley, United Airlines and Tesla. Meanwhile, central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies gather in India this week amid signs that the global economy is starting to sag. | |
| Key Gauges Show Cautious Optimism Among Investors (Read) | |
2. Russia is pulling back from humanitarian cooperation at the U.N. | |
| In recent weeks, Russia has pushed for the removal of a United Nations peacekeeping mission from Mali, blocked a critical U.N. aid supply line for Syria, and is now threatening to end an agreement that allowed Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports, officials say. Moscow's moves come weeks after an armed insurrection by the Wagner group, and as Russia faces a war in Ukraine with no end in sight. Signed in Istanbul in July last year, the Black Sea Grain Initiative is one of the few diplomatic breakthroughs of the war. It is set to end on Monday, and the Kremlin says it is still weighing whether to extend it. | |
| Changing Places: Europeans Grow More Assertive on Ukraine as Washington Shows Caution (Read) Essay | Turkey's Double Dealing in the Ukraine War (Read) | |
3. Weeks of extreme heat are straining aging infrastructure. | |
| A streak of 110-degree days is frying Phoenix, and an unrelenting heat wave is punishing Texas and other parts of the South. Some of the hardest-hit areas will face hotter temperatures in the coming days, forecasters say. The heat wave is testing the U.S. electric grid, which is being asked to deliver more power for running air conditioners without much of a break for routine maintenance. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit that monitors the health of the bulk power system, says large portions of the U.S. could face blackouts this summer. | |
| 🎥 How the Heat Wave Can Affect the Power Grid (Watch) | |
4. A court ruling has cleared a path for Microsoft and Activision to close their merger. | |
| An appeals court on Friday rejected the Federal Trade Commission's request for a court order that would have blocked the merger while the agency appeals a July 11 decision by a trial court judge. The order helps clear the way for Microsoft's $75 billion acquisition of the videogame publisher to close while litigation continues. While the deal also faces opposition in the U.K., the country's competition regulator said it would consider proposals for a restructured deal. The companies set a deadline to finish the merger by Tuesday. If they opt to extend it, Activision could seek to renegotiate the financial terms. | |
5. Dedicated film buffs are going the distance to watch 'Oppenheimer' as its director intended. | |
| Christopher Nolan has touted the unique viewing experience of IMAX 70mm as the ideal way to see his three-hour long historical drama about the theoretical physicist behind the development of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer. There's just one hitch: In the U.S., just 19 IMAX theaters will project the 70mm film with a perfect 1.43:1 aspect ratio, driving some cinephiles to plan long journeys to grab a seat at one of them. The highly anticipated film will play in theaters around the world starting next weekend. | |
| Essay | J. Robert Oppenheimer's Defense of Humanity (Read) | |
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