Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Boris just won’t go

Federal Reserve officials agreed last month that interest rates may need to keep rising for longer to prevent high inflation from becoming entrenched, even if that slowed the US economy. Policymakers backed raising rates either 50 or 75 basis points at their next meeting, according to minutes from a mid-June policy gathering. But on Wednesday, markets still closed up as Wall Street called an audible on the Fed’s current intentions. The question now is whether investors were right to do so. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

After a public political evisceration by members of Parliament, including a few from his own party, a scandal-plagued Boris Johnson learned he may soon face a leadership challenge. But even with a busload of cabinet resignations, the Tory still refuses to go. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, after leveling a barrage of attacks on the prime minister in the House of Commons, said the flood of departures makes Johnson’s predicament “the first recorded case of the sinking ship fleeing the rat.”

If the fiascos at WeWork and Greensill Bank weren’t enough, there’s a new reason why SoftBank Group is the unluckiest whale in the world of venture capital, Shuli Ren writes in Bloomberg Opinion. Sequoia and Tiger Global, she says, are taking it to the cleaners.

Donald Trump’s White House lawyer, Pat Cipollone, has agreed to testify under oath before the bipartisan Congressional panel investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Lawmakers as well as the Justice Department have been probing alleged efforts by Trump and his adjutants to perpetrate what the committee has called an attempted coup.

Pat Cipollone Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

China’s government is seeking to exploit years of business and cultural relations with US state and local leaders to further its geopolitical and military objectives, according to a US intelligence advisory. The Biden administration meanwhile is pushing the Netherlands to ban ASML Holding from selling China mainstream tech essential to making many of the world’s microchips.

The US and its allies have discussed trying to cap the price of Russian oil between $40 and about $60 a barrel as they explore ways to limit Russia’s oil revenues while minimizing collateral damage on their own economies. The Kremlin however is readying a new weapon to further disrupt global energy supplies, the deployment of which costs Russia nothing. At home, Vladimir Putin is further tightening his grip on Russia with more repressive measures and expanded crackdowns on his remaining critics.  

On the ground in Ukraine, Kyiv claimed its forces repelled several Russian attacks in Kharkiv and Donetsk, and that Kremlin forces had to pull back in several locations in those two eastern regions. In the Black Sea, four Russian high precision missile carriers are now on station, Ukraine said.

Yet another crypto casualty. Crypto broker Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy protection just weeks after getting a lifeline from billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. The company blamed market volatility—and the collapse of a hedge fund to which it lent money. 

Food delivery company DoorDash’s shares sank after Amazon agreed to take a stake in its rival, Grubhub. The San Francisco-based startup tumbled as much as 11% in New York trading, taking the stock down more than 70% from the highs touched in November. 

• One-tenth of the world is hungry, and Putin is making it worse.
• Russia’s brain drain—by the tens of thousands—is officially underway.
• Scorching heat is cooking US cities across the Plains and South.
• The roaring US rental market shows signs it’s slowing down.
• Apple launches iPhone security tool to block targeted attacks.
• Bloomberg Green rates the best electric vehicles.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Why you may be the victim of your “revenge travel.”

There’s been a sense in financial circles that the fever among American executives to shorten supply lines and bring production back home would prove short-lived. As soon as the coronavirus pandemic started to fade, so too would the fad, the thinking went. And yet, two years in, with the pandemic seemingly moderating, not only is the trend still alive, it appears to be rapidly accelerating.

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