Finance, in brief

Company profits took a record 13.2% of American output in the three months to June, Reuters columnist Jamie McGeever wrote, citing figures published Wednesday. [1]

Wages took the smallest share of national income ever recorded over the same stretch. [1]

A share price is a claim on the profit slice. So the stock-market wealth softening the pay squeeze is priced off the squeeze itself. [1]

Household debt is around 66% of output, the lowest since 1998. Much of it is locked into cheap mortgages that rate rises cannot reach. [1]

Washington now spends more than 3% of national output on interest. Companies spend about 0.5%. [1]

Many firms fixed their borrowing costs after the pandemic. Since 2022 they have also earned more on the cash they hold. [1]

Federal debt passed $40 trillion this month. Corporate debt, at 71% of output, is near its lowest in two decades. [1]

The Congressional Budget Office scores last year's tax-and-spending bill at $4.7 trillion added to deficits through 2035. [1]

Layoffs stayed rare. New jobless claims fell to 203,000, under the 208,000 economists expected, with unemployment at 4.1%. [2][3][4]

The Fed's preferred price gauge held at 3.7% a year and its core measure at 3.3%. Inflation has run above the 2% target for 65 straight months. [5][2]

The split shows in the shops. Dollar General's same-store sales rose 3.5% on 2.0% more customer visits. Build-A-Bear's sales fell 7.2%. [6][7]

Why it matters. Watch whether company interest costs start climbing as fixed borrowing from 2020 comes up for renewal, because that is the point where the two ledgers stop moving apart. [1]

Kansas City's Jeffrey Schmid said the 3.50%-3.75% policy rate is not restricting anything. Cleveland's Beth Hammack said now is the time to act. [12][13]

Why it matters. Boston's Susan Collins called the same report mixed. She pointed to portfolio management fees, which track stock values rather than supply and demand. Warsh speaks Friday. [14][11]

The Treasury sold seven-year notes at 4.512%, the highest since December 2024. The 30-year yielded 5.161% and the 10-year 4.645%. [15][9]

Why it matters. This is the government's side of the lead. Lenders charge Washington more [16], while companies pay rates they fixed years ago [1].

The Treasury doubled buybacks of long-dated debt to at least $4 billion from $2 billion, to push long-term borrowing costs down. [10]

Why it matters. The Economist called it a salesman buying his own wares. Stanley Druckenmiller says it costs the Treasury credibility. [17][1]

A month after the joint US-Japan intervention lifted the yen from about 164 per dollar to 155.23, it has slid back toward 160. [18]

Why it matters. The interest-rate gap that pushed it down never changed. Washington asked Tokyo to borrow dollars rather than sell US bonds. [19][20]

Nvidia's market value rose about $442 billion after it reported $96.2 billion of quarterly revenue, up 106% on a year earlier. [21][22]

Why it matters. It guided above forecasts while assuming no China data-centre sales. Options traders had bet the shares would fall. [22][21]

Dollar General's sales rose 5.2% to $11.3 billion. Best Buy lifted its year after comparable sales grew 4.1% against 1% guided. [6][8]

Why it matters. Build-A-Bear's sales fell 7.2% and its shares dropped 18.2%. Refunds of tariffs already paid flattered both winners' margins. [7][8][6]

Germany's financial regulator cleared the document. Shareholders can now take EUR 41.50 in cash, 108% above where the shares closed on 8 May, before the bid moved them. [23][24]

Why it matters. Uber already holds about 53% of the economics. Delivery Hero's chief called competition in key markets pretty brutal. [23][25]

Solstice Advanced Materials and Element Solutions cancelled their deal by mutual agreement, with no fee payable by either side. [26]

Why it matters. Solstice's chairman cited shareholder feedback, and the board approved a $500 million share buyback the same day. [26]

Front-month copper reached $6.7095 a pound on Tuesday. The London three-month contract sat at $14,350 a tonne, near its record $14,527.50. [27]

Why it matters. Gold sentiment firmed too as rate-rise fears eased, while oil slipped to $83.07. Metal usually rises on demand, not on doubt. [47][49]

Chicago wheat rose by its daily limit of 45 cents on Wednesday, then further, to $7.55 a bushel as the Black Sea crisis deepened. [28]

Why it matters. Prices sit about 30% above their end-of-June low. Bread and animal feed follow the grain price with a lag of months. [28]

Bitcoin traded at $80,254.97, up 2.33% in a day, valuing the network at $1.590 trillion. It rose 23% last week, its best in three years. [29]

Why it matters. A separate report the same morning had it at $78,676.2 and slipping. It is still 36% below its October 2025 peak. [30][29]

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan and co-investors hold the largest stake in the company built to house World Liberty Financial's bank. [31]

Why it matters. The sheikh is the UAE's national security adviser. US regulators gave preliminary approval for a trust bank to run a $4 billion stablecoin. [32]

Federal authorities are preparing an insider-trading case against a US servicemember who made over $1 million betting on the timing of strikes in Iran and Venezuela. [33]

Why it matters. A KPMG employee is also a target. The SEC's enforcement chief said the agency is gearing up to focus more on financial fraud after case numbers fell sharply. [33][48]

Morningstar DBRS cut one 2018 commercial mortgage deal's Class G to CCC and Class H-RR to C, both deep in junk. [34]

Why it matters. On a second deal it turned four classes negative and projected $34.6 million of losses, with offices about a third of the pool. [35]

Cox Capital offered up to $90 million of instant cash for private-credit fund shares at an average 26% discount. Investors said no. [36]

Why it matters. The queue of people wanting out of these funds is near $15 billion. In India the same lending has grown to $25-30 billion. [36][37]

CIBC's adjusted earnings per share rose 26% and revenue 15%, its ninth straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth [39]. Royal Bank's rose 11% to C$4.28 [38].

Why it matters. Royal Bank's lending income grew 5% against a peer average of 8% [38]. EQB missed and fell 9.86% after hours, setting aside more for bad loans [40].

The number of young Britons not in work, education or training fell below one million. The TUC's Paul Nowak still called that a crisis. [42]

Why it matters. The Work Foundation says entry-level vacancies have fallen 49% in a decade, leaving one starter job for every three young people out of work. [42]

The Reserve Bank of India proposed one framework for how banks and non-bank lenders quote loan costs, in force by 1 April 2027. [43]

Why it matters. It would cap the annual rate on small loans and freeze the non-risk part of a lender's markup for three years. [43]

BitGo agreed to buy NYDIG's institutional trading business, taking on about 30 staff and 250 institutional client relationships. [44]

Why it matters. It adds derivatives, structured products and financing to a firm that had only held and settled coins.

Anthropic discussed buying the chip startup MatX for roughly $7 billion, two people briefed on it told Reuters. The talks became a partnership discussion instead. [45]

Why it matters. Reuters could not learn why. MatX was founded by former Google chip engineers.

The drug developer filed for Chapter 11 with liabilities of $100-500 million against assets of $10-50 million. Its shares are down about 55% this year. [46]

Why it matters. Creditors had extended a further $1.25 million on Monday. Cheap money for loss-making firms has not come back.

Court documents and an attorney's testimony show Rupert Murdoch's wish to reunite the two companies could return as a merger. [41]

Why it matters. A 2022 attempt failed when investors balked. The combined firm would hold Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. [41]