Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is fighting a losing battle in the polls, making a retreat from promised tax cuts more difficult and denying her officials the political backup ​they need to talk down yen and bond market bears.

Takaichi's approval rating slumped in July to the lowest since she took office last year as rising inflation, blamed in part on ‌high import costs from a weak yen, hit her standing with voters.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)

Simon Trott has been proving his mettle during his 11 months as Rio Tinto CEO. Earlier this year, ​valuation concerns prompted him to walk away from a merger with Glencore, Then on Wednesday ‌he unveiled a 43% jump, in underlying earnings for the first six months of the year, the $160 billion miner's best showing since 2022. Granted, rising prices for the resources it digs up did much of the heavy lifting. But Trott's push to cut ​costs and boost productivity is paying off, too. It all gives results the feel of a ​pre-M&A roadshow.

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With apologies to Oscar Wilde, to lose one critical waterway may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. Of course, we’re long past carelessness and are now barreling toward disaster, with three already lost (the Strait of Hormuz, the Black Sea ports and the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb) and a fourth poised to join their ranks: the mighty Rhine.

(Continue Reading – BBG)