Brunswick and Echelon Insights asked registered voters in late June what they would tell America's chief executive officers if they had the chance. Only three percent said anything about politics. Before any CEOs breathe a sigh of relief, the same poll asked about contributing to the president's new White House ballroom. That was the most damaging thing a company could do, worse than endorsing his policies outright, at a net negative of 37 points.

The bill for using money to buy political influence is about to arrive, and CEOs who think the safe course is staying out of politics will find they already signed for it.

(Continue Reading – BBG)

Doctor Copper suffered a panic attack last week after the Democratic Republic of Congo banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrates with immediate effect.

London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper leapt to a six-month high of $14,369.50 ​per metric ton on the news. As spreads simultaneously tightened, the cash price hit an all-time high of $14,453.60 per ton.

The CME cobalt price, however, did not ‌react at all, even though Congo is the world's largest supplier of the battery metal. Indeed, cash cobalt closed Friday at $25.99 per lb, down by 0.9% on the week.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)

The U.S. war machine is helping raze the M&A defences of a key shipbuilder. On Tuesday Australia's Austal (ASB.AX), opens new tab granted rival Hanwha access to its books to shore up an up to $1.2 billion, opens new tab takeover ​offer for its U.S. operations. It comes two years after the Antipodean manufacturer of everything from high-speed ferries to parts for ‌American nuclear submarines rejected its South Korean suitor's tilt at the whole firm. This time round, the target seems ready to concede to an attacker that's surfing the geopolitical waves well.

Hanwha's previous campaign, armed with an offer for all of Austal of just $640 million, faltered not just on valuation. There were also concerns that both Canberra and Washington would ​scupper the mission. The U.S. Navy had inserted some pretty stringent takeover clauses into its contracts with Austal, for instance. And there ​was no guarantee that Hanwha would either get approval, or get approval quickly, from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board. So ⁠it dropped the bid and instead took a 9.9% stake, intending to double it once getting FIRB approval for that move

(Continue Reading – RTRS