Joint Investment: The US and Australia will each invest over $1 billion in the next six months to develop Australian mines and processing facilities for rare earths and critical minerals used in electric vehicles, semiconductors, and defense technology.

Countering China: The agreement aims to build alternative supply chains to counter China's dominant control over rare earths, especially following Beijing's recent export restrictions on these critical materials.

Historic Partnership: The deal includes provisions to protect both countries from unfair trade practices through price floors and other measures, representing the most significant bilateral minerals cooperation between two major Western nations.

AI Adopters Hiring Fewer Juniors: Companies that hired "generative-AI integrators" to embed AI into operations experienced a 7.7% steeper decline in junior-level hiring over six quarters compared to non-adopting firms, while senior hiring showed no such gap.

Mid-Tier Graduates Most Affected: Graduates from mid-tier universities face the strongest threat from AI, as firms appear to retain top-tier graduates for specialist skills and lower-tier ones for cost-effectiveness, leaving the middle most vulnerable to automation.

Limited but Emerging Pattern: Only 17% of workers in the study were at AI-adopting firms, and the decline came from slower recruitment rather than layoffs, suggesting AI's impact on employment remains subtle and difficult to isolate from other post-pandemic hiring volatility.

Regional Bank Stress Emerges: Two regional banks sued to recover $160 million in allegedly fraudulent loans, triggering a 6% drop in regional bank shares and raising concerns that recent corporate blow-ups like Tricolor and First Brands may signal broader credit market problems.

Funding Market Strain: Banks are showing acute liquidity stress, with interbank lending rates at six-year highs and over $15 billion borrowed from the Fed's emergency facility in just two days—the most since early COVID-19 pandemic.

Interconnected Risks Growing: American and European banks have lent $4.5 trillion to private credit firms and other non-bank lenders, creating systemic vulnerabilities, while $395 billion in unrealized losses from rising interest rates still sit on bank balance sheets, making lenders exposed if more loans sour after three years of high rates.

Something remarkable is going on in the equity market. Stock prices of companies with negative earnings have in recent months outperformed stock prices of companies with positive earnings, see chart below.