Russia Eyes Europe Sabotage, US Borrowing Costs Surge, Stock-Shy Europeans

Your morning briefing. All the news you need to start your day.

On today's podcast:

(1) Russia may escalate attacks against the Baltic States and Poland, a European intelligence official said, amid rising concern that Moscow wants to further intimidate nations supporting Ukraine.

(2) A $42 billion auction of 10-year US Treasuries resulted in the highest yield for the benchmark securities since 2007, luring decent appetite from investors who’ve been demanding more compensation to finance the US government.

(3) Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is supportive of a near-term rate hike by the Bank of Japan, with the next move likely either in September or October, according to people familiar with the matter.

(4) Global stocks climbed toward a record and bonds extended gains as a subdued US inflation report eased concerns about an imminent interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Brent snapped a six-day rally.

(5) The US military campaign against Iran has so far failed to force the regime to capitulate. The Trump administration is betting once again that suffocating economic pressure will do the job.

(6) Europe’s fifth heat wave of the summer is set to peak Thursday, the latest in a string of extreme weather events that have strained health systems and energy networks across the region.

(7) The black box around Xi Jinping’s corruption crackdown has long fueled political gossip in China. Now, an underground market is emerging for selling purported secrets on who might be next to fall.

(8) Toms Kreicbergs worked on Wall Street before returning to his native Latvia, where he writes science fiction and engages in an enterprise almost as fanciful: trying to get more of his fellow citizens to invest in the stock market. In countries big and small, the European Union is chasing a dream: Its savers, with €11 trillion stashed in bank accounts, will finally develop a lust for stock and bond markets and pump money into businesses across the region, powering both European growth and their own prosperity.

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