With Federal Reserve officials signaling an extended hold on interest rates, investors and economists will look to Chair Jerome Powell this week for clues on what might eventually prompt the central bank to make a move, and when.

A fourth straight meeting without a cut could provoke another tirade from President Donald Trump. But policymakers have been clear: Before they can make a move they need the White House to resolve the big question marks around tariffs, immigration and taxes. Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites have also introduced another element of uncertainty for the global economy.

At the same time, the generally healthy, if slowly cooling, US economy has few expecting a rate move any time soon. Investors are betting the central bank won’t lower borrowing costs until September at the earliest, according to pricing in futures contracts.

“The safest path to take in that situation, when there is no urgency to cut rates right now, is to just sit on your hands,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

Policymakers gather June 17-18. They’ll release a statement at 2:00 PM Washington time, and Powell is scheduled to take questions from reporters 30 minutes later.

Difficult Choices

The president’s tariffs are widely expected to raise prices and slow growth, risks that officials flagged in their last post-meeting statement. That could eventually force the Fed to make a difficult choice as the economy pulls them in opposite directions.

“I don’t think at this point there’s anything to be alarmed about,” said David Hoag, fixed income portfolio manager at Capital Group. “But the longer we have uncertainty — for the consumer, for companies in terms of planning — the more concerned I’ll get about the fundamentals of the economy deteriorating.”

So far, however, the economy isn’t flashing warning signs that would prompt the Fed to intervene.

The unemployment rate has held steady for three months even as job growth has slowed, in part because a sharp decline in immigration is also lowering the supply of workers. The longer the jobless rate remains stable, the longer the Fed can hold rates as a defense against potentially higher inflation.

Yet price data has also provided little to worry about. Underlying inflation rose by less than expected in May for the fourth straight month. Treasuries rose last week on the news, bolstered by wagers on more than one rate cut this year. The yield on two-year notes, most sensitive to the Fed’s policy, declined by more than seven basis points on the week to 3.96%.

Still, officials are likely to wait for additional months of data to understand how much of the tariffs are being passed on to consumers. Israel’s airstrikes on Iran will raise additional questions. Fed officials traditionally look through energy price moves, but an oil price shock could affect inflation expectations.

Fresh Projections

Fresh economic forecasts and rate projections this week could provide helpful guidance to how officials are thinking. They’ll be the first since Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement of sweeping tariffs on April 2.

As analysts ponder the results, the range of possibilities is unusually large. 

If officials predict that unemployment will rise this year meaningfully above the 4.4% they forecast in March, that would suggest policymakers may cut rates before the fourth quarter, said Shah.

Some Fed officials, including Governor Christopher Waller, have already signaled an openness to cutting because they believe policymakers can view the expected impact of tariffs on consumer prices as temporary — as long as inflation expectations remain anchored. That aligns with market-based measures suggesting traders also believe the tariff price bump will be short-lived.

But should officials raise their expectations for inflation, that could reduce the number of cuts they project this year to one, from the two seen in March, said Matthew Luzzetti, chief US economist for Deutsche Bank. Strategists at Barclays warned of just such a “hawkish” surprise in a note to clients.

Officials might also consider the substantial uncertainty over the final state of Trump’s policies and simply leave their projections unchanged.

“I’d be surprised if the dots move much,” said Zachary Griffiths head of investment-grade and macroeconomic strategy at CreditSights. “It’s been a roller-coaster ride” since the Fed last released projections in March. “On net, I think we’re probably in a somewhat similar situation,” he said.  

Late Support

Some economists say the timing of the Fed’s next moves will eventually come down to how long it takes for Trump’s policies to show up in the economic data — and how strongly that raises concerns about a downturn.

In a Bloomberg survey of economists conducted June 6-11, 42% of respondents predicted the Fed will hold rates steady until there’s more concrete weakness in the economy.

Julia Coronado, founder of the research firm MacroPolicy Perspectives and a former Fed economist, said she expects rate cuts beginning in October or December in response to the more notable labor-market slowdown she estimates will materialize by then.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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President Donald Trump said that it’s possible the US could become involved in the Israel-Iran conflict.

“It’s possible we could get involved,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday. He noted that the US is “not at this moment involved.” 

The US has jet fighters, ships and ground-based air-defense systems positioned near the warring countries to help counter any Iranian attack on American assets or people. It has not yet openly assisted Israel in its strikes, but has helped the country defend itself.

In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump said that many calls were taking place and that “we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!” 

Referring to a phone call between Trump and Vladimir Putin on Saturday, the president told ABC he would be “open” to having the Russian president mediate the conflict. 

“He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it,” Trump said.

Russia is a strategic ally of Iran. The two nations worked against the US in wars in Syria and Iraq. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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President Donald Trump earned $57.7 million from token sales by the crypto firm he and his sons helped launch last year, according to his required federal financial disclosure forms.

The financial disclosure, released Friday by the Office of Government Ethics, provided details on his sprawling empire, including hundreds of millions of dollars in income from his hotels, golf resorts and cryptocurrency ventures.

The $57.7 million came from sales by World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm launched last year before the election. Trump and his three sons, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Barron Trump, are among the company’s founders, according to its website. 

That haul wasn’t the largest source of the president’s income from private holdings. Trump Endeavor 12 LLC, a Miami-based company that owns golf courses and a resort, produced $110 million. His Mar-a-Lago Club generated more than $50 million in resort-related revenue.

Trump, who’s worth an estimated $4.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, valued 22 assets at more than $50 million, including Mar-a-Lago, his Turnberry, Scotland, golf resort and his stakes in World Liberty Financial and Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which owns his Truth Social platform. Officials disclose the values of their holdings in broad ranges with “over $50 million” the highest, which means that they can’t be used to calculate an individual’s net worth. Trump Media, for example, is currently worth $2.2 billion.

Fight Fight Fight LLC, which sells Trump’s meme coin, was launched in January and wasn’t included in the disclosure, which covers 2024. The company hosted a dinner that Trump attended for the 220 largest holders of the $TRUMP coin in May. The event, when announced in April, caused the coin’s price to shoot up 56%.

CIC Digital LLC, the entity that earns money through licensing Trump’s image on nonfungible tokens, produced income of $1.1 million in 2024. It also holds a wallet holding Etherium worth at least $1 million.

The 234-page disclosure also lists hundreds of trademarks Trump owns across the world, including in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Venezuela and other countries, and details his personal investments that aren’t part of his business empire, as well as first lady Melania Trump’s holdings.

Trump listed 11 outstanding debts on the form, including two judgments against him won by author E. Jean Carroll involving allegations of sexual assault and defamation and one owed from the criminal fraud case for which he was convicted of 34 felonies. Those debts were stayed pending the outcome of appeals Trump has filed. 

He did not list any outstanding debt to lawyers or law firms stemming from the criminal and civil cases. Save America, his leadership political action committee, has paid most of those fees. 

Trump had seven outstanding real estate loans, including mortgages in amounts of more than $50 million on Trump Tower, Trump National Doral and 40 Wall Street. He also listed debt on his American Express credit card of at least $15,000. 

Vice President JD Vance also disclosed assets for him and his wife, Usha Vance, worth at least $6.5 million.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Investigators have started combing the wreckage of Air India flight AI171 as they seek to determine what caused the Boeing Co. Dreamliner to crash shortly after takeoff Thursday afternoon, killing all but one of the 242 people aboard in the deadliest aviation accident in more than a decade. 

On Friday morning, one of the two so-called black boxes, which contain critical evidence of a plane’s final minutes, was located, according to the Hindustan Times. The report didn’t specify which of the flight data or cockpit voice recorder was recovered. 

The accident site is a scene of total devastation, with burnt debris and scattered aircraft parts still smoldering. The BJ Medical Hostel, where medical students were dining at the time of the accident, has been severely damaged, with four tower blocks half-burnt and blackened. Firefighters continue to spray water on the site, while police and officials work to clear the wreckage.

The focus yesterday was on rescue efforts, while the search for material evidence starts today, said a senior official from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of India, who asked not to be named discussing private matters.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefly visited the crash site on Friday morning. 

Questions are growing over how and why the 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London, exploded into a huge fireball just minutes after takeoff. Video footage shared on social media showed a plume of smoke at the crash site. The miraculous survival of one passenger, Ramesh Vishwaskumar is also unexplained. Vishwaskumar, who was seated in the first row of economy class, may be able to offer valuable clues as to what caused the accident.

Officials on Thursday said that emergency responders had recovered more than 200 bodies, though they didn’t immediately say how many were passengers, crew or area residents. They said the toll could rise as emergency workers comb through the wreckage. 

The flight to London’s Gatwick airport was carrying 12 crew and 230 passengers, most of whom were Indian and British nationals.

The 787 Dreamliner appeared to not achieve sufficient thrust as it lumbered down nearly the full length of an 11,000-foot runway, a distance that should have been more than enough to take off, said Bob Mann, head of aviation consultant RW Mann & Co.   

That could stem from a misconfiguration of the plane prior to takeoff or erroneous weight data entered into the plane’s computer system that determines how much power is needed to get off the ground, he said. Mann cautioned that his views were unofficial and not corroborated by data or cockpit voice recorders, which have yet to be recovered from the site. 

“If the weight is high compared to the actual number, you end up with a very aggressive takeoff,” Mann said. “If the weight is low compared to the actual, you end up with not enough commanded power.”

The pilots in command issued a mayday call immediately after takeoff to air traffic controllers, according to India’s civil aviation regulator. The aircraft was in the command of captain Sumeet Sabharwal and first officer Clive Kundar, who had 8,200 flying hours and 1,100 flying hours of experience, respectively, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.

According to air traffic control data, the jet departed from Ahmedabad at 1:39 p.m. local time using runway 23. After the initial mayday call, there was no response from the cockpit to subsequent calls made by controllers on the ground.

The accident extends a series of serious and fatal incidents in the civil aviation industry this year, including a midair collision in Washington early in 2025 between a military helicopter and an aircraft. 

Thursday’s crash marks the first-ever complete loss of a 787, a plane Boeing introduced more than a decade ago with advanced lightweight composite materials that improve fuel efficiency. The 787 has become a crucial source of revenue for Boeing, with 1,148 of the jets in service globally.

Boeing chief executive officer Kelly Ortberg said in a statement Thursday that he has spoken to Air India chairman N. Chandrasekaran and that Boeing is ready to support the investigation. Ortberg and Boeing commercial aircraft head Stephanie Pope cancelled their plans to attend the upcoming Paris Air Show, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg News.

Among the 242 people on board, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British citizens, one 1 was Canadian and seven Portuguese, according to Air India.

Based on the number of people on board, this is the worst commercial airline crash since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, which was shot down over Ukraine, killing 298 people, according to Aviation Safety Network, which tracks fatal crashes. The last crash of this magnitude for Air India was Flight 182 in 1985. That Boeing 747 aircraft was destroyed by a bomb over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board.

Boeing has been involved in several accidents in recent years, including two fatal crashes with Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. Early last year, a nearly-new 737 Max aircraft lost a door panel during flight. While there were no fatalities, the accident plunged the company into a deep crisis.

Under international rules for aviation crash investigations—known as “Annex 13”—a probe is led by air safety authorities in the country where the crash occurred, with assistance from other countries. Investigators typically issue a preliminary report within a few weeks. A final report, which includes safety recommendations, is then released a year to two later. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Japan’s top trade negotiator expects a trade deal with the U.S. to spare Tokyo from higher auto tariffs, even if US President Donald Trump decides to increase them against other nations.

“We are in bilateral negotiations with the U.S.,” Ryosei Akazawa said Friday as he left for Washington for his sixth round of trade talks with US counterparts. “Generally speaking, if we reach a deal it should secure special treatment for Japan, and exclude it from rules that apply to most countries.”

Akazawa made the remarks after being asked about Trump’s comments that indicated he’s considering raising tariffs on imported cars further to boost production in the U.S. Akazawa also said he was aware that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signaled a possible extension of the July 9 deadline to return across-the-board tariffs to original rates, which would mean a bump to 24% from 10% for Japan. 

Akazawa heads to the U.S. as the two nations eye a potential trade deal out of an expected summit in Canada between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The two are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders’ gathering starting Sunday. 

A 25% tariff on cars and car parts threatens to push the Japanese economy into a technical recession with a hit to the nation’s most important exports, just as Ishiba prepares for a national election in July. The U.S. has also recently doubled a levy on steel and aluminum to 50%.  

Akazawa said Japan will continue to seek a review of all U.S. tariffs and aim for a package of agreements. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called on the heads of the country’s largest conglomerates to help restore market trust while hearing out their concerns over the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on global trade.

In his first meeting with the nation’s powerful business leaders since taking office, Lee faced a delicate balancing act, appealing to the economic clout of the chaebols and reassuring them on trade negotiations, while signaling his intent to follow through on campaign pledges to curb their outsized influence in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. 

“Our economy can no longer sustain growth through unfair competition, special privileges for, or exploitation of some actors like it did in the past,” Lee told executives at the gathering, including the chiefs of Samsung Group, SK Group, [hotlink]Hyundai Motor[/hotlink] Group, LG Group and Lotte Group. “There is still some distrust, and I want you to help alleviate it.”

Lee, who defeated his conservative rival to become South Korea’s new president last week, has made economic revitalization one of his top priorities. The country’s chaebols, sprawling family-controlled conglomerates, such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., have long been a key engine of growth for the economy, giving them broad sway over business and society. 

The new president has pledged to rewrite the commercial code to weed out the rubber-stamping of corporate decisions by directors. The revised code aims to strengthen the duty of company boards to shareholders to improve corporate governance and tackle the so-called Korea discount that has been a long-standing grievance among global investors.

But ahead of his trip to Canada to attend the Group of Seven summit, Lee found many executives at the meeting expressing more immediate concern about the impact of trade protectionism.

“In particular, U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty surrounding the issue have created an unstable environment, making it extremely difficult for businesses to make any decisions or investment,” SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said. 

Chey cited the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry among the key risks facing businesses in South Korea, along with weak domestic demand, subdued investment sentiment and an aging population. SK’s semiconductor unit is the world’s leading AI memory chipmaker and a close partner of Nvidia Corp. 

Samsung Electronics Co. Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee went further, comparing the current environment to the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. 

South Korea remains a critical player in global supply chains, producing everything from smartphones and semiconductors to ships and EVs. That makes its economy heavily dependent on trade to power growth with exports equivalent in size to more than 40% of gross domestic product. 

Hyundai Motor, one of the world’s biggest automakers, has pledged to invest $21 billion in the U.S, something Lee can flag to Trump should they meet in Canada. Even so, carmakers may face yet another hike in duties after Trump said Thursday he was considering raising auto tariffs even higher than the recently introduced 25% level to support the industry in the U.S.

With the deadline for imposing reciprocal tariffs approaching early next month, Trump is keen to show progress in reaching deals with key economies that have large trade surpluses with the U.S. 

Talks between Washington and Seoul have been held back by the leadership vacuum and domestic political unrest before Lee’s election win.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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BYD Co. sees China’s electric vehicle price war as unsustainable, according to a senior company executive, who stopped short of saying the country’s largest EV maker would scale back the aggressive discounting it helped trigger.

“It’s very extreme, tough competition,” executive vice president Stella Li said in an interview with Bloomberg News in London. “No, it’s not sustainable,” she added, noting that consolidation across the sector is likely as the market matures.

The comments highlight mounting strain within China’s overheated EV market, where a flood of new entrants and deep price cuts—many led by BYD—have eroded margins and triggered rare government intervention. While BYD has gained market share, the fallout is growing, with investors, regulators and rivals all pushing for a reset.

Beijing summoned industry leaders for talks earlier this month, telling EV makers not to sell cars below cost or offer unreasonable price cuts.

The EV price war has weighed heavily on automaker shares, with BYD losing around $22 billion in market capitalization since peaking in late May. Still, the company is seen as a likely long-term winner if smaller and mid-sized rivals are squeezed out, allowing BYD to grow its dominant market share.

Li said BYD plans to continue investing aggressively outside China, with a particular focus on Europe. The company expects to spend as much as $20 billion in the region over the coming years, she said.

BYD’s market share is rising rapidly in key European countries including Germany, the UK and Italy, helped by a fast-expanding dealer network and competitively priced offerings—especially plug-in hybrids. 

The company recently overtook rival Tesla Inc. in Europe, a shift attributed in part to BYD offering a wider lineup of models. It currently sells around nine to ten vehicles in the region, compared to Tesla’s four.

Li also said that BYD has no immediate plans to partner with a European automaker, a strategy that local rivals Xpeng Inc. and Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co. have embraced. “But the door is open,” she said. 

Li added that BYD is also investing heavily in after-sales service, and expects its European market share to climb further as more customers become familiar with the company’s technology and support.

“If we decide to do something, we put all our resources behind it,” she said. “We want to make sure it’s successful in the long run.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Novo Nordisk A/S reclaimed its position as Europe’s most valuable public company, overtaking software developer SAP SE. 

Shares in the Danish drugmaker climbed as much as 2.3% on Friday after Novo said it plans to advance its experimental weight management treatment amycretin into late-stage development following feedback from regulatory authorities. 

Novo’s market capitalization stood at $365 billion as of 10:20 a.m. in Copenhagen. That compares with $364.3 billion for SAP, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Novo has suffered a series of setbacks since reaching a record high in June of last year, including disappointing clinical trial results for its experimental obesity treatments and mounting competition from US rival Eli Lilly & Co. The drugmaker last month decided to replace Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.

The shares have been boosted this week following a Financial Times report about activist hedge fund Parvus Asset Management building a stake in Novo, hoping to influence the appointment of the drugmaker’s new CEO. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Polly Pocket may one day be your digital assistant.

Mattel Inc., the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, has signed a deal with OpenAI to use its artificial intelligence tools to design and in some cases power toys and other products ​based on its brands.

The collaboration is at an early stage, and its first release won’t be announced until later this year, Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, and Josh Silverman, Mattel’s chief franchise officer, said in a joint interview. The technology could ultimately result in the creation of digital assistants based on Mattel characters, or be used to make toys and games like the Magic 8 Ball or Uno even more interactive. 

“We plan to announce something towards the tail end of this year, and it’s really across the spectrum of physical products and some experiences,” Silverman said, declining to comment further on the first product. “Leveraging this incredible technology is going to allow us to really reimagine the future of play.”

Mattel shares rose 1.8% to $19.59 Thursday morning in New York. The stock is up 10% this year. 

Mattel isn’t licensing its intellectual property to OpenAI as part of the deal, Silverman said, and remains in full control of the products being created. Introductory talks between the two companies began late last year, he said. 

Mattel Chief Executive Officer Ynon Kreiz has been looking to evolve the company from just a toy manufacturer into a producer of films, TV shows and mobile games based on its popular characters. OpenAI, meanwhile, has been courting companies with valuable intellectual property to aid them in developing new products based on iconic brands. 

“The idea exploration phase of creative design for companies like Mattel and many others, that’s a critical part of the workflow,” Lightcap said. “As we think about how AI builds tools that extend that capability, I think we’re very lucky to have partners like Mattel that we can work with to better understand that problem.”

On Tuesday, OpenAI released its newest model — o3-pro — which can analyze files, search online and complete other tasks that made it score especially well with reviewers on “comprehensiveness, instruction-following and accuracy,” the company said. 

OpenAI held meetings in Los Angeles with Hollywood studios, media executives and talent agencies last year to form partnerships in the entertainment industry and encourage filmmakers to integrate its new AI video generator into their work. In the meetings, led by Lightcap, The company demonstrated the capabilities of Sora, a service that at the time generated realistic-looking videos up to about a minute in length based on text prompts from users. OpenAI has not struck any deals with movie studios yet because it still has to establish a “level of trust” with Hollywood, Lightcap said in May at a Wall Street Journal conference in New York. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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President Donald Trump reiterated Thursday he did not plan to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, days after saying he would “soon” pick his nominee to lead the central bank next.

“The fake news is saying, ‘Oh, if you fired him, it would be so bad, it would be so bad.’ I don’t know why it would be so bad, but I’m not going to fire him,” Trump said at a White House event on Thursday.

Trump went on to repeat his complaints that the Fed has not moved quickly enough to cut interest rates, as more evidence emerged of cooling inflation. Powell’s term as chair expires in May 2026.

“We call him ‘Too Late,’ right?” Trump said, adding he was frustrated that current elevated rates were increasing the federal government’s borrowing costs. The president said the Fed could always raise rates if inflation returned.

“Let’s say there was inflation. In a year from now, raise your rates. I don’t mind, raise your rates. I’m all for it. I’ll be the one to be calling you,” Trump said. “He’ll be too late for that too.”

The Supreme Court last month shielded the Fed from Trump’s push to fire top officials at independent agencies, calling the central bank a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.” 

The decision provided a measure of clarity about Powell’s job security, after Trump sent conflicting signals about whether he would try to oust the Fed chief before his term expired. Trump said in April he had no intention of firing Powell.

Fed officials are expected to hold interest rates steady at their two-day policy meeting next week. Powell and his colleagues have signaled they are waiting for more clarity on how Trump’s policy changes — including on tariffs, taxes and immigration — could affect the economy before adjusting interest rates again. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Tesla Inc. sued a former engineer with the company’s highly secretive Optimus program, accusing him of stealing confidential information about the humanoid robot and setting up a rival startup in Silicon Valley. 

Zhongjie “Jay” Li worked at Tesla between August 2022 and September 2024, according to a complaint filed in a San Francisco Federal Court late Wednesday. Li worked on “advanced robotic hand sensors—and was entrusted with some of the most sensitive technical data in the program,” Tesla’s lawyers said in the complaint.

The suit, also filed against his company Proception Inc, alleges that in the weeks before his departure, Li downloaded Optimus-related files onto two personal smartphones and then formed his own firm.

“Less than a week after he left Tesla, Proception was incorporated,” according to the complaint. “And within just five months, Proception publicly claimed to have ‘successfully built’ advanced humanoid robotic hands—-hands that bear a striking resemblance to the designs Li worked on at Tesla.”

Li, who lists himself as founder and CEO of Proception on LinkedIn, didn’t respond to requests for comment sent outside of normal working hours on the platform. The company didn’t immediately respond to an emailed message seeking comment or message sent through its website. Proception is based in Palo Alto, California. 

Attorneys for Li or the company weren’t immediately visible in court filings.

Making a hand that is as dexterous as a human one is one of the biggest challenges in robotics. Tesla intends for Optimus to perform several tasks, from working in the electric automaker’s factories to handling every day tasks like grocery shopping and babysitting. On Tesla’s earnings call in January, CEO Elon Musk said that Optimus has the most sophisticated hand ever made.

“My prediction long-term is that Optimus will be overwhelmingly the value of the company,” Musk said.

An exhibit to the complaint includes an emailed reminder to the Optimus team from August 2024 telling staff that Tesla IT assets and networks are monitored and that “incidents of mishandling or suspected theft of Tesla property, including data and code, will be thoroughly investigated.”

Li’s “conduct is not only unlawful trade misappropriation — it also constitutes a calculated effort to exploit Tesla’s investments, insights, and intellectual property for their own commercial gain,” Tesla’s lawyers said in the filing.

Milan Kovac, the head of engineering for Optimus, left Tesla last week, Bloomberg first reported. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s Autopilot teams, will take over responsibility for Optimus.

Read more: Tesla’s Head of Optimus Humanoid Robot Program Exits Company

The case is Tesla, Inc. v. Proception, Inc. et al, Docket No. 5:25-cv-04963 (N.D. Cal. Jun 11, 2025), Court Docket

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Amazon.com Inc.’s hard-line stance on getting disabled employees to return to the office has sparked a backlash, with workers alleging the company is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as their rights to collectively bargain.

At least two employees have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board, federal agencies that regulate working conditions. One of the workers said they provided the EEOC with a list of 18 “similarly situated” employees to emphasize that their experience isn’t isolated and to help federal regulators with a possible investigation.

Disabled workers frustrated with how Amazon is handling their requests for accommodations — including exemptions to a mandate that they report to the office five days a week — are also venting their displeasure on internal chat rooms and have encouraged colleagues to answer surveys about the policies.

Amazon has been deleting such posts and warning that they violate rules governing internal communications. One employee said they were terminated and another said they were told to find a different position after advocating for disabled workers on employee message boards. Both filed complaints with the EEOC and NLRB.

The company’s use of artificial intelligence to help it manage employee requests for disability accommodations has also stirred internal opposition and could open the company to legal challenges.

Company spokesperson Zoe Hoffmann said Amazon’s Disability and Leave Services team ensures employees have access to the accommodations and adjustments they need to be effective and advance their careers. The process is empathetic, and the interactions aren’t automated, she said.

“Amazon respects employees’ rights to organize and doesn’t interfere with these rights. We don’t discriminate or retaliate against employees for engaging in organizing activities,” Hoffmann said in an emailed statement. “We’re committed to supporting our employees by providing effective accommodations that meet their individual needs and the needs of the business.”

Bloomberg reported in November that Amazon was making it more difficult for staff with disabilities to win approval to work from home. The company implemented a more rigorous vetting process, both for new requests to work remotely and applications to extend existing arrangements. Affected employees had to participate in a “multilevel leader review” and some were told monthlong trials would be used to determine if accommodations met their needs.

Several employees told Bloomberg then that they believed the system was designed to deny work-from-home accommodations and prompt employees with disabilities to quit, which some have done. Amazon denied the system was designed to encourage people to resign.

Since then, workers have mobilized against the policy. One employee repeatedly posted an online survey seeking colleagues’ reactions, defying the company’s demands to stop. The survey ultimately generated feedback from more than 200 workers even though Amazon kept deleting it, and the results reflected strong opposition to Amazon’s treatment of disabled workers.

More than 71% of disabled Amazon employees surveyed said the company had denied or failed to meet most of their accommodation requests, while half indicated they faced “hostile” work environments after disclosing their disabilities and requesting accommodations.

One respondent said they sought permission to work from home after suffering multiple strokes that prevented them from driving. Amazon suggested moving closer to the office and taking mass transit, the person said in the survey. Another respondent said they couldn’t drive for longer than 15-minute intervals due to chronic pain. Amazon’s recommendation was to pull over and stretch during their commute, which the employee said was unsafe since they drive on a busy freeway.

Bloomberg couldn’t verify the responses to the anonymous employee survey. Amazon didn’t dispute the accounts and said it considered a range of solutions to disability accommodations, including changes to an employee’s commute.

Hoffmann, the spokesperson, said that when appropriate, Amazon adjusts schedules, lighting and desk assignments. It also offers job coaching. If warranted, the company might provide commuting adjustments. In rare circumstances, she said, employees with disabilities are allowed to work from home full time or part time.

AI risks

Using AI to parse accommodation requests, read doctors’ notes and make recommendations based on keywords has also generated internal opposition. Bloomberg reviewed screenshots from an in-house coding tool showing what appeared to be prompts designed to guide AI software through the process of evaluating and pulling data from documents filled out by employees and their physicians.

The bots are given context — such as the fact that injuries can occur on one or both arms — suggestions of follow-up questions and a lengthy list of potential accommodations for employees with low vision. There’s also extensive guidance that may be intended to keep the software from asking unnecessary questions or generating irrelevant data.

Amazon has long used automation to more efficiently manage its enormous workforce. But deploying such tools for sensitive personnel matters risks missing nuances about an employee’s situation that a human might spot and take into consideration. Doing so also could lead to legal complications should employees claim the software introduced errors into the process. And the use of AI risks further alienating employees, who are already expected to engage with chatbots and automated systems, rather than colleagues, for a wide range of workplace tasks.

“It’s impossible to imagine that companies will not be using AI for any number of needs, including this one,” said Chai Feldblum, a former commissioner with the EEOC. But in the event of a legal challenge, she said, Amazon would have to prove that providing an accommodation to an employee placed an unreasonable burden on the company. “I would not leave that final judgment to AI,” Feldblum said.

Amazon‘s partly automated accommodation and internal job transfer processes are key elements of the employee complaints to the EEOC, with workers arguing that it is insufficiently interactive to provide a complete picture of a person’s physical limitations and whether reasonable accommodations could help them do their jobs. 

“If there’s an indication that Amazon is using some rote artificial intelligence process to manage these requests, that’s not interactive,” said David Hutt, legal director of the National Disability Rights Network. “Courts are pretty skeptical of these kind of boilerplate accommodations that aren’t specifically tailored around the person’s disability and their job function.”

Two employees said Amazon cited its “solicitation” policy when deleting their posts from employee communication channels. The policy prohibits personnel from asking others for financial contributions, disseminating advertising materials or gathering signatures on petitions unless they have permission from the company, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

Preventing employees from discussing the workplace could backfire if the NLRB determines that doing so interferes with their protected rights to organize and debate working conditions, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at Cornell University. “If two or more people are in any way penalized or coerced against exercising their rights, it’s a violation,” Bronfenbrenner said. “Whether this gets enforced is another question,” she added, citing budget cuts to various federal agencies.

With internal communication channels being scrutinized, Amazon employees posted a petition to Change.org calling on the company to reform its policies.

The dispute could affect thousands of Amazon workers. An internal Slack channel for employees with disabilities has 13,000 members, one of the people said. Amazon said it doesn’t track the total number of disabled workers since employee disclosure is voluntary.

The rise of remote work during the pandemic helped boost the number of disabled people with jobs to almost 23% last year, close to a record high since the US Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the metric in 2008. Working from home can benefit people with a range of disabilities, including chronic allergies, limited mobility and anxiety disorders.

Amazon employees have lodged complaints about workplace conditions in the past. The EEOC as recently as last year was investigating allegations that the company discriminated against pregnant warehouse workers in California, Connecticut, New Jersey and North Carolina by denying their accommodation requests. An agency spokesperson declined to provide an update regarding the status of the investigation.

In 2021, Amazon settled a dispute with two workers at its Seattle headquarters who alleged they were fired in retaliation for their workplace activism regarding climate change and working conditions, which included inviting colleagues to a virtual event meant to connect tech employees with warehouse employees. Their allegations led to a labor board complaint accusing Amazon of unfair labor practices.

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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su said her company’s latest AI processors can challenge Nvidia Corp. chips in a market she now expects to soar past $500 billion in the next three years. 

The latest installments in AMD’s MI350 chip series are faster than Nvidia counterparts and represent major gains over earlier versions, Su said at a company event Thursday in San Jose, California. New MI355 chips, which started shipping earlier this month, are 35 times faster than predecessors, she said.

Though AMD remains a distant second to Nvidia in AI accelerators — the chips that help develop and run artificial intelligence tools — it aims to start catching up with these new products. The stakes are higher than ever: Su previously predicted $500 billion in market revenue by 2028, but she now sees it topping that number. 

In February, AMD gave a forecast for its data center business that showed growth is coming at a slower pace than some analysts had predicted. AMD believes the new update to its MI range will restore momentum and prove it can go toe to toe with a much bigger rival.

AMD said that the MI355 outperforms Nvidia’s B200 and GB200 products when it comes to running AI software and equals or exceeds them when creating the code. Purchasers will pay significantly less than they would versus Nvidia, AMD said. 

Investors gave a tepid response to AMD’s latest presentation, with the shares falling as much as 1.9%. The stock was up less than 1% this year through Wednesday’s close.

Nvidia and AMD are the leading providers of advanced computer graphics chips, which became the basis of components for developing AI. Demand has consistently outstripped supply as some of the world’s largest companies have poured tens of billions of dollars into new infrastructure. That’s forced up the price of chips, which can cost multiple tens of thousands of dollars each.

For AMD, the accelerator business has helped it escape the shadow of Intel Corp., its longtime rival in personal computer processors. But Nvidia has eclipsed them both. While AMD is getting multiple billions of dollars from its AI accelerators, Nvidia is generating more than $100 billion a year. 

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Britain’s goods exports to the US fell in April by the largest amount for any month since records began in 1997 after President Donald Trump launched his global trade war.

Goods shipments to the US including precious metals fell by £2 billion ($2.7 billion) from March, which the Office for National Statistics said was “likely linked to the implementation of tariffs on goods imported to the United States.” It left sales to the US at £4.1 billion, the lowest since February 2022.

Trump hit the UK with 10% tariffs on all goods on his April 2 “Liberation Day.” Imports of steel and aluminium, and cars and car parts were subject to a higher 25% tariff.

There were decreases in exports of most commodities to the US in April, the ONS said. Exports of machinery and transport equipment decreased by £800 million because of a drop in car shipments. Chemical exports fell by £300 million. Imports from the US slid by £400 million to £4.7 billion.

The UK struck a deal with the US on May 8 lowering car tariffs and removing them on aluminium and steel but the new regime has yet to be put in place.

The total goods and services trade deficit with the rest of the world widened by £4.9 billion to £11.5 billion in the three months to April 2025.

ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: “After increasing for each of the four preceding months, April saw the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the United States with decreases seen across most types of goods, following the recent introduction of tariffs.”

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Nintendo sold 3.5 million-plus units of the Switch 2 in just four days, a record-breaking start for the company’s first new console in eight years.

The Japanese company has already sold more of the device than the roughly 2.7 million the original Switch managed during its first month in 2017. The numbers, released by the company Wednesday, bode well for its target to sell 15 million units by March next year. They also reinforce analysts’ projections that Nintendo may be able to sell far more if it can pump up supply.

Gamers from Tokyo to San Francisco lined up for hours last week to get their hands on one of the most highly anticipated gadgets of the year. The long-awaited Switch 2 succeeds a global hit in the original, which pioneered a hybrid design that allows play both at home on a TV and on the move. 

The release of the new Switch was regarded as a watershed moment for the industry, steering business decisions by partners and competitors for years to come. At a time of thinning margins and exploding development budgets, a popular new console may galvanize the sector and provide a counterbalance to the increasing dominance of a handful of marquee, live-service games. 

Catching up with runaway demand is the first major challenge Nintendo faces. 

President Shuntaro Furukawa has apologized after customers came away from lotteries for the Switch 2 empty-handed. The Kyoto-based company has asked its partners to speed up production of the console. It’s also secured agreements from Japanese online marketplace operators such as Rakuten Group, Mercari and LY Corp to discourage resellers from taking advantage of the hardware’s scarcity.

The console is manufactured mainly in China by partners including Foxconn Technology Group. Nintendo’s shares, which have gyrated because of concerns about how tariffs may disrupt supply, fell more than 3% in Tokyo.

“The pace is good,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst with Toyo Securities. “The key will be to maintain assembly capacity and increase production going forward.”

A chronic shortage may spur consumers to turn elsewhere and flatten momentum.

Nintendo’s priority is to sustain launch momentum for as long as possible, Furukawa told analysts at an earnings briefing in May. That’s more difficult due to the Switch 2’s higher retail price compared with its predecessor and growing weakness in the global economy.

Furukawa has also warned the company may consider raising the console’s price in the future, depending on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff measures.

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The “unsustainable” rising costs of operating from Singapore’s Changi airport were partly to blame for the closure of Qantas Airways Ltd.’s low-cost subsidiary Jetstar Asia, executives said.

The decision to shut down operations — and cut some 500 jobs — comes as losses mount for the Jetstar brand’s Singapore-based offshoot, which had only been profitable in the six of the 21 years. Higher airport fees imposed by Changi to fund a $3 billion Singapore dollars ($2.3 billion) facility upgrade kicked in on April 1.

Cost increases have been seen across “the whole ecosystem we operate out of,” Jetstar Group Chief Executive Officer Stephanie Tully told reporters at a briefing Wednesday. “The airport fees are a part of that. That has had an impact on the business.”

Jetstar Asia will stop operating July 31, enabling Qantas to free up as much as $500 million Australian dollars ($327 million) in capital to fund the group’s fleet renewal program, Qantas said in a statement earlier Wednesday. Thirteen Jetstar Asia Airbus SE A320 aircraft will be redeployed to Australia and New Zealand, creating 100 jobs locally.  

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Hudson is prioritizing the group’s cash cow, the Australian domestic network, as she juggles assets to pay for the biggest plane order in the airline’s history. Qantas has firm orders for almost 200 new aircraft.

Jetstar Asia, which is 49% owned by Qantas, is expected to post a $35 million Australian dollars underlying operating loss this financial year in the face of intensifying competition and rising costs, Qantas’s statement said. The closure will result in a one-off impact of $175 million Australian dollars.

Jetstar Asia’s end will also leave Singapore Airlines Group carriers as the only ones based in the city-state, though plenty of competing foreign airlines remain — some of which jostled with Jetstar Asia on its routes.

Changi said that while it was “disappointed” with Jetstar Asia’s decision to exit Singapore, it respected the company’s commercial considerations.

“Our immediate priority is to ensure passengers are well supported and to minimise disruption during the transition period,” the airport group told Bloomberg in an emailed statement.

Changi said it would work with airline partners to restore connectivity on the four routes which are exclusively operated by Jetstar Asia – Australia’s Broome, Indonesia’s Labuan Bajo, Japan’s Okinawa and China’s Wuxi.

Singapore labor union chief Ng Chee Meng wrote in a Facebook post that it was exploring opportunities for Singapore Airlines Group to match impacted Jetstar Asia employees to suitable roles.

Jetstar Asia launched in 2004 and grew to become the third-largest carrier operating out of Changi, data from aviation data firm Cirium show — trailing Singapore Airlines Ltd. and its low-cost unit Scoot. 

As of June, Jetstar Asia offered just under 31,000 seats one-way for sale per week, or less than 4% of total seats available at Changi. Only 16 intra-Asia routes will be impacted by the Jetstar Asia closure. Australia-based Jetstar Airways and Jetstar Japan services into Asia are unchanged.

Jetstar Asia will operate flights on a progressively reduced schedule before its final day of operation on July 31.

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BYD and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group joined several of China’s government-backed automakers in a pledge to standardize bill payment for their suppliers to 60 days as authorities’ scrutiny of the industry’s health shifts to supply chain financing.

At least three carmakers, including Dongfeng Motor Group, Guangzhou Automobile Group and China FAW Group issued similar statements on Tuesday saying their payment plans are aimed at promoting efficient capital flows across supply chains in the automotive industry. That was followed by other major industry names including Chongqing Changan Automobile and Great Wall Motor, which also vowed to conform to the 60-day payment period.

Rounding out the flurry of pledges were U.S.-listed startup Nio, XPeng, Li Auto and Stellantis NV’s partner Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology. Domestic tech giant Xiaomi, which just launched its first model last year, also agreed to the standardized period. 

“Leapmotor has always maintained 60-day payment period to suppliers,” Vice President Li Tengfei said at a company event in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The carmaker will “continue to work with suppliers for win-win cooperation,” he said.

China’s auto industry, the world’s biggest, has found itself facing increasing government scrutiny after an extended domestic price war pushed some manufacturers to the brink.

The country’s carmakers have been seeking lower-cost components and delaying payments to suppliers by months, creating a form of quasi-debt financing. Regulators including the Ministry for Industry and Information Technology last week addressed the issue of supply chain financing with the heads of major electric vehicle manufacturers on concerns the price war was becoming unsustainable.

Chinese authorities issued new rules in March to protect small and medium enterprises, stipulating that bills should be paid within 60 days — the industry norm — and that large firms shouldn’t force smaller businesses to accept non-cash payments such as promissory notes or use these methods to delay payments. The regulations will take effect in June.

Chinese auto parts stocks rose, with Morgan Stanley describing the move as positive as shorter accounts receivable period can bring better cash flow and lower provision cost. Chinese auto supplier accounts receivable days were generally longer than 100 in 2024, analysts including Shelley Wang wrote in a note.

Extended payment cycles are a feature of China’s auto sector, with periods far outstripping industry norms in other parts of the world. BYD took an average of 275 days to pay suppliers in 2023, Bloomberg compiled data show. 

Supply chain financing is also common in the auto industry. BYD, China’s best-selling car brand, has a promissory note system called Dilian, or Dilink in English, that it uses as a form of payment to its suppliers and can be redeemed at a later time. The platform had issued 400 billion yuan ($56 billion) worth of notes as of May 2023, the last time that BYD disclosed such information.

A report by accounting consultancy GMT Research puts BYD’s true net debt at closer to 323 billion yuan, compared with the 27.7 billion yuan listed on its books as of the end of June 2024, through delaying its payments to suppliers and other related financing.

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Eurostar Group Ltd. plans to launch direct train services from London to Frankfurt and Geneva next decade, connecting the UK’s capital to two of Europe’s key financial centers.

The journeys would each take roughly five hours, a spokesperson for the operator said. As part of the new services, Eurostar, which is majority-owned by France’s state rail company SNCF, said it would invest approximately €2 billion ($2.3 billion) to increase its fleet by around 30%.

Eurostar’s plans come as it faces criticism over high prices and reliability. It could also face opposition from other operators pushing to launch rival services to end its 31-year monopoly on international trains from Britain. Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and FS Italiane Group are among the companies seeking to challenge Eurostar on its flagship route between London and Paris.

Offering direct trains from London to Frankfurt and Geneva would allow bankers and other finance professionals to continue their work and make calls during their journeys, unlike on planes.

Eurostar currently operates services in five countries: the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany. The most popular route, London to Paris, attracted more than 280,000 passengers last year. 

The company behind St Pancras, the London train station where Eurostar operates, and Getlink SE, the Channel Tunnel operator, said earlier this year they wanted to open more services to France and new routes to Germany and Switzerland. 

Last year, a report from campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E) rated Eurostar the worst-performing of 27 European rail services. The survey considered factors such as ticket prices, reliability and experience. Eurostar disputed the findings.

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The UK’s FTSE 100 index was set to close at a record high for the first time since March, recouping its tariff-induced slump thanks to an improving economic outlook and easing trade tensions.

The export-heavy index rose as much as 0.4% to 8871.41 level, surpassing its March peak of 8,871.31 points. The UK gauge is catching up to a global equities benchmark and a key European peer in Germany’s DAX index, which have both reclaimed their record highs after April’s rout. 

The UK benchmark is still 0.4% below its intraday record of 8,908.82, and sentiment remains fragile as London faces an exodus of companies moving listings to the US and shelving initial public offerings. Defense contractors Babcock International Group Plc and BAE Systems Plc, as well as precious metals miner Fresnillo Plc, are among the biggest gainers in the index this year.

The FTSE 100 rebounded strongly after President Donald Trump paused some of the highest tariffs in a century in April and the UK secured a trade framework with the US. Economic data have also improved, with UK business confidence surging to a nine-month high in May. 

“UK stocks are among the cheapest in Europe,” said Georges Debbas, head of European equity derivatives strategy at BNP Paribas Markets 360. “The country is also the most friendly to the US, as it’s the only one to have a firm trade agreement in place. That allows you to have a more constructive view on the market.”

Still, the gauge has trailed other European benchmarks, which benefited from lower interest rates and heavy fiscal stimulus plans led by Germany. The FTSE 100 has advanced 8.5% in 2025, far behind a 21% rally in the German benchmark. Meanwhile, Spain’s IBEX 35 Index is up 23%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB has jumped 18%.

The UK’s stock market has shrunk in recent years amid deal-related delistings, compounded by a lean flow of IPOs and some companies shifting their primary listings to the US in search of more trading liquidity.

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A Chinese lender’s stunt to woo depositors with gifts including the wildly popular Labubu dolls has been barred by financial regulators, underscoring the increasingly fraught battle among banks for customers as interest rates and profit margins fall.

The Zhejiang branch of the National Financial Regulatory Administration has asked local banks to refrain from giving non-compliant perks to attract deposits, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The guidance came in the wake of a promotion by Ping An Bank Co., which has been offering Labubu collectibles—blind box toys endorsed by celebrities including Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink—in multiple cities for new depositors who can park in 50,000 yuan ($6,960) for three months.

Such a practice, which often involves offering free items like rice or small home appliances, as well as e-gifts such as memberships at Internet platforms, was seen as driving up costs at banks and hurting their margins, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter.

While Ping An Bank’s marketing campaign went viral on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu and sparked strong interest from potential savers, it also drew criticism from state media which said it was “not a long-term solution.”

Chinese lenders are walking a tightrope as they balance between deposit taking and protecting margins that are now at record-low levels across the sector. The nation’s big banks just conducted a new round of deposit rate cuts in May, with smaller peers following suit and pushing term deposit interests down to just a little above 1%. 

The Zhejiang banking regulator has urged the immediate suspension of any products involved in non-compliant deposit-gathering practices, along with the removal of related promotional materials, the people said. It remains unclear whether the regulator’s other local divisions have issued similar guidance. 

The regulator didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Ping An Bank said the initiative started off as a small-scale project launched by a local branch, declining to comment further.

China said in a 2018 rule that commercial banks shouldn’t attract deposits through “inappropriate means” such as giving away physical gifts or returning cash. 

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