News updates from June 27: EU leaders endorse von der Leyen for second term; IMF urges US to tackle fiscal burden

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to go head-to-head in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election campaign.

Follow along for the Financial Times’ live coverage from our commentators as well as our team of correspondents across the US.

Farming retailer Tractor Supply Co will eliminate all its diversity and inclusion roles and walk back its climate commitments following a weeks-long social media campaign by rightwing influencers. 

“We have heard from our customers that we have disappointed them,” the retailer said in a statement on Thursday.

The retailer, which focuses on rural regions of the US, said it would “retire” its current diversity and inclusion goals “while still ensuring a respectful environment”.

The statement comes as political pressure over so-called wokeness mounts on US companies, who have scaled back LGBT+ Pride displays after backlash last year. 

Shares of Nike tumbled in extended trade as the sneaker and sportswear retailer indicated it was downgrading its outlook.

The company said on a conference call it expected revenue to drop 10 per cent in the current quarter, and for revenue in fiscal 2025 — which started in June — to decline by a percentage in the mid-single digits.

Nike’s revenues were slightly below expectations last quarter as Converse sales dropped 18 per cent, but the company’s earnings of 99 cents a share exceeded analysts’ forecasts by almost 20 per cent. Year-on-year, sales fell 1.7 per cent, while profit rose 48 per cent.

Nike’s shares tumbled more than 10 per cent in after-hours trading on Thursday.

“We are taking actions to reposition Nike to be more competitive, and to drive sustainable, profitable long-term growth,” chief financial officer Matthew Friend said.

US stocks climbed for the third day in a row as traders assessed a mixed picture of the US economy’s following a number of data releases.

The S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent on Thursday, helped by strength in the real estate and consumer cyclicals sectors. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3 per cent as every Magnificent Seven group but Nvidia rose. The small-cap focused Russell 2000 added 1 per cent.

Treasuries rallied, pulling the yield on the two-year note down 0.04 percentage points to 4.71 per cent. The yield on the 10-year bond slipped 0.03 percentage points to 4.29 per cent.

The IMF has urged the US to “urgently” address its mounting fiscal burden, calling on lawmakers to raise taxes to plug the gap.

The fund’s projections showed the debt-to-GDP ratio of the world’s largest economy hitting 140 per cent by 2032 — way past its previous record high — on the back of successive projected fiscal deficits in the coming years. The finding came as part of the IMF’s annual Article IV health check of the US economy.

“Such high deficits and debt create a growing risk to the US and global economy,” the organisation said.

“These chronic fiscal deficits represent a significant and persistent policy misalignment that needs to be urgently addressed.”

The fund said politicians needed to “carefully consider” a range of tax rises, including on people’s incomes for those earning less than $400,000 annually. President Joe Biden has said that group will not pay more tax if he secures a second term in the White House.

Mexico’s president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday named close collaborator Luz Elena González to run the energy ministry.

González was Sheinbaum’s finance minister in Mexico City and is seen as close to the future president. The energy portfolio will be central to Sheinbaum’s promise to use renewables for half of Mexico’s energy generation by 2030.

Earlier this month, Sheinbaum chose an economy minister seen as business-friendly to join her cabinet as she tried to calm investors unnerved by her resounding electoral victory.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission may not use its own in-house courts when seeking civil penalties in fraud cases, in the latest decision to curb federal agencies’ powers.

The high court on Thursday held that a defendant must have access to a jury trial when the SEC is seeking civil penalties for securities fraud, citing the US constitution’s Seventh Amendment, which protects individuals’ rights to a jury trial for civil cases.

In a 6-3 decision penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court’s majority said the matter “implicates the Seventh Amendment” since the “SEC’s antifraud provisions replicate common law fraud, and it is well established that common law claims must be heard by a jury”.

Read more here

Hungary is negotiating a legal opt-out from the EU’s shared initiative to finance weapons supplies to Ukraine, which could end a blockage on €6.6bn worth of cash held up by Budapest’s veto.

Hungary is against military support to Kyiv and is vetoing EU decisions that would release the cash from the European Peace Facility used by member states to buy weapons for Ukraine.

Negotiations were taking place during a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Balázs Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s political director told reporters, saying a deal was possible.

“We have to figure out a technical solution and a legal solution . . . so we have an opt-out. Negotiations are going on,” he said, referring to “technical differences” between Budapest and Brussels.

EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell told the Financial Times this week Brussels had offered Budapest an opt-out but the offer had been rejected.

America’s most closely watched liquefied natural gas development has received a critical regulatory approval, moving the $10bn Gulf Coast project closer to construction despite objections from climate groups.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday authorised the construction and operation of Venture Global’s CP2 LNG facility in Louisiana. Gas importers in Germany and Japan had urged the agency to greenlight the terminal, while environmentalists dubbed it a “carbon bomb”.

The project still requires approval from the US Department of Energy before it can proceed to construction. The Biden administration indefinitely froze new export approvals in January while it reassesses the wider impact of a boom in American gas exports.

European stocks fell on Thursday, with French companies among the worst performers ahead of upcoming legislative elections.

The region-wide Stoxx 600 closed 0.4 per cent lower, dragged down by utilities and consumer non-cyclicals. Germany’s Dax rose 0.3 per cent while London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 per cent. 

The Cac 40 in Paris sank 1 per cent, with 35 of its constituent stocks in negative territory, taking its decline since the start of June to 5.8 per cent. France’s two-round election falls on June 30 and July 7, with a hung parliament the most likely outcome, according to recent polls.

EY’s new global chief executive Janet Truncale has ruled out an immediate revival of the Big Four accounting firm’s plan to split in two, unveiling an alternative strategy that involves slimming down its central bureaucracy.

Truncale told the firm’s 400,000 staff in a memo on Thursday seen by the Financial Times that the business would “recommit to working together as one organisation” and that her new leadership team planned to simplify the way the firm operated.

“There is huge power in our global scale and connectivity. So looking ahead, we’re going to recommit to working together — with EY clients, our ecosystems, and each other — as one organisation,” she wrote.

Read more here

Insurance broker Aon has reported “downwards pressure” on prices in the US property reinsurance market, with specialist insurers in Florida enjoying rate reductions for the first time in three years.

Reinsurance prices, the cost to primary insurers of sharing their risks, have risen significantly in recent years, driving a broader insurance affordability squeeze on households and businesses. The statement on Thursday suggests the market might be turning as new supply comes in. 

Aon said its forthcoming report on the sector will show that total reinsurance capital reached a new record of $695bn by the end of the first quarter, assisted by inflows into so-called catastrophe bonds from investors.

A forward-looking indicator of US home sales unexpectedly decreased in May, in a sign that high mortgage rates and home prices have slowed housing demand.

The pending home sales index — covering signed contracts for homes where transactions have not yet closed — fell 2.1 per cent in May to a reading of 70.8, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday. That missed economists’ expectations for a 2.5 per cent gain. 

“The market is at an interesting point with rising inventory and lower demand,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. Nonetheless he expected “supply and demand movements” to help moderate home price growth in the coming months.

Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance plunged by a record to a 27-year low after the pharmacy chain downgraded its full-year profit forecast and said it plans to close a significant number of stores in the US amid waning consumer demand.

The US group, which owns the Boots chain in the UK, is now predicting full-year adjusted earnings of $2.80 to $2.90 per share, down from previous expectations of $3.20 to $3.35, blaming “challenging pharmacy industry trends and a worse than expected US consumer environment”.

Shares in the group were down 24 per cent in morning trading on Wall Street, trading below $12 for the first time since mid-1997. The drop put shares on course for their biggest one-day fall on record.

The company, which employs more than 330,000 people globally, plans to close some of its underperforming US stores.

Walgreens reported on Thursday that third quarter sales increased 2.5 per cent on a constant currency basis to $36.4bn compared with the same period last year.

The US Supreme Court has invalidated a measure in Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy that would shield members of the company’s founding Sackler family from future civil liability in exchange for a $6bn contribution, in a closely watched case involving the maker of the opioid OxyContin.

The Department of Justice had sought to invalidate the comprehensive liability releases granted to the Sacklers, saying they could not be justified under existing US law. The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed in a 5-4 ruling.

But the high court’s majority stressed that its decision was a “narrow one” that did not “call into question consensual third-party releases offered in connection with a bankruptcy reorganisation plan”.

Read more here

The US National Transportation Safety Board has sanctioned Boeing after the company shared information with reporters about the agency’s investigation of why a door panel blew off a jet mid-flight. 

The manufacturer “blatantly violated” investigative regulations by briefing reporters, even though “few entities know the rules better than Boeing”, the NTSB said on Thursday. 

The briefing was given by Elizabeth Lund, Boeing’s head of quality for commercial aeroplanes. 

The NTSB said Boeing would lose access to information it uncovers as it investigates the January accident. In addition, the agency is subpoenaing Boeing to appear at a hearing in August. 

Boeing could not immediately be reached for comment. 

US stocks made small gains in early trade on Thursday, though shares in Micron Technology edged down after the chipmaker announced slightly weaker revenue guidance than some analysts had hoped for.

Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 rose 0.2 per cent shortly after the opening bell in New York, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3 per cent.

Shares in Micron Technology fell 4.5 per cent after the company said fiscal fourth-quarter sales would be between $7.4bn and $7.8bn, slightly below some analysts’ bullish forecasts. Third quarter sales announced late on Wednesday nevertheless rose 81 per cent year on year to $6.8bn. The company’s stock price has climbed 59 per cent so far in 2024.

Prices for French government bonds slipped on Thursday, extending a sell-off ahead of the country’s upcoming legislative elections.

Yields on ten-year French government debt rose 0.04 percentage points in early afternoon trade to 3.26 per cent, the highest level since June 11, a day after President Emmanuel Macron called the upcoming snap elections.

The move again pushed the gap between French and German borrowing costs above 0.8 percentage points. The spread climbed as high as 0.82 percentage points earlier in June, the highest level since 2017.

Paris’ Cac 40 stock index fell 0.6 per cent, leaving it 8.4 per cent below the all-time high it hit in early May.

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis said annual inflation in personal consumption expenditures was 3.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year, revised up from 3.3 per cent in the BEA’s second estimate and back to what had been first reported in April’s advance estimate.

The “core” PCE index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, accelerated to a rate of 3.7 per cent, up from the BEA’s second estimate of 3.6 per cent.

The Federal Reserve targets PCE inflation of 2 per cent a year.

The US economy expanded slightly more than forecast in the first three months of 2024.

US gross domestic product increased 1.4 per cent during the first quarter, according to the “final” estimate of output growth from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was higher than economists’ expectations that growth would hold at 1.3 per cent, revealed in a “second” estimate in late May, but still lower than the previous “advance” figure of 1.6 per cent.

China expelled its past two defence ministers from the Communist party for corruption, the latest confirmation of the largest crackdown in its armed forces in a decade.

Li Shangfu, the former defence minister who disappeared in September last year and was officially fired in October, had been stripped of his party membership due to “serious discipline violations”, Chinese state media reported.

Li had taken and handed out bribes and resisted an investigation, state news agency Xinhua said. State media also confirmed that Wei Fenghe, Li’s predecessor as defence minister who had not been heard of since stepping down early last year, was under investigation for corruption.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is convinced that a majority in the European parliament will support Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as president of the European Commission.

“The European Council and the member states have to smartly make a proposal that can get a majority in parliament,” Scholz said as he arrived at a leaders’ summit on Thursday.

Negotiators from the centre-right European People’s Party, the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, and the liberal Renew have agreed to put forward von der Leyen in a proposal that Scholz said “takes into account that such a majority can also be found”.

He added the proposal would now be “carefully discussed” by the leaders of the EU’s 27 member states.

A decision on extending Ursula von der Leyen’s term as European Commission president is not possible without Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Premier Donald Tusk said on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of a summit of EU leaders where von der Leyen’s second term will be discussed, Tusk said: “The decision is for Madame Meloni and other leaders . . . There is no Europe without Italy and there is no decision without Prime Minister Meloni, that is obvious.”

Tusk was one of six male leaders from three centrist parties that pre-cooked a deal on von der Leyen and two other top EU appointments last week in talks Meloni said had purposely excluded her, leading some officials to suspect she could withhold her support.

“No one respects Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Italy more than I do,” Tusk added.

The Bank of England has called for greater transparency in the private equity sector, particularly over borrowing and asset valuation as global leveraged loan defaults climb.

“Improved transparency over valuation practices and overall levels of leverage would help to reduce the vulnerabilities in the sector,” the Bank wrote in its twice yearly Financial Stability Report. It pointed out that global default rates on leveraged loans had jumped by 5 percentage points since early 2022.

The report said banks needed to better understand their exposure to the industry.

“The global banking system has significant exposure to PE activity. Such exposures could lead to credit losses for banks,” the report said. “The potential impact of losses on these exposures could in part reflect weaknesses in banks’ risk management practices.”

Presidential debate: American voters will be tuning in to watch Joe Biden and Donald Trump go head-to-head in the first presidential debate ahead of November’s election. The showdown will be hosted in Georgia, Atlanta, by CNN, and is a vital chance for both candidates to win hearts and minds in what polls suggest is a tight race. 

You can follow the FT’s coverage of the night on the election live blog. 

Nike: The US sportswear giant, which is experiencing its worst sales slowdown in decades, will report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings after market close. Investors will be watching to see whether the company has come up with a strategy to regain ground from competitors such as Hoka. 

US GDP: Economists polled by Reuters expect the final estimate for first quarter economic growth to remain unchanged at 1.3 per cent.

Other economic data: Orders for durable goods — including washing machines and aircraft — are forecast to have decreased 0.1 per cent on a monthly basis in May after rising 0.6 per cent in April. New applications for US unemployment aid are forecast to have decreased to 236,000 in the week ended June 22, compared with 238,000 in the prior week.

Other earnings: Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance, which in March warned of a “challenging retail environment” in the US, will report third-quarter earnings before the opening bell.

The number of foreign direct investment projects in the UK fell in the year to March 2024, providing fuel for concerns over foreign investors’ appetite for the country.

Data published on Thursday by the Department for Business and Trade showed that 1,555 FDI projects landed in the UK in the fiscal year ending March 2024, down 6 per cent from the previous year and 31 per cent below the peak in 2016-17, the year of the Brexit referendum.

Foreign investment is a key driver of growth in productivity and living standards. The declines were spread across investor countries and sectors.

Taiwan on Thursday warned its citizens to avoid any unnecessary travel to China, as rising tensions undermine once-close exchanges across the Strait.

China’s move last week to criminalise what it calls Taiwanese “separatism” — including a threat of the death penalty — “seriously threatens the personal safety of [Taiwan] citizens when travelling to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau”, Taiwan’s cabinet-level China policy body said.

The escalation further complicates attempts to revive tourism exchanges. Beijing gradually banned Chinese tourist visits to Taiwan after the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive party came to power in 2016, and Taipei imposed pandemic-related restrictions in 2020.

GSK shares fell more than 6 per cent in morning trading after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended restricting the use of vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, an area in which the British pharma group is the market leader.

GSK’s blockbuster Arexvy vaccine received FDA approval to expand its use for 50-59 year-olds earlier this month. On Tuesday, however, a CDC committee postponed a decision on recommending RSV vaccines for the age group, citing a need for more data.

The CDC recommended medical professionals give routine RSV vaccination to over 75s, as well as 60-74 year-olds at increased risk of severe RSV.

The move, which narrows the expected scope for the vaccines, is a blow to GSK.

European stocks were steady early on Thursday as traders await key US inflation data due later this week.

The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 was flat in morning trade, with gains for energy stocks and industrials cancelled out by losses for healthcare companies and utilities.

Contracts tracking Wall Street’s S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively, ahead of the New York open.

Data on Friday is expected to show that the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation slowed further in May, potentially raising the chance of interest rate cuts later this year.

Big share price moves in Europe today include Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M, London-listed paper maker DS Smith and UK outsourcing group Serco:

• H&M: Shares in the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer led losses on the region-wide Stoxx 600 index, dropping 13 per cent after it reported lower than expected quarterly operating profits and a hit to sales this month owing to bad weather.
  

  

• DS Smith: Shares in the London-lister paper manufacturer led gains on the Stoxx, rising 6.2 per cent after takeover talks between rivals Suzano and International Paper were abandoned. DS Smith had earlier agreed to be bought by IP and a Suzano-IP tie-up would have been on condition of IP abandoning its DS Smith bid, Reuters reported.

• Serco: The UK-based outsourcer’s shares rose 4.8 per cent after it lifted its full-year profit guidance on the back of growth in contract wins and improved productivity. 

UK electronics retailer Currys reported a 10 per cent increase in full-year profits and forecast further growth, with a particularly strong recovery for its business in the Nordics.

Currys reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of £118mn in the year to April 27 — up from £107mn and in line with guidance that was raised in May.

“We’re planning prudently but confidently for the year ahead, on course to grow both profits and cash flow,” said chief executive Alex Baldock.

The high street group earlier this year rebuffed a takeover attempt from US investment group Elliott Management. The retailer’s shares had been in a multiyear decline before the takeover interest from Elliott but have climbed more than 50 per cent since the start of 2024.

H&M, the world’s second-biggest listed fashion retailer, posted an increase in sales and profits in its second quarter but warned that sales for June were expected to fall due to bad weather. 

Operating profit in March to May was SKr7.1bn ($672.5mn) compared with SKr4.7bn in the same period the previous year. H&M recorded a 3 per cent rise in net sales to SKr59.6bn.

Chief executive Daniel Erver said the group had a “robust financial position” but added that “the situation in the world around us remains uncertain and households continue to have high living costs”.

Serco has increased its profit guidance for 2024 as the outsourcing group predicts further growth in new contracts and improved productivity.

The London-listed business, which manages contracts for governments worldwide, said on Thursday that a strong first-half performance had enabled it to lift its forecast for underlying profit to £270mn, £10mn higher than previously guidance, and to cut its debt. 

Mark Irwin, chief executive, said: “As we enter the second six months of the year, while mindful of a potential impact internationally from elections in 2024, we remain optimistic about the quality of our pipeline of potential new work to support our medium-term growth targets.”

Asian equities declined on Thursday, with Hong Kong leading losses as Chinese tech groups and property developers listed in the city dropped.

The benchmark Hang Seng index dropped 2.3 per cent, led lower by declines in established Chinese tech groups. Losses in electric vehicle maker BYD, travel agency Trip.com and Tencent contributed the most to the drop.

The Hang Seng Tech index fell 2.7 per cent, with electronics manufacturer Xiaomi falling 8.2 per cent.

The Hang Seng Mainland Properties index dropped 2.6 per cent in spite of new easing measures announced by the municipality of Beijing.

The yen recovered 0.3 per cent against the dollar after falling to its weakest level since 1986 on Wednesday.

The London Metal Exchange is exploring the possibility of listing Hong Kong as a warehouse location for metals delivery as the bourse looks to expand its China network.

“We recently commissioned a third party feasibility study on this idea, and we have been receiving great support from the local market,” said Bonnie Chan, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which owns the LME, on Thursday.

Bringing LME warehouses to China has been a “long-term strategic aim” of HKEX, according to the bourse operator.

Having LME warehouses in Hong Kong “could strengthen the link between mainland physical metals markets and international pricing on the LME”, Chan added.

Chinese industrial profit growth slowed in May, in a warning signal for Beijing’s policy of boosting manufacturing output to drive economic growth amid a property sector slowdown.

Industrial profits at businesses with more than Rmb20mn ($2.8mn) in turnover rose 3.4 per cent over the first five months of the year, according to official statistics released on Thursday, down from a 4.3 per cent reading the previous month.

The slowdown comes amid rising trade tensions over China’s industrial drive, which the US and EU allege is creating overcapacity.

State-owned groups reported that profits contracted 2.4 per cent for the January to May period, while private companies showed 7.6 per cent growth. Mining led losses with a 16.2 per cent decrease, while manufacturing profits grew 6.3 per cent.

Hong Kong equities led losses in Asia on Thursday as Chinese tech companies listed in the city sold off in early trading.

The city’s benchmark Hang Seng index and its tech subindex both shed 1.6 per cent. Falls in Tencent, Trip.com and Bilibili drove the index lower.

After a sell-off on Wednesday, Japan’s yen was trading at ¥160.40 a dollar, its weakest level since 1986.

The falls came after US equities edged up on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite adding 0.5 per cent.

Yields on two-year Treasuries rose 0.5 percentage points to 4.74 per cent while 10-year Treasury yields gained 0.09 percentage points to hit 4.32 per cent.

Webtoon Entertainment, an online comics platform controlled by South Korea’s search engine Naver, has priced its US initial public offering at the top of its marketed range to value the company at around $2.7bn.

The Los Angeles-based group said on Wednesday that it would sell 15mn shares at $21 apiece after marketing them for between $18 and $21. The IPO will raise about $315mn.

South Korean companies including Naver and Kakao have led the manga industry’s digital transformation, making webtoons one of the country’s most successful cultural exports. Webtoon Entertainment has about 170mn monthly active users in more than 150 countries.

Shares will start trading on Nasdaq’s Global Select Market index on Thursday in the US.

Events: Peru’s President Dina Boluarte continues an official visit to China, where she is expected to meet President Xi Jinping and executives from Cosco Shipping to discuss the Chancay port project. Thailand’s foreign minister pays an official visit to Cambodia.

Economic data: China releases data on industrial profits for May and Japan publishes retail sales figures. Australia announces job vacancies for May.

Central banks: The central bank of the Philippines announces its interest rate decision, which it is widely expected to hold at 6.5 per cent.

Corporate updates: Nintendo, China Construction Bank and China Life Insurance hold annual meetings.

American Electric Power named former Berkshire Hathaway Energy veteran Bill Fehrman as its next chief executive on Wednesday, putting him in charge of one of the largest electric utilities in the US.

Fehrman was chief executive of Berkshire’s sprawling energy and utility operations from 2018 until 2023, following in the footsteps of Warren Buffett’s anointed successor Greg Abel. He was involved in some of the company’s most important dealmaking, including its $8bn acquisition of natural gas pipelines from Dominion Energy in 2020.

“[Fehrman’s] expertise and unique perspectives will help AEP implement new solutions as we build the energy system of the future”, said AEP chair Sara Martinez Tucker.

AEP fired its chief executive in February, weeks after activist investor Carl Icahn won seats on the $90bn company’s board.

Levi Strauss shares plunged more than 13 per cent in after-hours trading after it missed analysts’ expectations for second-quarter revenue despite announcing it would raise its dividend for the first time in six quarters. 

The denim maker reported second-quarter revenue increased 7.8 per cent to $1.44bn, just shy of analysts’ expectations of $1.45bn. Net revenue in the Americas increased 17 per cent but sales declined 2.1 per cent in Europe and 0.7 per cent in Asia in the quarter. 

Second quarter adjusted earnings per share rose 12 cents from the same period last year to 16 cents a share, beating analysts’ expectations for 11 cents. 

Levi Strauss announced it would raise its dividend by 8 per cent to 13 cents a share and reaffirmed its full-year guidance.

State Street Global Advisors plans to launch its first cryptocurrency fund in a new partnership with digital assets group Galaxy Digital. 

SSGA, which oversees $4.3tn and is the third-largest ETF issuer in the US, pointed to surging interest in crypto among investors since the first US spot bitcoin ETFs launched in January. A recent regulatory filing outlined plans for a forthcoming ETF with holdings that would include cryptocurrency futures and other crypto ETFs.

Galaxy worked with Invesco to launch one of the first bitcoin ETFs and is among those planning to debut ether ETFs once the Securities and Exchange Commission gives its approval. 

Bolivia’s President Luis Arce has denounced the “irregular mobilisation” of army units in La Paz, amid an apparent attempted military coup in the South American nation.

Footage broadcast on Bolivian media showed an army vehicle ramming into the entrance of the presidential palace on Wednesday, as soldiers gathered in the adjacent Plaza Murillo.

“The three chiefs of the armed forces have come to express our dismay,” General Juan Jose Zuñiga told a local television crew. “There will be a new cabinet of ministers, surely things will change, but our country cannot continue like this any longer.”

Bolivia’s leftist former president Evo Morales, who has been publicly feuding with his onetime protégé Arce, accused Zuñiga of attempting to carry out a coup d’état.

Read more here

Honduras’s former president Juan Orlando Hernández was handed a 45-year prison sentence on Wednesday for facilitating cocaine transit to the US, capping the swift prosecution of a former US ally and sending a warning to leaders across the region.

Hernández, who led Honduras from 2014 until 2022, was convicted in March for his role in an armed conspiracy to move more than 400 tonnes of US-bound cocaine through the Central American country.

Prosecutors said during the New York-based trial that Hernández told allies he would stuff drugs “right up the noses of the gringos”. They said that in exchange for his partnership with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, he received millions of dollars in bribes that helped finance his political ambitions.