🫠Liquid Glass: June 15, Issue 29

📈 US Inflation Woes Unjustified? While year-on-year headline inflation increased from 2.3% to 2.4% in May, core inflation (excluding energy and food prices) remained steady at 2.8% - within the Fed’s target range of 2-3%. However, the full impacts of tariffs are to be felt later in the year, analysts predict.

📈 Trump & Compound Interest 🤝: On Monday, Trump hosted a White House roundtable to promote “Trump Accounts,” a pilot program in the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ that would automatically seed a $1,000 index-fund investment for every US newborn from 2025–2028. Critics argue the accounts disproportionately benefit wealthier families, who are more likely to have the financial literacy to yield the accounts’ long-term value.

📈 Superannuation is increasingly turning to the US: State Street’s Australian AUM jumped 50% to A$427 billion, JPMorgan’s rose 55%, and Morgan Stanley doubled its mandates to over A$25 billion. All of which are fueled by giants such as Aus, Aware and Uni Super looking for solid returns.

📈 World Bank Reveals the Impact of Trump Tariffs: The World Bank has halved its forecasts for US GDP growth in 2025 down to 1.4%. Global growth forecasts are down from 2.7% to 2.3% this year alone but if tariffs increase by 10% growth could slow to just 1.8%.

🌎 L.A. Protests Erupt After ICE Raids: Protests broke out in Los Angeles after U.S. immigration raids led to over 100 arrests, mostly targeting Latino communities. Seen as part of Trump’s mass deportation push, the protests turned violent, blocking highways and torching Waymo cars. In response, Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines. A June 9 YouGov poll showed 45% of Americans disapproved of the protests, 38% viewed them as peaceful, and 50% disapproved of Trump’s deportation approach. Demonstrations have since spread to other major cities, with a nationwide protest planned for June 14.

🌎 Rare Earths In, Visas Out: President Trump announced a new U.S.- China trade deal after talks in London. He said China agreed to restart rare earth exports to the U.S. in exchange for Washington easing visa restrictions on Chinese students. The deal, still pending final approval from both Trump and President Xi, is widely seen as a “framework handshake”, not a full resolution to the trade war. Markets barely reacted, and Chinese spokesperson Lin Jian declined to endorse Trump’s optimism.

🌎 Preemptive Punch From Israel: On June 13, Israel launched a major strike on Iran, hitting nuclear and military sites across the country. Prime Minister Netanyahu said the window to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program was rapidly closing, pointing to its efforts to produce weapons-grade uranium. The attack reportedly killed top Iranian military officials, dealing a blow to the country’s leadership and delaying its nuclear progress by at least a year. Iran responded by launching missiles right back at Israeli territory.

🌎 Eco-Warrior Meets Bureaucratic Border Patrol: Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel after being detained on a sailboat trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Thunberg was among 12 others who tried to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza

🌎 “Mr. Too Late” Gets the Boot: On June 6, President Trump announced he would soon name a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May 2026. Trump has long criticized Powell’s leadership, calling him “Mr. Too Late” for what he claims were delayed responses to inflation, both under President Biden and during Trump’s current term. Speculation is mounting that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may be tapped for the role, a move that critics say could undermine the Fed’s independence

💼 Investors Sour on Apple: At WWDC Apple ($AAPL ( ▲ 0.54% )) underscored how its hardware-first model is hampering its AI ambitions, and investors took note. Shares, already down 19%, slipped further after the event. Apple rolled out modest OS tweaks but offered no major AI surprises. A revamped, AI-powered Siri remains “coming next year,” likely not arriving until late 2026—two years behind Google Assistant’s upgrade.

💼 Amazon’s Datacentres to get a Nuclear Boost: Talen Energy will supply 1,920 MW of power from its nuclear plant to Amazon’s Pennsylvania data centers. The deal builds on previous co-location agreements and dovetails with Amazon’s plan to invest about $20 billion in advanced cloud and AI campuses across the state. Additionally, Amazon hit 53% of its 2030 water-positivity target in 2024 by using recycled water for cooling at over 120 U.S. data centers, saving 530 million gallons of drinking water.

💼 TV/Streaming Split Strikes Warner Bros.: On Monday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it will split into two public companies by mid-2026, one combining Streaming & Studios (DC Studios, HBO/HBO Max and others), and the other housing Global Networks (CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery+ and related channels) to sharpen each unit’s strategic focus amid business headwinds; the news sent shares up over 9% pre-market, with final board approval expected ahead of next year’s carve-out.

💼 Musk Backs Down From Big D: Elon Musk says he “regrets” his fiery posts attacking Trump and his tax bill, saying he “went too far” after pressures from allies like JD Vance, and David Sacks. He’s since deleted several posts and reportedly spoke with Trump, who accepted his apology. $TSLA ( ▼ 0.65% ) stock is down 19% on the year.

🤪 Banking on Labubu: Ping An Bank’s viral promo offering Labubu dolls to depositors who locked in ¥50,000 for three months has been halted by Chinese regulators. The wildly popular toys sparked a social media frenzy but also drew criticism for driving up bank costs in an already margin-squeezed environment. Authorities reminded banks that using gifts to attract deposits violates long-standing rules. Cute, but not compliant.

🤪 The Paywall Meets the Chatbot: As Google pivots from being a search engine to an “answer engine,” its new AI Overviews and chatbot-style responses are decimating referral traffic to mainstream media outlets by eliminating the need to click on links. Business Insider cut 21% of its staff last month after its organic search traffic plunged 55% between April 2022 and April 2025. HuffPost and the Washington Post have seen similarly steep declines. The Atlantic’s CEO has warned staff to assume Google traffic will soon hit zero.

🤪 New Look For the Apple OS: Also at WWDC, Apple unveiled its biggest visual overhaul since 2013 called ‘Liquid Glass’. The redesign features a translucent visual interface that reacts to movement, adjusts to lighting, and lets users sees through all the buttons and icons in your interface.

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