The world’s largest economy unexpectedly lost steam heading into the summer as the destabilizing conflict in the Middle East upended energy markets.

Source: cnn.com

Ariel Edwards-Levy of CNN reported today that a new CNN poll conducted by the public opinion research firm SSRS found that 70% of adult Americans disapprove of the way President Donald J. Trump is handling the economy while only 30% approve. A whopping 75% disapprove of how Trump is handling inflation, while only 25% approve. When it comes to gas prices, the numbers are even worse for the president: 79% disapprove while only 21% approve. Sixty-five percent think Trump’s own economic policies have hurt the country, while only 22% think those policies have improved the economy. Seventy-three percent of those polled said Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, while 27% said he has the right priorities. Sixty-six percent agreed that Trump puts his own gain over the good of the country; 34% agreed that he does not. Only 43% of those polled thought Trump “has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president,” while 57% did not agree with that statement. As Edwards-Levy notes, Trump’s overall approval rating in the new CNN poll matches his rating just after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol—his lowest ever—at 34%. The number of those who strongly disapprove of him is 50%, a new high, while only 15% strongly support him, a record low. Edwards-Levy points out that people polled aren’t keen on the way Trump’s handling the situation in Iran: 72% disapprove while only 28% approve. Sixty-seven percent think his actions there have hurt the U.S., while only 21% think those actions have helped the U.S. So, as she puts it: “Just 28% approve of his handling of the situation in Iran, 25% on inflation and 21% on gas prices, with significant pockets of disapproval even among his supporters.” Americans unhappy with Trump’s war on Iran are unlikely to be cheered by the news from that conflict over the past few days. Andrew Egger wrote in The Bulwark today about how the Trump administration seems stuck in a loop, “orbiting hopelessly around two demonstrably failed positions: If we bomb the hell out of them, they’ll give us what we want. If we stop bombing them, they’ll give us what we want.” Adina Renner of the New York Times today called this “The Whiplash War” and provided charts of attacks showing what this looping looks like on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Iranian negotiators have made their demands quite clear: sanctions removed, troops out, no more discussion of nuclear weapons, and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz. Laura Wise, a scholar of peace and conflict resolution at the University of Edinburgh, told Renner that the process of ending the war has been complicated by the fact American negotiators seem focused on “getting a deal rather than making peace.” Davis Winkie of CNN reported that on Saturday, the Pentagon changed the way it was accounting for military personnel injured in the Iran war. After the removal from Defense Casualty Analysis System of four service members killed by Iranian strikes in Jordan and Iraq last week created an outcry and brought renewed attention to accusations the Pentagon was not being transparent about the human toll of the war, on Saturday the Pentagon added more than 140 additional soldiers to the database and restored the four missing soldiers. The numbers now show 18 troops dead and another 624 wounded since February 28, when Trump began strikes against Iran. Over the weekend, military strikes in the region paused as Trump decided against an escalation. According to U.S. officials who spoke to Eric Schmitt and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times, that decision came in part because the U.S. military is running low on Patriot antimissile interceptors and other air defense munitions necessary to shoot down Iranian missiles. The journalists reported that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine had warned that further combat would “dangerously deplete” interceptors, a leak that suggests real dissent within the White House over the execution of the war. On Meet the Press on Sunday, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz told host Kristen Welker that any problems with munitions were former President Joe Biden’s fault but added that the U.S. has “everything that it needs to conduct this campaign…and…the people who are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail.” Top advisors also expressed concern over a widening war and the economic crunch caused by the crisis. But yesterday, U.S. Central Command posted that forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had launched missiles “in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces.” Jared Malsin and Suha Ma’ayeh of the Wall Street Journal noted that this surprise attack is the first in which the Iranians have gone on offense. Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow specializing in Iran at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told the journalists that this shift indicates Iranian officials “see themselves as having the upper hand. It was a signal of a sort of calibrated escalation.” They might have increased confidence because, as John Irish and Jonathan Saul of Reuters reported yesterday, they are expecting a shipment of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air defense missile launchers within weeks. U.S. Central Command said all of last night’s Iranian missiles were intercepted. Trump nonetheless took the attacks poorly, telling the Fox News Channel: “We are going to beat the f*cking sh*t out of them. We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.” U.S. and Saudi Arabian forces struck against an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq. Oil prices rose with the news of renewed strikes. Despite concerns about rising inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9 to 3 to hold interest rates steady; the three dissenting regional Fed bank presidents voted to raise interest rates. Concern over inflation and uncertainty about the economy sent the stock market plunging today in its worst day since April 2025, when Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs. And so, Republicans are devoting themselves to serving red meat to their......

The president loves talking about money—just not yours.

Source: thedailybeast.com

Economies across the eurozone have proved more resilient than feared in the face of supply-chain disruptions and higher energy prices driven by the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran.

Source: wsj.com

A business organisation says accommodation providers, cafes and visitor attractions are likely to be affected.

Source: bbc.com

The euro zone economy grew a touch faster than modest expectations last quarter as surging investment in AI, ample ​government spending and several one-off factors helped offset a drag from the war in Iran and soaring energy costs.

Source: reuters.com

“What happened to Ely this summer would be like a Christmas tree farm closing for the first three weeks of December,” columnist Aaron Brown writes.

Source: startribune.com

Employers from Florida to Ohio rely on TPS holders to staff jobs in construction and home health. They say Trump is threatening that labor pool.

Source: usatoday.com

China’s reaction to the oil shock helped prevent the worst of the expected price spikes.

Source: axios.com

In Hefei, the heart of China’s memory-chip industry, factories can barely keep up with the world’s appetite for AI hardware. In Changchun, the rust-belt home of gasoline-powered carmaking, officials admitted to “unprecedented” difficulties — a phrase later removed after drawing social media attention.

Source: bloomberg.com

In Hefei, the heart of China’s memory-chip industry, factories can barely keep up with the world’s appetite for AI hardware. In Changchun, the rust-belt home of gasoline-powered carmaking, officials admitted to “unprecedented” difficulties — a phrase later removed after drawing social media attention.

Source: bloomberg.com

France’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter, while Spain added momentum, demonstrating Europe’s continued ability to weather the fallout from the Iran war.

Source: bloomberg.com

Record heatwaves are straining Western Europe’s infrastructure, businesses and budgets as wildfires and insurance costs rise.

Source: cnbc.com

Since the pandemic, British families have been building a financial buffer for when they might need it most. That time seems to have come.

Source: bloomberg.com

Less so than some of its G7 partners but not entirely immune

Source: ft.com