
Rio's Iron Ore Output Recovers As Prices Top $100
Today's must-reads:
• Rio Tinto's iron ore shipments recover
• Australia's online payment boom sparks cash crisis
• Trump says he won't fire Federal Reserve chair
Rio Tinto's second-quarter iron ore shipments largely recovered from cyclone impacts earlier in the year, jumping 13% from the first quarter. It comes as the iron ore price topped $100 a ton for the first time since May, as sentiment improved around Chinese economic growth.
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New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
Fed Takes Fresh Steps to Defend Renovations as White House Intensifies Attacks
The Federal Reserve on Monday took additional steps to defend the renovations underway at its headquarters in Washington, as top Trump administration officials show little sign of backing down from allegations that the roughly $2.5 billion project has been mismanaged. The central bank on Monday published a virtual tour of the active construction site, including footage of asbestos caulking being removed and the blast resistant windows being installed. The Fed, which has said that it has scaled back its initial plans, highlighted changes made to a 2021 proposal submitted to a little-known planning board. The Fed's renovation has become central to the administration's attempts to undermine and potentially oust Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the central bank. The White House has fixated on the project's cost overruns, as well as what it described as luxury features included in the initial plan submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission. Those had included new water fountains and a roof terrace for staff, neither of which are part of the latest proposal. The Fed has also clarified that its headquarters will not have a V.I.P. dining room or private elevators, both of which had previously garnered criticism from the White House. Top administration officials, including James Blair, the White House's deputy chief of staff, have demanded a tour of the construction site. On Friday, Mr. Blair, newly appointed to the National Capital Planning Commission, rejected an offer by the Fed to visit at 7 p.m. that evening and said he did not want to see the site after-hours. 'We want to see what's going on,' he told reporters. 'We want to see what the construction is like.' Mr. Blair has referred to the Fed's headquarters as the 'Taj Mahal on the National Mall.' He also has gone after Mr. Powell directly, posting a meme on social media of the central bank chair dressed as Marie Antoinette that read, 'Let them eat basis points.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Treasury Secretary Bessent bashes Fed 'fear mongering' over tariffs and says central bank should be reviewed
Donald Trump may have backed away from reports that he could soon fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but the administration isn't turning down the heat on the central bank chief. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent weighed in on the drama swirling around President Donald Trump and the central bank. Authorities should be looking into the Fed's efficacy, he said, when asked for his opinion on whether Trump should remove Fed Chair Powell from his post. "I think that what we need to do is examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful," Bessent said in a TV interview with CNBC on Monday. "We should think, 'Has the organization succeeded in its mission?' If this were the FAA, and we were having this many mistakes, we would go back and look at why has this happened," Bessent said. Bessent also had issues with the Fed's reaction to Trump's tariffs. Speaking at a European Central Bank panel earlier this month, Powell previously said that the Fed would have cut rates already this year were it not for Trump's tariff policies. "There was fear-mongering over tariffs, and thus far, we have seen very little, if any, inflation. We've had great inflation numbers. I think this idea of them not being able to break out of a certain mindset. All these PhDs over there — I don't know what they do," Bessent added of Fed economists. Economists have warned that tariffs could raise inflation since Trump started his trade war earlier this year. Goods inflation has already started to drift higher, with the prices for durables rising 0.7% year-over-year in June, the second-straight month of growth after more than two years of annualized declines, according to the latest consumer price index report. Fed drama Bessent's comments add to the pressure campaign that's been waged against the central bank this year. Dismayed at the lack of rate cuts from the Fed, Trump has bashed Powell and repeatedly called on the Fed to lower interest rates. He reportedly told Republican lawmakers last week he could fire Powell "soon," before denying that he had plans to oust him. A separate report from The Wall Street Journal claimed that Bessent privately urged Trump not to fire the Fed Chair, pointing to the potential impact on markets. Bessent denied that he had a hand in talking Trump out of fired Powell. "I'm not sure who the leaker was, but the problem with leakers is they only have partial information," Bessent said of the Journal's report. "President Trump solicits a whole range of opinions and then makes a decision. So he takes a lot of input and at the end of the day, it's his decision." The Fed is also facing backlash from the Trump administration for its $2.5 billion building renovation, which Powell defended in a public letter to the director of the Office of Management and Budget last week. "Chair Powell's term ends in May. There's also another seat coming up in January. So we'll see," Bessent said.


Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Trump's Critical Minerals Obsession Reignites Deep-Sea Mining
By The leader of one of the most aggressive seabed mining startups spent years invoking global warming to spark interest in extracting avocado-sized rocks rich in electric-vehicle battery metals from the bottom of the ocean. 'We want to help the world transition away from fossil fuels with the smallest possible climate change and environmental impact,' Gerard Barron, the Australian chief executive officer of a company then known as DeepGreen, told a 2019 meeting of the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority, which for a decade has been debating regulations to allow the mining of untouched, biodiverse deep-sea ecosystems in global waters.