US stock futures edged higher on Thursday, with contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all up by 0.3%, as investors digested fresh labor market data that reaffirmed the resilience of the US economy. 

Uranium futures in the United States fell to $71 per pound, retreating from a seven-month high of $79 reached on June 27th. 

Private businesses in the United States unexpectedly cut 33,000 jobs in June 2025, marking the first net decline in employment since March 2023 and sharply undercutting market forecasts of a 95,000-job gain, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report.

The US economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2025, marking the first quarterly decline in real GDP in three years and a sharper drop than the previously estimated 0.2% contraction.

The US manufacturing sector continued to contract in June 2025, according to the latest data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), with the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ticking up modestly to 49.0 from 48.5 in May. 

US equity markets posted modest gains on Thursday as investors balanced weaker macroeconomic signals with renewed speculation about an earlier-than-expected shift in Federal Reserve policy.

Saudi Arabia’s trade surplus fell to SAR 14.2 billion (USD 3.78 billion) in April 2025, marking a sharp 62% year-on-year decline from SAR 37.0 billion in April 2024.

The yield on India’s 10-year government bond (G-Sec) declined to 6.35% on Wednesday, reversing part of its brief climb to 6.4% on June 23rd.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished virtually unchanged at 8,559 on Wednesday, stabilizing after a strong 1% gain in the prior session, as investors absorbed a surprisingly soft inflation report and renewed hopes for monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

The US dollar index (DXY) extended its recent downward trend on Wednesday, trading below 98 for the third consecutive session. The retreat reflects a confluence of softening haven demand due to tentative geopolitical calm.

Crude oil prices staged a modest recovery on Wednesday, with WTI crude futures rising above $65 per barrel, snapping a two-day rout that had erased nearly 13% in value.

Wall Street closed a jittery week with its third straight equity loss as investors struggled to reconcile an increasingly dovish signal from parts of the Federal Reserve with fresh geopolitical flash-points in the Middle East.

Kosmyna et al.’s “cognitive-debt” alarm collapses under even cursory scrutiny.  An 18-person subsample, thousands of uncorrected EEG tests and tool-silo rules that forbid the AI group from normal web use virtually guarantee a result that looks anti-ChatGPT.  Yet mainstream neuroscience shows the opposite pattern: lower fronto-parietal activation is a hallmark of neural efficiency as skills consolidate, not a sign of decay.  fNIRS and fMRI practice studies chart falling pre-frontal load alongside sharper performance, while longitudinal MRI trials reveal digital training can enlarge grey matter and reorganise functional networks. By conflating strategic memory shifts with impairment, cherry-picking p-values and burying alternative explanations, the paper fashions a dystopia that real biomedical evidence simply does not support.

European equity markets retreated sharply on Tuesday as geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran rattled investor confidence.

Gold prices climbed sharply toward $3,390 per ounce on Tuesday, reversing Monday’s losses and reflecting renewed investor demand for safe-haven assets amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

The U.S. dollar weakened sharply on Thursday, with the Dollar Index (DXY) falling below 98.5—a level not seen since early 2022—amid escalating trade tensions and mounting expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut.

Asian equity markets retreated sharply on Thursday following renewed tariff threats from former U.S.

The Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.4% to close at 8,620 on Wednesday.

Australia’s consumer confidence posted a marginal gain in June 2025, signaling a sharp slowdown in momentum amid global trade uncertainty and residual household financial strain.

Australia’s benchmark 10-year government bond yield hovered near 4.31% on Tuesday, maintaining its recent range as investors digested the latest monetary policy minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).