Modi’s government has looked to remain neutral throughout the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, but has been criticized for maintaining tight trade and diplomatic ties with Moscow. India has refused to condemn the war and has continued to buy discounted Russian oil, despite Western efforts to boycott such energy purchases, whose revenues fund the conflict. Now, India appears to be seeking closer relations with Ukraine through Modi’s visit to Kyiv last week, which comes at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Modi’s trip will be the first by an Indian head of state to Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established over 30 years ago, when the European country achieved independence in 1991. ‘Landmark’ visit Modi and Zelenskyy do not know each other well and only met twice in recent months, on the sidelines of this and last year’s G7 summits in Italy and Japan, an Indian official noted when announcing the trip Monday. He described Modi’s upcoming visit as a “landmark and historic.” “Bilateral relations” between Ukraine and India are certainly at an earlier stage of development than

Japan’s second-quarter gross domestic product beat analysts’ expectations on Thursday, both on a quarter-on-quarter as well as an annualized basis. GDP rose 0.8% quarter on quarter compared to Reuters poll estimates of a 0.5% rise. This was also a reversal from the revised 0.6% fall seen in the first quarter. It expanded 3.1% on an annualized basis, also beating estimates of a 2.1% growth. On a year-on-year basis, however, the country’s GDP fell for a second straight quarter, down 0.8% after having declined 0.9% in the first quarter. Following the GDP data release, the benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.16%, while the broad-based Topix climbed 0.44%. The Japanese yen strengthened marginally against the U.S. dollar, trading at 147.18. Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” Jun Saito, senior research fellow at the Japan Center for Economic Research, described the GDP result as “very positive,” and will encourage the Bank of Japan to continue raising interest rates. However, Saito said that the Japanese economy will only grow “modestly” for the whole of 2024, due to the contraction seen in the first quarter of

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway now owns more short-term Treasurys than the Federal Reserve.The company held $234.6 billion in short-term US Treasury Bills at the end of the second quarter, according to its latest earnings release. That’s up 81% from the roughly $130 billion it owned at the end of 2023. It also eclipses the Federal Reserve’s T-bill holdings, which stood at $195.3 billion as of last week.Buffett’s preference for Treasurys is reflective of him being unable to find worthy investments that exceed the more-than-5% annualized risk-free offered by government debt. It has some worried that the billionaire investor has soured on the US stock market. He has historically raised cash when he sees few attractive opportunities to invest due to elevated valuations. For context, the 1-month T-Bill yields 5.33%, the 3-month T-Bill at 5.22%, and the 6-month T-Bill at 4.95%.Those interest rates should generate risk-free gains of about $12 billion annually for Berkshire Hathaway’s massive T-Bill holdings, or quarterly gains of about $3 billion. At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in May, Buffett called T-Bills “the safest investment there is.”Treasury

The Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision will be announced on Wednesday. Markets largely expect the Fed to hold rates steady at its July meeting before eventually cutting in September as the case for easing policy mounts. Inflation has shown signs of slowing in recent months. In June, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which strips out the cost of food and energy and is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, rose 2.6% over the prior year, its lowest annual increase in more than three years. Separate data for the month showed a significant decrease in another inflation metric, the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Meanwhile, the labor market has shown signs of cooling. The ratio of job openings to unemployed workers is back at pre-pandemic levels, and last month, the unemployment rate hit its highest level since November 2021. “While food and energy prices have been well-behaved and core goods have been a steady source of disinflation, gains in shelter and auto insurance have remained elevated, prolonging inflation’s journey back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. However, with real-time

Elon Musk and Donald Trump wouldn’t seem to be natural allies. One has made cutting greenhouse emissions a major business selling point. The other questions the need to cut emissions at all, denouncing most forms of clean energy as at best unnecessary and at worst destructive. One wants to move away from fossil fuels and convert all car sales worldwide to electric vehicles. The other believes EVs will be an economic disaster for America and that the nation should produce and burn more oil. Musk is now publicly endorsing Trump’s presidential reelection bid. And the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that Musk is now planning on supporting Trump’s presidential campaign by committing $45 million a month to a new super PAC backing the former president. The donations, if they come to pass, are a significant development in not only the presidential campaign, but also the relationship between the two men, who both have fervent support among millions of fans who stand ready to believe most anything they say. Musk didn’t comment directly on the Journal

There is a lot of uncertainty in Japan about the next few years as a “transactional” Donald Trump’s possible return to the Oval Office has raised business and regional security-related concerns, U.S. president Joe Biden’s performance during the first presidential debate has “caused a bit of a shockwave across Tokyo Biden’s performance has raised alarm bells in his own party with several colleagues urging him to drop out of the race. Former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to say she supports Biden as the Democratic nominee and major donors are refusing to finance the party until he steps down. Pesek said that the Japanese government had been “pretty certain that Biden had this well in hand.” However, following the recent turmoil in Biden’s party, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is now reappraising the odds of a “Trump 2.0 presidency.” A Trump presidency is concerning to Tokyo because Japan suffered from “collateral damage” during his first term “In many ways, a lot of his trade war policies were aimed at China, but Japan’s economy suffered greatly during that