DOW TIMES (ABOVE & BEYOND)

*The Alternative World Cup: Nike vs Adidas vs Puma* Have the big brands managed to pick the right teams? By Giles Turner, Bloomberg June 25, 2026 at 12:00 AM GMT+8 Now that we’re two-thirds the way through the group stages, we thought it was the right time to introduce the Alternative World Cup . Nike, Adidas and Puma provide the jerseys for roughly the same amount of teams, but which sports manufacturer has managed to get the most value so far? *League Table* First, a bit of housekeeping. For the most part, we’ve managed to convince the Bloomberg newsroom that it’s football, not soccer. But jersey vs kit/shirt has been a harder battle. Given the World Cup is where it is, we’re going for the Americanized jersey to describe the athletic shirt. There are 48 teams in this World Cup, which is too many to list who is sponsoring who. In theory, the biggest brands with the most money want to spend it on the biggest teams who are more likely win and therefore sell the most jerseys. It’s pretty simple stuff. Sure, there are wildcards where an outside team will do better than expected, or someone will pull off a particularly great design (nothing at this tournament compares to Nigeria’s 2018 home jersey). But in general, wins + goals = sales. We looked at every game played, and awarded points to the manufacturer who made the winning team’s jersey. Sure, it’s early days, but we’ll be rolling this out again as the tournament progresses. So far, Adidas has taken a very narrow lead, at least in terms of points. The German manufacturer sponsors teams like Argentina, Germany (for now), Spain, Japan, as well as Mexico, Scotland and Saudi Arabia (it also sponsors Italy, but let’s not go there). It’s a broad church. Nike historically likes to go all in on the biggest athletes and teams. Football is no exception, its teams include a big money quartet of USA, England, Brazil, and France, backed up by teams like the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, and Canada (I just bought this version of the Korea goalkeeper kit. I know, I’m 43, what am I doing?). Puma has a surprising number of teams, but perhaps with the exception of Portugal and Morocco, most of them probably won’t go too far into the knockout stages. And obviously lets give a shout out to Capelli, the sponsor of the World Cup Cinderella story; Cape Verde! If you look for ways to account for the fact that Adidas has more teams at the World Cup, then goal difference is really something: Nike is +25, compared with Adidas at +6 and Puma at +4. The key difference is defense: Adidas and Puma are both scoring at a decent rate, but they are also allowing far more back the other way. Still, I don’t think having a rock solid defense sells jerseys. Winning games and scoring goals does. Unless you’re Capelli and you need to get printing the Cape Verde goalkeeper jersey! But it’s not just scoring goals, it’s who scores them and how many. Everybody already owns a Messi shirt from the last World Cup. Will everyone want a Mbappé or Haaland jersey once this one is done? If so, Nike has taken an early lead. But if Messi takes Argentina all the way, you better hope Adidas printed enough jerseys, unlike last time. We might mix up what we look at and how we rank the teams as the tournament goes on. Later on this week, we’ll look at the cults behind the brands. In the meantime, let’s all pray for a Messi vs Ronaldo knockout round game. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-06-24/the-alternative-2026-world-cup-nike-vs-adidas-vs-puma?srnd=homepage-asia

ZUDIO TATA Trent FY26 AGM: Key Takeaways Noel Tata's last AGM as Chairman. Expansion guidance ▪️ 50 Westside stores/year ▪️ 200–250 Zudio stores/year ▪️ 25–40 Star stores/year Long-term vision: 5000 Zudio stores; Star could reach similar scale. Burnt Toast, Samoh & International business need 2–3 more years of incubation before aggressive expansion. Fashion LFL growth has moderated due to deeper penetration and store cannibalization, but management targets low double-digit LFL over time. Trent sees a need for more brands targeting different customer segments. Despite macro concerns, Trent has just ~2% market share, leaving a long runway for growth. ₹2500 cr fundraise to strengthen warehouses, IT, AI capabilities and support store expansion. Management remains bullish on Star, citing grocery's ~60% share of retail consumption and expecting stronger LFL trends. Westside e-commerce revenue: ~₹300 cr

Photo from Hemant Gupta

*Senators’ Scrutiny* The move has drawn the attention of two Senate Democrats who are probing whether Adani’s investment promises influenced the decision. Earlier this month, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal asked a series of questions of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about Adani’s earlier promised $10 billion investment, and whether the Justice Department communicated with the White House before deciding to drop the criminal case. “Its decision to halt its prosecution raises serious questions about corruption under President Trump and about the role that Mr. Adani’s politically salient offer played in the DOJ’s decision,” they said in a letter to Blanche that requested answers by June 25. “The $10 billion pledge played no role” in the decision to move to dismiss the indictment, the Justice Department said in a statement in response to questions from Bloomberg News, adding that it conducted a “thorough internal review of the case that revealed substantial merits issue.” “The Department often meets with outside counsel to discuss pending cases and potential resolutions to assure the best possible outcome for the American people,” it said. The motion to dismiss the charges against Adani came “many months” after his counsel first met with officials from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, said the department. The White House referred questions to the Department of Justice. Adani Rebound The clouds over the Adani Group have started to clear. Back in 2023, Adani’s personal wealth plunged by tens of billions of dollars after US short seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report accusing the conglomerate of widespread corporate misconduct. Adani has also denied Hindenburg’s fraud allegations. The shares subsequently recovered some of their losses, then fell again after the US indictment. Earlier this year, Adani once again became Asia’s richest man and recently had a net worth of $120.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. After the Justice Department moved to drop its case last month, the shares extended their rally, taking their combined market value in local-currency terms back to levels last seen before the Hindenburg report. In recent days, Adani Green Energy Ltd., the unit that was central to the US prosecutors’ case, has been in talks with lenders and advisers to raise as much as $1 billion through an offshore loan. Neither Adani Green nor other Adani corporate entities were charged by the Justice Department. Two other Adani units have separately entered into deals with American companies; its ports unit is teaming up with a provider of AI-driven software and the group is partnering with Jabil Inc. to manufacture AI data center equipment in India. _— With assistance from Chris Strohm_ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-23/billionaire-gautam-adani-met-donald-trump-jr-while-facing-us-bribery-charges?srnd=homepage-asia

Without being able to set foot on American soil for fear of being arrested, Adani’s ability to personally meet with potential US investors and business partners was restricted. In early 2026, the tycoon privately signaled his willingness to pour an additional $20 billion into the US, and potentially even more, according to people with knowledge of the plans, essentially tripling his earlier investment pledge to $30 billion. Adani’s plans included data centers, ports and clean energy projects that could create thousands of jobs for American workers, said the people, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. *Shifting Gears* Earlier this year, Adani’s lawyers shifted gears and moved aggressively to get the criminal case dropped. They also sought to resolve a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission civil fraud case and a separate probe by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control into whether an Adani unit violated Iran sanctions. Led by Sullivan & Cromwell co-chair Robert Giuffra Jr., who is working as one of President Trump’s personal attorneys in a separate matter, Adani’s legal team attacked the indictment in private meetings with the Justice Department. The attorneys argued the case was flawed because it focused on conduct beyond the reach of US laws and lacked credible evidence of bribery, according to a person familiar with the conversations between lawyers involved in the matter. Among more than 100 slides that Adani’s legal team used to argue against the criminal case this year was one that referenced the $10 billion public pledge Adani had made in November 2024, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing the private presentations. Adani’s legal team also argued the SEC fraud suit should be tossed because the US lacked jurisdiction over the Indian billionaire and his nephew. The Adani matter came to Sullivan & Cromwell from the large Indian law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, the New York-based law firm said in a statement to Bloomberg News. The firm, known as CAM, is “a top securities law firm in India which has had a 40-year relationship working on M&A and securities matters with Sullivan & Cromwell,” it said. Adani’s daughter-in-law, Paridhi Adani, is a prominent corporate lawyer and partner at CAM. The Mumbai-based firm didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Giuffra started working on the case last summer, said a person familiar with the matter. His involvement was disclosed in court filings in January. *Legal Resolutions* In May, the Justice Department moved to drop charges against Adani. That happened shortly after Gautam and Sagar Adani agreed to pay a total of $18 million to settle the SEC case without admitting wrongdoing. The conglomerate’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. also reached a deal to resolve OFAC’s sanctions probe for $275 million without an admission of wrongdoing. An Adani Group spokesperson said in a statement that it had retained Sullivan & Cromwell “to achieve a merit-based resolution” in the Justice Department’s case. The spokesperson referenced a 115-page white paper, expert reports, slides and multiple oral presentations that formed the basis of its arguments. “Our engagement was conducted entirely through proper government channels,” the spokesperson said. “Any other interpretation of these facts is not only mischievous and malicious but are entirely baseless and a deliberate misrepresentation.” Its statement didn’t address Bloomberg News’ queries about Adani’s interactions with Trump Jr. In its filing with a federal court in Brooklyn last month, the Justice Department didn’t say what ultimately convinced it to drop its case. Prosecutors said they had decided “not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants” and asked a judge to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled. The judge is reviewing the motion.

*Billionaire Gautam Adani Met Donald Trump Jr. in India While Facing US Bribery Charges* By Sanjai P R, Patricia Hurtado, Tom Schoenberg, Annie Massa, and Courtney Subramanian, Bloomberg June 23, 2026 at 6:00 PM GMT+8 - Donald Trump Jr. had a private meeting with Indian billionaire Gautam Adani in Ahmedabad, according to people familiar with the matter, around a year after US prosecutors accused Adani of orchestrating an alleged bribery scheme. - The meeting highlights the level of access the Adanis had to one of America’s most influential families at a time when Adani was trying to find a way out of his US legal troubles, which had impeded his conglomerate's ability to raise money in the US. - The Justice Department moved to drop charges against Adani in May, shortly after he agreed to pay $18 million to settle an SEC case, and Adani's legal team had argued the case was flawed and lacked credible evidence of bribery. When Donald Trump Jr. was in India last November for a trip that included a wedding and a wildlife sanctuary tour, he made an unpublicized stop in the bustling city of Ahmedabad in the Western state of Gujarat. The president’s son had a private meeting there with Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, whose namesake ports-to-energy conglomerate is headquartered in the city, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential conversation. The meeting, which hasn’t been previously reported, came around a year after US prosecutors accused the 63-year-old Adani Group chairman and his nephew Sagar Adani of orchestrating an alleged bribery scheme in India. They have consistently denied the charges, which the Department of Justice moved to drop last month. The exact contours of the discussion between Adani and Trump Jr. — who is helping to run the Trump Organization while his father is president — remain private. But the meeting highlights the level of access the Adanis had to one of America’s most influential families at a time when the tycoon was trying to find a way out of his US legal troubles. “Don had zero to do with DOJ’s actions in this case,” a spokesperson for the president’s eldest son said in a statement. Federal prosecutors unveiled the indictment against Adani a couple of weeks after Donald Trump’s election victory in November 2024. The case, which accused Adani and others of a scheme to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to lock in solar energy contracts, immediately drew some criticism as an overreach. The Justice Department claimed the Adanis had lied about the alleged scheme when their renewable energy business raised capital from US-based investors and international institutions through dollar bonds and loans. Adani’s representatives quickly launched a multi-pronged push to get the charges dismissed, hiring a fleet of lawyers and US lobbyists to push back against the accusations and advance his business interests. But months went by with little progress. Some of Adani’s family members became involved in the efforts to end the US case, with Jeet Adani, the younger of the billionaire’s two sons, helping to lead the way, according to people familiar with the matter. Jeet, who is director of the airports business at the Adani Group, also met with Trump Jr. last year at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to people familiar with the meeting. One person close to Trump Jr., who requested anonymity to speak about private conversations, said that the Justice Department’s case against Adani did not come up in his meeting at Mar-a-Lago, or in his November interaction with Gautam Adani. *Stymied Plans* Adani’s US legal troubles had impeded the ability of his conglomerate’s companies to raise money in the world’s largest capital market, and stymied its ambitions to expand in the US — where the billionaire had publicly pledged to invest $10 billion after Americans elected Trump as president in late 2024.

Photo from DoW

Wars will end. Oil prices will rise and fall. Markets will recover. But a nation that neglects skill development while surrendering its attention to endless distraction will struggle long after those headlines have disappeared. The strongest economy is not built by the loudest voices. It is built by the most capable people. Krishna Rao K. FORWARD

India's Biggest Economic Challenge Is not Inflation, Oil, or War - It is an Unskilled Population Addicted to Distraction. Every time oil prices rise, economists panic. Every time a war breaks out in the Middle East or Europe, television studios declare that India's economy is under threat. And yes, both matter. But neither represents India's greatest economic challenge. The real crisis is unfolding much closer to home. It is a generation that spends more time consuming content than creating value. A workforce that debates geopolitics without mastering spreadsheets, artificial intelligence, coding, welding, precision manufacturing, sales, finance, communication, or even basic problem-solving. An economy where attention has become the most wasted national resource. India is one of the youngest countries in the world. That should have been our greatest competitive advantage. Instead, we risk turning our demographic dividend into a demographic liability. The Age of Endless Consumption Never before has information been so accessible. Yet never before have so many people spent so much time learning so little. Hours disappear into political debates, celebrity gossip, cricket controversies, influencer reels, conspiracy theories, and outrage cycles that have absolutely no impact on an individual's earning potential. Ask someone how many hours they spent on social media last week. Then ask them how many hours they invested in acquiring a new professional skill. For many, the answer is uncomfortable. We have become experts at commenting on the economy while contributing very little to it. Degrees Are Not Skills India has no shortage of graduates. It has a shortage of employable graduates. Companies repeatedly report the same problem: vacancies exist, but suitable candidates are difficult to find. Not because people lack certificates. Because many lack practical skills. The world is rewarding competence, not credentials. - Can you solve problems? = Can you communicate effectively? - Can you sell? = Can you lead a team? - Can you analyze data? - Can you use AI to improve productivity instead of merely asking it amusing questions? - Can you create something that another person is willing to pay for? Those are the questions that determine economic success. Not the number of degrees hanging on a wall. Attention Is the New Currency The biggest theft today is not of money. It is of attention. Every notification fragments concentration. Every endless scroll delays mastery. Every hour spent consuming outrage is an hour not spent building expertise. Modern economies reward deep work, specialized knowledge, creativity, and disciplined execution. Algorithms reward emotional reactions. Unfortunately, millions choose the algorithm. The Coming Divide Artificial intelligence is not replacing everyone. It is replacing people who refuse to learn. The future will belong to workers who continuously upgrade themselves. Those who combine human judgment with technological tools will become dramatically more productive. Those who stop learning will find themselves competing for fewer opportunities at lower wages. The divide will not be between rich and poor. It will increasingly be between skilled and unskilled. National Growth Begins With Individual Discipline Governments can build highways. Businesses can build factories. Universities can build campuses. But none of them can force an individual to develop skills. Economic transformation begins with personal responsibility. Spend one less hour arguing online. Spend one more hour learning. Read instead of scrolling. Build instead of complaining. Acquire one valuable skill every year. Become indispensable. If millions of Indians made that simple choice, the country's economic trajectory would change more profoundly than any fiscal stimulus, any election promise, or any temporary fall in oil prices.

*गांव बसा नही लुटेरे तैयार तेजी आयी नहीं के बेचने को तैयार,प्रमोटर तैयार, FIIs तैयार,फंड तैयार,मारत गवर्मेन्ट तैयार, IPO लाने वाले तैयार, QIP ब्लोक डिल OFS. _सारे के सारे तैयार माल चेपने को !! !! 🤔 FORWARD

Circuit filter change from 10% to 5%: Grand Oak, Sasken Tech. (Neutral) Circuit filter change from 20% to 10%: Bluspring Enterprises. (Neutral) List of stocks included in the Long term ASM Framework: Lloyds Engineering. (Neutral) List of stocks included in the short term ASM Framework: Cartrade, Paras Defence, Rashi Peripherals, V Marc. (Neutral) List of stocks excluded from ASM Framework: Grand Oak, Rain Ind (Neutral) *IT Stocks:* Accenture revenue Guidance Misses Est Of $18.47 Bn. (Negative) *Jubilant Pharmova:* Company says the US FDA has issued 8 observations for its Spokane facility. (Negative)

*India Daybook ~ Stocks in News* *Bharat Forge Limited:* Company’s arm Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited signs a strategic partnership with AM General (Positive) *Hiliks Technologies:* Company secured Rs. 95.51 cr railway signaling & kavach order, order relates to signaling & telecommunication works for track doubling between Akanapet Jn. & Medchal Stations. (Positive) *Dhampur Bio Organics:* Company announced completion of slump sale of meerganj unit to forever global enterprises limited; received purchase consideration of Rs 305 crores; conveyance deed executed and registered. (Positive) *Affle India:* Company will allot 74 lakh warrants at Rs. 1,487 per share. (Positive) *Sumeet Industries:* Company expects volume‑led growth supported by stable pricing, raw‑material procurement and scale‑up plans. (Positive) *Travel Food Services:* Company will operate a food and beverage outlet at Bengaluru airport. (Positive) *Ravindra Energy:* Utpal Sheth bought 1.10 lk shares. (Positive) *Mahindra Lifespace Developers:* YKK India to establish a new manufacturing facility. (Positive) *Amber Enterprises:* Mobile manufacturing entry with OPPO. (Positive) *Trualt Bioenergy:* Company received Rs. 150 Cr financial assistance approval under the PM JI-VAN Yojana. Planned SAF production capacity of 10 crore litres per annum. (Positive) *HPCL:* Company says CDU (Crude Distillation Unit) restoration has been completed at HHRL, and the unit has been successfully restarted. (Positive) *RBL Bank:* Emirates NBD calls India a core strategic market and says it's a long-term player, not private equity. (Positive) *Aequs:* Company targets 18–22% EBITDA and 4–6x revenue expansion by 2031. (Positive) *Groww, Angel One, MOSL:* SEBI rationalizes Margin Trading Funding Rules. (Positive) *HDFC Bank:* Announced extension of Keki Mistry’s Part-Time Chairmanship for 90 days (Neutral) *Reliance Ind:* 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held later today, on June 19 (Neutral) *Wipro:* Company to acquire additional 20% stake in Aggne Global IT services for usd 2.1 mn. (Neutral) *Bosch Home Comfort India:* Promoter Bosch global software technologies exercises OFS oversubscription option; total offer size increased to 21.67 lakh shares (7.97% stake). (Neutral) *HCL Tech:* Company launches Chennai AI innovation zone powered by intel xeon 6 processors to accelerate enterprise ai product deployment. (Neutral) *Waaree Renewable Technologies:* Company has completed the acquisition of 55% equity stake in Associated Power Structures Pvt Ltd (APSPL) (Neutral) *Rajshree Polypack Limited:* Company has announced the receipt of a new domestic order valued at ₹2.94 Cr approx. (Neutral) *Rajoo Engineers Ltd:* Company has successfully completed a significant technology upgrade of its in-house machine shop, Shree Yantralaya. (Neutral) *Diamond Power Infra:* Company approves Raising Funds Worth up to Rs 2,000 Cr. (Neutral) *ICICI Prudential AMC:* 6 month lock in ends as shares worth nearly ₹1.2 lakh crore free up as lock-in ends. (Neutral) *Aadhar Housing Finance:* Company allots 25,000 NCDs aggregating Rs. 250 crore via private placement. (Neutral) *Sarda Energy:* A transmission tower collapse due to heavy rain leads to temporary shutdown of its hydro power plant, with damage assessment underway. (Neutral) *GIC Housing Finance:* Company appoints Rajesh Laheri as CFO, with V Balkrishna stepping down. (Neutral) *Doms Industries:* FILA sells 7% stake via 42.5 lakh shares at Rs 2200.3 per share aggregating Rs 935 crore. (Neutral) *Anthem Biosciences:* Promoter sells 1.7 crore shares at Rs. 744.80 per share. (Neutral) *Dalmia Bharat:* Exchange to discontinue Dalmia Bharat from F&O segment effective August 28. (Neutral) *MSP Steel:* Company signs 25-year power purchase agreement to procure 10 MWp solar power at Rs. 3.17 per unit. (Neutral) *Shaily Engineering:* Vanita L Nagda sold 4 lk shares at price Rs 2,635.05 each. (Neutral) *GNA Axles:* Seehra Maninder Singh sold 2.33 lk shares at price Rs. 427.07 Per share. (Neutral)

#Repost @technology Swipe ⬅️ to see Samsung’s wildest patent ideas, from smart contact lenses and rollable phones to drone displays, AR glasses, and screens built for your finger 👁️📱 These filings show how Samsung keeps testing the future before the market sees it: lenses with cameras, watches that project onto skin, phones that bend around wrists, transparent screens, smart rings, tri-fold tablets, and foldable gaming devices designed around bigger, more flexible displays. Most of these patents may never become products, but they reveal Samsung’s bigger direction: smaller wearables, expandable screens, hands-free interfaces, and hardware that tries to turn every surface into a display. Which Samsung patent would you actually use first? Sources: USPTO · WIPO · KIPRIS · SamMobile · Tom’s Guide · Wareable · New Atlas · PhoneArena · Gizmochina · 91Mobiles · Android Headlines #samsung #technology #gadgets #future #innovation

*Air India Starts No-Meal Fare to Compete With Budget Rivals* By Vikram Kumar, Bloomberg June 16, 2026 at 11:41 PM GMT+8 Air India introduced a new fare class, which doesn’t offer complimentary meals, as the full-service carrier looks to cut costs and compete with budget rivals in a challenging environment. The so-called basic fare is available for travel in economy class on domestic routes, the airline said in a statement Tuesday. It includes a baggage allowance and tea and coffee but excludes meals, the carrier said. Travelers will have the option to purchase meals up to 24 hours before departure. The new fare by Air India, which otherwise provides in-flight meals and a range of bundled benefits, mirrors offerings from low-cost airlines such as IndiGo. Domestic carriers have been struggling with mounting costs, prompting the government to provide 100 billion rupees ($1 billion) to support oil retailers for capping jet fuel prices. Air India is also downsizing operations and slowing down plane deliveries as it has pivoted from its ambitious growth plan after facing a series of challenges, which caused its losses to mount. The deadly crash last June, Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian carriers, and the war in Iran have disrupted flights, forced costly rerouting and driven up fuel expenses. The weak Indian rupee has also added to its financial woes since much of the airline’s costs are in dollars. _— With assistance from Mihir Mishra_ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-16/air-india-starts-no-meal-fare-to-compete-with-budget-rivals?srnd=homepage-americas

*Lutnick’s Letter to Anthropic Warned of Curbs on Top AI Models* By Michael Shepard and Maggie Eastland, Bloomberg June 17, 2026 at 2:47AM GMT+8 - US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned Anthropic PBC that it would need government permission to grant foreign nationals access to its most advanced AI models. - The letter ordered Anthropic not to give its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models to foreign nationals anywhere in the world without a license from the Commerce Department. - Anthropic has disabled all access to the two models and has held virtual meetings with US officials about specific security issues after receiving the directive from the Commerce Department. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned Anthropic PBC in a letter last week that it would need government permission to grant foreign nationals access to its most advanced AI models and threatened criminal and civil penalties if the firm failed to comply, according to a copy seen by Bloomberg News. The letter, dated Friday, ordered Anthropic not to give its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models to foreign nationals anywhere in the world without a license from the Commerce Department. Lutnick gave no basis for why the restrictions were necessary, but his letter cited US laws that allow the government to impose export controls on civilian technology that could be used for intelligence purposes by an adversary’s military. “Until further notice, you must submit an application for an individually-validated license prior to the export, reexport, or transfer (in-country), including deemed export or deemed reexport, of the Mythos or Fable models to any destination worldwide or to any ‘foreign person’ wherever located,” Lutnick wrote in the letter, addressed to Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei. A Commerce Department spokesperson declined to comment, while an Anthropic spokesperson directed Bloomberg to the company’s blog post on the export controls. The Commerce Department directive prompted Anthropic late Friday to disable all access to the two models. Since then, representatives from Anthropic have held virtual meetings with US officials about specific security issues, and technical staff from the AI startup met with US officials at Commerce on Monday, a company spokesperson said. While the Trump administration has not commented on the reasons for its decision, the company has said it believes the US government issued the order after discovering that it’s possible to “jailbreak,” or bypass the guardrails, of Fable 5, a recently released version of Mythos that Anthropic had blocked from carrying out cybersecurity tasks. The order from Lutnick represents the most significant intervention by the US government to date into an AI venture’s operations. It poses a new challenge to Anthropic weeks after the company filed confidentially for an initial public offering, with its latest valuation topping $900 billion. In a statement announcing that it had disabled access to the two models, Anthropic said it regarded the government move as disproportionate. “We disagree that the finding of a narrow potential jailbreak should be cause for recalling a commercial model deployed to hundreds of millions of people,” Anthropic said in its post. “If this standard was applied across the industry, we believe it would essentially halt all new model deployments for all frontier model providers.” Lutnick, who’s traveling this week with President Donald Trump for the Group of Seven summit in France, said in his letter that the license requirement would remain in effect until further notice and spelled out the procedures for Anthropic to follow in submitting an application. _— With assistance from Mackenzie Hawkins_ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-16/lutnick-s-letter-to-anthropic-warned-of-curbs-on-top-ai-models?srnd=homepage-asia

*_Vedanta Demerged Entities Listing:_* 💁🏻‍♂️

Using an inverse fund to capitalize on poor post-IPO performance, say, or to hedge a broader portfolio can be easy and effective. But the fine print is really important here: The leverage resets daily, so volatility can corrode the returns. At Bloomberg Intelligence, we developed a “traffic light system” to categorize ETFs — and leverage always earns a red light. Leveraged ETFs are really for professional traders more than retail investors, which means they must be monitored closely and are best used only over short-term timeframes. *Those are clearly for bold views. What are some other ways to invest in the space economy?* For anyone excited by outer space and the rapidly growing space economy, which some analysts say will triple over the next decade from its current value of roughly $600 billion, there are about 10 space-themed ETFs already on the market, with more on the way. All of them try to capture not only what SpaceX is doing but also the rest of a vast industry. Assets in this category have, in one year, surged from $1.5 billion to about $6 billion. Investors should think of thematic ETFs as riskier complements to an otherwise basic core portfolio — almost like we use hot sauce in small doses on food. Thematic ETFs tend to be more volatile, more unpredictable and more expensive than broader indexes like the S&P 500, so less is often more. The juggernaut of the category is the Tema Space Innovators ETF (ticker NASA). Since launch just a few weeks ago, it has usurped the competition and reached $2.6 billion in assets — a rare feat for any ETF that’s taking on established incumbents. The ETF drew so much attention and assets because it was the first space ETF to add SpaceX ahead of its IPO via a range of special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The ETF will convert these into SpaceX shares at the current market price, which could give a little extra pop to the performance. Outside of that, it has 37 other stocks in the portfolio, mostly from the aerospace, telecom and satellite industries — so it’s not like you’re buying only Musk here. While this is among the most expensive space-themed ETFs at 0.87%, it’s within the normal range of thematic funds, which tend to cost more than ETFs used in the core of a portfolio. The next biggest by assets — and with an equally memorable ticker — is the Procure Space ETF (UFO), which came out seven years ago. UFO owns the same top five stocks as NASA but is more of a pure space play, with more tech and fewer communication holdings overall. It plans to add SpaceX only a few days after the IPO. Then there’s ARK Space & Defense ETF (ARKX), which is the only other space-themed ETF with more than $1 billion in assets. Actively managed by Cathie Wood, ARKX is very concentrated with only 43 stocks in the portfolio. There are also space ETFs that focus more on space technology, like Global X Space Tech ETF (ORBX), or satellites and communication, like Corgi Space & Satellite Communications ETF (DIPR), which is also actively managed and the cheapest at 0.35%. *By the way, how do companies typically fare after they go public?* Not well, at least historically. In the first year, almost all of them go down. However, the last 18 months have seen some better results. The average IPO over that timeframe has shown positive returns in the first month, three months and six months. Tesla — Musk’s last company to IPO — went up 65% in its first 12 months. A lot of investors learned not to bet against Musk in the ensuing years, but SpaceX dwarfs that quaint version of Tesla, which was worth only about $2 billion when it started trading. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-15/how-to-invest-in-spacex-spcx-with-etfs

*How to Play — or Avoid — SpaceX in Your Portfolio* How much Elon Musk do you want? There’s an ETF for almost every outlook. By Joel Weber, Bloomberg June 16, 2026 at 1:07 AM GMT+8 - Investors can use exchange-traded funds to diversify their portfolios or put their convictions to work regarding SpaceX. - Some investors can buy the stock or another diversified ETF to gain a little exposure to SpaceX, as some major indexes have decided to fast-track its inclusion. - There are also space-themed ETFs that try to capture the rest of the vast space industry, with around 10 already on the market and more on the way. For years, if you wanted to get a piece of SpaceX, you basically needed to know someone. And it helped if that someone was named Elon Musk. Now that the company has finally had its initial public offering — the biggest ever — investors can finally get in on the action. Or not. While some people see a once-in-a-generation company headed straight to the moon and remember how Musk’s Tesla minted millionaires, others fear his rockets are going to implode their beloved portfolios. Reality will probably be less dramatic, but that doesn’t make it any less confusing. There are a lot of ways to invest in SpaceX beyond owning the stock, and most of them involve exchange-traded funds. To guide you through the options, Bloomberg Money interviewed Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Balchunas, who leads a global team of analysts covering the 10,000 ETFs that now exist worldwide. So whether you’re excited, nervous or just curious about the biggest IPO in history, here are a few ways investors can use ETFs to diversify their portfolios or put their convictions to work. *Let’s say you’re not a fan — of Musk, SpaceX, or maybe just new public companies in general. What’s an investor to do?* There are millions of buy-and-hold investors for whom investing actually means “VOO and chill” — internet shorthand for buying a vanilla S&P 500 fund such as Vanguard’s VOO and tuning out the noise. That strategy has worked so fabulously well that there’s some $13 trillion tracking the index now. The S&P index committee recently decided to exclude SpaceX until at least June 2027, and so S&P 500 investors can basically watch the SpaceX launch party from afar and deal with everything later. The company will need to become consistently profitable before the committee — which is a pretty secretive, some might even say infamous, group — collectively decides the stock is ready for inclusion. Even then, they may decide to take issue with the company’s governance, seeing how Musk owns 80% of the shares and is practically an immovable object atop its management structure. *What if an investor wants a little more than none?* If they want, they can buy the stock or another diversified ETF to gain a little exposure. Some of the other major indexes decided to fast-track SpaceX’s inclusion; those include the Russell 1000, the Bloomberg 500 and the Nasdaq 100. But it’ll be just a small part of those indexes to start, with the largest being the Nasdaq 100 at around 0.75%. The popular Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 fund (ticker QQQ) tracks the Nasdaq 100 — which, it’s worth mentioning, has significantly outperformed the S&P 500 over the last decade. The “Qs,” as it’s called, will be an appealing option for fans of growth stocks who are probably happy with SpaceX’s speedy inclusion. *These are all big, broad index funds. What’s your advice for someone with a fierce conviction about SpaceX?* For investors who want to either double down or short SpaceX, there are more than 20 SpaceX-related ETFs vying to get listed that will allow for all kinds of strategies. The most noteworthy will be single-stock ETFs that provide either 2x or -2x leverage; there are already 11 of them in the US alone that started trading today. They're not hard to spot. Their names usually contain words like “Leveraged” or “Inverse” and advertise the multiple. Issuers ProShares, Direxion, GraniteShares, Defiance, T-Rex and LeverageShares are all in the mix.