Good morning! Here’s what you need to know.
1.Many Procter & Gamble products sold in Canada will be affected by retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made goods. P&G said Bounty paper towels, Charmin toilet tissue and Puffs facial tissue – made in a facility in Mehoopany, Pennsylvania – would be taxed.
2. Broadcom’s surprise bid to buy software company CA knocked $11 billion off the value of the chipmaker in trading on Thursday. Analysts struggled to find a clear rationale behind the deal.
3. The British government released proposals for what it calls a “principled, pragmatic and ambitious” Brexit. They had already triggered the resignation of two top ministers and face likely resistance from the European Union.
4. Goldman Sachs, the world’s top cablemaker Prysmian and nine other cable companies lost their challenge against a €302 million ($352.6 million) EU cartel fine. The companies had appealed to the General Court, Europe’s second-highest court, asking for the European Commission’s 2014 decision to be thrown out and their fines reduced.
5. Panasonic plans to halve the cobalt content of its mass-produced automotive batteries "in two to three years." "At the research and development level, we've already achieved such batteries," Yoshio Ito, the chief of Panasonic's automotive business, said.
6. A worst-case scenario that would see Britain crash out of the European Union without a deal is still a possibility despite British Prime Minister Theresa May's new plan, the French prime minister said on Thursday. Edouard Philippe, President Emmanuel Macron's prime minister, noted preparations underway for Brexit but added that "the more we think the worst should be avoided, the more we think it's not impossible it could eventually happen."
7. US consumer prices rose in June from a year earlier at the fastest pace in more than six years, lifted by more expensive gas, car insurance, and higher rent. Inflation jumped 2.9% from a year earlier, the largest annual gain since February 2012.
8. Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended a ban on Western food imports for another 18 months after the European Union's decision to prolong its broader, punitive sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine. Putin's Thursday decree keeps the food ban in place until Dec. 31, 2019. It follows the EU's move to extend its restrictions until year's end.
9. U.S. President Donald Trump directly criticized UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy, saying her proposals had probably killed off hope of a U.S. trade deal and that she had failed to take his advice on how to negotiate with the European Union. In an interview with the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper published just hours before he was due to have lunch with May and tea with Queen Elizabeth, Trump chided the "very unfortunate" results of May's Brexit negotiation.
10. An emergency descent by an Air China aircraft after oxygen levels dropped in the cabin has been linked to a co-pilot who was smoking an e-cigarette during the flight, state media said on Friday, citing China's aviation regulator. "In the preliminary investigation, the co-pilot was found to be smoking an e-cigarette," state-owned China News said in a report, citing a news conference by the Civil Aviation Administration of China investigating Tuesday's incident.
