Bloomberg Businessweek-Europe Edition September 19, 2022

● The US government reported on Sept. 12 that inflation cooled only slightly in August, to an 8.3% annual pace, down from 8.5% in July and a peak of 9.1% in June. Analysts had predicted a steeper decline, and traders are now convinced the Fed will unveil its third jumbo rate hike on Sept. 21. ▷ 26 The S&P 500 had its worst day in more than two years on Sept. 13 as investors reacted to the news. ● The UK’s twin transitions—at Buckingham Palace (above) and Downing Street—may be tricky. Prime Minister Liz Truss has to manage high inflation and an energy crisis. King Charles III, meanwhile, faces renewed calls to abolish the monarchy. ● Worldwide, there have been more than 610 million Covid-19 infections, almost 6.6m people have died, and 12.7…

Russian President Vladimir Putin told a gathering in Vladivostok on Sept. 7 that his country had “not lost anything and will not lose anything.” He may be less certain of decisive victory today. An offensive by Ukraine’s armed forces has made spectacular progress, retaking more than 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) of lost territory, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and reversing gains that took Russia months to achieve. Whatever happens next, there’s no question that the charge has been a major strategic and operational defeat for the Kremlin. Allied nations must help Ukraine make the most of it. Much is changing on the ground. But Ukraine’s victories in the northeast have stretched the Russian army thin and forced it back from key command points and supply depots. More troops will need…

▶ The Fed’s decision on interest rates on Sept. 21 leads a central-banking blitz. A dozen institutions, from Brazil to Turkey to Indonesia, are also setting rates that day or the next. ▶ Dignitaries from around the world attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Sept. 19. The longest-serving monarch in the UK’s history will be laid to rest at Windsor Castle. ▶ At the General Debate of the 77th UN General Assembly, starting on Sept. 20, topics will include climate change, the war in Ukraine, and the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. ▶ Macau reports its daily visitor arrival totals on Sept. 20. It’s a key economic indicator in the gaming enclave, which has seen a sharp slump during China’s Covid-zero lockdowns. ▶ The CEOs of some of America’s largest consumer-facing banks will testify…

It’s easy to spot the trend followers at back-to-school time: Just look for the kids wearing the coolest sneakers. It’s easy to spot them in the markets these days, too. Look for fund managers with returns that are so hot they make most other types of investors look as if they’re sporting a pair of worn-out Keds. It’s been a banner year for financial trend followers: It’s a style of investing dedicated to what the markets are actually doing, rather than what some expert thinks they should do. The benchmark gauge, Societe Generale SA’s SG Trend Index, is up 27% so far in 2022, poised for its best year in data since the start of this century. That type of performance is hard to stomach for investors who focus on fundamentals. Traditionalists…

Deep beneath the arroyos and canyons of the Sonoran Desert lies one of Earth’s biggest deposits of copper—18 million metric tons, enough of the indispensable metal to supply more than half the electric vehicles expected to be produced in the US in the coming decades. But the scrubby, arid land above that reserve is the site of the Apache Nation’s Sunrise Ceremony, a four-day rite in which young women dance and sing to mark their coming of age. “It’s been a part of us since creation,” says Wendsler Nosie Sr., an Apache leader who opposes efforts to extract the copper. Since 2008, mining giant Rio Tinto Plc has been digging tunnels in the area, tucked into the badlands about 60 miles east of Phoenix, for what it calls the Resolution mine.…

Ten seconds before Jeremy Banner’s Tesla Model 3 plowed into the underbelly of a tractor-trailer, he switched on Autopilot. The crash killed the father of three when the top of his car was sheared off, so there’s no way to know exactly what happened that Friday in March three years ago. But an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found that Banner probably didn’t see the truck crossing a two-lane Florida highway on his way to work. Tesla’s driver assistance feature apparently didn’t see it either. At least not in time to save the 50-year-old’s life. A court in Palm Beach County has set a February date for a jury to hear testimony on who was at fault, the first of potentially dozens of Autopilot collision trials. Until then, expect…