- US job growth beats expectations in June, unemployment rate dips to 4.1% Reuters
- The US economy added a stronger-than-expected 147,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% CNN
- ADP says private sector shed 33,000 jobs in June, first time in two years Axios
- NFP to test health of US labor market as Fed ponders timing of interest-rate cut FXStreet
- NFP was strong: what does it means for markets? FOREX.com
Category: 3. Business
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US job growth beats expectations in June, unemployment rate dips to 4.1% – Reuters
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‘Let’s address the elephant in the room’
The electric vehicle market continues expanding, and a new car is gaining attention for its sleek aesthetic — without the luxury brand price.
Xiaomi is a Chinese tech company with a strong foothold in the smartphone market. As it expands to selling electric vehicles, the company’s second-ever car, the Xiaomi YU7, is all the rage.
In a YouTube video by Telescope (@telescopesh), a page dedicated to sharing the Chinese car market with the world, the reviewer, Haoran Zhou, talks about the specifics of this hot EV.
“Let’s address the elephant in the room,” the reviewer says. “Is this a Ferrari Purosangue copycat?”
While the 2025 Purosangue starts just under $430,000, according to MotorTrend, Telescope says the Xiaomi YU7 is expected to cost around the same as a Tesla Model Y (approximately one-tenth of that Ferrari). Plus, it comes with all the added benefits of being electric.
Switching to an electric car is a great way to contribute to a greener future. A study from MIT found that cars with internal combustion engines create an average of 350 grams of carbon air pollution per mile driven over their lifetimes, while it was only 200 for EVs that operate on batteries charging on an average U.S. power grid.
“I can definitely understand if you are one of those people who paid over a million euros for a Ferrari Purosangue and this pulls up alongside you … you’ll go: ‘What the hell is that?’” Zhou continues in the video.
While Xiaomi’s first EV, the SU7, sold well, car experts are expecting the new model to do even better. InsideEVs reported: “It feels like Xiaomi has figured out a way to match the aura of an already good design but make it more accessible to people who don’t have as much money.”
Car fanatics shared their excitement for this new electric vehicle in the comments of Telescope’s video.
“Will buy this in a heartbeat!” one user said.
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Stocks continue bull-run, reach fresh peak
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KARACHI:Positive momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as the KSE-100 index extended its upward trajectory to close at a new all-time high with addition of 342.63 points.
Investor sentiment remained robust, which propelled the benchmark index to intra-day high of 131,325. At close, the market settled at 130,686.66, higher by 0.26%.
The rally was led by index-heavy sectors, particularly oil & gas, banking and power. However, overall trading remained mixed. Among major triggers, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves jumped $5.1 billion to $14.5 billion by the end of FY25. This rise reflects improvement in the current account balance and the realisation of planned inflows.
KTrade Securities wrote in its report that the bourse experienced a mixed day as the KSE-100 index encountered general profit-taking, especially in the banking segment.
Notable gains were witnessed in the oil & gas and power categories where Oil and Gas Development Company, UBL, Hub Power, Pakistan Petroleum and Askari Bank added the most points. The report predicted a broadly optimistic outlook, contingent on continued geopolitical stability.
Arif Habib Limited Deputy Head of Trading Ali Najib commented that the PSX witnessed a tug of war between bulls and bears throughout the session. Ultimately, the bulls prevailed, lifting the benchmark index by 343 points (+0.26%) to close at 130,687.
The session opened on a positive note following the State Bank of Pakistan’s announcement a day ago that its foreign exchange reserves stood at $14.5 billion at the close of FY25, in line with the commitment given to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it mentioned.
The upbeat development triggered a bullish rally, pushing the index to intra-day high of 131,325 (+981 points, or 0.75%). However, the optimism proved short-lived as profit-taking set in, dragging the index to intra-day low of 129,776 (-568 points, or 0.44%), before buyers regained control.
Top contributors to the index included Oil and Gas Development Company, UBL, Hub Power, Pakistan Petroleum and Askari Bank, which collectively added 487 points. On the flip side, Bank AL Habib, MCB Bank, Meezan Bank, HBL and Millat Tractors pulled the index down by 493 points, AHL added.
Overall trading volumes decreased to 899.8 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 1.03 billion. The value of shares traded was Rs43.3 billion. Shares of 468 companies were traded. Of these, 216 stocks closed higher, 236 fell and 16 remained unchanged.
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ESAs sign Memorandum of Understanding with AMLA for effective cooperation and information exchange
The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) today announced that they have concluded a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Union’s new Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) to ensure effective cooperation and information exchange between the four institutions.
The multilateral MoU outlines how the ESAs and AMLA will exchange information with one another and cooperate in practice to perform their respective tasks in an efficient, effective and timely manner. The memorandum aims to promote supervisory convergence throughout the EU’s financial sector, enable the exchange of necessary information, and foster cross-sectoral learning and capacity building among supervisors in areas of mutual interest. It is part of the overall cooperation framework that AMLA is required to issue in relation to the financial sector and is an important component of the institutional arrangements going forward.
Petra Hielkema, Chair of EIOPA and Chair of the Joint Committee of the ESAs said: “The memorandum we signed demonstrates the strong commitment of Europe’s financial supervisors to working closely together to combat money laundering and terrorist financing—crimes that undermine social justice and the well-being of our communities. Uncovering companies that engage in or facilitate such activities demands serious effort and dedication. The ESAs stand ready to support AMLA with all the knowledge and information at our disposal so that it can exercise its new powers to ensure that these illicit activities do not go undetected or unpunished on our soil. We look forward to a productive and efficient EU-wide collaboration with AMLA to protect the integrity of the EU’s financial system and create a safer and fairer financial environment for all.”
Bruna Szego, Chair of AMLA said: “This Memorandum marks an important step in delivering a risk focused and integrated European AML/CFT framework. Cooperation between AMLA and the ESAs is essential so that we support each other to effectively deliver on our respective mandates and work together for a safer and more resilient Europe. The fight against crime affects all sectors and we are stronger when we work together.”
About AMLA
The Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) has the objective to transform the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervision in the EU and enhance cooperation among financial intelligence units (FIUs). AMLA will directly supervise the EU’s highest-risk financial institutions with significant cross-border exposure. It will exercise indirect supervision across both the financial and non-financial sectors, ensuring that national supervisors apply EU AML/CFT rules consistently and effectively. AMLA coordinates the work of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) helping to improve the quality, consistency, and cross-border exchange of financial intelligence. It complements EU AML/CFT rules by developing regulatory and implementing technical standards and issuing guidelines.
About the ESAs
The three European Supervisory Authorities (the EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) have the objective to protect the public interest by contributing to the short, medium, and long-term stability and effectiveness of the financial system, for the Union economy, its citizens, and businesses. The ESAs are tasked with developing and implementing a common regulatory framework and convergent supervisory practices across the EU.
Through the Joint Committee, the ESAs regularly and closely coordinate their supervisory activities within the scope of their respective responsibilities to ensure consistency in their practices. The Joint Committee’s chairmanship rotates annually among the authorities. In 2025, the forum is chaired by EIOPA.
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IMF Rejects Pakistan’s Crypto Mining Power Subsidy Plan
Pakistan’s plan to use surplus electricity for crypto mining has hit a roadblock after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reportedly rejected a proposal to offer subsidized power to energy-intensive industries, including Bitcoin miners.
Pakistan’s Secretary of Power Fakhre Alam Irfan told the Senate committee on energy that the IMF claimed such measures could distort the energy market and worsen existing issues in the country’s fragile power sector, according to a report from Urdu-language news outlet Independent Urdu.
Although Pakistan has excess electricity, particularly during winter, the IMF remains concerned that pricing schemes could disrupt the market balance, per the report. Irfan said all significant energy policies must be approved by the IMF.
The Power Division’s November 2024 plan proposed a marginal-cost tariff of 22–23 Pakistani rupees (about $0.08) per kilowatt-hour for industries like copper smelting, data centers, and crypto mining. Officials argued the scheme would boost electricity demand and help absorb surplus capacity.
Source: Bitcoin Archive Related: Strategy’s Michael Saylor to help Pakistan with crypto pivot
IMF cites risk of economic imbalances
The IMF reportedly dismissed the plan, comparing it to sector-specific tax breaks that have historically created economic imbalances in Pakistan, the report said.
Irfan noted that the proposal hasn’t been shelved entirely and is under review by the World Bank and other international partners. He said that the government is working on refining the plan with input from these institutions.
Cointelegraph reached out to the IMF for comment but had not received a response by publication.
In May, Pakistan earmarked 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity for Bitcoin (BTC) mining and AI centers as part of a digital transformation initiative led by the Pakistan Crypto Council and supported by the Ministry of Finance.
At the time, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced tax incentives for AI centers and duty exemptions for Bitcoin miners to attract investors.
Saqib first proposed using the country’s runoff energy to fuel Bitcoin mining at the Crypto Council’s inaugural meeting back in March. The meeting included lawmakers, the Bank of Pakistan’s governor, the chairman of Pakistan’s Securities and Exchange Commission and the federal information technology secretary.
Related: Can Bitcoin fix Pakistan’s energy problem? The 2,000 megawatt mining strategy explained
Pakistan eyes DeFi yields to grow Bitcoin reserve
Saqib announced plans for a national Bitcoin reserve during the Bitcoin 2025 conference, revealing that a discussion with Strategy’s Michael Saylor reaffirmed his conviction in the move.
Saqib has also said the country intends to expand its Bitcoin holdings using yield generated through decentralized finance protocols.
Magazine: Bitcoin vs stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears
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Gold Reserve's $7.38 billion bid recommended as winner of Citgo parent auction – Reuters
- Gold Reserve’s $7.38 billion bid recommended as winner of Citgo parent auction Reuters
- Vitol-led group bids over $10 billion for Venezuela’s Citgo Investing.com
- Is Venezuela about to lose Citgo, its most prized foreign asset? MSN
- Gold Reserve Secures Massive $7.3B Winning Bid for Citgo: Outbids Competitors by $3.6B Stock Titan
- Vitol-led consortium places over $10bn bid for Citgo Yahoo Finance
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Wall Street set to open higher after strong jobs data – Reuters
- Wall Street set to open higher after strong jobs data Reuters
- Futures rise; NFPs ahead; U.S.-Vietnam trade pact – what’s moving markets Investing.com
- US stocks hold steady ahead of Thursday’s jobs report as Tesla rallies Dunya News
- Asian shares tick up ahead of US payrolls test; Trump’s tax bill in focus Business Recorder
- Stock Market News for Jul 3, 2025 Yahoo Finance
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Goodwin Advises INTEC on Financing for the Acquisition of a Majority Stake in Three Companies of ARBOR Group | News & Events
The Goodwin team has advised INTEC Holding GmbH (“INTEC”) on the acquisition financing of a majority stake in three companies of the ARBOR Group.
INTEC has acquired a majority stake in the three independent companies OSW Technische Dokumentation Verlag GmbH (“OSW”), TECO Technical Concept GmbH (“TECO”), and SCOPE Engineering GmbH (“Scope”) from the ARBOR Group with effect from May 1, 2025.
INTEC is a manufacturer-independent and hardware-neutral engineering service provider specialized in the development, design and integration of complex technical systems. INTEC supports customers in the defence & security industry across all domains (land, air, sea, cyber) as well as in the automotive and mechanical engineering industry with tailor-made solutions for electronics, software and mechanics.
OSW, TECO and SCOPE complement the core business of INTEC and comprise services in the areas of safety-critical system development, Integrated Product Support and Integrated Logistics Support, technical documentation, system integration, and product and software development.
The deal team was led by Winfried M. Carli and Daniel Wagner and included Rina Omura (all Private Equity/Finance, Munich) as well as Felix Krüger (Tax, Frankfurt) and Philipp Lauer (Tax/Munich).
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French air traffic controllers' walkout disrupts early summer season travel – Reuters
- French air traffic controllers’ walkout disrupts early summer season travel Reuters
- Ryanair cancels flights for 30,000 passengers due to French strike BBC
- Royal Air Maroc Asks Passengers to Check Flight Status Amid France’s Air Traffic Controller Strike Morocco World News
- Paris airports to cancel 40 pct of flights over air traffic controllers’ strike qazinform.com
- Air traffic controller strike in France Yahoo
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Emerging Immunotherapy Platforms Set to Redefine Melanoma Management Beyond the Frontline
Douglas B. Johnson, MD, MSCI
Despite high response rates and durable outcomes with existing frontline immunotherapy regimens for metastatic melanoma, significant unmet needs remain—namely, improving frontline combinations, identifying predictive biomarkers to better individualize therapy and extend the benefit of current regimens, and developing more effective second-line strategies, according to Douglas B. Johnson, MD, MSCI.
“Frontline therapy may or may not change all that dramatically [in the next few years]…although hopefully, we’ll get a little bit better at biomarkers,” Johnson said in an interview with OncLive®. “What is likely to change is having some of these [novel treatment approaches] either in an adjuvant setting, [in the case of oncolytic vaccines], or in the second and later lines, [in terms of next-generation] cellular therapies.”
During the interview, Johnson highlighted the need for improved frontline strategies, more effective second-line options, and greater biomarker precision in melanoma. He also pointed to investigational platforms such as tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), T-cell receptor (TCR)–based therapies, and neoantigen vaccines as promising modalities that may eventually broaden immunotherapy’s reach within the melanoma treatment paradigm.
“My prognostication is that some of those therapies will potentially be on the cusp of being tested in the frontline setting, but we’re probably not there quite yet,” Johnson added.
Johnson, a professor of medicine and leader of the Melanoma Clinical Research Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, expanded on the importance of Cancer Immunotherapy Awareness Month in a concurrent interview.
OncLive: What are some of the most critical unmet needs with immuno-oncology today in your field, and where do current agents fail to provide durable benefit?
Johnson: Melanoma has certainly been at the forefront of immunotherapy advances, so we’ve been very fortunate to have high response rates in the metastatic setting and long-term responses in many cases. Unfortunately, we’re still seeing 10% to 30% response rates in the frontline setting. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still a long way to go.
We still don’t have great biomarkers either, so we’re not able to predict which patients are going to respond ahead of time and which are not. Improving our frontline options so that more patients can respond, as well as developing better options in the second-line setting, is really an unmet need.
There are a number of ways that people are trying to address these challenges. [With] TILs or other cellular therapy options, we’re seeing somewhere between 30% to 50% response rates in patients who have [progressed on] immune checkpoint inhibitors, with either lifileucel [Amtagvi], which is the FDA-approved TIL product, or some newer products. There’s one from a company called Obsidian [called OBX-115], which is sort of the next-generation TIL. [It is] very early, but [the agent appears] very promising, and it doesn’t require high-dose IL-2.
There’s also something called TCR-T therapy, which is sort of a cousin to tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, but the cells can be harvested from the peripheral blood, so patients don’t have to undergo surgery. If that agent pans out—there’s one from a company called [IMA203]—that so far has shown somewhere around a 50% response rate, although it’s only applicable to patients who have HLA-A*02:01 positive [disease].
[Despite these advances], we still have a ways to go in melanoma and in many other tumor types. There are still a lot of challenges.
What are some of the current challenges and considerations with utilizing TIL therapy in clinical practice, and how could these be addressed?
Lifileucel is an incredible step forward. TILs in general are an incredible step forward. [However,] there are some significant downsides to TILs. High-dose IL-2 is required at the moment for TILs; [to tolerate that therapy] patients have to have excellent performance status, excellent cardiac function, lung function. A lot of patients don’t tolerate that.
Patients also have to have a tumor that’s accessible for surgery. Patients with brain-only metastases or bone-only disease are not candidates for treatment.
The patient also has to have time. That is probably the biggest issue at this moment, because in general, it’s going to take several weeks for insurance approval to get done. When centers are just starting out, it could take quite a bit longer. Patients have to have 2 to 3 months for insurance approval, surgery scheduling, and product manufacturing, which takes about 5 weeks. Many patients don’t have the time to wait around for therapy. For some patients, there could be some bridging options—perhaps BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy, as an example.
However, that’s the biggest challenge right now. The key needs going forward are reducing IL-2, reducing lymphodepletion chemotherapy, and then [reducing the overall] turnaround time—not just the manufacturing part, but the insurance plus surgery plus manufacturing part.
What are some of the ongoing clinical trials or emerging treatment approaches that could shift the treatment paradigm for melanoma?
There’s a lot [of exciting research] going on in melanoma. There were some nice data presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting looking at the triplet combination of ipilimumab [Yervoy], nivolumab, and relatlimab-rmbw [Opdalaug].
What was interesting is they also combined that with sarilumab [Kevzara], which is the IL-6 blocker, to potentially mitigate some of the toxicities that would be associated with triplet therapy. Interestingly, they saw [an approximately] 60% response rate, which is [typical of] a triplet like that, but only a 12% rate of high-grade toxicities in the first 12 weeks, which is dramatically lower than what we would expect.
That kind of approach, where we’re treating the patient aggressively with multi-agent checkpoint inhibitors, but then potentially having an agent on top of that to mitigate some of the toxicities, is very interesting.
Some of these next-generation cellular therapies are quite interesting, and there are a number of trials going there. As I mentioned, [OBX-115] is quite interesting in that it removes the need for high-dose IL-2, allows for lower-dose lymphodepleting therapy, and allows for TIL harvest based on biopsies.
There is also the TCR-T therapy [IMA203], which recognizes the PRAME antigen expressed in HLA-A*02:01. [For this therapy to be effective, the tumor must] have the PRAME antigen and the right HLA type, which is only about 40% of patients. However, there’s [an approximately] 50% response rate [with this agent] in cutaneous melanoma. [Moreover,] at least among the first 15 patients with uveal melanoma, 10 of those patients responded—[this] is a very challenging subset of melanoma.
The last [emerging therapy of interest to me] is the Moderna-Merck mRNA vaccine that’s being looked at in the adjuvant setting. There are some interesting randomized phase 2 data that showed the vaccine plus pembrolizumab [Keytruda] was significantly better than pembrolizumab alone in terms of decreasing relapse rates in stage III melanoma. A phase 3 study is ongoing.
Novel approaches like TILs, TCR-T therapy, and these neoantigen vaccines are proving grounds in melanoma, but could expand across a variety of cancer types.
How do you expect the melanoma treatment paradigm, and the role of immunotherapy in it, to evolve in the next few years?
Frontline therapy may or may not be all that different. I could see us potentially using a triplet or some sort of other immunomodulator, but we do have a couple of regimens right now that do cure about half of patients, so I kind of see that probably continuing. Hopefully, we’ll get a little bit better at biomarkers and things like that, but so far, that’s been a little bit frustrating.
What is likely to really dramatically change is having some of these therapies that I just mentioned, either in an adjuvant setting, like the vaccine, as well as some of these cellular therapies in the second- and later-lines of therapy. There are other agents [that could fill this role], including oncolytic viruses, like the drug RP1, which is under FDA review.
If some of these cellular therapies show enough activity in the second-line setting, it’s possible they’ll get moved toward the frontline. Thinking about a new patient with newly diagnosed metastatic disease waiting that long to get started—if the data look good enough, that’s certainly possible, and that would be very exciting. However, it’s a high bar in the frontline, especially when you’re dealing with cellular therapies that take weeks and weeks to produce.
My prognostication would be that some of those therapies will potentially be on the cusp of being tested in the frontline setting, but probably not be there quite yet.
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