Happy morning, Munchers!

Here is your daily dose of the news that matters, from Wall Street to Dalal Street - in 5 minutes and 10 seconds.

Let’s dive in.

What’s hot, what’s not?

Market Commentary 🎙️

• Stocks across the board either remained flat or ticked slightly lower, following on from the strong jobs report last week (fueling concerns that the Fed might hike rates faster)

• Markets are gearing up for the closely-watched CPI print on Wednesday, helping us gauge how inflation is faring.

• Commodities also pared losses with Brent closing at about $96.6/barrel.

Story Roundup

1 - World's biggest tech investor loses $24bn as bets go awry. 😥

SoftBank is notorious for splashing a lot of money onto tech companies.

This strategy worked during an era of loose monetary policy and cheap money - and it worked a little too well.

The moment the economy began to tighten up, their high-flying portfolio companies found themselves decimated as liquidity dried up across the board.

SoftBank has now found themselves driving rudderless - reporting a $23.6bn loss in the second quarter.

Buckle up - but not too tight. 🔥

2 - Pfizer scoops up sickle-cell disease drug owner Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4bn. 💉

Pfizer is racking up a bill of $5.4bn with the purchase of Global Blood Therapeutics - a company that got FDA approval for their drug to treat sickle cell disease.

This news comes on the back of a lot of spending by the healthcare giant - who's been reaping the rewards of red-hot demand for their COVID vaccine.

Pfizer wants to accelerate the distribution of GBT's sickle-cell disease drug around the world.

Let's hope it's a step in the right direction.

3 - Russia will suspend American inspections of their nukes. 💣

Russia's angry over sanctions - so they said that they won't let Americans poke their noses into Russian nukes anymore.

Their reasoning this time round was that sanctions placed on Russian travel would make it impossible for them to do the same checks on American weapons.

They also added that they'd be "fully committed to complying with all the other provisions of the treaty".

Looks like no nuclear war... for now. 😉

4 - Fully driverless robotaxi's are making their way to China's streets.

Baidu - the company that fills Google's shoes in China - has secured a permit to launch and operate the first fully driverless robo-taxis.

It's a move that gives Baidu a considerable edge in the autonomous driver market and will help them carry out more testing of their vehicles.

Their thoughts were that "commercialisation wil only generate significant revenue in 2-3 years."

I won't mind talking to my Uber driver like it's Jarvis from the Avengers.

5 - Turkey gets onto Russia's payments network, and ticks the West off a little. 😇

Five Turkish banks have adopted Russia's Mir payments system - a move that grants some financial support to both countries.

Putin and Erdogan also agreed to start moving partial payment for natural gas in roubles - a big move away from the Dollar.

Turkey has been vocally opposing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but they haven't exactly jumped to slap sanctions on Russia - and it's paying off, as Russia is a very vital lifeline for the government in terms of financial support.

Interesting times. 💀

Happy Tuesday guys. Peace out. Good luck for the week.

Thanks a ton for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Any feedback is open - positive or negative. Hit my line at [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryaansh/.