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Member Briefing June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

Posted By: Harold King in Daily Briefing,

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U.S. Officials Assess Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Sites

After the surprise U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, administration officials worked to assess the extent of the damage. An area of particular interest is the Fordow uranium-enrichment complex. Experts say it could take weeks to know how much damage was inflicted. Iranian officials said they had minimized the impact from the U.S. strikes to their nuclear program, but the country's clerical leaders face a choice whether to hit back and risk expanding the war, or return to nuclear talks where they would likely have to cede to American demands.

To recap, the U.S. this weekend had hit three sites—Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan—in strikes involving 125 aircraft and a decoy. Washington said it has sent messages to Tehran urging Iran to engage in peace talks. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Oman joined the head of the United Nations in condemning the U.S. strikes.

Read more at The WSJ

US and Iran – More Headlines

Investors Brace For Oil Price Spike, Rush To Havens After US Bombs Iran Nuclear Sites

A U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear sites could push oil prices even higher and trigger a knee-jerk rush to safety, investors said, as they assessed how the latest escalation of tensions would ripple through the global economy. The reaction in Middle East stock markets, which trade on Sunday, suggested investors were assuming a benign scenario, even as Iran intensified its missile attacks on Israel in response to the sudden, deep U.S. involvement in the conflict.

Investors said they expected the U.S. involvement would cause a selloff in stock markets and a possible bid for the dollar and other safe-haven assets when major markets reopen, but also said much uncertainty about the course of the conflict remained. A key concern for markets would center around the potential impact of the developments in the Middle East on oil prices and thus on inflation. Still, any pullback in equities might be fleeting, history suggests. During past prominent instances of Middle East tensions coming to a boil, including the 2003 Iraq invasion and the 2019 attacks on Saudi oil facilities, stocks initially languished but soon recovered to trade higher in the months ahead.

Read more at Reuters

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Policy and Politics

Senate Parliamentarian Strikes Key SNAP Spending Cuts From GOP Megabill

The Senate parliamentarian on Friday ruled against several more Republican provisions in President Trump’s megabill, including language to bar immigrants who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents from receiving food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, also ruled against a key Republican pay-for in the bill, a proposal requiring states to pay for a certain percentage of food assistance under SNAP depending on those states’ error rates in delivering aid. The parliamentarian’s ruling could make it easier for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to pick up some GOP support as the SNAP-related pay-for will now need to be stripped from the legislation.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, applauded the parliamentarian’s decision on Friday. “The Senate parliamentarian has begun providing guidance that certain provisions in the Republicans’ One Big, Beautiful Betrayal will be subject to the Byrd Rule — ultimately meaning they will need to be stripped from the bill or altered to comply with the rules of reconciliation,” Merkley said in a statement.

Read more at The Hill

Republicans Express Concern About Lack Of Trump Trade Deals

A number of Republicans are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of tariff deals from President Trump two weeks away from a July 8 deadline that could lead to the reinstating of heavy tariffs on imports from around the world. The administration has announced deals with China and the United Kingdom, and it insists it is working hard on others. Officials have also suggested there could be some wiggle room on the deadline.

“I think they’re working very hard on them — I know that for a fact,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “I think the approach that was taken in the first place creates a lot of complications because it does produce this enormous workload and need for negotiation with an enormous number of countries.” Members want to see more trade deals as soon as possible to provide more certainty for businesses. “There’s definitely a lot of uncertainty,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said. “Everybody, and I know the administration’s working toward this, would like to see … more numerous solid wins.”

Read more at The Hill

Appeals Court Upholds Kingston’s Rent Stabilization Law

Last week, the state Court of Appeals upheld Kingston’s 15% rent reduction and the vacancy study allowing them to opt in to the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, a move that could ease the financial burden felt by tenants while emboldening other upstate localities to opt-in to rent stabilization. Other cities like Newburgh and Poughkeepsie have attempted to follow Kingston’s lead, only to be met by identical lawsuits from the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association, who have argued that the vacancy studies should be considered null and void due to discrepancies in property owner outreach and unit inclusion. The new case law could see a full realization of the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, which allows upstate municipalities with a housing “emergency” to enact rent stabilization.

Kingston opted into the ETPA in 2022 after conducting a vacancy study that found a vacancy rate under 5%. The city then formed its own Rent Guidelines Board, which approved a 15% rent reduction in rent-stabilized units. Landlords sued, claiming that the study was flawed and the rent reduction was illegal. The case wound its way through the court system, putting the effects of the rent reduction in limbo for years. But that came to an end on Wednesday, when the Court of Appeals finally ruled that the vacancy survey was not fatally flawed and the rent reductions could go into effect.

Read more at City & State

Political Headlines

Health and Wellness

Study: Marijuana Doubles Your Risk Of Cardiovascular Death

In a new paper published in the journal Heart, researchers analyzed data from 24 previous studies and found that cannabis use is associated with a significantly increased risk of major cardiovascular events—including “myocardial infarction, a stroke, and increase in cardiovascular death,” says Emilie Jouanjus, a clinical pharmacologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse in France and a researcher on the project.

The findings, based on health data from 200 million people worldwide—including in the United States—showed that cannabis users had a 20 percent higher risk of stroke and twice the risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared to non-users. Several of the analyzed studies also showed that cardiovascular risk increased with heavier cannabis use, suggesting more frequent consumers may be more at risk. Some researchers suspect that older adults or those with pre-existing heart conditions may be especially vulnerable, though further research is needed.

Read more at National Geographic

Industry News

Trade War Updates

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Says Company Will Cut Jobs Amid AI Boom. It's Already Happening At Microsoft.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company will reduce its workforce in the coming years, and Microsoft is reportedly planning thousands of layoffs, just as the two companies invest billions in artificial intelligence efforts. Microsoft is expected to announce the cuts, primarily aimed at its sales teams, early next month, according to Bloomberg, which cited anonymous sources.

The news came after Amazon’s Jassy said on Tuesday that AI will lead to job cuts at his own company. “As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said in a memo to employees. Jassy said Amazon is “using Generative AI broadly across our internal operations” for tasks like inventory management and demand forecasting in its delivery system. The CEO said, because of AI, “We’ll be able to focus less on rote work and more on thinking strategically about how to improve customer experiences and invent new ones.” The comments were met with backlash from employees.

Read more at Yahoo Finance

Nvidia, Foxconn In Talks To Deploy Humanoid Robots At Houston AI Server Making Plant

Taiwan's Foxconn and U.S. artificial intelligence chips maker Nvidia are in talks to deploy humanoid robots at a new Foxconn factory in Houston that will produce Nvidia AI servers, two sources familiar with the matter said. This would be the first time that an Nvidia product will be made with the assistance of humanoid robots and would be Foxconn's first AI server factory to use them on a production line, the sources said. A deployment, expected to be finalised in the coming months, would mark a milestone in the adoption of the human-like robots that promises to transform manufacturing processes.

Foxconn is developing its own humanoid robots with Nvidia and has also trialed humanoids made by China's UBTech. The sources said it was not clear what type of humanoid robots are being planned for use in the Houston factory, what they will look like or how many will be deployed initially. They said the two companies are aiming to have the humanoid robots at work by the first quarter of next year when Foxconn's new Houston factory will begin production of Nvidia's GB300 AI servers.

Read more at Reuters

Airbus Orders Dominate Paris Air Show As Boeing Takes Backseat — Again

Airbus orders and new models have taken center-stage at this year’s Paris Air Show, as its U.S. rival Boeing spends yet another major industry event keeping a low profile due to turmoil at the business. Airlines and manufacturers use air shows as an opportunity to make splashy aircraft purchase announcements following months of negotiations, some of which will be wrapped up at the event. Airbus had racked up nearly $21 billion as of Thursday morning, per a Reuters calculation.

Boeing’s relatively quiet presence in Paris isn’t indicative of a wider demand crisis in the sector. The manufacturer sealed plenty of orders during U.S. President Donald Trump’s May trip to the Middle East, including a 210-jet deal with Qatar Airways. Both Boeing and Airbus meanwhile have aircraft backlogs of more than 5,000 and 8,000 aircraft, respectively, figures that have barely budged for nearly a decade as industry supply challenges — exacerbated in the wake of the pandemic — leave airlines struggling to renew their ageing fleets.

Read more at CNBC

Danone Announces New Florida Production Line, New Bottle Mold Process

Danone U.S., the brand behind Activia and Danimals, announced today it was opening a new $65 million production line in Jacksonville, Florida for its cold-brew coffee and creamer products. The company also said it would build a new regional distribution center in the area. In total, Danone says the combined investments would add up to about 200 “direct and indirect” jobs in the area.

In a statement, Danone North America President Dan Magliocco said the latest investment was a sign of the company’s commitment to Northeast Florida and manufacturing domestically. The company also said the new production line would feature a new way of making plastic bottles: The new molding method, Danone says, will reduce “bottle loss” by 30% and use less water.

Read more at Industry Week

The F-35 Shows What It Can Do In the Skys Above Iran

Back in November Elon Musk took direct aim at the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Calling the $100 million-a-piece aircraft "obsolete" and a "jack of all trades, master of none," Musk argued that the future belonged to drones—not manned jets. "Manned fighter jets are outdated in the age of drones and only put pilots' lives at risk," he posted on X. But in June 2025, those same jets are proving Musk wrong.

During Israel's ongoing offensive against Iran, F-35I Adir fighters—Israel's variant of the American-made stealth jet—have executed dozens of long-range strikes against fortified air defense systems, missile sites and nuclear facilities. Israeli officials say the aircraft flew deep into Iranian territory, encountered little resistance, and returned without a single recorded loss. According to the Israeli Air Force, their F-35s neutralized critical air defense assets and gave Israeli pilots air superiority over much of Iranian airspace—a feat that unmanned systems have yet to replicate.

Read more at Newsweek

Why The Housing Market Is So Stuck, In 4 Charts

The US is in the middle of the typical peak homebuying season, but all signs suggest that the market remains sluggish. Housing contract activity slipped sharply in April, even though buyers had more inventory to choose from. Meanwhile, buyers and sellers are locked in something of a standoff: More sellers are listing their properties, but prices haven’t fallen much, and buyers are being picky.

What it will take to bring life back to the market isn’t clear. Lower rates would certainly help, but there’s little reason to think they’ll return to 3% or 4% anytime soon, barring a deep recession. Recessions come with their own housing market tradeoffs, like higher unemployment that reduces demand and elevated mortgage delinquencies. Yahoo Finance compiled charts that illustrate how quickly the housing market shifted in the last five years, and why it’s at a standstill now.

Read more, see the charts at Yahoo Finance

Changing Face Of War: Pentagon Racing To Expand Use Of Small Offensive Drones

The U.S. military is investing heavily in military drones based on the battlefield successes by Ukraine and Israel using attack drones in remote strikes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress. Mr. Hegseth said in testimony Wednesday on the current $961.6 billion annual defense budget request that the rapidly expanding use of small, unmanned aircraft requires applying the best advanced technology and innovation to building new U.S. systems, both offensive and defensive. “Incidents in the homeland and conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine remind us of how this technology has changed modern warfare.”

So far, the Pentagon’s Replicator program has fielded thousands of unmanned systems in both air and sea and thousands more are planned to bolster deterrence of China in the Indo-Pacific, Mr. Hegseth said. Greater defenses are needed to meet what the defense secretary said is “the exponentially growing challenge from ever more-capable drone weaponization.” “We must also end the unsustainable pattern of shooting down increasingly sophisticated, lethal drones — that in many cases cost just a few hundred dollars and are therefore accessible to a much broader range of bad actors — with exquisite multi-million-dollar weapons that are difficult to produce and to replace once used,” he said.

Read more at The Washington Times

Japan Seeks To Double Shipbuilding Output By 2030

Japan is weighing bold steps to rejuvenate its once-dominant shipbuilding industry, including the establishment of a government-backed national shipyard, as part of a wider strategy to restore maritime manufacturing capabilities critical to national security. The proposal, submitted to prime minister Shigeru Ishiba by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday, calls for the rehabilitation of dormant shipbuilding and repair facilities, alongside incentives for public and private investment in next-generation shipyard infrastructure.

Japan once commanded nearly 50% of global shipbuilding output during the 1990s. Today, its market share has plummeted to around 10%, trailing far behind China, which controls 70% of global newbuild capacity and an astounding 90% of repair capacity, and South Korea, its long-time regional rival. At a press conference, Yukito Higaki, president of Imabari Shipbuilding, outlined an ambitious target: regaining at least 20% global market share by 2030, doubling current levels. “To become a price leader who has the power to control pricing, we must at least achieve a 20% global market share by 2030,” said the Imabari boss. Higaki also expressed openness to cooperation with the US, especially under the Trump administration’s push to revive American shipbuilding.

Read more at Splash

NASA Spacecraft ‘Touches Sun’ For Final Time In Defining Moment For Humankind

The heavily armored Parker Solar Probe has traveled to within just 3.86 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the sun’s surface — what NASA calls “hyper close.” It’s the third and final time it has performed the feat, following similar achievements on Dec. 24, 2024, and March 22, 2025. Parker launched on Aug. 12, 2018, and has since conducted 23 perihelions — close passes — of the sun, getting to within 3.86 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) twice before today’s repeat performance. For scale, that’s four yards from the end zone if the distance between Earth and the sun was the length of an American football field, according to mission scientists.

During this final perihelion of the mission, the probe will be traveling at around 430,000 miles per hour (690,000 kilometers per hour). According to NASA, that's fast enough to get from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in a single second. Perihelion 24 also sees it forced to withstand temperatures of 1,600 to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (870 to 930 degrees Celsius). Its only armor against both temperature and extreme ultraviolet radiation is a carbon composite shield. Parker is in a highly elliptical orbit, which takes 88 days but allows it to occasionally swoop particularly close to the sun. One of the main objectives of the mission is to understand why the sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere, is a million times hotter than the photosphere, its surface.

Read more at Forbes

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