California Attorney General Rob Bonta believes Paramount’s planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is simply “an illegal merger,” as he appears to be on a crusade to prevent it from happening. 

Paramount CEO David Ellison is seeking to acquire WBD in a $111 billion deal expected to close during the third quarter of this year. But the mega-merger has irked critics who fear combining two major Hollywood studios would hurt the industry while giving too much power to Ellison’s Paramount.

Bonta on Monday led a group of 12 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the merger, claiming it would “lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.” 

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The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District for the Northern District of California, claims that the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which holds that mergers that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly are illegal. 

“We determined that law was being broken with respect to three markets, when it comes to wide-release theatrical films, their distribution, the distribution of top-grossing films, blockbusters if you will, and also with respect to the licensing of cable channels to cable distributors,” Bonta said on Matthew Belloni’s “The Town” podcast. 

“It’s our duty to analyze the different markets and make a decision based on each about whether antitrust law is violated or not,” he continued.

Bonta said he feels there is a very “strong case” in the three markets defined in the lawsuit. He said consolidation in those areas gives a small number of people too much power when it comes to dictating terms to movie theaters and cable providers, which could drive up prices while reducing quality.  

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“This is about affordability, and this is about everyday people’s ability to enjoy and experience some of the joys of life, a movie, a TV series, at home, through cable or satellite… at a movie theater for a night out. This merger will make that experience, the quality, less, and make it eroded, and it will make the price higher,” Bonta said. 

Belloni asked why streaming giants that also produce movies and television shows, such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon weren’t mentioned in the lawsuit, as Paramount has suggested the merger would put the company in a better position to compete with streaming giants. Belloni noted that 48 percent of viewing in America occurred on streaming services last month, compared to 22 percent for cable channels. 

“We looked at all the impacts … and the streaming market is different, and the cable market is different than the theatrical release market, and each one has its own independent analysis and where we landed was three clean markets where the impact of the merger is presumptively illegal based on a clear threshold that the law has defined,” Bonta said. 

Paramount stated in a Monday press release that the “practical effect of this lawsuit is to shield those dominant streaming platforms like Netflix and technology companies from much-needed competition while preventing the significant benefits this transaction will deliver for consumers, creators, workers, and the broader Hollywood economy.”

After Belloni read the statement aloud, Bonta said it was “painful to hear,” and dismissed the notion that Paramount is “helping” consumers or workers. 

“It’s self-serving, and it’s just not true,” Bonta said, adding that he will not allow a company to do “illegal things” from an antitrust perspective just to compete with streaming giants. 

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Bonta was then asked about a Semafor report that Ellison could potentially move Paramount of California if the state continues to hold up the merger. 

“To threaten a state that is simply doing its job in enforcing the law here, it felt like a somewhat desperate, last-ditch effort to blackmail the states into allowing an illegal merger to go through. And that’s just not going to happen,” Bonta said. 

Paramount fired back shortly after the complaint was filed, saying the lawsuit “reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law.”

“We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace. Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The combination of Paramount and WBD will create a stronger, well-capitalized, creative-first media company that is better positioned to compete with companies like Netflix that have come to dominate the industry for audiences, premium content, and creative talent,” the spokesperson continued. “Put simply, any attempt to block this transaction undermines the very principles antitrust law is designed to promote: more competition, more choice for consumers, and more opportunities for creators and workers.”

The Paramount spokesperson said the company will “continue to fight against any attempt to derail” the historic deal.  

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Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, took control of Paramount last year when Skydance Media and Paramount Global completed an $8 billion merger. Adding WBD to his portfolio would make the younger Ellison one of Hollywood’s most powerful people.

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday announced it has closed its antitrust investigation into Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of WBD, concluding the transaction is not likely to harm competition or American consumers. However, state attorneys general retain independent authority under antitrust laws, and the DOJ’s decision does not itself prevent additional legal challenges to the proposed transaction.

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Mylan Inc sold shares worth Rs 1,839 crore in Biocon through a block deal on Tuesday, with several domestic mutual funds, insurers and foreign investors picking up the stock. According to exchange data, Mylan sold 4.59 crore shares of Biocon at Rs 400 apiece. The total value of the sell-side transaction stood at Rs 1,839 crore.

The deal saw strong institutional participation on the buy side. ICICI Prudential MF was the largest buyer, acquiring 1.84 crore shares at Rs 400 each, translating into an investment of Rs 737 crore.

HDFC Mutual Fund bought 58.29 lakh shares for about Rs 233 crore, while Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund purchased 58.29 lakh shares for nearly Rs 233 crore. SBI Mutual Fund bought 18.75 lakh shares worth Rs 75 crore.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company bought 12,50,000 shares each, worth Rs 50 crore apiece. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund each purchased 9,37,500 shares, valued at Rs 37.5 crore.

Other buyers included UTI Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Tata Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, 360 One Mutual Fund, Bajaj Life Insurance, Axis Max Life Insurance, BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Citigroup Global Markets Singapore, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, Ghisallo Master Fund, Norges Bank and Sanatan Financial Advisory Services.

The deal comes at a time when Biocon remains a closely tracked stock in the pharma and biotechnology space. The company has a presence across generics, biosimilars and research services through its group businesses. Investors have been watching its debt reduction efforts, biosimilars growth, margin recovery and regulatory updates.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

By James Picerno

The case for indexing is well established, supported by academic and empirical research. But while there’s a strong case for passive investing within an asset class, in our view the argument weakens—if not breaks

IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna attributed the company’s weaker-than-expected second-quarter performance to an unexpected shift in customer spending towards AI infrastructure, including servers, storage and memory, to secure supply-constrained hardware, which affected its Software and Infrastructure businesses.

Shares of the company fell over 26% to $213.22 following the update, which was their biggest intraday loss in 58 years, according to a Bloomberg report.

IBM said preliminary second-quarter revenue stood at $17.2 billion, missing analysts’ expectations of $17.9 billion. Revenue from its Infrastructure division fell 7%, while preliminary diluted earnings slipped 2% to $2.27 per share. The company said it is still finalising its financial statements, with official quarterly results due next week and subject to minor revisions.

Krishna said customer spending priorities changed sharply in the final weeks of June.

“In the last few weeks of June, we saw clients shift their quarterly capex spend toward servers, storage, and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases. This dynamic impacted client buying patterns. While we anticipated some supply chain related impact in our expectations, we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization,” he said.

Krishna acknowledged execution lapses, saying, ”These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered. We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall.”
Also Read: Is Wall Street heading towards a massive crash? Here’s what history hintsThe biggest setback came from IBM’s mainframe business. Although the company had anticipated a moderation in Infrastructure revenue after the record launch of its z17 mainframe, the decline was steeper than expected as sales of IBM Z systems and related transaction-processing software fell short of forecasts.

IBM also cited rapidly evolving cybersecurity concerns across industries, which distracted customers and delayed technology purchasing decisions during the quarter.

Despite the disappointing quarter, IBM highlighted areas of resilience. Red Hat revenue growth accelerated to 11%, recently acquired businesses such as HashiCorp and Confluent performed strongly, and its Distributed Infrastructure business posted a record 37% growth, supported by robust demand for Power servers and storage systems. Consulting signings also remained healthy, driven by generative AI projects.

Looking ahead, IBM said it is accelerating initiatives to improve execution while continuing to invest aggressively in AI and quantum computing. The company recently launched Lightwell, a new AI-powered cybersecurity platform, and reaffirmed plans to build a large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.

“Lightwell is a $5 billion commitment backed by new frontier AI capabilities and a global force of more than 20,000 engineers. Early adopters include organizations like Bank of America, BNY, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, and more,” he said.

Kylian Mbappé holds a clear edge over Lamine Yamal in betting markets and statistical models heading into Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal between France and Spain, with sportsbooks and analytics firms alike pricing the French captain as the far more likely of the two attacking stars to find the net at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Mbappé’s anytime goalscorer odds sit in the range of -105 to +110 across major U.S. sportsbooks, according to compiled odds from FOX Sports, Bleacher Nation and SportsbookReview, implying a probability of scoring somewhere between roughly 48% and 52%. Yamal, by contrast, carries odds ranging from +220 to +240 depending on the book, implying a probability closer to 29% to 31%. ESPN’s odds board lists Yamal’s anytime goal price at +195, alongside a first-goal price of +550 and a two-or-more-goal price of +1200, figures broadly consistent across other major sportsbooks tracking the match.

Analytics firm Dimers, which runs a 10,000-simulation model factoring in defensive form and tactical matchups for its projections, gives Mbappé a 34.3% chance of scoring at any point Tuesday, along with a 6.6% chance of scoring two or more goals. Yamal, according to the same model, sits closer to a 20% chance of finding the net, grouped alongside Spain’s leading scorer this tournament, Mikel Oyarzabal, who carries a similar probability in Dimers’ projections.

Mbappé’s favored status reflects a dominant tournament so far. The French captain enters Tuesday’s match with eight goals through six matches, tied with Argentina’s Lionel Messi atop the tournament’s Golden Boot standings, and has converted on 42% of the 19 shots on goal he has recorded at this World Cup, according to figures cited by SportsbookReview. FOX Sports noted that Mbappé is averaging 5.0 shots per game overall, with 3.2 of those shots on target, a volume that has made him the most heavily bet anytime goalscorer of the tournament by a wide margin; one outlet reported five times more bets placed on Mbappé to score than on any other player in Tuesday’s match, with 94% of the money taken in on the outright result backing France to advance.

Yamal’s odds reflect a considerably quieter tournament by his own standards. The 18-year-old Barcelona winger has scored just once at this World Cup, coming in Spain’s 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia during the group stage, and has not registered another goal contribution since, a marked contrast to his standout performances at Euro 2024 and the 2025 UEFA Nations League. Yamal also entered the knockout rounds managing a hamstring injury sustained in the spring, which analysts say limited his output during Spain’s quarterfinal win over Belgium even as he continued rounding back into form. One betting analysis from BookmakersReview characterized Yamal’s current price as reflecting reputation more than recent form, noting the teenager “spent the group stage working back from a spring hamstring injury and now draws two or three defenders every time he sneezes near the ball,” and describing his current odds as “a fame price, not a form price.”

Even so, Yamal carries genuine history against this specific opponent that keeps him firmly in the conversation. He scored a memorable long-range goal against France in Spain’s 5-4 win over Les Bleus in the 2025 UEFA Nations League semifinal, a result that still looms over Tuesday’s rematch given that several members of the current French squad were on the field for that defeat. One betting preview from SportscastingLive specifically flagged Yamal as “the best value for those predicting a Spanish upset,” pricing him at +220 as its top value pick alongside Mbappé as its top overall pick at +105.

Beyond the two headline names, other players carry notable anytime scorer odds heading into kickoff. France’s Ousmane Dembélé, who has scored five goals this tournament, sits in the +210 to +230 range across various books, while Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, the team’s leading scorer with four goals, is priced between +165 and +200. French midfielder Michael Olise, who leads the tournament with six assists, carries longer odds around +270 to +320 to score himself, reflecting his more playmaking-oriented role within France’s attack.

The gap between Mbappé’s and Yamal’s odds also reflects the broader statistical profile of the two national teams heading into Tuesday’s match. France has scored 16 goals through six matches, the most of any remaining team in the tournament, while conceding just two, and has kept clean sheets in three consecutive matches. Spain, by contrast, has scored 11 goals across its six matches while conceding only a single goal all tournament, a defensive record built on a run of six consecutive clean sheets before finally conceding in the quarterfinal win over Belgium. That contrast, an explosive, front-loaded French attack against a disciplined, low-event Spanish side that has repeatedly needed late goals to advance, helps explain why oddsmakers view Mbappé as considerably more likely to break through than Yamal, even though Spain itself remains competitive on the overall match result, priced around +210 to +225 to win outright.

Notably, all major sportsbooks list their goalscorer markets as settling across the full 120 minutes of play, including any extra time, though not penalty shootouts, meaning both Mbappé’s and Yamal’s probabilities account for the possibility that Tuesday’s match extends beyond regulation should the score remain level after 90 minutes.

Ultimately, while betting odds and statistical models are not guarantees of what will unfold on the pitch, the consensus across sportsbooks and analytics platforms heading into Tuesday’s semifinal is clear: Mbappé, riding a historic scoring pace and functioning as the focal point of France’s attack, holds a meaningfully higher probability of scoring than Yamal, whose odds instead reflect a talented but comparatively quieter tournament so far, tempered by lingering fitness questions and a Spanish system built more around collective control than individual scoring bursts. Whether Yamal can author another moment of magic against France, as he did in last year’s Nations League semifinal, remains one of the more intriguing subplots heading into kickoff at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

This story about the June 2026 CPI inflation report will be updated with further details.

Inflation pulled back in June after surging in prior months due to the Iran war’s impact on energy prices throughout the economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Tuesday that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – declined 0.4% on a monthly basis in June and was up 3.5% from a year ago. The monthly decline was the largest since a 0.8% decrease in April 2020.

Expectations vs. reality

Those figures were cooler than the estimates of economists polled by LSEG, who predicted a decline of 0.1% on a monthly basis and a 3.8% increase from a year ago. They also represent a cooling trend from the 0.5% monthly increase and the 4.2% annual rise recorded in the May edition of the report.

So-called core prices, which exclude volatile measurements of gasoline and groceries to better assess price growth trends, were unchanged from a month ago and up 2.6% from last year. Both of those figures were lower than the estimates of economists polled by LSEG, who predicted a monthly increase of 0.2% and 2.8% from a year ago.

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The cost of living breakdown

High inflation has created severe financial pressures in recent years for most U.S. households, which are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. Price hikes are particularly difficult for lower-income Americans, because they tend to spend more of their already-stretched paychecks on necessities and have less flexibility to save.

Energy prices fell 5.7% on a monthly basis – the energy index’s largest monthly decline since April 2020 – and are up 15.7% from a year ago. BLS noted that the energy index was the largest contributor to the decline in headline inflation, more than offsetting increases in indexes for food and housing.

Gasoline prices fell 9.7% in June and are up 26.7% from a year ago. Electricity prices were down 1% on a monthly basis and are up 4% from a year ago. Utility gas service prices rose 0.5% in June and are up 3% from last year.

Food prices rose 0.2% in June and are up 3% in the past year. The food at home index is 2.7% higher than a year ago, while the food away from home index is up 3.4% in the last year and both rose 0.2% on a monthly basis in June.

The meats, poultry and fish index was 0.4% higher in June and has risen 5.7% over the past year. Beef and veal prices rose 1.2% on a monthly basis and are up 11.8% from a year ago. Egg prices increased 4.3% in June but are down 27.9% over the last year as supplies normalized after an avian flu outbreak. Prices for fruits and vegetables decreased 0.2% in June and are up 5.3% from a year ago.

Housing prices rose 0.1% on a monthly basis, which was the smallest one-month change since January 2021, and are up 3.3% from a year ago. Tenants’ and household insurance costs rose 0.2% from a month ago and are up 5.9% in the last year.

Transportation services prices declined 0.3% in June and are 3.4% higher than a year ago. Airline fares increased 0.2% on a monthly basis but are up 26.5% compared with a year ago.

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What experts are saying

Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said that the “Fed was losing patience with high inflation, and today’s cooler-than-expected report gives them room to breathe.”

“By surprising on the downside, it relieves immediate pressure for action, allows the Fed to gather additional inflation data over the summer, and makes it considerably easier for policymakers to maintain their current wait-and-see stance through the next meeting,” Zentner added.

Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, said: “After today’s benign core inflation release, it appears less likely that the FOMC will raise rates over the next few meetings. However, we may still be at an inflection point, given the risk that the energy shock could spill over into other categories of consumer prices. A positive resolution with Iran before the end of the summer is becoming increasingly important.”

What does it mean for the Fed?

The Federal Reserve has held interest rates steady at recent meetings amid concerns about elevated inflation, and with readings still coming in well above the central bank’s 2% target, policymakers are likely to leave rates unchanged at the next few meetings.

The CME FedWatch tool showed an 85.6% probability that the benchmark federal funds rate will remain at its current target range of 3.5% to 3.75% at the Fed’s next meeting in late July, up from 58.3% a day ago.

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The tool also shows a 0% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the end of the year, with just a 19.4% chance that rates remain at their current levels – with a 42.2% chance of a 25-basis-point hike and a 29.7% chance of 50-basis-points worth of hikes by the end of the year.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that he will replace a 20% fee on commercial shipping moving through the Strait of Hormuz with “Trade and Investment Deals” that Gulf nations will be making in the United States.

Trump said the move came as the movement of oil and natural gas supplies has eased along the waterway, a vital, narrow commercial shipping point currently being contested by Washington and Tehran.

“Oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION.”

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However, Trump said he would reinstate a blockade on Iran.

“We will therefore have a FULL Blockade, but only on Ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything have to do with Iranian cargo,” he added. “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”

Trump’s announcement comes amid Iran’s push to assert control over the strait. Tehran has claimed sovereign authority over the territory, despite the strait historically being considered a free-to-use international waterway.

During Tuesday’s meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, Trump said he spoke with Gulf state leaders, who all said they would like to invest in the U.S. “at record amounts.”

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“And this way there’s no fee,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t like the concept of a fee, but at the same time, it’s not fair that we’re protecting this strait for the entire world, for China and everyone.”

“I don’t mind protecting it for anybody. But it’s unfair that we’re not in somehow compensated. And we’ve been doing this for many years,” he added. “They’re investing and they’re getting a return on their money, and it’s good, but they’re going to be making massive investments into the United States and I like that much better.”

Over the weekend, U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged missile and drone attacks as Tehran again claimed to have control over the strait.

On Monday, the U.S. launched strikes against Iranian military sites. By Tuesday, Trump said Iran had been “very much destabilized.”

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“I think what we’ve done to Iran is we’ve taken away almost all of their military capability.”

“I gave them a chance. I wanted to give them a chance at making a deal. You know, we had a deal two days ago. It was done. And then all of a sudden, they couldn’t do it,” he said. “They didn’t like something about the deal. They couldn’t do it. And they shot first. And that was a big mistake that they shot first because we have been knocking the hell out of them.”