And Shell has denied reports it is in takeover talks with rival firm BP.
Happy Thursday and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest business and political headlines from around the world.
First up, Nato members have agreed to increase defence spending to 5% of their countries’ economic output by 2035, the BBC reported.
The decision was made at a summit in The Hague and follows months of pressure from US President Donald Trump, who called it a “big win for Europe and… Western civilisation.”
The commitment involves spending at least 3.5% of each member state's GDP on core defence expenditure by 2035, plus 1.5% on a broadly defined range of investments loosely related to security infrastructure.
In a joint statement, members said they were united against security challenges, highlighting the “long-term threat posed by Russia” and terrorism.
Meanwhile, CNBC reported that Trump has threatened a tough trade deal for Spain after it refused to meet the spending target.
At a press conference, Trump said Spain’s economy was doing well but warned it could be “blown right out of the water” if something went wrong.
“You know what we're going to do? We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal, and we're going to make them pay twice as much – and I'm actually serious about that.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said earlier that the country would meet Nato’s new capabilities targets – measures member states should take to defend themselves – but maintained that the current defence spending rate of 2% of GDP was “sufficient, realistic and compatible with the welfare state”, Reuters reported.
Donald Trump.
Turning to the conflict between Israel and Iran, the fragile ceasefire between the two countries continues to hold.
CNN reported that the United States will meet with Iran next week to discuss a potential nuclear agreement, though the President has said repeatedly that he does not believe such a deal “is that necessary”.
Meanwhile, a US intelligence report suggests that Iran’s nuclear programme has only been set back by a few months following US strikes, according to the Associated Press.
The US President has claimed that Iran’s nuclear sites were “completely obliterated” but appeared to soften that stance at the Nato summit, saying that the intelligence was “very inconclusive”, The Guardian reported. Later, he said Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back “decades.”
In business news, oil giant Shell has denied that it is in talks to buy BP after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was in early-stage discussions about a potential takeover of its British rival.
A Shell spokesperson said no talks were taking place, while BP declined to comment.
According to Reuters, Shell’s denial follows recent remarks by chief executive Wael Sawan, who said Shell has a very high bar for acquisitions and that buying back shares is a better use of capital than pursuing a takeover of BP.
Turning to Wall Street, the S&P 500 was little changed as investors watched to see if it would reach a record high.
The benchmark index fell 0.1% overnight, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4%.
Nvidia shares were up 4%, while Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and chipmaker AMD rose 2% and 3%, respectively.
The S&P 500 is up 2% this week, helped by a more measured-than-expected Iranian response to US attacks over the weekend, CNBC reported.
And finally this morning, dating app Bumble has announced it is laying off 30% of its global workforce, Reuters reported.
It’s the latest round of cuts in the dating app industry, as major players focus on developing features to keep users engaged amid ongoing economic uncertainty. Rival firm Match said last month it was cutting its workforce by 13%.
Alongside the announcement that 240 jobs will be cut, Bumble also raised its second-quarter revenue forecast.
Shares rose 19% on the news, though the company’s market value has fallen by about a fifth this year to US$500 million. It peaked at $15 billion when the company went public in 2021.
Online dating platforms have struggled in recent years to retain audiences, especially among Gen Z users.
