Here we go again. After eight months on the sidelines, Masayoshi Son has returned and has stated that SoftBank is back on the offensive. What has he been doing in that time? He claims to have spent the time coming up with 630 inventions – that’s nearly 3 inventions per day!

The lowdown

• 🤺 Masayoshi Son announces that SoftBank will shift to offense mode, with AI a particular focus.

• 🎈 UK inflation comes in at 8.7% for May, increasing the likelihood of a rate rise.

• 📦 FTC sues Amazon, alleging that millions were duped into subscribing to Amazon Prime.

Flex your finance muscle

The yield curve

The yield curve is a graph of interest rates on debt for a range of maturities. It shows the yield an investor is expected to earn if they lend money for a given period. The yield curve can take on various shapes depending on the economic situation, but the two main ones are:

• Normal yield curve: In a normal yield curve, longer maturity bond yields are higher than short-term bond yields. The curve slopes upward because investors demand a higher return for tying up their money for a longer period of time, as they expect compensation for the risk of inflation over the longer term.

• Inverted yield curve: This occurs when long-term debt instruments have a lower yield than short-term debt instruments of the same credit quality. This is often taken as a sign of impending economic recession and, unfortunately, this is where US treasuries are right now – “bad things happen when the yield curve is inverted.” ($)

Featured stories

A bidding war may be starting for Simon & Schuster

On Monday, we mentioned that the owner of book publisher Simon & Schuster, Paramount Global, has been seeking a new buyer for the publisher following the collapse of a planned $2.2 billion sale to Penguin Random House earlier this year.

HarperCollins and KKR have already submitted bids. A fresh buyout bid has now emerged, this time from investor Richard Hurowitz, supported by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

A busy couple of weeks for Mubadala who also announced that they will be investing $200 million in the new VC firm being set up by former SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure. Is it just me or is there a lot of oil money flowing right now?

The content we're consuming today

• FT: Murky world of global food trading is too important to ignore ($).

• WSJ: Inside the Escalating Feud at One of Wall Street’s Biggest Hedge Funds ($).

• Tax Policy Associate: So you dislike the OECD global minimum corporate tax? Tough.

Off-balance sheet items

• Here are some highlights from a match that will go down as one of the greatest in Ashes history. For our American readers, prepare to be confused by the game of cricket.

The bottom line