It appears U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy may be closing in on a deal to avert a default. As Biden flies to Hiroshima to attend a G-7 summit, McCarthy tells our U.S. colleagues that the size of the debt issue can no longer be ignored. The optimism pushes the Dow by 400 points and regional banks also surge with Western Alliance reporting strong deposits for the quarter. In retail news, U.S. giant Target sees shares rise on an earnings beat but warns that organised retail theft could cost the company up to $1bn. Deutsche Bank agrees to settle a lawsuit concerning Jeffrey Epstein’s victims with a $75m payout following accusations that the lender enabled the late financier’s sex trafficking activities. Global debt has soared by $8tn in the first quarter this year as rising interest rates drive costs up. Total global debt has now stabilised at 335 per cent of GDP.

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