Copper closed out July with every symptom of scarcity and none of the underlying condition. The metal steadied at 13,807.50 dollars a tonne on Friday, up roughly 3 percent for the month and more than 40 percent for the year, with London in its widest backwardation since January and Chinese import premiums at four-year highs.

Every one of those signals says the world is running out of copper. The aggregate inventory data says the opposite. Reconciling the two is the most useful thing anyone can do with this market right now, because the answer determines whether the current price survives contact with a policy decision.

The European Union’s regime for monitoring public finances has passed a significant test, with the European Commission’s decision to grant indebted governments like Italy a bit more budget room for energy-saving measures meeting a sanguine response from investors and sovereign analysts rather than the alarm that such flexibility might have provoked.

The episode, in which the EU allowed limited fiscal leeway under a category originally intended for defense to accommodate the energy crisis the Gulf conflict produced, illustrates the balance the bloc is striking between fiscal discipline and pragmatic flexibility in responding to the economic shock.

Newfoundland and Labrador, a province in Canada’s Atlantic region, has selected four companies to develop wind farms aimed at supplying power for new hydrogen plants. These projects, however, are conditional on receiving further approvals. The province’s move aligns with Canada’s commitment to supply green hydrogen to Germany by 2025, as part of its efforts to overcome challenges like equipment shortages and local opposition.