BHP said Chile’s Antofagasta Environmental Assessment Commission approved the first major environmental permit for the Escondida expansion, enabling the roughly $14.7bn project to move forward. The permit covers early-stage sulfide leaching and power upgrades costing about $1.3bn; further major upgrades to the mine and processing facilities remain subject to later approvals. Escondida is the world’s largest copper mine; BHP holds 57.5%, Rio Tinto 30% and the remainder is held by a Japanese conso

Samsung reported record profit but its shares fell about 8% as investors highlighted three market-relevant issues. First, the profit surge was largely driven by DRAM/NAND price gains in the memory supercycle — an industry-wide beta rather than Samsung-specific alpha; SK hynix and Micron also slid, signaling markets are repricing whether the cycle has peaked rather than re-assessing Samsung alone. Second, revenue slightly missed expectations, revealing volume and product‑mix weakness; Samsung trails SK hynix on HBM3E/HBM4 — high-bandwidth memory crucial for AI servers — implying it missed the highest-margin segment. Third, results include a one-off employee bonus accrual, lowering earnings quality. Market takeaway: headline strength was cyclical and partly one-off, so the stock decline reflects a repricing of the memory cycle peak rather than a straightforward earnings shock from company operations.

Germany May seasonally adjusted manufacturing orders MoM +1.9% (consensus +1.5%); prior -3.8%.