How the White House Overturned a World Cup Red Card

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Daniel Bach (0:33)

European leaders debate a divorce or carrying on a loveless marriage with the United States. Plus, how strong battery performance could change American views on electric vehicles.

Stephen Wilmot (0:44)

After five years on the road, the average EV will still be able to drive up to 95 percent of its original range.

Daniel Bach (0:50)

And the World Cup gets political as President Trump intervenes.

It's Monday, July 6th. I'm Daniel Bach for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Luke Vargas. And here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

Drama, intrigue, and controversy. The World Cup served up all the storylines over the weekend. England beat co-host Mexico to finally win in Mexico City. Five-time champion Brazil went out, while France overcame the tactics of Paraguay that for many showed the dark side of the beautiful game. But despite all that, it's President Trump who's dominating the headlines. That's after FIFA decided to overturn a red card given to top-scoring American player Fuller and Baligan handed out in the last match. That decision came after a phone call from Trump to FIFA's president. Baligan should be in the lineup tonight when the US men's team faces Belgium and Seattle for a chance to reach the quarterfinals.

Mauricio Pochettino (1:50)

We all, you know, agree that was an unfair red card.

Daniel Bach (1:54)

Speaking ahead of the match, courtesy of FIFA, US coach Mauricio Pochettino refused to say whether it was appropriate for President Trump to get involved.

Mauricio Pochettino (2:03)

It's not surprised me. I came from a culture, Argentina or Europe, that the football soccer is more than a religion, more than a religion, you know.

Daniel Bach (2:15)

People familiar with the matter said FIFA president Gianni Infantino agreed to look into it after Trump called but didn't commit to overturning the red card. Yesterday, it was rescinded under a provision that allows FIFA's disciplinary committee to exercise its discretion when reviewing sanctions. From the Belgian perspective, their coach compared yesterday to April Fool's Day and nodded to the fact it appears to be the first time since 1962 that a red card handed out during a World Cup match didn't result in a player being suspended.

In market news, stock futures are pointing to a positive start to the week in the US with contracts tied to the NASDAQ 100 up more than 1%.

While investors seem to have rekindled their enthusiasm for tech stocks, this week will bring a number of tests including a NASDAQ listing for South Korean chip star SK Hynex and earnings from its peer Samsung. Plus Elon Musk's SpaceX joins the NASDAQ 100 tomorrow. Minutes from the first Fed interest rate meeting will also be scrutinized for clues about how hawkish the central bank might be under new chair Kevin Warsh. Meanwhile, oil prices continue to retreat. That's after OPEC and its allies agreed to boost output, raising the prospects of an oil clut as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz gradually resumes. Here's energy markets reporter Rebecca Fung.

Rebecca Fung (3:35)

Right now, we have a very sudden and probably temporary clut that there are too much oil at the sea.

But in the long run, analysts were telling us that it would take 15 to 18 months to refill the world's inventories, which are right now at historical level of lows. But also it's just a way for OPEC countries to get more income, frankly, because during the past four months or so, Hormuz is just effectively closed. So now that we're seeing traffic normalizing to about 30 to 60 ships a day, we're seeing increasing amount of oil getting out. The latest data from this ship tracker company, Vertexa, shows that in June, there are about 4.7 million barrels a day coming out compared with 2 million barrels a day in May. So there is a recovery, but we're still not back to pre-war levels, and the world's oil inventories are still filling up, and it will take time.

Daniel Bach (4:31)

OPEC Plus said late on Sunday that they will raise production to about 188,000 barrels a day as of next month. UK budget airline EasyJet has finally agreed to a takeover bid from US investment firm Castle Lake in a deal that could exceed $7 billion.