The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The biggest, most international, most recognizably American brands used to have an easy job selling into the global marketplace.

Used to. We look at a costly backlash.

And I can't resist calling it a bull market in Brazil, but it's also a cow market. Bitters buy shares in bovine assets, pay astronomical sums for their semen or eggs.

Our correspondent spends some time thinking about what makes a good cow or bull.

First up, though.

The thing about exchanges such as this is, perhaps if you haven't been to them before, you might be surprised to see, but the majority of people here don't know about the fate of their sons and husbands and loved ones. Our Ukraine correspondent Oliver Carroll was in a secret location this weekend in Chernehiv,

a northern Ukrainian province, to witness the largest prisoner swap since the war began.

She's been speaking to Ludmila, who she knows that she's seen a video where her son was basically being taken prisoner of war

back in 2003. She hasn't heard anything else since then. And obviously the hope is that somewhere,

someone knows something about where he is. And so she says she can't even remember

how many times she's been to events like this. This is not her first exchange, but she's still in tears,

hoping for some information about the whereabouts of her son.

Prisoner exchange numbers were not the only record broken this weekend.

It is single. not the only record broken this weekend. In a single night, Russia launched 355 drones toward Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, according to local officials. The violence is unrestrained.

Donald Trump has gone from parroting Russia's talking points on the war

to calling out its leader.

I'm not happy with what Putin's doing.

He's killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin.

...