Exploding Pagers Blamed On Israel, Fed Cut Record Bets Risk & Baby Hedge Funds

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell led his colleagues to an outsize interest-rate cut designed to preserve the strength of the US economy as risks to the labor market mount, marking an end to their single-minded focus on quashing inflation.

(2) Traders ramped up their bets on the pace of future US interest-rate cuts after the Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark by half a point and signalled more cuts coming this year.

(3) The Bank of England is likely to decide against cutting interest rates for a second straight meeting, maintaining a patient approach to reversing the most aggressive policy tightening in decades.

(4) Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared what he called a “new phase” in the war with regional Islamist groups and said troops would be diverted to the Lebanese border, an indication that long-held fears of a wider conflict may soon be realized.

(5) The City of London thinks the UK could attract as much as £7.7 billion ($10.2 billion) more investment by 2030 if it did a better job of attracting foreign sovereign wealth.

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Iran-backed Hezbollah accused Israel of orchestrating an attack that killed several people and left almost 3,000 wounded across Lebanon, increasing fears of an all-out war.

(2) Traders who are locked into record wagers tied to the Federal Reserve’s expected interest-rate cut Wednesday are risking sharp losses if officials opt for a standard-sized reduction.

(3) BlackRock Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are teaming up on one of the largest efforts to date to bankroll the build-out of data warehouses and energy infrastructure behind the boom in artificial intelligence.

(4) Steve Cohen has stepped away from the trading floor. While the billionaire hedge fund founder remains Point72 Asset Management’s co-chief investment officer along with Harry Schwefel, he’s no longer investing clients’ capital.

(5) The German Finance Ministry is sticking to a plan to sell off its entire stake in Commerzbank despite UniCredit's move to buy all the shares offered last week, according to people familiar with the matter.  

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:

(1) Not since the lead-up to the financial crisis have bond traders been so divided about the outcome of the next Federal Reserve decision.

(2) Donald Trump is poised to capitalize on the second attempt on his life in recent months, using the shocking development to try to snatch back the political momentum that Vice President Kamala Harris has enjoyed.

(3) Amazon.com Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy is moving to streamline the world’s largest online retailer and cloud-computing company, cutting management layers and ordering employees to return to the office five days a week beginning in January.

(4) Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc.’s AWS as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker.

(5) Stavanger harbor bustled in the sun on a recent afternoon, the hoisting cranes, working ships and rigs under construction testament to the city’s status as Norway’s oil capital, and the main source of its wealth. Stavanger harbor bustled in the sun on a recent afternoon, the hoisting cranes, working ships and rigs under construction testament to the city’s status as Norway’s oil capital, and the main source of its wealth.

(6) Keir Starmer said he’s looking to his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni for lessons on tackling so-called irregular migration, as Britain’s prime minister grapples with an issue fueling a rise in Western democracies of right-wing parties that are not natural allies of his center-left Labour government. 

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Former President Donald Trump is safe after his Secret Service detail opened fire at a man who was wielding an assault rifle at his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course Sunday, in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation called an apparent assassination attempt.

(2) Back in January, Premier Li Qiang trumpeted China’s success in exceeding its 2023 growth goal without resorting to “massive stimulus.” Repeating the same feat this year now looks less likely.

(3) The Bank of England looks set to stick to its tentative interest-rate cutting when it meets this week, defying skepticism from a growing cohort of investors who see a need for more aggressive action.

(4) Italy and the UK are poised to reaffirm their pledge to defend Ukraine as Prime Minister Keir Starmer travels to Rome to seek support for a proposal to let Kyiv use non-US long-range weapons against Russia.

(5) Widespread flooding in central and eastern Europe from days of unrelenting rain is playing havoc with rail transportation and causing more evacuations of residents as well as damage to homes and infrastructure. 

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• In the US – a preview of next week’s Fed meeting and FedEx earnings.
• In the UK – a preview of Eurozone data.
• In Asia – a look at next week’s BOJ decision and TOKEN2049 Summit .

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Clues on when the European Central Bank will next cut interest rates were in short supply on Thursday, with President Christine Lagarde and colleagues awaiting data on how drastically the economy is deteriorating — and how that will shift inflation.

(2) The US and UK governments are discussing allowing Ukraine to deploy British cruise missiles backed by US navigational data to conduct long-range strikes inside Russian territory, according to people familiar with the matter. 

(3) The Bank of England's former Chief Economist -- Andy Haldane -- says the Chancellor's claim of a 22-billion pound 'black hole' in government finances is 'unnecessary, unhelpful' and a 'bad' idea.

(4) Republican Donald Trump ruled out appearing at another debate with Democrat Kamala Harris two days after he delivered an uneven performance at their first showdown of the election cycle.

(5) OpenAI is releasing a new artificial intelligence model known internally as “Strawberry” that can perform some human-like reasoning tasks, as it looks to stay at the top of a crowded market of rivals. 

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) The bond market has ended its long flirtation with the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by half a point this month as resilient inflation and labor market data reinforce a measured course of action.

(2) The European Central Bank is set to lower interest rates again, but will remain tight-lipped on the pace and extent of further action with inflation not yet fully defeated.

(3) Donald Trump said he is not inclined to have another debate with Kamala Harris after initially suggesting several additional matchups to supplement Tuesday’s forum.

(4) At least three top investment bankers from different securities firms have been detained by Chinese authorities since August, sending a chill through the industry.

(5) The early release of thousands of prisoners is a calculated move by the new government to relieve pressure on an aging system. Will it pay-off? 

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump sparred through their first debate on ABC News, with the former president often on the defensive over abortion rights, the January 6 insurrection and on foreign policy. This podcast includes extracts from that ABC News debate. 

(2) The Bank of Japan will continue to adjust policy going forward provided the economy performs in line with its projections, BOJ Board Member Junko Nakagawa said, in comments that bumped the yen to its highest level against the dollar since January.

(3) US banks scored a big break from regulators on new capital rules — only to ruin their own celebration with downbeat outlooks on lending.

(4) Keir Starmer received a warning shot from his own Labour Party over the difficult battles ahead as he tries to fix Britain’s public finances, after his government suffered a significant display of dissent over his decision to scrap winter fuel payments for most UK pensioners.

(5) Australian real estate listing provider REA Group Ltd. presented a £5.6 billion ($7.3 billion) takeover proposal for Rightmove Plc that was rejected by the UK’s biggest property portal by market value. 

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:

(1) Apple has introduced the latest version of its flagship device, the iPhone 16, betting it can entice consumers with modest hardware upgrades and AI technology that's still on the horizon. 

(2) The biggest US banks would face a 9% increase in capital requirements — a dramatic retreat from the original plan — after regulators agreed to sweeping changes to a proposed package of rules, according to people familiar with the matter. 

(3) Goldman Sachs is signaling a note of caution to investors after posting some of the biggest stock advances among its peers this year.

(4) HSBC is weighing combining its commercial and investment bank divisions as part of new Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery's push to eliminate overlapping roles across the company and shed expenses.

(5)  For Wall Street, the faceoff between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump may add another layer of volatility at a time when uncertainty around the labor market, interest rates and geopolitics is fraying investor nerves. 

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Worse-than-expected economic data is fuelling concerns of a broader global economic slowdown as concern shifts from inflation to growth.While the Fed has all but committed to reducing rates from their highest in more than two decades this month, investors have been scrutinizing economic data for clues as to the scope and pace of the reductions.

(2) China's core inflation cooled to the weakest in more than three years, fueling calls for greater efforts to boost households spending as weak demand puts the annual growth target under pressure."You leave the dollar and you're not doing business with the United States because we are going to put a 100% tariff on your goods," the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

(3) Donald Trump pledged on Saturday to make it too costly for countries to shift away from using the US dollar, adding a new pillar to his tariff platform.

(4) Millions of UK pensioners are in line for an extra £500 next year, a boost the new Labour government hopes will contain a row that's raging over cuts to winter fuel subsidies for the elderly.

(5) British supermarket chain Asda is set to face a crucial stage in its equal pay fight with workers in what could form the tip of an £8 billion iceberg of claims against the biggest UK retailers. 

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