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The World
Rishi Sunak warned Conservative MPs to “unite or die” as he became the party’s third leader in two months. Sunak, 42, will be appointed the youngest prime minister for more than 200 years by the King today. He will be the first British Asian prime minister and has had the fastest rise from entering the Commons to 10 Downing Street in modern times. (The Times)
Huge margin of support gives Rishi Sunak a free hand in choosing cabinet. New prime minister likely to prioritise unity in offering ministerial jobs, although leading Trussites can expect the chop. (The Guardian)
Wealthy Chinese are pulling the trigger on exit plans from their homeland as pessimism builds over the future of the world’s second-largest economy under Xi Jinping and the ruling Chinese Communist party… David Lesperance, a Europe-based lawyer who has worked with wealthy families in Hong Kong and China, says Xi extending his rule beyond two terms is a tipping point for China’s business elite, who thrived for decades as China’s economy boomed. “Now that ‘the chairman’ is firmly in place . . . I have already received three ‘proceed’ instructions from various ultra-high net worth Chinese business families to execute their fire escape plans,” said Lesperance. (Financial Times)
Biden Team Works on Setting Up Xi Meeting as Chinese Leader Tightens Grip: US president is expected to meet Xi on sidelines of the G-20. (Bloomberg)
U.S. prosecutors charged two Chinese nationals with trying to obstruct prosecution of a Chinese telecommunications company that a person familiar with the matter identified as Huawei Technologies. Prosecutors said the case is representative of a broader pattern of unlawful influence efforts by China, and announced they had also charged 11 people in two other cases with spying for Beijing or intimidating Chinese dissidents. (Reuters)
Israel expected to tighten restrictions on Chinese investment in face of growing US pressure. The country’s security cabinet is considering measures to tighten oversight of foreign investment, moves many expect will be expanded to the hi-tech sector. China has previously urged Israel not to fall in line with US restrictions amid their growing competition for tech supremacy. (South China Morning Post)
Russia could plan 'dirty bomb' pretext, Western countries say: Rebuffed by Western countries, Russia doubled down on its claim that Kyiv is preparing to use a "dirty bomb" in Ukraine and said it would bring the issue to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. Russia sent a letter on its claims about Kyiv to the United Nations late on Monday, and diplomats said Moscow planned to raise the issue with the Security Council at a closed meeting the following day. "We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia wrote U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council in the letter. (Reuters)
Why Seattle currently has the worst air quality in the world. (Washington Post)
Economy
Global equity markets issue skeptical verdict on Xi’s third term: Investors worldwide issued a skeptical verdict on Xi Jinping’s third term in office, selling shares in Chinese companies after the country’s leader wrapped up a Communist party congress that signaled a shift in focus from the economy to security. The sell-off began on Monday morning in Asia, where Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech index fell 9.7 per cent, its second largest one-day drop. It continued into the US trading day, where several of the most well-known Chinese tech groups listed on Wall Street fell sharply. (Financial Times)
China’s Historic Market Rout Goes Missing From State Newspapers. (Bloomberg)
Wall St closes sharply higher on hopes of abating Fed. (Reuters)
South Korea's economy likely ground to near halt in Q3. (Reuters)
Eurozone business activity slides faster than feared: October PMI shows biggest contraction in 2 years and adds to signs region is heading for recession. (Financial Times)
Japan may have spent a record 5.5 trillion yen ($37 billion) in its effort Friday to rein in the falling yen, official data suggests, as authorities ramp up their battle with speculators to check the currency's decline. This estimate from market players, based on current-account estimates released Monday by the Bank of Japan, would dwarf the 2.8 trillion yen intervention made in September. (Nikkei Asia Review)
After a record surge in housing costs and ballooning expenses for everything from food to energy, America’s renters have had enough. Rent gains are finally starting to slow in many parts of the US, cooling a years-long boom that sapped affordability from coast to coast. Landlords have little choice but to ease off big increases: Demand from tenants is suddenly sinking. (Bloomberg)
IPO returns show fashion startups were not runway ready: Venture capitalists are not known for their fashion sense. Turns out, they haven’t been doing well lately with fashion-related IPOs either. A Crunchbase survey of six venture-backed companies in the clothing and accessories industry that went public last year shows an average post-IPO decline of 74%. (Crunchbase)
Technology
Intel CEO Calls U.S. Restrictions on Chip Exports to China Inevitable: Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s annual Tech Live conference, Pat Gelsinger said the restrictions, are part of a necessary shift of chip supply chains. (Wall Street Journal)
Apple has released iOS 16.1, iPad OS 16.1 and macOS 13, as it announced it would last week. The updates include a number of new features for iPhone, iPad and Mac devices, including the introduction of Continuity Camera, which allows iPhone owners to use their device as a webcam for their Macs. The iPad and Mac updates also introduce Stage Manager, the new (and somewhat controversial) windows management feature for multitasking. iOS 16.1 also introduces a new marquee feature for iPhones that support it: Live Activities. A couple of Apple’s native apps have been able to take advantage of this feature, which provides live updating information on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models. (TechCrunch)
Review: A pleasantly surprising new multitasking UI and app redesigns define macOS 13. (Ars Technica)
Apple raises prices on its TV and Music streaming services. It also raised prices for the Apple One bundle. In a statement, Apple said the price increase for Apple Music was because of increased music licensing costs. (CNBC)
Warner Bros Discovery expects to write off as much as $2.5bn because of shelved shows and movies along with other programming decisions, as chief executive David Zaslav looks to cut billions of dollars in costs… His team has been scouring the sprawling entertainment group — which includes HBO, the Warner movie studio and CNN — for $3bn in cost cuts over the next two years. Warner warned in an SEC filing on Monday that restructuring costs could total up to $4.3bn through 2024, including between $2bn and $2.5bn in charges because of “strategic content programming assessments”. (Financial Times)
Media and entertainment company mergers plus TV and gaming consolidation seem inevitable, as streaming services fail to make up for traditional pay TV's decline. (Bloomberg)
Meta shareholder writes critical open letter saying company needs to slash headcount and stop spending so much money on ‘metaverse’. Altimeter Capital Chair and CEO Brad Gerstner, in an open letter to the company, said Meta has too many employees and is moving too slowly to retain the confidence of investors. The Meta investor recommends a plan to get the company’s “mojo back.” It includes reducing headcount expenses by 20% and limiting the company’s pricey investments in “metaverse” technology to no more than $5 billion per year. (CNBC)
Smart Links
Apple reports earnings Thursday and all eyes are on iPhone 14 sales. (CNBC)
Math Scores Dropped in Every State During Covid. (Wall Street Journal)
Ukrainians Rally Despite Economic Hardship. (Gallup)
Glitz and Gladwell: the infighting over prized JPMorgan wealth clients. (Financial Times)