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The World
The IMF has launched a biting attack on the UK’s plan to implement £45bn of debt-funded tax cuts, urging the government to “re-evaluate” the plan and warning that the “untargeted” package threatens to stoke soaring inflation. The multilateral lender said it was “closely monitoring” developments in the UK and was “engaged with the authorities” after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled the tax cuts last week, sparking a collapse in the value of sterling and a surge in the country’s borrowing costs. (Financial Times)
U.K. Seeks to Calm Investors Amid Clash in Strategies Over Economy: Prime Minister Liz Truss’s tax cuts and energy subsidies are complicating efforts by the Bank of England to control spiraling inflation by raising interest rates. In the wake of a market selloff, the government said it was working to better coordinate with the central bank. (Wall Street Journal)
World Bank Cuts China Growth Forecast: Emerging East Asian economies are expected to outpace China for the first time since 1990, as the world’s second-largest economy struggles with a real-estate crunch and the government’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid. (Wall Street Journal)
Suspicious leaks in two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are probably the result of sabotage, officials in Denmark, Germany and Poland have warned, heightening concerns over the vulnerability of Europe’s energy infrastructure. Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said sabotage could not be ruled out as the cause of leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which have been at the centre of the energy conflict between Russia and Europe. “It is too early to conclude yet, but it is an extraordinary situation,” she said. “There are three leaks and therefore it is difficult to imagine that it could be accidental.” (Financial Times)
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz named his son and heir Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the kingdom's prime minister and his second son Prince Khalid as defence minister, a royal decree showed on Tuesday. The reshuffle kept another son, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as energy minister, the aged king said in the royal decree, carried by state news agency SPA. (Reuters)
Singapore’s population grows as Hong Kong’s declines for third straight year. The rise comes as Singapore tries to attract rich foreigners and talented professionals to bolster its workforce. Analysts said employment opportunity patterns in the regional rivals underscore their diverging fortunes. (South China Morning Post)
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has widened his lead over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to 13 percentage points less than one week ahead of presidential election, a Genial/Quaest poll released on Wednesday showed. Recent polls indicate that Lula could beat his far-right populist rival in the first round, scheduled to happen next Sunday. The new survey put support for Lula at 46% in the first-round vote on Oct. 2 against 33% for Bolsonaro, compared to 44% for Lula and 34% for Bolsonaro a week earlier. (Reuters)
Joe Manchin pulls divisive permitting proposals from US spending bill: West Virginia senator concedes defeat following concerns measures could risk government shutdown. (Financial Times)
An investigational Alzheimer’s disease treatment from Biogen and Eisai slowed the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in a clinical trial, the companies said Tuesday, meeting the goals of a closely tracked study and strengthening the drug’s case for approval as early as January. The positive result is welcome news for the millions of people living with Alzheimer’s and a big win for Eisai and Biogen, giving the companies a potential blockbuster product in the intravenous medicine, called lecanemab. For Biogen, which presided over the disastrous rollout of the Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm, the potential approval of lecanemab presents a rare second chance at a multibillion-dollar market. (STAT News)
GM Revises Return-to-Office Plan Amid Employee Concerns: The in-office policy has been pushed to next year as the company seeks worker feedback. (Wall Street Journal)
Home Prices Suffer First Monthly Decline in Years: The index that measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the nation fell 0.3% in July from June, the first month-over-month decline since January 2019. (Wall Street Journal)
Lumber Prices Fall Back to Pre-Covid Levels: The drop has brought two-by-fours back to what they cost before the pandemic building boom and point to a sharp slowdown in construction. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
White House officials are quietly preparing for the potential departure of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen after the midterms, the first and most consequential exit in what could be a broad reorganization of President Biden's economic team, according to people familiar with the matter. While her potential departure would give Biden an opportunity to respond to public concern over his handling of the economy, it would also create an immediate political headache: finding a successor who can be confirmed by the Senate. (Axios)
Stock futures fall after S&P 500 hits new low for the year; 10-year Treasury yield briefly tops 4%. (CNBC)
The offshore renminbi exchange rate fell to its lowest level on record, putting further pressure on China’s central bank to directly intervene to prop up the country’s currency. (Financial Times)
UK mortgage providers have begun raising interest rates to levels not seen since the financial crisis as economists warned that growing borrowing costs would trigger a steep fall in house prices. (The Times)
The U.S. is pursuing early concrete outcomes from the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade initiative as it seeks to gain an edge over China in shaping the regional economic order. "We are very motivated to build on the momentum coming out of Los Angeles and we are very focused on delivering concrete results," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told Nikkei, referring to an IPEF launch meeting in the city earlier this month. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Celsius co-founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky resigns from the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender, writing his “role as CEO has become an increasing distraction” (Wall Street Journal)
Guyana's economic growth could reach close to 60% this year, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement on Tuesday, urging cautious policies even as the tiny South American nation benefits from surging oil production. (Reuters)
Technology
Lyft freezes all hiring in the US through the end of 2022 and started notifying job candidates about the freeze this week; Lyft's stock is down 68% year-to-date. (New York Post)
Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management, laid off about 12% of its staff Tuesday. The cuts reflect how younger real estate firms are responding to rising mortgage rates that have battered the home-buying market. The layoffs affected roughly 40 employees at the five-year-old firm. Divvy Homes buys homes in the U.S. and rents them to people who don’t have the credit history or savings to buy, but hope to eventually purchase the homes. The firm has raised over $500 million in equity and debt, according to PitchBook. (The Information)
Intel says Moore’s Law is still alive and well. Nvidia says it’s ended. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on Tuesday at a company launch event that Moore’s Law is “alive and well.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last week Moore’s Law has ended. Intel has committed to continue manufacturing some of its chips, while Nvidia relies entirely on third-party foundries for its production. (CNBC)
Intel unveils its 13th Gen desktop CPU lineup using the company's 10nm process, including the $589 flagship Core i9-13900K with 24 cores, shipping on October 20. (The Verge)
Meta details influence operations from Russia, impersonating news outlets to spread anti-Ukraine content in Europe, and from China, targeting the US and Czechia. (Protocol)
Netflix's password sharing crackdown sparked protests on social media in Argentina, but a source says the anger didn't translate into a mass subscriber exodus. (Rest of World)
Smart Links
U.S. seeks allies as split emerges over global plastics pollution treaty. (Reuters)
Wall Street banks to pay $1.8bn over messaging violations. (Financial Times)
Hong Kong schools look forward to overseas study tours restart as quarantine ends. (South China Morning Post)
Google and Fitbit launch new cloud tools to help hospitals use wearables. (STAT News)
Amazon temporarily closes some Florida warehouses as Hurricane Ian approaches. (CNBC)
Mickelson, Other LIV Golfers Quit Suit Against PGA Tour. (Wall Street Journal)