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The World
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi vowed to cut his nation’s emissions to net zero by 2070, a big turnround for the world’s third-largest polluter, as part of a several new targets set on the first full day of the COP26 climate summit. India would get half its energy from renewable sources by the end of this decade, Modi said, while also demanding that rich countries pay $1tn to help developing countries reach their climate goals. Vietnam said it would target net zero by 2050, while Brazil is aiming to cut emissions by 50% this decade. Neither the U.S. nor China, the world’s biggest emitters, came forward with any new progress on their climate policies. (Financial Times)
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on developed countries to do more to support developing nations’ efforts to combat climate change. In a written statement delivered to the COP26 summit, Xi also called on countries to focus on “concrete actions,” set “realistic targets and visions”, and harness innovations in science and technology to “accelerate the green transition.” (South China Morning Post)
The head of a leading American business lobby group in China warned of an exodus of western executives from the world’s biggest consumer market as President Xi Jinping tightens coronavirus controls. Under China’s strategy of eliminating coronavirus, Beijing has enforced more than 18 months of strict border security, including three-week quarantine stays and fewer visas for businesspeople and their families. With no exit strategy articulated, and just as the rest of the world reopens, US business leaders have warned Beijing that it risks accelerating the outflow of foreigners from China. (Financial Times)
Shanghai Disneyland compelled 34,000 visitors to take Covid-19 tests before they could leave the park on Halloween night, after a woman who visited the park tested positive after returning home to a neighboring province. Shanghai Disneyland was closed on Monday, as authorities pressed ahead with their zero-infection strategy ahead of the Winter Olympics. (South China Morning Post)
Sen. Joe Manchin demanded more time to evaluate the projected impact of President Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending bill, refusing to endorse the framework that Biden had told House Democrats was a done deal in the Senate late last week. Manchin’s statement was the latest blow to Democrats, who had hoped to have the bill finalized this week and ready for a vote in the House. “Holding this [infrastructure] bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill,” said Manchin. (CNBC)
Virginia prepares for a long Election Day as polls show dead heat between McAuliffe, Youngkin. (Washington Post)
Economy
Dow briefly jumps above 36,000, while finishing at a record. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also hit highs as corporate earnings fuel optimism about economic recovery. (Wall Street Journal)
The labor market is showing signs of a hiring uptick as the coronavirus surge fades. With caseloads falling, the labor market is now showing some signs of a hiring boost, as employers say they're seeing more applicants in recent weeks. (Washington Post)
U.S. regulators urged lawmakers to subject stablecoin issuers to the same strict federal oversight as banks. Congress should also require custodial wallet providers to be regulated by a federal agency and limit stablecoin issuers’ interactions with non-financial companies such as tech or telecom providers, the President’s Working Group for Financial Markets said. The report is part of an escalating effort by policymakers to rein in this $138 billion segment of the broader crypto market to mitigate the risks they believe stablecoins pose to consumers, markets and the financial system. Stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of another asset such as the U.S. dollar. (Coindesk, PWG Stablecoin Report)
Survey says most people still don’t understand crypto: Says Most People Still Don’t Understand Crypto: Nine out of ten survey respondents didn’t know that bitcoin’s supply was limited to 21 million, while 90% also do not understand stablecoins. About 30% of Brazilians and 28% of Mexicans advised they intend to purchase or sell cryptocurrencies in the next six months, versus 12% of Americans. (Blockworks)
Banks tried to kill crypto and failed, so now they’re embracing it (slowly): In 2014, as regulators in New York were exploring ways to control Bitcoin, executives at Wall Street’s biggest banks fretted that regulating cryptocurrencies would also legitimize them — and that could threaten the finance industry. So they tried to sow doubt. At the World Economic Forum in Davos that year, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, called Bitcoin a “terrible” store of value that was also being used for illicit purposes. Now the banking industry is racing to catch up. Banks want to compete in this new world and profit from it. Their approach is two-pronged: experimenting with cryptocurrency offerings and lobbying regulators to create rules that work in the banks’ favor. Some are offering cryptocurrency investments to their wealthy clients. Others are weighing trading desks for Bitcoin. JPMorgan even started its own digital currency in 2019. (New York Times)
Rivian Automotive is seeking a valuation in a range just above $60 billion in its IPO next week, one of the biggest and most-anticipated deals yet in a blockbuster year for new issues. The Amazon-backed electric-vehicle startup plans to sell shares between $57 and $62 apiece. At the high end of the range, that would give Rivian a valuation of over $60 billion on a fully diluted basis. (Wall Street Journal)
Zillow is pitching institutional investors on the sale of 7K homes for ~$2.8B to recover from buying too many, which it blames on its bidding algorithm. (Bloomberg)
The 37-year-olds are afraid of the 23-year-olds who work for them: Twenty-somethings rolling their eyes at the habits of their elders is a longstanding trend, but many employers said there’s a new boldness in the way Gen Z dictates taste. (New York Times)
Technology
Apple has cut back sharply on iPad production to allocate more components to the iPhone 13, a sign the global chip supply crunch is hitting the company even harder than it previously indicated. Production of the iPad was down 50% from Apple's original plans for the past two months, adding that parts intended for older iPhones were also being moved to the iPhone 13. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Beginning next year, iPhone users who are in a car accident could have their phone dial 911 automatically. Apple plans to roll out a product feature called “crash detection” for iPhones and Apple Watches. Crash detection uses data from sensors built into Apple devices including the accelerometer to detect car accidents as they occur, for instance by measuring a sudden spike in gravity, or “g,” forces on impact. (Wall Street Journal)
Meredith Whittaker, a former employee activist and artificial intelligence researcher at Google, is expected to be hired full time at the FTC as a policy adviser on AI, according to a person with knowledge of her pending hire. Her appointment would indicate the agency’s plans to heighten scrutiny over how Google and other companies apply AI to their software products. (The Information)
Zoom Video is planning to add advertisements to the free tier of its service, unveiling details of a pilot program. Zoom says the money from the ads will allow the company to keep offering a free tier of the service. (The Information)
macOS Monterey, released last week as the latest version of macOS, is bricking older Mac computers, rendering them unusable and unable to even turn on, according to a number of reports from users across social media and online forums. (MacRumors)
Nicaragua’s government was accused by Facebook of running a social media troll farm, as the company says it took down hundreds of accounts, pages and groups ahead of Sunday’s election. (Financial Times)
Smart Links
UK-French rivalry puts the west at risk. (Financial Times)
Elon Musk is now three times richer than Warren Buffett. (Bloomberg)
Pinterest hops on the live shopping trend with Pinterest TV. (The Verge)
Abu Dhabi tops global ranking that compares how global cities responded to the pandemic. (CNBC)
Passport wait times are getting shorter. (Washington Post)
Does working from home have to mean a lower salary? (tl;dr: No). (Wall Street Journal)
West Long Beach is choking on air pollution from cargo congestion. (Long Beach Post)