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The World
Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with the U.S. warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom, putting the American military and others in the Middle East on an elevated alert level, said Saudi and U.S. officials In response to the warning, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and several other neighboring states have raised the level of alert for their military forces, the officials said. They didn’t provide more details on the Saudi intelligence. (Wall Street Journal)
“Hackers for hire” and the proliferation of sophisticated software that can be bought off the shelf are a growing threat to government and business cyber security, a top British spy has warned. Sir Jeremy Fleming, who heads the signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said the growing grey market was allowing countries and criminals with no capabilities to wield sophisticated cyber tools, increasing the risk and unpredictability of hacking attacks on governments, businesses and individuals. (Financial Times)
North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea east of the peninsula, with one of them apparently flying across a nautical border with South Korea in a move that escalated tensions. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected three missiles fired from North Korea’s Kangwon province on the east coast into the sea from around 8:51 a.m. (Bloomberg)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not concede defeat in his first public remarks since losing Sunday's election, saying protests by his supporters were the fruit of "indignation and a sense of injustice" over the vote. However, he stopped short of contesting the election result and authorized his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, to begin the transition process with representatives of leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (Reuters)
Economy
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points Wednesday but also signal it could begin to slow down the size of its rate hikes in December. Markets are also braced for the Fed to end rate hikes in March at a level of 5%, and market pros say a more hawkish Fed could trigger a violent reaction. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to sound somewhat hawkish in his briefing Wednesday and emphasize that the Fed’s goal is to crush inflation. (CNBC)
BP made about $3 billion in profits from gas trading in only three months as it cashed in on the global scramble for liquefied natural gas after Russia cut pipeline supplies to Europe, analysts believe. The oil major yesterday hailed an “exceptional” but undisclosed result by its secretive gas marketing and trading division as it reported third-quarter underlying net profits of $8.2 billion, up from $3.3 billion a year earlier and smashing City forecasts of $6.1 billion. (The Times)
Unilever is to extend its trial of a four-day working week to 500 employees in Australia after a successful 18-month pilot in New Zealand, becoming the largest company yet to offer a vote of confidence in the shorter schedule. Placid Jover, chief talent officer at the UK-based maker of Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, said positive results from paying about 80 staff full salaries for four rather than five-day weeks in New Zealand had prompted the extension. “We’ve had strong business performance, high engagement, people feeling happier, and time spent in meetings also coming down,” Jover said. (Financial Times)
Some lucky Americans are earning a higher interest rate on their high-yield savings accounts than they’re paying on their mortgage. (Bloomberg)
Democratic and Republican voters are less likely than they were just four years ago to favor stronger regulation of large financial and pharmaceutical companies, data show. At the same time, both parties are more likely to favor stricter regulation of big technology firms. (Axios)
Technology
Expect a Wave of Private Tech M&A in 2023, Goldman Bankers Say: Consolidation among private tech firms is set to pick up—especially among startups that had to abandon hope of going public this year, according to top Goldman Sachs bankers. “We’ve had a very busy year on the public side of [M&A]. The private side of that is really to come, and that’s where we’re set up for 2023,” said Ryan Nolan, Goldman Sachs’ global co-head of software banking. (The Information)
The U.S. is urging allies including Japan to follow its lead on restricting exports of advanced semiconductors and related technology to China, likely intensifying the impact of Chinese-American tensions on chipmakers worldwide. Tokyo has begun internal discussions on the issue at Washington's request. Officials are weighing which restrictions can be adopted in Japan, and will watch how other U.S. allies such as the European Union and South Korea respond. (Nikkei Asia Review)
YouTube rolls out Primetime Channels in the US, offering shows and movies from 35 partners, including Paramount+ and Epix, and plans to add NBA League Pass soon. (The Verge)
Ad Giants Advise Brands to Pause Spending on Elon Musk’s Twitter: Interpublic Group, Havas Media make recommendation citing concerns about content moderation on social-media site. (Wall Street Journal)
Rewind, whose Mac app creates a searchable recording to help users find what they've seen, said, or heard, raised a $10M seed led by a16z at a $75M valuation. (TechCrunch)
Amazon sell-off pushes market cap below $1 trillion for first time since April 2020. (CNBC)
Smart Links
Is Your Colleague Earning More Than $200,000 a Year? Now You Can Find Out. (Wall Street Journal)
France had hottest month of October since 1945. (Reuters)
Even More Dry Shampoos Found to Have Cancer-Causing Agent. (Bloomberg)
Uber passenger numbers surpass pre-pandemic levels. (Financial Times)
The World's Biggest Employers. (Statista)