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The World
The Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by another 0.75 percentage point to combat inflation and signaled plans to keep raising them, possibly in smaller increments but to higher levels than previously anticipated. The increase approved Wednesday, the Fed’s fourth consecutive 0.75-point rate rise, lifts the central bank’s benchmark federal-funds to a range between 3.75% and 4%. After the decision, Chairman Jerome Powell said officials would contemplate a smaller hike at their next meeting in December. But he cautioned that they might raise borrowing costs next year more than they have projected. Mr. Powell also warned that reducing the size of rate increases didn’t mean the Fed thought it was close to pivoting away from raising rates. “It is very premature to be thinking about pausing,” said Mr. Powell. “We think we have a ways to go.” (Wall Street Journal)
Tough-Talking Powell Wipes Out $59 Billion From Biggest Fortunes: In the hour-and-a-half after the Fed chair began speaking, the wealth of billionaires from Elon Musk to Steve Ballmer tumbled. (Bloomberg)
Grain shipments from Ukraine will resume after Russia agreed to rejoin a UN-backed initiative to allow exports via the Black Sea, ending a stand-off that threatened to reignite a global food crisis. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, had phoned his Turkish counterpart to say Moscow was back on board. Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia would continue to supply “the volume of grain that was supplied from Ukraine to the poorest countries” even if the latest agreement collapsed. The next shipments of grain would head to Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, Erdoğan said. (Financial Times)
North Korea fires possible ICBM; residents in Japan told to shelter: North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Thursday, including one that triggered an alert for residents in parts of central and northern Japan to seek shelter, the latest in a record year of missile testing by the nuclear-armed North. Despite an initial government warning that a missile had overflown Japan, Tokyo later said that was incorrect. The launches came a day after North Korea fired at least 23 missiles, the most in a single day, including one that landed off South Korea's coast for the first time. (Reuters, Nikkei Asia Review)
Japan weighs hypersonic missile deployment by 2030 to boost deterrence: Chinese and North Korean threat spurs push for stronger counterstrike capability. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for the first time asked protesters blocking roads nationwide to lift blockades as demonstrations are restricting people's right to come and go and bringing losses to the economy. (Reuters)
North Korea is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells through indirect routes that include shipments through third countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the Biden administration said Wednesday. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that while the U.S. has had indications for some time that Russia had requested artillery shells from North Korea, the administration now has information that shipments have begun. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
China-US tensions force Taiwanese tech firms to consider a ‘plan B’ – India or Vietnam. Taiwanese firms are moving an ever larger share of their capital to cheap, well-connected places, including Vietnam and once-unthought-of India Many are retaining basic exposure to mainland China, while shipping hi-tech components to the US from friendly countries to keep costs down. (South China Morning Post)
Investors who fund venture-capital firms continue to plow money into the sector, eager for access to hot technology startups even as the industry lurches into a bear market. Venture-capital funds raised $151 billion in the first three quarters of this year, exceeding any prior full-year fundraising. The surge has added up to a record of nearly $300 billion in so-called dry powder, or money that is available to spend. (Wall Street Journal)
About one-third of large corporations in Australia paid no income tax in 2020-21, a new report shows. The Australian Taxation Office released its corporate tax transparency report on Thursday, which showed the percentage of entities paying no income tax was 32%, down from a high of 36% in 2015-16. (The Guardian)
When to call it a day as CEO: In August, Jason Gardner announced he would step down as CEO of fintech platform Marqeta. Gardner founded the company by himself in 2010, helming it through its IPO in 2021. Why did Gardner decide to step back? A private company CEO is very different from a public company CEO: “I felt that, heading into my 13th year, I needed to find that late-stage co-founder." And what did Gardner learn from his 12 years running Marqeta? “Companies don't die from starvation,” Gardner said. “They die from overeating.” (Protocol)
US Banks paid out over $1 billion to ransomware thieves last year — more than double what they handed over in 2020. (Bloomberg)
Technology
Ripple Effects of Tech Layoffs Will Sink In Soon: Today alone, The Information reported that online banking startup Chime was cutting 12% of its workforce and Bloomberg reported that Opendoor slashed 18% of its headcount. Those cuts follow other layoffs in recent days instituted by recruiting software provider Gem, Zillow and Oracle. Crypto finance firm Galaxy Digital is reportedly considering big cuts. And any day now Elon Musk’s ax is expected to fall at Twitter. Meanwhile, those big tech firms still hiring in the third quarter, most obviously Meta Platforms and Alphabet, are pulling back noticeably. Fortune reported today that LinkedIn research out of Britain showed the number of jobs advertised as remote had fallen to 12% in September from 16% in January. (The Information)
Microsoft's Chinese AI conundrum: Microsoft has been instrumental in making China an AI powerhouse. But as tensions rise between the U.S. and China, Microsoft could be forced to make tough decisions surrounding the thriving AI ecosystem it helped create in the country. Microsoft Research Asia is one of the most influential hubs of AI research in the world. Research conducted at MSR China has been used to build Microsoft’s advertising, chatbots, Bing search, Windows, Xbox, Azure Cloud, and other products. “You can argue that Microsoft Research Asia was the sort of seed capital from which a lot of Chinese AI companies and researchers and the sector really developed,” Paul Triolo, senior VP focused on China at Albright Stonebridge Group, said. (Protocol)
Qualcomm expects to provide modem chips for the “vast majority” of iPhones in 2023, retaining its current foothold after previously planning to supply ~20%. (Bloomberg)
The US DOJ is preparing to open an in-depth probe into Adobe's $20B takeover of Figma and has been contacting customers, competitors, and investors. (Politico)
Airbnb Forecasts Slowing Growth After Record Sales: “Despite a lot of consumers pulling back on spending, the one area that I haven’t seen them pull back on as much is travel,” said CEO Brian Chesky on the call. Even with macroeconomic headwinds, total nights booked increased 25% year over year, and the company also saw a significant rise in cross border bookings. The San Francisco company forecast sales growth slowing to between 17% and 23% in the current quarter compared to the final quarter of 2021. (The Information)
Elon Musk plans to eliminate about 3,700 jobs at Twitter, or half of the social media company’s workforce, in a bid to drive down costs following his $44 billion acquisition, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Twitter’s new owner aims to inform affected staffers Friday. Musk also intends to reverse the company’s existing work-from-anywhere policy, asking remaining employees to report to offices -- though some exceptions could be made. (Bloomberg)
Women athletes now have their own sports network. (CNBC)
Smart Links
L’Oréal suspends advertising spending on Twitter. (Financial Times)
Amazon Takes Aim at Spotify With Music Pricing Overhaul. (The Information)
Penguin Seeks Simon & Schuster’s Support to Fight for Imperiled Book Merger. (Wall Street Journal)
Google, IBM, Wells Fargo Join Growing List of Companies Posting Pay for All US Jobs. (Bloomberg)
If Your Quiet Quitting Is Going Well, You Might Be Getting ‘Quiet Fired’. (Wall Street Journal)