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The World
President Biden will travel to Israel today. Biden is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, as well as some of the families of the hostages and the missing. He was originally scheduled to travel on to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but the King cancelled the meeting following a strike on a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds. (Times of Israel)
Around 2,000 more U.S. troops have been ordered to prepare to deploy to the Middle East in support of Israel. The Pentagon said that if they are deployed, “they would likely not serve in combat roles but would provide advice and medical support to Israeli forces.” (New York Times)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II says his country will not take in Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza. The King said at a news conference, “I think I can speak here on behalf of Jordan…but also our friends in Egypt: This is a red line… No refugees to Jordan and also no refugees to Egypt.” (Politico)
Xi Jinping “rolled out the red carpet for world leaders, including his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, for China’s biggest diplomatic charm offensive of the year at the start of the belt and road forum on Tuesday.” The two-day summit “marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure and investment scheme that Beijing has touted as an alternative development model for developing countries.” (South China Morning Post)
Putin’s visit “highlights Moscow’s dependence on China for support as his war in Ukraine, which has led to international sanctions on Russia, grinds toward a stalemate.” (New York Times)
Putin met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in China in Putin’s first meeting “with a European Union leader since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March, accusing him of war crimes in the forced deportations of Ukrainian children.” (Washington Post)
China has “ramped up its aggressive behavior against U.S. surveillance aircraft in the Pacific, conducting more than 180 risky intercepts in the past two years, the Pentagon says — already more than in the previous decade.” During the past two years, Chinese military pilots “have swooped to within 15 feet of U.S. jets, discharged chaff and even flipped a middle finger in a brazen show of intimidation.” (Washington Post)
Russia’s parliament voted unanimously to revoke ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, “a move that threatens to intensify global insecurity amid the war in Ukraine and the mounting crisis in the Middle East.” A final vote is scheduled for later this week. (Wall Street Journal)
Ukraine for the first time struck two air bases in Russian-held territory “with American-supplied long-range missiles that were one of the last major weapons systems that Kyiv had sought” from the U.S. President Biden had been reluctant to provide the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) for fear of escalating the conflict, but agreed to the transfer during a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky last month. (New York Times)
Sweden says an underwater telecommunications cable has been mysteriously damaged just a week after Finland and Estonia discovered a ruptured gas pipeline. The two NATO members say both disruptions “were likely caused by sabotage, resurrecting worries about the security of Europe’s vital infrastructure.” The damaged telecom cable is in Estonian waters. (Wall Street Journal)
Jim Jordan’s bid for the House speakership is in peril after 20 Republicans — far more than expected — voted against him on the first ballot Tuesday. Jordan had originally pushed for a second vote Tuesday evening, but that vote was delayed until Wednesday morning amid concerns that Jordan was failing to find new votes and may even be losing support. (CNN)
Economy
Short-term Treasury yields jumped to their highest level in 17 years as stronger-than-expected US retail sales data breathed new life into a global bond rout. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves with interest rates expectations, rose 0.09 percentage points to 5.20 per cent, its highest level since 2006. The sell-off came after the latest signs of US consumers’ resilience fanned investors’ fears that the Federal Reserve could lift borrowing costs further in its fight against inflation. (Financial Times)
“A recession in S&P 500 earnings may have ended, although just barely.” The surge in long-term interest rates “has taken the wind out of the stock market's sails this year. A revival of earnings growth could help heal the damage.” (Axios)
California Democratic lawmakers are calling on SEC Chair Gary Gensler “to follow the precedent California recently established in requiring companies to disclose detailed greenhouse gas emissions data.” A new California law will require businesses with over $1 billion in annual revenues that operate in the state to provide detailed disclosures of their emissions. (CNBC)
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automakers, criticized a federal proposal to hike fuel efficiency requirements. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed boosting Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements. The automakers say the plan “would boost average vehicle prices by $3,000 by 2032 because of penalties automakers would face for not being in compliance.” (Reuters)
Goldman Sachs reported third-quarter profit down 33% from one year ago, with “losses from selling off pieces of its consumer-lending business and a big drop in revenue in its asset and wealth-management division” to blame. But profits and revenue still beat analyst expectations. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Former National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers “warned that foreign adversaries like Russia and China were edging closer into uncharted cyber warfare territory as they continued digital attacks on infrastructure and military installations worldwide.” He said that while cyberattacks are not yet considered acts of war, “it’s only a matter of time, though, before we cross this Rubicon.” (Semafor)
The Commerce Department has announced “additional limits on sales of advanced semiconductors by American firms, shoring up restrictions issued last October to limit China’s progress” on AI and supercomputing. The rules “appear likely to halt most shipments of advanced semiconductors from the United States to Chinese data centers, which use them to produce models capable of artificial intelligence.” (New York Times)
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “Today’s updated rules will increase effectiveness of our controls and further shut off pathways to evade our restrictions. These controls maintain our clear focus on military applications and confront the threats to our national security posed by the PRC government’s military-civil fusion strategy.” (South China Morning Post)
Governments “are still grappling with how to advise victims of ransomware attacks,” according to Justice Department Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section Chief John Lynch. Lynch said that “‘on a whole’ officials agree that paying a ransom to a hacker is the wrong approach. However, he acknowledged that the circumstances of certain ransomware attacks can complicate that advice.” (Semafor)
Smart Links
Homebuilder confidence in the market is at its lowest level so far this year. (CNBC)
Residents are abandoning a West Palm Beach, Florida, neighborhood because home insurance costs are so high. (Wall Street Journal).
AI could help the space industry get back on track after a difficult year. (Axios)
United Airlines Says Middle East Conflict, Rising Fuel Costs to Hit Results. (Barron’s)
48% of Gen Zers will do their holiday shopping on TikTok, Instagram this year. (CNBC)
Hunt for trophy apartments in Tokyo sends prices sky high. (Financial Times)