That’s what Biden called Xi. While it’s true, sometimes you don’t have to pick a fight at Thanksgiving in person. So, they are working toward better military communications and fighting fentanyl, but the big issues—tariffs, South China sea initiatives, tech restrictions, etc.—remain out of reach.
The US’s formerly strong labor market is starting to show some baggage. Continuing jobless claims rose to their highest level in ~2 yrs. Applications for unemployment benefits rose, as did initial claims. Treasuries climbed and stock futures came off lows pre-market.
WMT also gave a cautious forecast on the economic outlook, so while the co raised its profit forecast, investors are connecting the dots with TGT’s gloomy forecast too.
MSFT is announcing new chips, including a potential competitor to NVDA’s AI GPUs, per CNBC. Talk about an investment thirst trap…
CSCO missed on rev due to a new order slowdown, per Bloomberg. We had this conversation with a client yesterday. Wait until 2024. We may see companies hold off on spend until they know who is in the White House. If you’re keeping up on techland, Palo Alto Networks missed on billings as well, per Bloomberg. Luxury keeps getting hit as well; Burberry is also feeling the luxury slowdown, as written by CNBC.
Activist shop ValueAct is targeting Disney, per the FT.
Japan’s export growth slowed (from 4.3% down to 1.6% y/y) because of softer global demand, yet machinery orders were up slightly, per Reuters. The latter tends to represent tea leaves for future growth, which is a positive. That said, Japan’s GDP contraction may mean that early BOJ policy normalization won’t happen, per the Nikkei. You can’t let rates rise in a slowing economy with very low inflation.
UAW members may reject the tentative contract settlement with GM, per Axios.
No shorts in South Korea. They may extend the ban on the short-selling beyond Jun if reforms are deemed insufficient, and the gov may penalize illegal short-sellers by banning them from stock trading for up to 10 yrs.
You may not be paying much attention to Finland, but they are going to close 4 border crossings with Russia until Feb due to an organized op of undocumented migrants threatening their national security, with the goal of overwhelming the country. Most folks crossing over are from Syria, Yemen and Iraq—being helped with the Russians, as they are coming over with brand new bikes. Maybe they just heard that Finland is the happiest country in the world?