Weekend Papers Summary
FINANCIAL TIMES
-Israel expanded its offensive on Friday evening, increasing ground operations in Gaza and launching an intense air bombardment that knocked out its telecommunications systems. The escalation comes two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a national audience that his government was preparing a “ground invasion” of Gaza. But it remained unclear late on Friday whether the intensification of military operations was the prelude to a wider war.
-Israeli Families of the hostages held by Hamas are slowly coalescing into a fledgling political force of their own, an influential interest group to be reckoned with even as their army bombs Gaza, where Hamas fighters are holed up in the same tunnels and bunkers as their loved ones.
-Morgan Stanley’s designated new CEO Ted Pick and his two top lieutenants were given restricted stock units that could net them tens of millions of dollars each in connection with their new roles. Morgan Stanley said the units, announced in an SEC filing on Friday afternoon, were awarded in equal amounts to the three executives: Pick, Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz. Each package was worth $20M at the time of the grant, but the final value will be determined by the performance of Morgan Stanley’s stock price over the next three years. The one-time grants will not fully vest until 2027.
-Wall Street’s blue-chip equities benchmark fell by 0.5% on Friday, pushing it just over the correction threshold compared with its 2023 peak on the final day of July.
The US stock market surged in the first seven months of the year, driven by enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and optimism that the Federal Reserve was approaching the end of its campaign to raise interest rates.
-Money managers including Pimco, Janus Henderson, Vanguard and BlackRock are buying US government bonds with longer maturities, betting the pain in the Treasury market is nearly over and an elusive slowdown in the US economy may be on the horizon. Yet the US economy is in good health for now.
-Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has recently said that it is close to achieving the ability to mass manufacture the potentially game-changing technology of solid-state batteries. Hype has been building since a series of announcements on the next-generation technology by the Japanese car manufacturer in June. Its market capitalization has surged by $26bn since then. Such batteries would allow Toyota to sell EVs that are safer, can recharge more rapidly and can drive 1,200 kilometres on a single charge — around double the company’s current average — as early as 2027.
-On Friday, former President Donald Trump claimed credit for the election of Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House of Representatives: “This time yesterday, nobody was thinking of Mike,” the former US president said. “Then we put out the word and now he is the Speaker of the House.” To some, Trump was exaggerating the role he played in elevating a little-known Louisiana lawmaker and an avowed loyalist to become presiding officer of Congress’s lower chamber, and second in the presidential line of succession after the vice-president.
-ExxonMobil remains on the hunt for deals even after buying Pioneer Natural Resources for $60B and launching a race to consolidate the sector.
NEW YORK TIMES
-Israeli Forces Step Up Bombardment and Make Another Incursion Into Gaza
Israeli military officials declined to say if the newest incursion was the start of an anticipated ground offensive.
-In New York, police arrested protesters after hundreds flooded Grand Central Terminal to demand a ceasefire in the Middle East.
-Two major Palestinian mobile networks said that their phone lines and internet services were down in Gaza.
-The US strikes on Iranian munitions stockpiles in Syria were meant to send two messages to Iran.
-Several artists have called for a boycott after Artforumfired its top editor David Velasco because of an open letter on the war in the Middle East. Velasco was removed after the magazine’s publishers said there was a flawed editorial process behind the publication of a letter that supported Palestinian liberation.
-American soldiers holding guns crouch down in low grass in front of a small road where an American tank is driving.
-Iranian proxies retaliated against American forces after strikes by US fighter jets.
-Even as food and water dwindle in Gaza, the Hamas militia remains well-stocked with supplies it amassed underground.
-Saudi officials warned the US that an Israeli invasion could be catastrophic for the Middle East.
-The Israeli writer Etgar Keret has been trying to make sense of the violence and loss around him. So far, he can’t.
-The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting in Maine is dead. The man wanted in the killing of 18 people was found dead on Friday night, the authorities said, bringing an end to a sweeping two-day manhunt.
-The shooting in Lewiston, Maine last October 25 has turned the spotlight on the state’s two senators, both of whom remain opposed to an assault weapons ban.
-Sam Bankman-Fried testified that he made ‘larger mistakes’ at FTX. Speaking in his own defense at his criminal trial, the FTX founder denied he had committed fraud but acknowledged missteps that hurt customers.
-The new House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated, he feels that religion is at the forefront of politics and policy.
The new House speaker has put his faith at the center of his political career, and aligned himself with a cohort that some describe as Christian nationalism.
-Many in Mike Johnson’s northern Louisiana district hope his surprise elevation will bring attention to their region, which they feel has been overlooked.
-Mike Johnson has said that his views on race were shaped by raising a Black child.
-Before Adidas ended its shoe deal with Kanye West over antisemitic public remarks, it tolerated years of his abusive conduct behind the scenes.
-The Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi bought around 25,000 paintings before he died earlier this year. Now no one knows what to do with them.
-The US economy is doing well. Any lingering concerns about an economic slowdown in the United States were at least momentarily quieted as new data showed that the nation’s economy grew at a 4.9% annualized rate in the third quarter.
The Trump re-election team has revived its ads against Ron DeSantis in Iowa. A super PAC supporting Donald Trump is shifting its strategy again, with less than three months before the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.
-President Biden and other senior officials have met China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi ahead of a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and amid talk of cooperation within a frosty relationship.
NY POST
-New York real estate developers slammed the judge who stripped Donald Trump of his business empire for allegedly inflating the prices of his properties — with some predicting the decision will be overturned on appeal.
Justice Arthur Engoron issued a summary judgment last month calling for a receiver and the canceling of the Trump Organization’s business certificates after state Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250M civil fraud lawsuit against the former president.
-Alphabet’s Google paid $26.3B to other companies in 2021 to ensure its search engine was the default on web browsers and mobile phones, testified senior executive Prabhakar Raghavan during the Justice Department’s antitrust trial. The amount of payments Google made for the default status has more than tripled since 2014. Google’s revenue from search advertising came in at $146.4B in 2021, while the payments for the default setting were its biggest cost.