FT : How Israel’s spymasters misread Hamas

How Israel’s spymasters misread Hamas
Overconfident intelligence agencies missed multiple warnings before October 7 attacks in a ‘failure of imagination’

For two years, Menachem Gida wrestled with a dark sense of foreboding.

The communications hobbyist was part of a team of volunteers who, using a “satellite farm” in southern Israel, compulsively monitored Gaza’s communications networks and Arab media, passing on nuggets of information to the Israeli military.

It was a semi-formal relationship. But when they repeatedly warned that Hamas fighters were conducting elaborate war games near the border, the amateur snoops were brushed aside. “The Israeli military officer told us: ‘You’re not important, we don’t need you,’” Gida said.

Gida was not alone. Michael Milstein, an ex-military intelligence officer, told his former colleagues and wrote numerous articles in the press saying that Israel’s approach to Hamas wasn’t working — although nobody paid much attention. “The writing was on the wall,” said Milstein, a former government adviser on Palestinian affairs in Gaza and the West Bank. “Hamas was preaching war.”

Even warnings from Israel’s Combat Intelligence Corps, which monitors the country’s frontier with Gaza, were ignored. One soldier, Noa Melman, told her superiors earlier this year that Hamas militants were practising attacks on a mock fence, blowing it up again and again.

“But everyone treated it like it was normal, like it was routine,” she said in a subsequent television interview.

On October 7, Hamas unleashed a disaster even worse than the bleakest premonitions of Gida, Milstein and Melman. At about 6.30am, under the cover of a massive missile barrage, more than 1,500 Hamas militants knocked out Israel’s border communications with explosive-laden drones, breached the security barriers with bulldozers, and raided Israeli territory on motorbikes and paragliders.

The synchronised attack shattered Israel’s faith in its military and intelligence services. Not only had they had failed to track what one of its main enemies was planning, they had ignored multiple warnings that Hamas was preparing a major offensive, often in plain sight.

Israel suffered from “overconfidence, which led to arrogance, which led to complacency,” said former prime minister Ehud Olmert. “Hamas did to us what we normally do: surprise, cleverness, outside the box thinking.”

Many factors contributed to the failure. The conclusions of a full inquiry into the intelligence debacle may be years away. But the lessons from it are already shaping Israel’s unforgiving military campaign to “destroy” Hamas, an enemy Israel has concluded it can no longer contain. Since Israel launched its retaliatory campaign, more than 10,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to officials in the Hamas-controlled territory.

“Even on the night of the attack, we smelled that something was happening but the interpretation was that it was just a regular [Hamas] military exercise,” a senior Israeli official said. “Our intelligence suffered from a fundamental flaw.”

That was in part because Israel’s security services underestimated Hamas’s ability to mount such a large-scale operation with all the tight operational security, disciplined planning and detailed knowledge of Israeli terrain that it required.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it seems the big failure [in Israel] was a failure of imagination, as was the case with 9/11,” said Sir Alex Younger, former head of Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service. “There is always a danger of conflating what you want with what actually is . . . and Israel felt that Hamas had been de-risked.”

Israel made a similar mistake exactly 50 years ago, before the Yom Kippur war against Egypt and Syria, when it falsely believed that the Arab nations would never attack due to its military strength. But there is an extra historical twist to this year’s assault, which Israel has frequently compared to the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on America.

The 9/11 report, the US government’s official account of what happened, rued that no security official foresaw that terrorists might fly planes into big US buildings — even though many of them said they had read a 1994 Tom Clancy novel which climaxes with that scene.

In a similar vein, before Hamas launched its October 7 attack, Avi Issacharoff, co-creator of Israel’s hit television thriller Fauda, rejected a possible plotline for one episode in which Hamas fighters stormed the border fence and attacked Israel, deeming it too implausible. Israel’s security services apparently thought the same.

“What are the chances that dozens, let alone thousands, would be able to do this without military intelligence or Shin Bet [the internal security service] . . . knowing about it?” Issacharoff recalled, telling his script writers at the time. “Let’s move on and find something more realistic.”

A second reason for Israel’s failure was what one western official called “technological arrogance” — a hubristic faith that advanced technologies, such as the aerial drones that eavesdrop on Gaza and the sensor-equipped fence that surrounds the strip, would outmatch Hamas’s more limited technological abilities.

For many years, this had helped the Israel Defense Forces thwart all but a handful of border breaches. But it generated a false sense of security, said another western security official, comparing it to an iPhone. “Great when it works, but if it doesn’t — suddenly you can’t do anything,” the official said.  

The Israeli military’s 8200 signals intelligence unit had also recently stopped listening in on the handheld radios used by Hamas militants after they judged it a waste of effort, according to The New York Times.

“We had become addicted to tech, cyber, big data and the rest of it,” Millstein said. “But the cheapest and simplest intelligence — such as open source, tracking Hamas’s walkie-talkie communications, even listening to our female observation soldiers on the border — was completely under-appreciated.”

Another problem is that while Israel’s high-tech surveillance methods can produce masses of high-quality tactical intelligence — such as identifying the precise location of a rocket launcher — it is less good at revealing strategy or a leadership’s intentions, which is the main focus of human intelligence.

“If you are iterating from the status quo, technology is very good,” Younger said. “It is far less so when it comes to making a strategic leap or revealing intentions.”

A third reason for Israel’s failure to anticipate Hamas’s attack was that political turmoil caused by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial domestic policies had weakened national security and distracted its intelligence services.

“Shin Bet understandably was focused on the increase of violence in the West Bank, which had become increasingly challenging,” said David Petraeus, a former CIA director and US general who led Iraq’s allied forces and Nato and US troops in Afghanistan.

Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, took advantage of these distractions. It also played along with a Netanyahu policy which sought to nurture Hamas rule in Gaza as a way of diminishing the standing of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Even as Hamas prepared for war, it remained in daily touch with the Israeli government on mundane issues such as export quotas and workers’ permits. Several Israeli and international officials maintain that these workers helped gather intelligence, including precise maps of the kibbutzim that Hamas would later attack.

In addition, Hamas filtered misinformation through channels that they knew Israeli intelligence was monitoring, while actual plans for the attack were held by a small group of Hamas leaders.

The lessons that Israeli security officials have drawn from their failure to anticipate the assault have deadly implications. Their conclusion is that Israel can no longer depend on intelligence to provide an early warning of attacks from Gaza, or on the country’s military might to deter them. Instead, it must pre-empt potential threats by directly eliminating them.

“The only solution is: no more relying on intelligence,” the senior Israeli official said. “Deterrence is no longer enough . . . It is a new paradigm.”

FT : China’s economy falls back into deflation in blow to recovery

China’s economy falls back into deflation in blow to recovery
Tumbling pork prices undercut growth as consumer confidence lags

China’s economy edged back into deflation last month, spurred by falling pork prices, as policymakers struggled to reignite domestic demand in the midst of a rolling property sector crisis and following the end of strict pandemic controls this year.

The consumer price index fell 0.2 per cent year on year in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday, compared with a 0.1 per cent fall forecast by a Reuters poll of analysts. The CPI was unchanged in September.

Producer prices fell for a 13th consecutive month, dropping 2.6 per cent year on year, against a 2.7 per cent decline forecast by economists and following a 2.5 per cent contraction in September.

The NBS said the price of livestock and meat fell 17.9 per cent overall, driven by a 30.1 per cent decline in pork prices. Non-food prices rose 0.7 per cent.

Chinese market reaction was muted on Thursday, with the CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks flat and the renminbi weakening 0.1 per cent against the dollar after the data release.

China’s economy has shown mixed signs of recovery in recent months, leading economists to debate whether it will hit the government’s official gross domestic product growth target this year of 5 per cent, the lowest in decades. Prices fell into negative territory in July before edging back into growth in the months that followed.

The IMF this week upgraded its forecast for China’s GDP growth to 5.4 per cent, citing stronger support from policymakers, who have been easing monetary policy and restrictions on property purchases and mortgages to try to stabilise the real estate market.


Analysts have blamed low consumer confidence for soft inflation figures. Falling pork prices aggravated the trend in October. Live hog futures traded on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange have dropped about 15 per cent this month.

Prices of the meat in China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of pork, follows boom-and-bust cycles, with oversupply leading to large price falls and causing CPI volatility.

Goldman Sachs said in an analyst note that China’s headline CPI should rise gradually in the coming months, although “persistent pork prices deflation is likely to slow the pace”.

Rob Carnell, economist at ING, disputed that China was suffering from deflation, which he defined as not just a decline in consumer prices but also in the prices of “real and financial assets and wages”.

“What China has right now is a low rate of underlying inflation, which reflects the fact that domestic demand is fairly weak,” he said. “What we are seeing today is mainly the result of a supply excess, rather than a collapse in demand.”

Other recent indicators have painted a mixed picture of the economic recovery. China’s exports dropped 6.4 per cent in dollar terms in October compared with the same period a year earlier, the sixth consecutive month of declines and worse than the 3 per cent fall forecast by a Reuters survey of analysts. Manufacturing activity also contracted in October.

One positive sign from the trade data was China’s imports, which expanded year on year for the first time since February, rising 3 per cent.

Economists argue the government needs to do more to stimulate domestic consumption and lift flagging demand in the economy.

Beijing has announced a Rmb1tn ($137bn) bond to fund local government disaster relief and flood controls, but this is seen as aimed at supporting growth next year.

While the economy in 2023 has benefited from a low base effect compared with a year earlier, when Covid-19 controls depressed activity, next year could prove more challenging for GDP growth unless the recovery gains more traction, analysts have warned.

WWD : New York Launches Task Force to Fight Retail Theft

New York Launches Task Force to Fight Retail Theft
Retailers such as Gap, Macy's and Victoria's Secret will join city officials and law enforcement agencies on the committee.

New York City is taking aim at retail crime.

On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched a task force to support implementation of his plan to combat retail theft across the city. The task force will be led by Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks 3rd, with New York Attorney General Letitia James, all five of the city’s district attorneys, and representatives from law enforcement, local business groups, national retailers and organized labor.

Gap Inc., LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Macy’s Inc., Target Corp., Ulta Beauty, Victoria’s Secret and more retailers are involved, as well as the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and business improvement district throughout the five boroughs.

The task force is meant to advise the Adams administration on legislative proposals aimed at addressing retail theft, work to identify and respond to shoplifting trends and crime patterns, and use the best available technology to deter, prevent and respond to retail theft effectively.

“New York City’s retailers are the heart and soul of our city, and retail theft hurts everyone, from our mom-and-pop shops to large department stores — and especially consumers,” said Adams. “Because of the collaborative actions taken in the last few months between government, the private sector, law enforcement, and, most importantly, local businesses, retail theft is down this year, but there is always more work to do. I am proud to convene this group of experts and practitioners as we continue to take a 360-degree approach to combatting retail theft and curbing this serious issue that plagues cities across the country. Together, we recognize the importance of safeguarding our businesses, protecting jobs, and ensuring a safer and more vibrant city for all who live in, work in, and visit our great city.”

With the exception of 2020, the total number of citywide shoplifting complaints increased year-over-year between 2018 and 2022, with the largest increase — 44 percent — taking place from 2021 to 2022. However, year-to-date in 2023, shoplifting complaints are down 7.9 percent citywide as compared to last year and arrests for shoplifting increased 16.4 percent year-to-date.

At the end of 2022, Adams convened a summit with more than 70 concerned parties to discuss potential solutions to retail theft in the city.

WWD : Ralph Lauren Beats Sales and Profit Estimates in Q2

Ralph Lauren Beats Sales and Profit Estimates in Q2
The company continues to push through its strategic plan with DTC growth and higher average unit retail prices.

Ralph Lauren Corp. continued to play its game well in the fiscal second quarter — despite weakness in the North American wholesale business and a tougher economy.

The company has been on a campaign to elevate its brand and kept at it this quarter, boosting average unit retail prices at its own stores and on its website by 10 percent, on top of an 18 percent increase a year earlier.

Overall, the brand has pushed its prices up a total of more than 70 percent over the last six years.

Zacapa Rum to Honor Luar's Raul Lopez at the Latin American Fashion Summit
That march higher has been driven by a number of components — from the kind of products sold to the prices charged to where they’re sold.

Along the way, Ralph Lauren has become, well, more Ralph Lauren, by being much less reliant on the outlet business and even more focused on brand.

“Our brand is our most powerful asset,” said Patrice Louvet, president and chief executive officer, in an interview with WWD. “We’re driving momentum and desirability.”

It’s an effort that Louvet said cuts across generations of customers as the brand shows up across various platforms — from its runway show in New York Fashion Week to sponsorships with the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Ryder Cup to a partnership with Fortnite.

That consumer reach and brand resonance has helped fuel the business through a tricky consumer landscape.

Net income slipped modestly to $146.9 million from $150.5 million the prior year, although diluted earnings per share ticked up 1 cent to $2.19 given a change in the number of shares outstanding. (Altogether the company gave about $275 million back to shareholders through its dividend and share repurchases.)

Adjusted EPS came in at $2.10 — well ahead of the $1.93 analysts projected, according to FactSet.

Revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30 increased 3.4 percent year-over-year to $1.63 billion from $1.58 billion, with gains in Europe and Asia offsetting wholesale weakness in North America. The company’s revenues came in $24 million over analysts’ best guess.

Louvet pointed specifically to the strength of the direct-to-consumer channel, which now makes up about two-thirds of the business and is doing well from the remaining outlet presence through its full-price stores and the website.

“All signs are pointing in the right direction when it comes to our DTC business,” the CEO said.

Wholesale — which has been a tough spot for brands across the spectrum this year — remains a work in progress.

Ralph Lauren’s North American sales slipped 1 percent from the prior year, to $718 million for the quarter, which included a 4 percent increase in the direct-to-consumer business and a 7 percent decline at wholesale.

Picking up the slack were revenues in Europe, which increased 7 percent to $527 million, and the business in Asia, which rose 10 percent to $348 million.

Louvet said there’s a “real bifurcation” in wholesale.

The upper tier — think Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus — is doing well and the top 50 or 100 stores in the next tier down are also seeing a “solid performance” with low-single-digit gains.


“Where the pressure is is in the balance of the fleet,” Louvet said. “Those stores are in smaller cities around the country, where consumers are feeling more pressure and the brands and our partners are putting more emphasis on the top stores.”

To better present the brand he said more stores are going to pull together Ralph Lauren’s various classifications — which are now separate — to make a stronger statement with full looks available in one place.

Some of the wholesale difficulties speak to the climate in general, with inflation, high interest rates and other marcoeconomic and geopolitical concerns mixing up consumers.

“We’re operating in a very unstable world,” Louvet said. “That’s become the norm, unfortunately, but we know how to navigate this.”

Even so, he said the core Ralph Lauren consumer has been “quite resilient,” even as the more value-oriented consumer has been feeling the strain.

The brand continues to be anchored by its core product, including cashmere sweaters, tweet blazers and Oxford shirts.

“What we’re seeing is, when things get more challenging, the consumers will tend to gravitate to a brand they know, toward a product they trust,” the CEO said. “The core business is about 70 percent of our overall business and has done particularly well.”

The focus on brand and on core product come naturally to Louvet, a veteran of Procter & Gamble, which has become the launch pad for an increasing number of CEOs in fashion, including Chip Bergh at Levi Strauss & Co., his soon to be successor Michelle Gass and Bracken Darell, the new chief at VF Corp.

Louvet also noted that Pietro Beccari, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, hails from Henkel, another consumer product goods company.

“A lot of the fundamentals you learn in CPG, on brand building, on consumer understanding, on operational discipline are incredibly relevant in this space,” Louvet said.

While it became commonplace to see CPG executives make the jump into beauty, they are now coming into fashion, he noted.

“The fundamentals are still about a brand, it’s still about the consumer and it’s still about the go-to market,” he said.

Fashion has traditionally drawn its CEOs out of its own merchandising ranks. And while Louvet said that brings in executives with “incredible product understanding and operational experience,” he added that the CPG ex-pats bring in more branding experience.

Of course Ralph Lauren, who serves as executive chairman and chief creative officer at the company he founded, has all the branding expertise he ever needed.

“We inspire people to embrace their sense of individual style through a timeless, elegant way of living. From our recent fashion show in Brooklyn to championing the resilience of sport at the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Ryder Cup, there is a spirit of authenticity to everything we do and it endures beyond any economic or fashion cycle,” Lauren said.

FT : Overdue commercial property loans hit 10-year high at US banks

Overdue commercial property loans hit 10-year high at US banks
Higher interest rates, an uncertain economy and remote work pile pressure on office space owners

Delinquent commercial real estate loans at US banks have hit their highest level in a decade, as higher interest rates, an uncertain economy and the rise of remote working pile pressure on building owners.

The volume of past-due loans in which so-called non-owner occupiers have missed more than one payment jumped 30 per cent, or $4bn, to $17.7bn in the three months to the end of September, according to industry tracker BankRegData. The figure had risen by $10bn in a year.

Bank lending remains in historically good shape and even after the recent jump, just 1.5 per cent of commercial property loans were past due. Nonetheless, industry watchers said the number of properties under pressure was likely to continue to rise, especially in the office sector.

Bill Moreland, who runs BankRegData, told clients that commercial real estate lending was “getting ugly fast”.

“It’s not a hiccup — it’s not Covid and then recover,” said Leo Huang, the head of commercial real estate debt at Ellington Management Group, an asset manager. “Property prices are going to come down and loan delinquencies are going to keep going up.”


The third-quarter data did not capture the impact of this week’s bankruptcy filing by desk rental company WeWork, one of the largest office tenants in cities from New York to San Francisco.

The Chapter 11 filing will allow WeWork, at least in the US, to rationalise its portfolio by terminating scores of leases with little financial penalty, putting pressure on building owners.

Wells Fargo recently cited WeWork’s troubles among its reasons for adding a $20.5mn mortgage on 599 Broadway, a midsized office building in lower Manhattan, to its watchlist of loans at risk of missed payments. The loan was made by Bank of America, but has since been sold to investors and is serviced by Wells.

With more than $70bn in commercial real estate loans outstanding, Wells is the nation’s largest lender in the category, and the most exposed to property losses. Its past-due property loans rose more than 50 per cent to $3.4bn in the third quarter, up from just $400mn a year ago.

Despite the rising delinquencies, Wells and other banks have been slow to put borrowers in default or otherwise declare actual losses on their growing pile of delinquent loans. Wells wrote off just $91mn in CRE loans in the third quarter.

On a call with analysts last month, Wells expressed optimism that many of those borrowers would restart payments or otherwise avoid losses, though the bank’s executives reiterated there would be some impact. “We haven’t really seen any losses of significance yet, but we will,” said Mike Santomassimo, Wells’ chief financial officer.

Kevin Fagan, the head of commercial real estate economic analysis at Moody’s, said he expected delinquency rates to climb for at least the next 12 months. There was “pain to come, that’s for sure”, he said, but he added it would it take time for delinquencies to turn into losses.

Among regional banks, Pittsburgh-based PNC had one of the biggest spikes in delinquent commercial real estate loans, more than doubling in the quarter to $723mn. “The pressures we anticipated within the commercial real estate office sector have begun to materialise,” Rob Reilly, PNC’s chief financial officer, told analysts last month. He added, however, that the lender had ample reserves to cover potential losses on those loans.

Other banks are stepping up their efforts to restructure property loans in order to avoid losses. At BofA, the volume of modified property loans, for which the bank had either forgiven interest or extended due dates, rose nearly $750mn to $1.2bn in the quarter. Across the industry, the volume of restructured commercial real estate loans has risen by $6bn to $8.5bn in the past six months.

“Bankers are going to extend the loans if they think the asset can be saved,” said Christopher Whalen, a veteran bank analyst and head of Whalen Global Advisors. “If the bank has to take back the building, the value can get cut in half.”

FT : DraftKings discussed bid for William Hill owner 888

DraftKings discussed bid for William Hill owner 888
Boston-based betting group held early stage talks with top 888 shareholders last summer

US betting group DraftKings discussed a bid for William Hill owner 888 over the summer with some of the struggling UK betting operator’s top shareholders, according to two people briefed on the talks.

The early-stage discussions, which took place in June and July, are a sign of the increasing dominance of US operators in the betting industry, and how their financial firepower may yet drive a further wave of consolidation in the sector.

DraftKings’ chief executive Jason Robins held talks with a group of 888 shareholders — FS Gaming — about making an all-stock offer for William Hill owner 888, the people said. Advisers were present on both sides.

FS Gaming, which includes industry veterans such as former GVC chief executive Kenny Alexander, was at the time a top-five 888 shareholder. Robins met with FS Gaming’s Lee Feldman, a former GVC chair, to discuss the takeover plans, including the possibility of appointing Alexander as 888 chief executive, the people said.

Despite the plans falling through, DraftKings’ interest in expanding internationally through a possible acquisition of 888 underlines the expansion ambitions of US betting operators at the top of the $9bn a year industry after a Supreme Court verdict opened up the sector five years ago.

888 has been widely viewed by analysts as a takeover target because of its languishing share price resulting from management upheaval, compliance problems and a recent profit warning.

DraftKings did not approach 888 directly. The talks took place while 888’s chair Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, who had been hunting for a new chief executive since January, was separately holding discussions with FS Gaming about the top management role.

DraftKings walked away after Mendelsohn revealed in mid-July that the UK gambling regulator had placed 888’s licence under review over concerns about a longstanding tax bribery probe into GVC’s business dealings in Turkey during Alexander’s time as chief executive. Mendelsohn has since appointed former Fortuna chief executive Per Widerström as 888 chief executive.

Any bid would have valued the London-listed company at a significant premium to its market capitalisation, which reached £550mn while discussions were taking place, the people said. But the biggest hurdle to any deal would have been 888’s £1.7bn debt pile, left over from the acquisition of William Hill’s non-US business from Caesars Entertainment last year, they added.

Entain, the rebranded version of GVC following its takeover of Ladbrokes, has set aside £585mn to settle a deferred prosecution agreement relating to the tax bribery investigation into its former Turkish business.

In an interview following third-quarter results last week, DraftKings’ Robins declined to comment on any discussions about a takeover. He added: “888 is one we’re aware of, we’ve certainly watched it over the years, I know there’s been quite a twisty, turny story.” “I don’t even think 888 is up for sale at this point,” Robins said.

Responding to a Financial Times query about the talks, DraftKings said that the company was “focused on the massive US opportunity in front of us”.

“We speak to a variety of companies regarding various matters in the normal course of business, and it is our general policy not to comment on the specifics of any of those discussions,” it added.

In 2021, DraftKings made an £18.4bn cash-and-stock offer for Entain but walked away after eliciting little interest from Entain’s board. Las Vegas-based casino operator MGM Resorts International, which runs a US joint venture under the name BetMGM, also had a bid rejected for the Ladbrokes owner. MGM has since launched BetMGM in the UK this year using technology from Sweden-based betting app LeoVegas, which it acquired for $607mn last year.

DraftKings’ US betting app overtook that of rival FanDuel in August as the biggest by monthly revenues.

A top-10 888 shareholder told the FT they would have taken an all-stock offer from DraftKings “very seriously”.

“I would have had to at least hear them out,” the shareholder said. “888 can help backfill DraftKings with technology and knowhow, and in the long-run DraftKings wants to take over the world.”

FS Gaming and 888 declined to comment.

>>> US After Hours Summary: Busy earnings session; big names are DIS +2.8%, ARM

After Hours Summary: Busy earnings session; big names are DIS +2.8%, ARM -7.8%, CART +0.9%; PUBM +19.3%, CDNA +18.5%, APP +17.7%, AFRM +9.5%, DUOL +8.2%, ZIP +7.8%, TWLO +7.3% higher on earnings; CDLX -34%, MODG -17.7%, KRUS -16%, APPS -14.7% lower on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: PUBM +19.3%, CDNA +18.5%, APP +17.7% (also CFO to step down, names new CFO), BE +16.8%, RAMP +15%, PYCR +14.2%, SPCE +13.2%, NTRA +10.1%, AFRM +9.5%, TTGT +9.4%, DUOL +8.2%, ZIP +7.8%, VSAT +7.6%, TWLO +7.3%, ADMA +7.2%, COOK +7%, HUBS +6.7%, INFN +6.4% (also to delay 10-Q filing), JXN +6.4%, SILK +6.1%, CYRX +5.4%, CPRX +5.1%, LGND +5%, RGNX +4.9%, MARA +4.9%, SUPN +4.6%, MFC +3.9%, BGS +3.1% (also sells its Green Giant US shelf-stable vegetable product line to SENEA), DIS +2.8%, HBM +2.4%, KGS +2.1%, TTWO +1.8%, MGM +1.6% (also authorizes new $2 bln share repurchase program), RKLB +1.6% (also sets next electron launch window; also signs launch services agreement with DoD), ORA +1.3%, ENS +1.1% (also wins 50 unit order), CART +0.9%, GNK +0.7%, KGC +0.3%, HP +0.1%, JAZZ +0.1%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: SPCE +13.2% (to cut 18% of its workforce), CNM +5.4% (to join S&P MidCap 400), PNT +1.2% (LLY extends tender offer to acquire PNT), TAK +0.8% (receives FDA approval for FRUZAQLA), PR +0.5% (stock offering by selling shareholders), MNST +0.3% (authorizes new $500 mln share repurchase program), LLY +0.2% (LLY extends tender offer to acquire PNT), DDOG +0.1% (expands strategic partnership with Google Cloud and integrates with Vertex AI)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: CDLX -34%, MODG -17.7%, KRUS -16%, APPS -14.7%, BIRD -14.2%, LAZR -10.1%, RVNC -9.7%, ASLE -8.3%, ARM -7.8%, CUTR -7.5%, PRA -6.1%, AMC -5.9%, DIOD -5.9%, ENV -5.8%, G -5.7% (also CEO to retire, names new CEO), UHAL -5.6%, OFIX -5.1%, ME -4%, DNA -3.3%, FLT -3%, LPSN -2%, ZD -2%, XENE -1.9%, EHTH -1.9%, CDE -1.7%, FNV -1.2%, BYND -1.1%, LYFT -1.1%, ASH -0.8%, JAMF -0.8%, STKL -0.8%, STR -0.7% (also increases dividend), IONQ -0.6%, CTVA -0.3%, GNW -0.3%, KNTK -0.3%, BTG -0.2%, FICO -0.1%, WOW -0.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: ATRA -58.7% (presents data from Phase 2 EMBOLD trial of ATA188; did not meet primary endpoint), SMR -24.6% (SMR to terminate the Carbon Free Power Project), BILL -13.5% (nearing $1.95 bln deal for Melio, according to Bloomberg), CCCS -7.2% (50 mln share offering by Advent, includes concurrent stock repurchase), MYGN -4.4% (files mixed shelf securities offering; also $100 mln stock offering), LAW -2.1% (new licensing agreement with Fastcase), THR -2% (names new non-executive Chairman), NCLH -1.3% (stock offering), OR -1.2% (names new CEO, also reports earnings), KSS -1.1% (board chair to retire, names new board chair), FATE -0.4% (files $300 mln mixed shelf securities offering), MS -0.4% (wealth mgmt unit under scrutiny by Fed according to WSJ), SNAP -0.3% (laying off nearly 20 product managers, according to The Information), SENEA -0.1% (acquires Green Giant US shelf-stable vegetable product line from BGS), STN -0.1% (named as a supplier for two lots on South West Water framework)

FT : Turkey clashes with EU over stance on Hamas

Turkey clashes with EU over stance on Hamas
President Erdoğan has described group behind October 7 attack on Israel as a ‘liberation’ movement

The EU said it was in “complete disagreement” with Turkey’s stance on Hamas after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to the Palestinian militant group behind the October 7 attack on Israel as a “liberation” movement.

The rebuke from the European Commission came in a report published on Wednesday that outlined “serious deficiencies” in the functioning of Turkey’s democratic institutions as well as the “deterioration of human and fundamental rights” in the country.

The tough language is the latest sign of how relations between Turkey and Europe remain fraught, even after Erdoğan appointed what many analysts saw as a more western-friendly cabinet following his election victory in May. The commission’s assessment of Turkey is a regular part of long-stalled EU accession talks with Ankara.

Erdoğan’s increasingly strong condemnation of Israel’s operations in Gaza, and consistent criticism of the support the Jewish state has received from western allies, has been a source of concern in European capitals as well as Washington, according to several diplomatic sources.

Erdoğan last month told members of his political party in parliament that “Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, but a liberation group, a mujahideen group that struggles to protect its lands and citizens”. The EU and the US consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.

The Turkish president reiterated those comments at a recent rally in Istanbul, where he slammed Israel as a “war criminal” for its bombardment of Gaza. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Hamas-run enclave since the war broke out, according to Gazan officials.

“[Turkey’s] rhetoric in support to terrorist group Hamas following its attacks against Israel on 7 October 2023 is in complete disagreement with the EU approach,” the commission said. The Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.

Turkey’s foreign ministry responded to the commission’s report by saying it was “necessary to remind the EU, which stands in the wrong place of history in the face of a civilian massacre . . . that policies based on universal values, international law and humanitarian principles should be valid not only for Ukraine . . . but all over the world, including the Middle East.”

The commission’s assessment of Turkey also warned of “backsliding” in Turkey’s democratic institutions and on fundamental human rights. This included concern about Turkey’s “refusal to implement certain European Court of Human Rights rulings”.

The legislative wing of the Council of Europe, which oversees the ECHR, last month issued a censure after a top Turkish court upheld a lifetime sentence against the philanthropist Osman Kavala on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. The ECHR has previously called on Turkey to release Kavala, saying it found no “facts, information or evidence” to justify his detention. 

Turkey hit back strongly, saying the Council of Europe was guilty of a “historical mistake” and accusing the organisation of “instrumentalising judicial processes for politics”.

The commission report also said that while the Turkish general election won by Erdoğan in May had “offered voters a choice between genuine political alternatives and voter participation remained high . . . biased media coverage and the lack of a level playing field gave an unjustified advantage to the incumbent”.

It also said: “Political pluralism [in Turkey] continued to be undermined by the targeting of opposition parties and individual members of parliament.”

Turkey’s foreign ministry said “we completely reject the baseless allegations and unfair criticisms in the report,” especially as it relates to local politics and human rights.

The row over the commission’s report on Wednesday came at a key moment in Turkey-Europe relations, with the EU and the US pushing Turkey to approve Sweden’s accession to the Nato military alliance. Erdoğan has sent the measure to parliament, which is controlled by a coalition led by his political party, but it has yet to leave the foreign policy committee, which must approve it before it is voted on by the country’s legislators.

Turkey, which is attempting to lure fresh western capital for its economic overhaul, is also lobbying heavily for EU visa liberalisation for its citizens. 

Le Monde : De Stéphane Guillon à Guillaume Meurice, ces humoristes de France Int

De Stéphane Guillon à Guillaume Meurice, ces humoristes de France Inter qui créent la controverse
Comme Guillaume Meurice, plusieurs chroniqueurs de France Inter ont été désavoués ou sanctionnés par leur direction pour avoir franchi la ligne jaune dans leurs sketchs.

En traitant le premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Nétanyahou, de « sorte de nazi, mais sans prépuce » dans le cadre de l’émission « Le Grand Dimanche soir », Guillaume Meurice a suscité le « malaise » parmi les auditeurs de France Inter, a reconnu la directrice de la station, Adèle Van Reeth. Un « humour (…) discutable », a estimé cette dernière, car traitant de nazi « un juif à la tête d’un Etat juif dont les habitants viennent de subir une attaque terroriste ». L’humoriste, qui a reçu un avertissement officiel qu’il entend contester en justice, se réclame de la liberté de ton de Charlie Hebdo. « L’esprit Charlie, ce n’est pas une poubelle qu’on sort du placard quand ça vous arrange, pour y jeter ses propres cochonneries », a répliqué Riss, le directeur de l’hebdomadaire.

Avant Guillaume Meurice, sa comparse Charline Vanhoenacker avait elle aussi suscité les critiques pour une reductio ad hitlerum d’une personnalité juive – Eric Zemmour. L’humoriste de France Inter, qui animait alors l’émission quotidienne « Par Jupiter ! », s’était filmée sur X (ancien Twitter) en train de dessiner une moustache hitlérienne au polémiste d’extrême droite, pas encore candidat à l’élection présidentielle, sur une de ses affiches. Un coup de crayon qui lui vaudra une convocation de sa direction. Quelques mois plus tard, la Belge perdra sa tranche au profit d’une émission hebdomadaire, « Le Grand Dimanche soir ». Si certains y ont vu une décision politique, la direction a mis en avant la nécessité de se réinventer après neuf années d’antenne quotidienne.

Les directeurs de France Inter doivent parfois ouvrir la boîte à excuses lorsque leurs troupes dérapent. Ainsi de Laurence Bloch, contrainte d’exprimer ses « regrets les plus sincères » après une chanson de l’humoriste Frédéric Fromet, dans l’émission « Par Jupiter ! », qualifiée d’homophobe. « Jésus, Jésus, Jésus est pédé, membre de la LGBT, du haut de la croix pourquoi l’avoir cloué, pourquoi l’avoir pas enc.lé », avait entonné ce dernier sur l’air de Jésus reviens. Son espoir, a-t-il assuré après coup, était « de dénoncer l’homophobie » d’un juge ayant ordonné à Netflix de stopper au Brésil la diffusion de la comédie La Première Tentation du Christ, qui dépeignait un Jésus gay. Intention louable mais « ratée », a lui-même reconnu Frédéric Fromet.

Parfois, une chronique hors des clous peut coûter son poste à un humoriste. Celle de Didier Porte entre dans cette catégorie. Alors que Dominique de Villepin, ex-rival à droite de Nicolas Sarkozy, est l’invité de la matinale de France Inter, le chroniqueur invite l’ancien premier ministre à se « lâcher » avant d’entrer dans le studio : « J’enc.le Sarkozy ! J’enc.le Sarkozy ! J’enc.le Sarkozy ! » De l’humour « pas drôle », déplorera, quelques semaines plus tard, le présentateur de la matinale, Nicolas Demorand. La direction de la station brandira cet épisode pour justifier le renvoi de Didier Porte, dans un climat de tension lié autant à son travail qu’à celui de son comparse Stéphane Guillon, débarqué en même temps que lui.

L’affaire du Carlton n’est pas encore passée par là. Les accusations de viol de Nafissatou Diallo non plus. Ce matin de février 2009, Dominique Strauss-Kahn est l’invité de la matinale de France Inter. L’humoriste Stéphane Guillon plaisante sur le rapport aux femmes de l’aspirant candidat à la présidentielle. Le directeur du Fonds monétaire international se dit choqué, comme la direction de France Inter, qui s’excuse. Le début de la fin pour Guillon, dont les provocations contre le patron de la station, Jean-Luc Hees, scelleront le sort. « Je ne peux pas accepter que l’on me crache dessus en direct. L’humour ne doit pas être confisqué par de petits tyrans », justifiera ce dernier au moment de renvoyer l’humoriste.