Crypto News: Decline and fall statement

It is three weeks until UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt delivers his Autumn Statement, serving up policies the embattled Conservative Party hope will give them their best chance possible in the run up to the general election campaign.

Unfortunately for Hunt, the Centre for Progressive Policy has produced a reminder of how limited his options are. The think tank believes that whoever is in power next year will have to raise taxes to the highest level since the Second World War just to maintain public services in their current state, my colleague Philip Aldrick reports.

Jeremy Hunt, UK chancellor of the exchequer, on the day two of the UK Conservative Party Conference Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

That is a dire message for Hunt, but also for most people who want services to get better, not just stay the same. Yet there are plenty of Conservatives pressing their party – the natural home of tax cuts – to reduce the take on individuals and businesses. And they want it fast — think Autumn Statement fast — to give the government a chance to get in bed with the public consciousness as the clock ticks down to election day.

Now that Hunt has found himself up a certain creek without a paddle, he may be forgiven for trying to get himself on dry land and taking the Tory road well travelled, otherwise known as pensions. These reforms to the UK's pensions systems aim to shift more of people's savings into fast-growing assets to make their pots bigger when they retire. The government has certainly set the scene for big ideas about pensions and investment, which promise to bolster the UK's growth factor in the Autumn Statement, but will it deliver in three weeks' time?

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As Hunt contends with the prospect of the Autumn Statement back in London, Rishi Sunak has travelled up to Bletchley Park for his AI safety summit. Unfortunately for Rishi, the run-up to the event was not an easy one, with Boris Johnson threatening to steal the spotlight via the Covid inquiry as well as a certain focus on the lack of world leaders attending. On the bright side, however, Elon Musk is in attendance with his private jet touching down on Tuesday.

Nations "have stated a shared responsibility to address AI risks and take forward vital international collaboration on frontier AI safety and research," Sunak said in a statement shortly after the two-day summit. The US, China, and 26 other nations subsequently agreed to work together to stop AI causing "catastrophic harm," as my colleagues Ellen Milligan and Thomas Seal report.

The UK gathering will be the first of several global events aimed at tackling the enormous challenges thrown up by this emerging technology. The next one will be in South Korea in six months and then in France in a year's time. The effort is clearly a sensible one, but difficulties have already been highlighted at the UK gathering. China's presence was seen as key, but as Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Bloomberg Television, its delegation would probably not be able to join sessions where "like-minded countries [are] working together."

Meanwhile, Sunak is trying set the groundwork for rules that could help protect nations as AI develops, while also wanting to position the UK as not opting for knee-jerk rules, as some say is the attitude of the EU.

Over in the world of banking, UK's biggest high street lender Lloyds is considering selling part of the pensions business its Scottish Widows arm runs, as my colleagues Jan-Henrik Foerster and Aisha Gani report. The move begs two questions: is this the sign of a new strategy for Charlie Nunn, who has been chief executive since 2021, and for banks with the firepower to do M&A, is that the answer to addressing their chronically sickly share prices? Only time will tell.

The UK failed to make any progress on the gender pay gap between 2022 and 2023 as the difference between men and women's wages crept up for those in full-time work.

Men are now paid 7.7% more than women in full-time jobs, up from 7.6% a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The difference is much wider among higher earners and among people over the age of 40.

While the gap was little-changed year-on-year, it is still well below the 9% seen before the Covid pandemic in 2019.

Bulls eye. Red Bull heir gets $615 million dividend payout in his first year at the helm of the energy drink goliath.

WeFailed. WeWork shares have plummeted following a report that the company plans tofile for bankruptcy.

Crypto. Bitcoin briefly set a fresh 17-month high at $35,000 as traders say the battle between the crypto bulls and bears is hotting up.

$800 million

The amount generated by the sale of around 800 homes in a Dubai residential development.

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Helen MacNamara

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One key story, every weekday

Vineer Bhansali at his office in Newport Beach. Photographer: Max Hemphill for Bloomberg Businessweek

Vineer Bhansali doesn't sleep much nowadays. Nor is he getting in as many of the long-distance runs that he loves. But he's having the time of his life.

Bhansali is the founder of LongTail Alpha LLC, a hedge fund in Newport Beach, California, and he's newly obsessed with what was once among the sleepiest corners of finance: Treasury bonds. With volatility exploding in the long-placid market, he's ordered his fund to shift away from other strategies and boost its focus on Treasuries. LongTail now buys and sells bonds constantly, he says, making four times as many trades as it did a year ago.

A self-confessed adrenaline junkie, Bhansali wakes up every two hours at night to check prices after being glued to his screens all day. "You have to be on it, because things are happening all the time," he says. "This is probably one of the best times to get in the bond market in 20 years."

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