Crypto News: A test for Milei’s shock therapy

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Nowhere is the pain of Argentine President Javier Milei's shock economic therapy felt more acutely than at the end of the world.

By a quirk of history, Tierra del Fuego — an island province of mountains, glaciers and penguins located closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires — doubles as an industrial hub that produces nearly all of the country's televisions, air conditioners and Samsung phones.

After electronics consumption collapsed by about 50% in the first half of the year, the island about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) from the capital is a litmus test of just how far Milei's austerity can go.

Cavernous electronics plants are running at their lowest capacity, especially before the summer season fuels demand for ACs and a surge in credit restarts consumption. That means factory workers who start their days at dawn are the lucky ones, while the rest lean on temporary work to stay afloat.

Yet islanders accustomed to subpolar winds and constant boom and bust cycles are not buckling.

"I've always had hope that Argentina would sort itself out," said Ezequiel Ruiz, 26, driving an Uber along the deserted boardwalk overlooking the glistening South Atlantic ocean.

Since he stormed to power pledging to take a chainsaw to the state, Milei, a libertarian and outspoken admirer of Donald Trump, has managed to drag monthly inflation from 26% down to 4%.

But Argentines now see unemployment — not rising prices — as the country's biggest problem. Official numbers due today are expected to show more than 50% of the population has sunk under the poverty line.

Although still high historically, the president's approval rating is slipping. To hang onto power, the self-described anarcho-capitalist will have to convince voters he can successfully rebuild the economy.— Manuela Tobias

Milei speaks yesterday during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

Plans are underway to discuss a long-stalled Iran nuclear deal, President Masoud Pezeshkian told Bloomberg following a "positive" meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. Pezeshkian didn't provide details on the timing and location of the potential talks, and the parties to the 2015 accord with Tehran — Russia, China, the US, UK, France and Germany — aren't likely to agree to joint negotiations or even gather in a room together.

WATCH: Iran's new president urged Western nations to come back to a nuclear accord and lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Bill Faries reports. Source: Bloomberg TV

The massive adrenaline shot administered by the Chinese central bank to the world's second-biggest economy was one of the country's most daring policy campaigns in decades. But economists say the raft of measures including interest rate cuts, more cash for banks, and bigger incentives to buy homes may not be enough to lift an economy on the cusp of a deflationary spiral.

Hezbollah forces fired a missile at Tel Aviv from Lebanon for the first time today, which Israel managed to shoot down as the two sides continued their heaviest attacks on one another in about 20 years. The Iran-backed militant group said the ballistic missile was aimed at the headquarters of Mossad, Israel's external-intelligence agency, in the suburbs of the commercial capital.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved Sri Lanka's parliament yesterday and called for early elections, framing his decision as steps toward combating corruption and renegotiating a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund. The leftist political outsider's victory on Sept. 21 was a stunning rebuke to the island nation's political elite, which voters blamed for a historic economic crisis.

There was no mention of the repression unleashed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro when two of his oldest allies, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, staged a pro-democracy event at the United Nations. Another leftist, Gabriel Boric of Chile, listed Maduro alongside Vladimir Putin of Russia, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega.

The Philippines' military chief has backed the permanent presence of a US missile system that's been in the country for months, risking anger from China which had branded the weapon deployment as "destabilizing."

Thailand became the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriages after King Maha Vajiralongkorn approved a law passed by the parliament three months ago.

The wife of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Peng Liyuan, met with a group of visiting American students at a high school in Beijing, saying she hoped young people from both nations would "inject positive energy into bilateral relations."

Trump was briefed by US intelligence officials yesterday on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him," his campaign said in a statement.

Vice President Kamala Harris will try to dent Trump's polling advantage on the November election's defining issue — the economy — by outlining a "pragmatic" vision and initiatives to bolster domestic manufacturing in a speech today in Pittsburgh.

She'll emphasize her willingness to work with business leaders and stress the importance of protecting workers' wages and benefits, a campaign source says, while casting her Republican rival's dramatic proposals to overhaul the nation's tax code as a boon only for the wealthiest.

Her address comes as voters say they don't know enough about her policies and as Trump ramps up his messaging. Yesterday, he pledged to use a combination of tax incentives and tariffs to force foreign companies to shift more production to the US.

One thing to watch today: New home sales are expected to have declined in August despite falling mortgage rates.

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Torrential rains that triggered floods and landslides have killed hundreds of people and displaced millions across parts of Africa, Europe and Asia in recent weeks. The unprecedented deluges overwhelmed even communities accustomed to extreme weather and showed the limitations of the early warning systems and emergency protocols. Climate scientists have warned that an accelerated water cycle is locked into the world's climate system due to greenhouse gas emissions — and is now irreversible.

Apartment blocks, hotels and auto dealerships are springing up near a new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing plant set amid farmland in the Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto. Yet within an hour's drive of the facility, the town of Misato shows more familiar scenes of economic distress. The conflicting images lay bare the biggest challenge for whomever the ruling Liberal Democratic Party chooses to become Japan's next prime minister in a vote on Friday: ensuring that a broad and lasting recovery takes hold across the entire nation — not just in certain privileged areas.

An LDP Party campaign poster in Misato reads: "Bringing you the feeling of economic revitalization." Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg

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