Monday, October 7, 2024

‘No landing’

Bloomberg Evening Briefing

The "no landing" scenario, one where the US economy just keeps growing, inflation reignites and the Federal Reserve has little room to cut interest rates—had largely disappeared as a bond-market talking point in recent months. It only took a blowout payrolls report to revive it. Data showing the fastest job growth in six months, a surprising drop in unemployment and higher wages sent Treasury yields surging and had investors furiously reversing course on bets for a larger-than-normal half-point interest-rate reduction as soon as next month. It's yet another recalibration for traders who had been setting up for slowing growth, benign inflation and aggressive rate cuts by piling into Fed rate-sensitive short-term US notes. Instead, Friday's report brought back a whole new set of worries around overheating. 

Here are today's top stories

Hurricane Milton strengthened into a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane as it bears down on Florida's west coast, where residents have begun to flee inland. Milton's top winds have reached 160 miles (257 kilometers) per hour, up from 90 mph at 1 a.m. local time Monday. This makes Milton one of the most powerful storms produced in the Atlantic this year, rivaled only by Hurricane Beryl, which raked Texas, Mexico and the Caribbean in July.

Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 7 Photographer: NOAA

Hamas fired a barrage of rockets toward Tel Aviv after Israel bombed a number of targets it said were connected to the militant group in Gaza, as fighting escalated after a year of war that's claimed tens of thousands of lives across Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere. The Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted most of the projectiles fired from the Palestinian territory on Monday, with sirens sounding across central Israel. Israel said it had earlier looked to prevent what it called an "immediate" threat of rocket fire from Hamas to mark its attack on the country 12 months ago.

The Republican-appointee controlled US Supreme Court, which in 2022 eliminated the 49-year-old federal right to abortion, rebuffed the Biden administration in a new abortion clash, leaving intact an appeals court decision favoring Texas in a fight over theavailability of the procedure in emergency rooms. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the most right-wing of all federal appellate courts, said Texas wasn't bound by a US Department of Health and Human Services memorandum requiring hospitals to offer the procedure on an emergency basis to protect a mother's health. The administration had asked the high court to order reconsideration of that ruling. The Fifth Circuit has become the favorite appeals court for GOP-run states and far-right groups to press ideologically divisive cases.

Scarred by 2020 election chaos, Arizona is boosting security for the November election. A new wrought-iron fence wraps around the Maricopa County office where votes will be counted next month. On Election Day, there'll be concrete barriers too, along with plainclothes officers and mounted police. Layers of security including cameras have been added to protect ballot machines, and no one without clearance is allowed into the rooms where ballots are counted. 

The Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix Photographer: Caitlin O'Hara

Gold's breathtaking surge this year to repeated record highs hasn't stopped it from flying off shelves at Costco stores across the US. Costco's one-stop shopping convenience is bringing gold buying to the masses by offering prices that undercut traditional precious metals dealers and extra rewards for its most loyal customers. A survey of stores across 46 states revealed how hard it is for the retailer to keep its gold products stocked even as prices for the metal continue to climb. 

Amazon's controversial decision to bring corporate employees back to the office full-time reflects executives' concerns that recent recruits don't understand the company's unique culture, the so-called Amazon Way. Last month, Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy surprised employees with a memo ordering them to start reporting to their desks five days a week, beginning in January. Amazon currently lets many of them work from home two days a week. The return-to-office edict stunned many of the company's 350,000-plus corporate workers and renewed a heated debate in the tech industry about employee perks and the value of in-person work.

The elite universities of the Northeast are failing local students, Conor Sen writes in Bloomberg Opinion. That much is clear in the growing numbers of young people leaving for Southern colleges, which have spent time and money becoming more desirable to this underserved population. Applications to the best Northeast universities far outstrip the available spots, spurring some of the best and brightest students in states such as New York and Massachusetts to study outside the region. These so-called rejects, Sen says, are doing just fine.

Alabama Crimson Tide fans cheer before a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Bryant-Denny Stadium last month. Photographer: Todd Kirkland/Getty Images North America

What you'll need to know tomorrow

McLaren Introduces a $2.1 Million Supercar 

McLaren has Formula One on the brain, and not just because the company is leading the current constructor standings. The British brand introduced a new supercar, the W1, on Oct. 6, the 50th anniversary of its first F1 constructor's championship with driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who also won the driver's championship in 1974. Pricing on the car starts at $2.1 million.

The McLaren W1 supercar Photographer: Source: McLaren

Stay updated by saving our new email address

Our email address is changing, which means you'll be receiving this newsletter from noreply@news.bloomberg.com. Here's how to update your contacts to ensure you continue receiving it:

  • Gmail: Open an email from Bloomberg, click the three dots in the top right corner, select "Mark as important."
  • Outlook: Right-click on Bloomberg's email address and select "Add to Outlook Contacts."
  • Apple Mail: Open the email, click on Bloomberg's email address, and select "Add to Contacts" or "Add to VIPs."
  • Yahoo Mail: Open an email from Bloomberg, hover over the email address, click "Add to Contacts."

No comments:

Post a Comment