Crypto News: Regal's King goes for investment crown

Good morning everyone, it's Ben here on a clear Canberra morning, here's what's making news today.

Today's must-reads:
• Phil King's hedge fund firm bets big on new model
• WiseTech CEO settles case with former lover
• SunCable gets one step closer to reality

Australia's biggest hedge fund firm is also a top performer. Now it's seeking to capitalize on those gains to build an investment juggernaut modeled after some of the world's private investing giants. After tripling assets under management in just two years, Regal says it's ready to take on more as it targets bigger rivals and ventures into new businesses.

Australian billionaire Richard White has reached an out of court legal settlement with an alleged former lover who he was pursuing for bankruptcy, in a case which gripped Sydney's business elite. WiseTech stock fell a further 3.2% early Tuesday, before erasing the loss after news of the settlement broke and ending the day 2.8% higher.

A $20 billion renewable energy corridor connecting Australia and Singapore inched closer to completion after developer SunCable received conditional clearance from the city-state. Singapore's Energy Market Authority deemed the project technically and commercially viable, SunCable said Tuesday.

Australia's government will buy US missiles at a cost of A$7 billion to boost its long-range strike capabilities, with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy warning of "the greatest arms race" in the region since 1945.

Wine exports from Australia jumped by more than a third in the year through September, boosted by an increase in shipments to China after the Asian nation lifted tariffs. The value of shipments rose 34% to A$2.4 billion, its highest in more than three years, according to Wine Australia.

New Zealand posted its smallest annual trade deficit in more than two years as a weak economy curbed demand for imports. The shortfall was NZ$9.1 billion in the 12 months through September, Statistics New Zealand said Tuesday.

King Charles's first trip to Australia since his coronation has not been without controversy with Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe interrupting a Royal reception in Canberra on Monday, calling for a treaty between the Australian government and First Nations people. On this week's Australia Ahead segment on Bloomberg Television, Co-Chair of the Australian Republic Movement, Esther Anatolitis, discusses the ongoing debate.

Stocks struggled for direction as traders weighed prospects of a slower pace of Federal Reserve rate cuts. Wall Street is paring back bets on aggressive policy easing as the US economy remains robust and Fed officials have sounded a cautious tone over the pace of future rate decreases. Treasury 10-year yields hovered near 4.2%, while the S&P 500 was little changed. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1%.

McDonald's Quarter Pounders were linked to an E. coli outbreak in the US that sickened 49 people, mainly in Colorado and Nebraska, and killed one, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Ten people have been hospitalized, including a child, the agency said. The restaurant chain's shares dropped more than 10% in postmarket trading.

The International Monetary Fund lowered its global growth forecast for next year and warned of accelerating risks from wars to trade protectionism, even as it credited central banks for taming inflation without sending nations into recession.

HSBC's new chief executive officer just unveiled the biggest overhaul of the company in at least a decade, but it was missing some key details for employees and investors. There was, for instance, no sense of how many jobs might be on the chopping block.

Georges Elhedery, chief executive officer of HSBC Holdings Plc. HSBC Holdings Plc

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both praised expanding relations with Russia at bilateral meetings with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Putin is hosting a summit of BRICS countries, the largest gathering of world leaders in Russia since he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It's been all thunder, no rain since China's President Xi Jinping abandoned his fiscal austerity and embraced economic stimulus in late September. But that won't last forever, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Shuli Ren.

• Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan to appear on Bloomberg TV at 11:10 a.m. Sydney time
• Independent MP Allegra Spender will address the National Press Club at 12:30 p.m.

Forget a mere manor house: A well-designed party barn is becoming the must-have amenity in the UK countryside. Wealthy homeowners are spending upwards of £200,000 ($260,000) to turn drafty disused agricultural spaces into the ideal hangout for a raucous dinner party. The trend has exploded in popularity in recent years, as Britons fled cities in droves looking for more living space during the pandemic.