August 05 2024

FLASH Trump-Harris debate uncertain after Trump withdraws from Sept ABC debate, proposes alternate debate, delivers ultimatum “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all”
Olympics update
1 Weak Jobs Report Triggers Global Market Tumble
2 Big Tech Invests $100 Billion in AI Infrastructure Amid Wall Street Doubts
3 Israel on High Alert Following Assassinations of Militant Leaders
4 Manhattan Office Building Sells for $8.5 Million, Down from $332 Million in 2006
5 Wagner Group Suffers Heavy Losses in Mali
8/5/1981 Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who were on strike

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FLASH Trump-Harris debate uncertain after Trump withdraws from Sept ABC debate, proposes alternate debate, delivers ultimatum “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all”

Olympics update

In an extremely narrow finish in the men’s 100-meter final, American Noah Lyles bested Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson to win gold. Novak Djokovic defeated Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets to win his first gold medal in the men’s tennis tournament. American Scottie Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world, staged a spectacular comeback in men’s golf. In the pool, the Americans closed the swimming meet with a pair of world records: Bobby Finke in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle and the women’s relay team in the 4x100-meter medley.

Article Source: WaPo

1 Weak Jobs Report Triggers Global Market Tumble

U.S. economy shows signs of slowing as July job growth misses expectations, triggering stock market losses and raising recession fears. Japan's stock market experienced its worst day since 1987.

A weaker than expected jobs report triggered a plunge in the stock markets on Friday as investors and analysts fear the U.S. economy could be slowing down faster than predicted. The economy added only 114,000 jobs in July, which is below the expected 185,000 and down significantly from the 206,000 added in June. Additionally, the unemployment rate climbed to 4.3%, marking its fourth-straight monthly increase and its highest level since October 2021. The Nasdaq lost more than 2%, the Dow fell more than 600 points, and the S&P was also down 2%. In other bad news, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest since December, and factory orders fell 3.3%. Friday was the second consecutive day of heavy losses, some believe, was a sign that the Federal Reserve had erred by delaying interest rate cuts.
The Flyover

A sharper than expected fall in US jobs growth in July has raised concerns that the Federal Reserve is moving too slowly to lower borrowing costs for Americans, risking the very recession it has been trying to avoid.
FT

Japan’s stock market plummeted 12 per cent on Monday, its worst day in 37 years, as global markets were rattled by the prospect of a US recession. In a rout echoed in other Asian markets, the Topix wiped out its gains for the year, the sharpest sell-off since “Black Monday” in October 1987. In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 shed 2.2 per cent. Futures markets indicated the momentum was likely to extend to the US. Contracts tracking the Nasdaq 100 were trading down 3.8 per cent while the S&P 500 was expected to open 2.3 per cent lower.
FT

Ed note: the Japanese stock market opens for its Monday session at 7:00 PM EST on Sunday and is often a preview of the US markets

Article Source: FT, Flyover newsletter

2 Big Tech Invests $100 Billion in AI Infrastructure Amid Wall Street Doubts

Major tech companies increase capital spending to build AI infrastructure, despite skepticism from investors about return on investment.

Big Tech companies have boosted their capital spending by 50 per cent to more than $100bn this year, as they race to build the infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence, despite growing scepticism from Wall Street about the returns on the unprecedented investment. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta all revealed massive increases in spending in the first six months of 2024 — totalling $106bn — in their latest quarterly earnings reports, as their leaders brushed off stock market jitters to pledge further investment hikes over the next 18 months. “At this point, I’d rather risk building capacity before it is needed, rather than too late,” Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said this week, as he predicted the Facebook parent’s capital spending could hit $40bn this year.

Article Source: FT

3 Israel on High Alert Following Assassinations of Militant Leaders

Fears of retaliation grow as airlines suspend flights and the U.S. sends additional military personnel to the Middle East.

Israel went into a new workweek in a state of deep uncertainty on Sunday, with the potential for attacks by Iran and the militant groups it supports already causing disruptions for many. A number of international airlines have suspended flights to and from Israel pending expected retaliation against the country by Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. That has left tens of thousands of Israelis unable to come home, according to an Israeli official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. Delta, United, the Lufthansa group and Aegean Airlines were among those that suspended services to Israel after the assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in a strike in Beirut on Tuesday, and the killing early Wednesday of the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. The fear is that the responses to the killings could be the start of a wider regional war.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Friday ordered additional combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the Middle East in response to threats from Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen to attack Israel in the coming days to avenge the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the Pentagon said. The military will send one additional squadron of Air Force F-22 fighter jets, an unspecified number of additional Navy cruisers and destroyers capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, and, if needed, more land-based ballistic-missile defense systems. To maintain the presence of an aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships in the region, Mr. Austin also directed the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, now in the eastern Pacific, to relieve the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the next couple of weeks when it is scheduled to return home.

Article Source: NYT

4 Manhattan Office Building Sells for $8.5 Million, Down from $332 Million in 2006

Former Sports Illustrated headquarters' staggeringly low sale price highlights the pandemic's impact on New York City's office real estate market.

In 2006, the hulking office building at 135 West 50th Street in Midtown Manhattan sold for $332 million. Tenants occupied nearly every floor; offices were in demand; real estate was booming. On Wednesday, it changed hands again, in an unusual online auction — for $8.5 million. The staggeringly low sale price of the 23-story glass behemoth that was once the headquarters of Sports Illustrated is the latest and perhaps most surprising sign of how the pandemic has upended the state of office buildings in New York City, home to the largest central business district in the United States.

Article Source: NYT

5 Wagner Group Suffers Heavy Losses in Mali

Russian mercenary group faces significant casualties in fierce battles with rebels on the Algerian border, amid ongoing Sahel instability.

Russia’s Wagner Group has suffered significant battleground losses in Mali, the military company acknowledged on Monday, after days of conflicting accounts of what happened during fighting with rebels on the border with Algeria. The group said its 13th storm brigade, which is fighting ethnic Tuaregs alongside the Malian armed forces, sustained losses during “fierce battles” with the rebels. It did not share a casualty number, but graphic videos posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a sandy landscape strewn with dozens of bodies, some wearing Russian Orthodox crosses, and multiple burnt-out vehicles.

Wagner, founded by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been active in Mali since 2021, fighting alongside the army in its decade-long battle against the rebels as well as Islamist jihadis and other groups. Mali, like its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, has been beset by a long-running insurgency by al-Qaeda and Isis affiliates that have killed thousands and displaced millions of people. About 100 Russian fighters arrived in Niger in April. Recommended News in-depthBurkina Faso Burkina Faso junta struggles to contain jihadi violence Wagner has long been accused of human rights abuses and large-scale massacres of civilians in Mali and in the Central African Republic, where it also operates. The worsening security situation across the Sahel has contributed to military coups that have ousted mostly democratic governments over their failures to contain the spreading insecurity. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are now ruled by military regimes that have cut ties with traditional western partners such as former colonial power France and the US. French forces have been kicked out of all three countries and the US is expected to withdraw its troops from Niger this year. These breakdowns have coincided with regimes drawing closer to Moscow, which offers security assistance through proxy groups such as Wagner and diplomatic cover amid western pressure to hold democratic elections.

Article Source: FT

8/5/1981 Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who were on strike

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