An Eerie Market Calm, Crypto in Brooklyn: Sunday US Briefing

Something for your week.

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Victoria Cavaliere

Published Dec 03, 2023 • 3 minute read

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(Bloomberg) — As we close in on the end of the year, there’s plenty to reflect on — and just as much still going on around the world. The Israel-Hamas war is raging again, global leaders are making big promises (and warnings) on climate change, and US stocks look poised for more gains after a huge November. Let’s dive into what this week has in store.

The big data. United Auto Workers members who returned to their factories after strikes on Detroit’s Big Three are expected to drive a pickup in November payrolls and a pause in the recent trend of moderating US employment growth. A slowing labor market, along with other signs of cooling in the economy, is key to the Federal Reserve’s inflation-fighting policies. Meantime, central bank decisions are on the agenda in Canada, Australia and India.

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The big (and eerie) calm. By almost any measure, November’s market advance was impressive. Plunging Treasury yields set the stage for powerful rallies in stocks, credit and emerging markets. A kind of calm in the S&P 500 last week seems to signal the market isn’t overheated and the rally has staying power. That’s (quite) good news for investors eyeing retirement and other accounts, and to equity bulls, the price action shows that risk-on exuberance hasn’t generated the kind of euphoria that often precedes routs.

The big heat. Top climate researchers laid out the stark math facing humanity at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai. The planet is warming so fast that absent major cuts to fossil fuel use, overshooting the 1.5C threshold is becoming almost inevitable, according to a new report released at the summit in Dubai. That could force the world to rely on as-yet-unproven carbon dioxide removal technologies.

The big warnings. Israel called for the evacuation of parts of Gaza where it says Hamas leaders are hiding, an indication it plans to intensify strikes in the south of the Palestinian enclave. The US, concerned about high civilian casualty rates in Gaza, has been urging Israel to come up with safe zones for fleeing civilians, and Israel says it has done so.

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The big buzz. This year’s rebound in the cryptocurrency market is getting attention in one of Brooklyn’s most hipster-friendly neighborhoods, Williamsburg. From a bitcoin-powered bathhouse to an NFT mural, the neighborhood has morphed into a kind of brick-and-mortar proxy for the mood of a market that’s as famous for its busts as its booms.

The big b-school. It’s not just prospective students who are giving up on business schools—so are the professionals who admit them. Enthusiasm for MBA degrees rebounded in the early months of the Covid pandemic then fell sharply at most top-tier schools in 2022. Several former admissions managers say that school leaders had trouble adapting to—even accepting—the changing landscape.

ICYM our Big Take: If there was any doubt that the internet is a nasty place, read our feature by Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy on how a group of young women in a New York City suburb, horrified to learn their photographs had been manipulated and posted online, took matters into their own hands — and how little legal recourse they had.

And finally, after the hint, the date, and the tease, Rockstar Games will finally reveal the trailer on Dec. 5 to what may be the biggest game release in a decade — Grand Theft Auto VI. For the actual game of course, you’ll need to wait several more months.

With that, have a great week.

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