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The US pledged support for Israel. President Joe Biden condemned Hamas’s attack and confirmed that there were American hostages. Meanwhile, the EU warned Elon Musk to comply with disinformation laws regarding fake news circulating on X about the war.
Country Garden missed a $60 million international loan payment. China’s massive property developer has been suffering from dropping sales and warned of worse times to come.
US crude oil exports hit a high in the first half of 2023. An average of 3.99 million barrels per day were shipped out, with Europe the most popular destination.
Utah became the latest US state to sue TikTok. The suit accuses the platform of keeping kids hooked, having iffy safety promises, and exaggerating its independence from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Where did Hamas get its money?
The attacks launched by Hamas against Israel leveraged modern technology: rockets, drones, and paragliders, not to mention mobile phone cameras and internet connections to broadcast it all to the world. Where did the money for all this come from?
In part, cryptocurrency.
According to Elliptic, a firm that helps crypto businesses comply with financial regulations, Hamas and its affiliates have publicly solicited donations in bitcoin over the past five years, but are linked to currencies like dogecoin and stablecoins like Tether and USDC. Quartz’s Tim Fernholz explains how terror groups use crypto, and how companies developing the technology could prevent money laundering and terror finance.
Everyone wants to talk about bonds
US Treasury yields fell after Federal Reserve officials hinted at leaving interest rates unchanged at their next meeting on Nov. 1. Regarding the overall rising bond rate trend, Philip Jefferson, vice chair of the Fed’s board “remains cognizant.”
Dallas Federal Reserve president Lorie Logan said, “There may be less need to raise the Fed funds rate” if long-term bond interest rates remain elevated.
But Morgan Stanley’s co-chief investment officer for global balanced and risk control strategies, Jim Caron, warned investors not to go long on bonds. “As bond yields move within the 5% [US Treasury] 10-year range, we think this is a good opportunity to reduce the underweight and add duration to portfolios,” he said on a podcast (pdf).
Instead, Caron advocated for “adding duration.” Grete Suarez puts some context around Caron’s advice.
The UN’s climate fund fell short because of wealthy nations
The United Nations had a $10 billion target for its Green Climate Fund, the world’s largest climate fund that helps developing countries cut emissions and prepare for climate change. But the UN only got $9.3 billion in pledges at its latest conference, and some noticeable countries kept their wallets closed.
As Quartz’s Clarisa Diaz explains, the US and China are the world’s top polluters, but one hasn’t renewed its pledge to the Green Climate Fund—and the other has never contributed.
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Surprising discoveries
Historic English churches are being paid to tolerate their bat problems. The funds help deal with droppings and prevent damage, while the sometimes rare species of bats look on, amused.
Can prediction markets save us? Some think that a critical mass of people who are good at betting on future outcomes can arrive at the truth.
Prada is working on NASA’s next spacesuits. The Artemis III Moon mission for 2025 is going to be couture.
One cannot bring giraffe poop through customs. Even if one simply wants to make it into jewelry.
A humble potato-picking truck is Germany’s answer to just about any nightmare you can throw at it. Wildfires, war, end of days—can anything stop the Unimog?
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