Jess Wade I Wikipedia CommonsJess Wade on the Skydeck in Chicago.
Wade, a London-based physicist, has single-handedly written over 1,750biography pages for notable female scientists who have not gotten recognition on Wikipedia, according to the Washington Post.
“Having people know who you are means you get more opportunities,” Wade told the outlet. She hopes to “make sure people’s stories were on there and in the public domain,” she added.
Wade started writing Wikipedia biographies for women in 2017 after she met Kim Cobb, a climate scientist, at an event. She wondered why Cobb did not have a Wikipedia page — which led her to think about the larger issue of women lacking Wikipedia bios. And to write them herself.
Since then, she’s been punching out bios for a varietyof women scientists at a steady clip — like Clarice Phelps, for example, the first African-American woman to help discover a new element, as recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
When an online editor on Wikipedia flagged Phelps’ pagefor not being notable enough, Wade fought to keep it up, and it worked.
Each post takes her around a couple of hours to write, plus a few hours to research the subjects, she told the Post.
Since she started work on the pages, she’s received awards like the Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize, an early career physics award. She was also named Wikimedian of the year in 2019 for her efforts on the site.
Wade has also hosted edit-a-thons for Wikipedia pages, works with gender inclusive nonprofit 500 Women Scientists, and was added to Queen Elizabeth’s 2019 Birthday Honours list, per NBC News. She is also an advocate for women in STEM.
“It was pretty wild to be honored by the royal family,” Wade told the outlet. She added she was not able to meet the Queen but brought her mom along to Buckingham Palace and took a souvenir with her.
“I took a Tupperware to sneak some royal sandwiches home to my dad,” she said.
Wikipedia, generally speaking, suffers from gender bias. Only 369,172 English-language biographies are about women, out of 1.9 million total, according to WikiProject Women in Red.
That would mean that Wade has, on her own, written .47% of them. Emily Temple-Wood, a 28-year-old star Wikipedia editor (who lives in Chicago, according to her page) has been another activist as far as adding these biographies go, and the co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, has noted their efforts, per the Post.
“Jess and Emily are among a fantastic group of women having a big impact on the quality of content of Wikipedia,” he told the outlet.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is reining in his ambition to make the 153-year-old investment bank a major player in U.S. consumer banking.
After product delays, executive turnover, branding confusion, regulatory missteps and deepening financial losses, Solomon on Tuesday said the firm was pivoting away from its previous strategy of building a full-scale digital bank.
Now, rather than “seeking to acquire customers on a mass scale” for the business, Goldman will instead focus on the Marcus customers it already has, while aiming to market fintech products through the bank’s workplace and wealth management channels, Solomon said.
The moment is a humbling one for Solomon, who seized on the possibilities within the nascent consumer business after becoming CEO four years ago.
Goldman started Marcus in 2016, named after one of the bank’s cofounders, to help it diversify revenue away from the bank’s core trading and advisory operations. Big retail banks including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America enjoy higher valuations than Wall Street-centric Goldman.
Instead, after disclosing the strategic shift and his third corporate reorganization as CEO, Solomon was forced to admit missteps Tuesday during an hour-plus long conference call as analysts, one after another, peppered him with critical questions.
It began with Autonomous analyst Christian Bolu, who pointed out that other new entrants including fintech startup Chime and Block’s Cash App have broken through while Goldman hasn’t.
“One could argue that there’s been some execution challenges for Goldman in consumer; you’ve had multiple leadership changes,” Bolu stated. “Looking back over time, what lessons have you guys learned?”
Another analyst, Brennan Hawken of UBS, told Solomon he was confused about the pivot because of earlier promises related to coming products.
“To be honest, when I speak with a lot of investors on Goldman Sachs, very few are excited about the consumer business,” Hawken said. “So I wouldn’t necessarily say that a pulling back in the aspirations would necessarily be negative, I just want to try and understand strategically what the new direction is.”
After Wells Fargo‘s Mike Mayo asked whether the consumer business was making money and how it stacked up against management expectations, Solomon conceded that the unit “doesn’t make money at the moment.” That is despite saying in 2020 that it would reach breakeven by 2022.
Even one of the bank’s successes — winning the Apple Card account in 2019— has proven less profitable than Goldman executives expected.
Apple customers didn’t carry the level of balances the bank had modeled for, meaning that it made less revenue on the partnership than they had targeted, Solomon told Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck. The two sides renegotiated the business arrangement recently to make it more equitable and extended it through the end of the decade, according to the CEO.
With his stock under pressure and the money-losing consumer operations increasingly being blamed, internally and externally, for its drag on operations, Solomon appeared to have little choice than to change course.
Selling services to wealth management customers lowers customer acquisition costs, Solomon noted. In that way, Goldman is mirroring the broader shift in fintech, which occurred earlier this year amid plunging valuations, as growth-at-any cost changed to an emphasis on profitability.
Despite the turbulence, Goldman’s adventure in consumer banking has managed to collect $110 billion in deposits, extend $19 billion in loans and find more than 15 million customers.
“There’s no question that the aspirations probably got, and were communicated in a way, that were broader than where we’re now choosing to go,” Solomon told analysts. “We are making it clear that we’re pulling back on some of that now.”
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s key moments. We like the banks here We’re making 1 sale and 2 buys Don’t sell CRM into strength 1. We like the banks here We still like the banks, one of the new market leaders , on a day where the market is rallying for a second consecutive day. Of course, Club names Morgan Stanley (MS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are our favorites, with the latter being Jim Cramer’s top pick in the portfolio. The banks are positioned to do well in the current high interest rate environment, which seems likely to continue with the Federal Reserve adamant on tamping down inflation at all costs . 2. We’re making 1 sale and 2 buys We also saw pockets of opportunities in other stocks on Tuesday, and took the chance to make some trades . We added to our positions in Danaher (DHR) and Estee Lauder (EL) and trimmed our position in Marvell Technology (MRVL). Our sale of MRVL is in line with our belief that we need to reduce our exposure to semiconductors. We bought more shares of EL because we know that China will eventually reopen its economy, which should jumpstart growth. We decided to buy DHR on the dip since it’s rarely down, and we believe that it is the premier company in the medtech industry. 3. Don’t sell CRM into strength Activist investor Starboard has taken a stake in Salesforce (CRM), with founder Jeff Smith stating that the enterprise software maker has a “subpar mix of growth and profitability,” and he sees a significant opportunity in the company. The company’s stock gained 4.3% early Tuesday. We believe that this is ultimately good news and investors should not sell shares of CRM into strength. While the company faces tremendous challenges, including the strong U.S. dollar and a stock that’s down more than 40% this year, we believe it will report a good next quarter. Moreover, we care about where a stock is headed, not where it’s coming from, and we believe Starboard’s stake in the company will continue to take shares of CRM higher. Regardless of the problems CRM faces, it remains an incredibly profitable company and we are bullish on the stock. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long CRM, DHR, EL, MRVL, MS, WFC. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
The costs squeezing nearly every retailer are starting to resolve for Target as the chain discovers areas to grow, even during an economically challenging period, Jefferies said. Analyst Corey Tarlowe upgraded the stock to buy from hold with an increased price target of $185 from $170. The new forecast implies an upside of just under 24% over Target’s last close. “While margins continue to face pressure from the clearing of excess inventory as well as elevated supply chain costs and product cost inflation, we view these as largely near-term headwinds,” he said in a note to clients. “Looking ahead to next year, we believe TGT’s margins are likely to benefit from lapping the self-inflicted markdown pressure related to excess inventory as well as lapping elevated supply chain and product costs as commodity prices and container costs decline.” One of the biggest challenges Tarlowe noted for the company is inventory, but he said the company is starting to move forward. Inventory growth outpaced sales growth for the past three quarters – a typical story for retailers as supply chain issues that held up stock during the pandemic resolved at the same time that consumer demand began to slide due to inflation and a shift in spending from goods to services. But he noted executives saying the company has been able to reduce ownership in areas that would need markdowns to move inventory, making him confident of an improved outlook going forward. “We believe the majority of inventory-related issues are likely behind TGT and expect relatively lower markdown risk ahead vs other retail peers given the company’s strategic initiatives around inventory,” he said. Similarly, he said the company’s most intense downward earnings revisions are also behind it. There’s upside ahead, he said, as freight costs continue to come down and e-commerce becomes more efficient. The company will also benefit from expanding partnerships with brands such as Ulta and Disney that drive sales growth. The company has an average consumer income of around $60,000, which can help shield it from inflationary challenges as he noted higher earners have not reported feeling hit as hard as lower-income shoppers. In the same note, he assumed Walmart at buy and increased the price target to $165 from $161, which implies 25.7% upside compared to the last close. He said the retailer could stand to gain as consumers trade down to lower-priced items and retailers as inflation continues to pinch pocketbooks. Target’s stock was up 3.2% before the bell. It is trading down about 35.5% so far this year. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
China will continue to work toward becoming more self-reliant, but don’t expect President Xi Jinping to move on Taiwan by force, analysts said.
Their comments follow Xi’s speech at the opening of the Chinese communist party’s national congress on Sunday.
There were little surprises in Xi’s nearly two-hour speech where he outlined his vision for the country for the next five years, analysts said. Xi is widely expected to cement his leadership for an unprecedented third term during the week-long meeting.
There was, however, a key standout in Xi’s speech, said Dylan Loh, a professor in foreign policy and China expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Unlike previous speeches, Xi made clear China had to brace itself for growing external challenges, Loh said.
Additionally, the Chinese leader’s call for the party to “build a socialist modern power by 2049” indicates “his determination to resist external pressures and steer China on the party’s own course,” said political risk consultancy, Eurasia Group.
The importance of self-reliance was reinforced after Xi re-articulated the so-called “dual circulation” policy, Eswar Prasad, professor of international trade and economics at Cornell University told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
The dual circulation strategy first emerged in 2020 when a Chinese Politburo meeting called for more focus on domestic markets, or “internal circulation” to support China’s growth. The strategy involves placing less reliance on export-based or trade-related growth without abandoning it altogether.
In a nearly two-hour speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined his vision for the country for the next five years. The Chinese leader is widely expected to cement his leadership for an unprecedented third term during the week-long meeting.
Lintao Zhang | Getty Images News
“Certainly, Chinese leaders have been taking very careful note of what has been happening in the Ukraine war and what sort of chokehold the west has been able to put on Russia and of course, there is a sense of great power competition between the U.S. and China as well,” Prasad said.
“So this notion of self-reliance, especially in the context of technology … trying to become less dependent on the rest of the world, either for export markets or for technology or imports of any sort. That is clearly going to be a key pillar.”
Xi Jinping has made very clear what his intentions are: he wants a private sector that is controllable, that is manageable.
Eswar Prasad
Professor of International Trade & Economics, Cornell University
To get there, Prasad said Beijing’s control of China’s private sector would ramp up instead of heading toward the other end of the spectrum, that is, to allow for more market-oriented reforms.
He said Xi’s speech, consistent with Beijing’s comments in recent months, suggested the government viewed a more state-dominated economy as the pathway to stability.
“Xi Jinping has made very clear what his intentions are: he wants a private sector that is controllable, that is manageable.”
As such, there would likely be a reshuffle in Xi’s cabinet by the end of this week’s meeting, including possible changes at the People’s Bank of China, in addition to an expected replacement for Premier Li Keqiang who is due to retire in March, Prasad said.
But it wouldn’t matter who the new premier or cabinet members are as Xi has made it clear he will bepulling all the strings, according to Prasad.
Other observers such as Bilahari Kausikan, former permanent secretary at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Xi is not be keen to take Taiwan by force, even though he said in his speech that China “will never promise to renounce the use of force.”
“I really don’t think that the Chinese are very eager to start something to reunify Taiwan by force … because if you start that you must win,” Kausikan said.
“I don’t think any Chinese leader can survive a bungled attempt on Taiwan as Putin bungled Ukraine. And I don’t believe they have the capability yet.”
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Lyle J. Morris, a senior fellow for foreign policy and national security at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, agreed.
“Xi is not signaling to the international community that he wants to invade Taiwan or that he’s running out of patience for political reconciliation,” he said pointing out that peaceful reunification was still the operative phrase Xi used.
“He did reference external forces very early on in the speech, so clearly the factor of the US is front and center in his mind.
Asked if he was surprised Xi stayed firm on China’s zero-Covid policies to the despair of businesses that are hoping the country will reopen, Bilahari said Xi was driven by party and political logic which are secondary to economic logic.
“To abruptly abandon it would be to admit that it was a mistake … it will be unwound gradually over the next year or two without ever admitting that it has failed,” Bilahari told CNBC.
Loh from Singapore’s NTU said that sticking to zero-Covid policies had other practicalities. The Chinese medical infrastructure needs to be reformed before it can cope with a higher number of infections.
“The easiest, quickest and in some ways, surest, method to prevent deaths from Covid from spiralling out of control is the zero-Covid policy. I do expect some tweaks at the implementation level but probably nothing beyond,” he said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at an event at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 7, 2022. At a presentation dubbed Far Out, Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 14 line, a fresh slate of smartwatches and new AirPods.
Nic Coury | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple will likely launch an iPad with a folding screen in 2024, analyst firm CCS Insight said on Tuesday, forecasting the U.S. technology giant will begin experimenting with foldable technology soon.
CCS Insight published its annual predictions report on Tuesday in which the group’ analysts make forecasts about future products and trends.
In the latest report, CCS Insight predicted Apple would launch a foldable iPad in two years’ time rather than start with a foldable iPhone.
This is contrary to other smartphone makers like Samsung which have launched foldable smartphones rather than tablets.
“Right now it doesn’t make sense for Apple to make a foldable iPhone. We think they will shun that trend and probably dip a toe in the water with a foldable iPad,” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC in an interview.
“A folding iPhone will be super high risk for Apple. Firstly, it would have to be incredibly expensive in order to not cannibalize the existing iPhones,” Wood added.
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The analyst said that a foldable iPhone would likely need to cost around $2,500. Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max with the largest storage, which is the most expensive model currently, costs around $1,599.
Wood also said that if Apple had any technical issues with the foldable phone, then it would be a “feeding frenzy” with critics attacking Apple for the problems.
Still, Apple has “no option but to react because the trend toward foldables is gathering momentum,” Wood said, hence the company will begin with an iPad.
He said it would give Apple a chance to learn how to implement and scale foldable screen technology as well as “breathe new life” into the iPad range.
Apple was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
There have been a number of rumblings about Apple’s intentions with foldable screen products. Earlier this year, market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants said Apple is unlikely to enter the foldable smartphone market until 2025 at the earliest. However, the company said that Apple is exploring foldable technology for displays of around 20 inches in size. That could be focused on a new foldable notebook product, the market research company said.
CCS Insight also predicts that Apple will continue investing in its own chip design.
Currently, the Cupertino giant designs its own custom chips for iPhone and iPad. It relies on U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm for modems that allow these devices to connect to mobile internet networks for 5G connectivity.
However, CCS Insight said that Apple is likely to integrate its own 5G modem into the A series of processor for a “single-chip” solution for iPhones in 2025.
Apple acquired Intel’s modem business in 2019. That led to speculation that the tech giant would very quickly ditch Qualcomm and use its own modems in its devices. However, that hasn’t happened yet.
Wood said that Apple has been “ramping up in-house capabilities” so it can use its own modems in iPhones.
“They (Apple) have been shooting for this target for years. They acquired the assets from Intel of the modem unit, they have been working hard to ramp that up, they are very keen to make sure they keep growing their control points they have,” Wood said.
“They don’t want to have to keep paying a third party supplier for their technology.”
Astrologers are already saying it makes sense that Maren Altman was recently attacked online — as Mercury retrograde began at eight degrees Libra in early September.
The Washington Post I Getty ImagesMaren Altman in apartment in May 2021.
If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry. (That 8th degree is about “exposing the ugly truth,” according to the astrologer.)
Altman is an influencer who rose to online fame (in part) for creating content that combined astrology with cryptocurrency predictions. (Astrology tracks the movement of the planets in our solar system and purports that they reflect or indicate current events).
But now, she’s facing fire online for taking money from now-defunct, possibly fraudulent cryptocurrency company Celsius Network — and posting a “free” video interview with its former CEO, according to CoinDesk.
Altman told the outlet she cannot “overstate the viciousness and insanity of the threats… The equivalent of this would be like if I was paid by Peloton to talk about their bike and investors blamed me for the stock price going down.”
The documents came out via Celsius bankruptcy proceedings and, naturally, Twitter. One user pointed out that Altman had said she wasn’t “paid sh–” for an interview with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.
Why lie about being paid? This is from a YT interview she did with Alex Mashinsky in May. pic.twitter.com/HbeeGrq7Qg
“The reality is Maren is an astrology grifter who advertised a Ponzi scheme to her followers in exchange for large sums of money. She continues to lead people into meat grinders at no risk to herself,” one Twitter user commented on the latter Tweet.
Altman pushed back on the criticism to CoinDesk.
She said in a blog the Mashinsky interview was a “favor.” Altman also told the outlet she had a separate contract to post about the company until it ended the deal unexpectedly in May (the company paused withdrawals in June) – and that she communicates when her social posts are paid.
“My error was trusting Celsius,” Altman told the outlet. As for the company’s finances, she said, she had, “Not a clue, no visibility on anything other than my marketing campaign.”
The crypto world and more traditional sources started noticing Altman’s predictions and online sway last year, with her prediction of a new moon-related dip and then a bull run in January 2021, for example.
“When to trade bitcoin? When Saturn crosses Mercury, of course,” Reuters wrote of her in January 2021.
Altman has dealt with online backlash before, however, with people within the Astrological community saying she stole content from creators of color. She did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur’s request for comment.
Whether or not Mercury retrograde’s degree can be cited for why certain people have turned against her online, Altman was pretty clear about what she thinks about this controversy.
“It’s like a witch hunt for someone they don’t even know,” she told CoinDesk.
Bank Of America CEO Brian Moynihan is interviewed by Jack Otter during “Barron’s Roundtable” at Fox Business Network Studios on January 09, 2020 in New York City.
John Lamparski | Getty Images
Bank of America said Monday that quarterly profit and revenue topped expectations on better-than-expected fixed income trading and gains in interest income, thanks to choppy markets and rising rates
Here’s what the company reported compared with what analysts were expecting, based on Refinitiv data:
Earnings per share: 81 cents vs. 77 cents expected
Revenue: $24.61 billion adjusted vs. $23.57 billion expected
Bank of America said in a release that third-quarter profit fell 8% to $7.1 billion, or 81 cents a share, as the company booked a $898 million provision for credit losses in the quarter. Revenue net of interest expense jumped to $24.61 billion, on a non-GAAP basis.
Shares of the bank rose 6.1%.
Bank of America, led by CEO Brian Moynihan, was supposed to be one of the main beneficiaries of the Federal Reserve’s rate-boosting campaign. That is playing out, as lenders including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are producing more revenue as rates rise, allowing them to generate more profit from their core activities of taking in deposits and making loans.
“Our U.S. consumer clients remained resilient with strong, although slower growing, spending levels and still maintained elevated deposit amounts,” Moynihan said in the release. “Across the bank, we grew loans by 12% over the last year as we delivered the financial resources to support our clients.”
Net interest income at the bank jumped 24% to $13.87 billion in the quarter, topping the $13.6 billion StreetAccount estimate, thanks to higher rates in the quarter and an expanding book of loans.
Net interest margin, a key profitability metric for bank investors, widened to 2.06% from 1.86% in the second quarter of this year, edging out analysts’ estimate of 2.00%.
Fixed income trading revenue surged 27% from a year earlier to $2.6 billion, handily exceeding the $2.24 billion estimate. That more than offset equities revenue that dropped 4% to $1.5 billion, below the $1.61 billion estimate.
Like its Wall Street rivals, investment banking revenue posted a steep decline, falling about 46% to $1.2 billion, slightly exceeding the $1.13 billion estimate.
Of note, the bank’s evolving provision for credit losses showed the company was beginning to factor in a more harsh economic outlook.
While Bank of America released $1.1 billion in reserves in the year-earlier period, in the third quarter the firm had to build reserves by $378 million. That, in addition to a 12% increase in net charge-offs for bad loans to $520 million in the quarter, accounted for the $898 million provision.
Analysts have said that they want to see bank executives factor in the possibility of an impending recession before investors return to the beaten-down sector. Bank of America shares hit a new 52-week low last week and have fallen 29% this year through Friday, worse than the 26% decline of the KBW Bank Index.
Shoppers queue in like outside the Apple store during the launch day of the new iPhone 14 series smartphones in Hong Kong, on September 16, 2022.
Miguel Candela | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The closely-watched consumer price index continues to show headline inflation in the U.S. hovering at levels last seen in the mid-1980s.
Prices for a wide variety of goods and services, including food, airfare, and gasoline rose in the latest reading released last week. All told, on a 12-month basis, headline inflation was up 8.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes the CPI.
But one product category monitored by the CPI recorded a 22% plunge, showing deflation: Smartphones.
That might seem counterintuitive. Most phones are expensive and prices for the best ones aren’t going down. Apple released new iPhones in September at the same U.S. prices as last year’s options, for example. And Samsung’s high-end devices cost as much as $1,800 this year. Average selling prices for smartphones continue to climb in markets around the world.
It turns out, smartphones aren’t getting cheaper. They’re getting better. And that’s why CPI shows them deflating instead of inflating like lots of other goods.
Here’s why: Normally, the CPI likes to compare prices for identical items which don’t change much from year-to-year. So, it might compare eggs against eggs, for example. But in the case of smartphones, BLS has to control for devices that get better each year. If smartphones are improving and the price is staying the same, then BLS records a price decline.
“There’s been a lot of declines in the [smartphone] index. And that’s really just in large part dealing with the quality improvements,” said Jonathan Church, an economist at BLS.
Twice a year, BLS looks at the new smartphone models and measures how they’ve improved — whether they have better cameras, displays, or other new methods.
“For smartphones, we’re talking about things like screen size, RAM, processor speed, phone camera or rear camera, whether it’s foldable, or things like that,” Church said.
Then, BLS makes a “quality adjustment.” If the price of the new iPhone didn’t rise, but it received new features, then the CPI would consider that device to be more valuable than the old one, and it assumes consumers get more value for the same money.
Estimating the size of the quality adjustments is done with a hedonic modeling method and BLS uses data from a third-party dataset that includes smartphone specs.
Or, as BLS puts it: “If a replacement smartphone is different from its predecessor and the value of the difference in quality can be accurately estimated, a quality adjustment can be made to the previous item’s price to include the estimated value of the difference in quality.”
BLS has indexed smartphone technologies to a starting point in late 2019, when Apple’s newest device was the iPhone 11 and Samsung’s best was the Galaxy S10. In fact, smartphone prices have been deflating since 2019, according to the CPI.
Eventually, Church said, smartphones may mature into the kind of product that would see price increases and inflation. But the rate of improvement would have to slow down.
“It’s really only that a certain mature point in the cycle that their price will start to go up again,” Church said. “It seems pretty early in the lifecycle still, smartphones in general.”
Jeremy Hunt is interviewed for Sophie Raworth’s ‘Sunday Morning’ at BBC Broadcasting House in London.
Tejas Sandhu | Lightrocket | Getty Images
LONDON — U.K. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt used his first Monday on the job to announce that almost all of the controversial tax measures announced by his predecessor would be reversed.
The major U-turn includes scrapping the cut for the lowest rate of income tax from 20% to 19%, as well as reductions to dividend tax rates, the reversal of off-payroll working reforms, VAT claim-backs for tourists and the freeze on alcohol duty rates.
Hunt said the reversed tax cuts totaled £32 billion ($36 billion) a year.
The only fiscal policies of previous Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng to remain are the cancellation of the planned rise in National Insurance, a general taxation, by 1.25%; and a cut in taxes paid on property purchases.
Markets cheered the announcement, with sterling trading up over 1% against the dollar by 11:30 a.m. London time. Yields on U.K. government bonds also fell sharply, with the 10-year yield trading down 35 basis points at 3.974%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Hunt also announced that the energy package designed to subsidize consumer and business energy bills would only run until April and then be reviewed in order to “cost the taxpayer significantly less than planned.”
Under the current plan, the government is capping the amount paid per kilowatt hour for gas and electricity lower than the market rate amid soaring wholesale prices. The average household is now expected to pay £2,500 per year, still up from 2021’s average £1,400 annual bill but far lower than the £4,650 that had been predicted without intervention.
“A central responsibility for any government is to do what is necessary for economic stability,” Hunt said in a short statement statement Monday morning.
“No government can control markets, but every government can give certainty about the sustainability of public finances. That is one of the many factors that influence how markets behave. For that reason, although the prime minister and I are both committed to cutting corporation tax, on Friday she listened to concerns about the mini budget.”
Hunt said a full statement with questions would come in Parliament later Monday, but because the details were market sensitive he wanted to give a brief summary in an effort to instill “confidence and stability.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Liz Truss fired Finance Minister Kwarteng less than six weeks after the pair took office, appearing to blame the chaos sparked in financial markets by the budget he announced on Sept 23.
It included unfunded tax cuts forecast to total £45 billion ($50.78 billion), which were billed by Truss and Kwarteng as a radical plan to turbocharge the U.K.’s sluggish economic growth and were a key part of Truss’s leadership campaign.
However, markets were spooked by a range of factors including the prospect of significantly higher government debt given the impending subsidies of consumer and business energy bills, and the perceived mismatch between the Bank of England’s current monetary tightening to tame inflation and the government’s stimulus package. The lack of economic forecast from the U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility also weighed on markets.
Along with the potential effects of a weaker pound, the public has also been impacted by market volatility as mortgage offers were pulled and mortgage rates spiked as lenders assessed new rate hike expectations.
John Gieve, former deputy governor at the Bank of England, told the BBC Monday morning that leaks from the Treasury showed the U.K. deficit was nearing £70 billion.
“Hunt realised even if he squeezes public expenditure hard he won’t be able to square the books doing that,” he told the Today program. “So he can’t afford the sort of tax cuts, even the £25 billion that remain on the table.”
Paul Dales, chief U.K. economist, said that Hunt had wiped out the Truss/Kwarteng package in an attempt to reassure markets that the government has some fiscal discipline.
“It seems to be working, with most of the rise in the pound and the large fall in gilt yields earlier today having being sustained,” he said in a note.
“But while the Chancellor has reduced fiscal uncertainty, by guaranteeing that utility prices will be frozen only until April 2023 rather than October 2024, he has introduced more economic uncertainty.”
Dales said that this means inflation could be higher for longer, households’ real incomes could fall more steeply and any recession may be deeper.
“There are a lot of moving parts, but our existing forecasts that interest rates will rise from 2.25% now to 5.00% and that GDP will fall by 2% during a recession don’t seem that wide of the mark,” he added.
The latest U.K. inflation figures are due Wednesday.
“Today was probably an admission that you can’t just do things on the hoof without thinking about what the market reaction is going to be,” Tim Sarson, U.K. head of tax policy at KPMG, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
Sarson said there was limited evidence that the form of ‘trickle-down’ economics espoused by Truss, which views lower taxes as a way to boost growth and raise overall prosperity, was effective, or that altering tax rates was the most important factor in determining the success of an economy.
Even putting that aside, Truss’s approach was particularly misguided, he said.
“It was just the way that it was done, the lack of clear costing, the fact that it was being done at a time when government finances are being stretched by the need to support consumers from energy, and a time when global interest rates and gilt yields are rising. There couldn’t have been a worse time to start experimenting with that sort of trickle-down policy,” Sarson added.
The ruling Conservative Party will be hoping that the arrival of Hunt, who has held previous roles as health and foreign secretary but was a so-called “backbench” member of parliament until Friday, will give the government a much-needed boost in support.
Media reports have emerged of discontent with Truss’s premiership from her own MPs just 40 days since she took the job. However, under current Conservative party rules a fresh leadership election cannot be held for 12 months.
Two solar power providers stand to gain as the alternative energy type becomes more in vogue, Susquehanna said. Analyst Biju Perincheril initiated Sunnova Energy and SunPower as positive. The analyst slapped a $38 price target on Sunnova, implying upside of 126.5% from Friday’s close of $16.78 trading price. Priced slightly lower at $16.73, SunPower could gain 49.4% based on its $25 target. “We think the risk/reward in residential solar installation names looks attractive with the recent weakness and IRA tailwinds for the sector,” Perincheril said in a note to clients. Perincheril said the industry has short-term headwinds related to higher costs for equipment and financing, supply chain constraints and utility underconnection. But as those growing pains work themselves out, the market is on track to grow 26% in the second half of the year after adding 36% in the first half. Rising utility costs have helped increase demand for both 2022 and 2023 despite some moderation from a California tax credit step down, Perincheril said. The move toward electric vehicles will in turn help adoption of solar, Perincheril noted, as electricity requirements for car charging are easier to meet with solar. Solar as an industry has been boosted by the Inflation Reduction Act , which provides benefits like tax credits for consumers who make the jump to alternative energy. Solar is becoming increasingly popular as consumers look to long-term savings despite up-front costs. Perincheril noted that despite growing 10-fold in the last decade, just 4% of single-family homes have solar – meaning there’s still a huge market to tap into. “Despite the supply chain headwinds and rising prices, residential solar installations have been quite resilient,” Perincheril said. As the market becomes more penetrated, Perincheril said its likely national brands with infrastructure already in place such as Sunnova and SunPower that stand to see the biggest wins. These larger retailers can also benefit from having end-to-end offerings that span selling, installation and financing, which will further separate them from smaller companies. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
Global stocks slipped last week, but some beat the market. The MSCI World index was down 1.69% week-to-date, tracking U.S. losses as both the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq ended the week lower , falling 1.55% and 3.11%, respectively. Markets whipsawed throughout the week as investors digested new inflation data that will inform the Fed’s monetary policy as it continues to hike interest rates to cool off price increases. These are the 10 top stocks in the MSCI World index that saw gains of more than 5% last week, as of the close on Oct. 14. Danish audio solutions manufacturer GN Store Nord was the top-performing global stock, with its shares jumping around 18%. Half of analysts gave it a “buy” rating, and a price target with an upside of more than 90%, according to FactSet. Moderna , which was the top-performing U.S. stock last week , jumped 12.3%. Though only 32% of analysts have a “buy” rating on the stock, the consensus price target suggests shares can rally another 64.2%. Shares of the vaccine maker rallied as it announced plans this week to work with Merck on developing a cancer vaccine for high-risk patients with melanoma. German bank Deutsche Bank was also among the best-performing global stocks, rising 10.1% on the week. According to FactSet, 35% of analysts covering it gave it a buy rating, and a price target with an upside of 43%. German meal kit company Hello Fresh was one top-performing stock last week that got the biggest upside from analysts — at over 140%. The firm’s stocks rose 6% on the week. — CNBC’s Carmen Reinicke, Samantha Subin contributed to this report.
A customer looking at the price of limes at a fruit stand in Sydney. According to Australia’s Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s inflation rate rose to 6.1 in June, a 21-year high.
Lisa Maree Williams | Getty Images News
The Bank of Queensland said it’s“quite bullish” on Australia’s “very robust economy” — but not everyone agrees.
“We’ve got a very robust economy, which I think when you look at the global challenges, the likelihood of us actually coming out of this in good shape is quite high,” George Frazis, CEO of Bank of Queensland, told CNBC on Wednesday.
“The [Reserve Bank of Australia] has moved fairly quickly to deal with inflation … that’s why I think there’s a good chance that we’ll have a soft landing in Australia,” Frazis said.
“As is the case in most countries, inflation in Australia is too high,” the Australian central bank said. “Global factors explain much of this high inflation, but strong domestic demand relative to the ability of the economy to meet that demand is also playing a role.”
Frazis cited “very high household savings” and “very low unemployment” as driving forces for the robust economy, despite pressure on housing prices.
“And this is on the backdrop where housing prices have actually increased by 39% over the last two years,” clarifying later that the figure referred to price increases in Australia between June 2019 to April this year.
Figures from Corelogic, one of Australia’s leading property data providers, indicate that national Australian housing values increased by 28.6% in the past two years. Some capital cities experienced price rises of 39% and more.
While the housing sector is highly vulnerable to higher interest rates, actual housing construction should remain solid for a while…
Shane Oliver
chief economist, AMP Capital
The linchpin of whether the housing market gets disrupted or not, according to Frazis, lies with the unemployment numbers, which he said were at an “all-time low.”
“Our view is that [unemployment] is likely to continue and that is the key driver of housing getting disrupted or not.”
The bank’s CEO also expressed confidence that Australia is “well buttressed” against any kind of cataclysmic event within the housing market, citing homeowners were saving up and being ahead on repayments.
However, he maintained that disruption in the Australian housing market is “unlikely” to materialize.
However, not everyone carries the same optimism as Frazis.
According to a financial stability review on RBA, Australia’s higher interest rates will increase borrowers’ debt repayments.
The report pointed out that income growth has not kept up with inflation in Australia and households are left with less capacity to service their debt. Additionally, a small share of borrowers with high debt and low savings are “vulnerable” to payment difficulties.
“Debt-servicing challenges will become more widespread if economic conditions, particularly the level of unemployment, turn out to be worse than expected and housing prices fall sharply,” the report continued.
In addition, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones cautioned that Australia’s economy is not “hermetically sealed” from the forecasted downturn of the international economy, Sky news reported.
Jones added that the country’s major trading partners are in a “precarious” and deteriorating” situation, which is going to impact Australia.
He also noted that as inflation rises, the economy slows around the world. This will in turn have an impact on Australia’s growth forecast.
“We just cannot be complacent about those numbers,” he said.
One economist suggested a modest outlook for Australia’s economy, and predicted the country’s growth will slow to around 2%, as opposed to falling into recession.
High household debt in Australia could could hurt consumer spending, according to Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital. However, inflation and lower wage growth also meant that this risk is lower, he added.
Australian dollar banknotes of various denominations are arranged for a photograph in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. High household debt in Australia could risk compromising consumer spending, according to Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital. However, inflation and lower wage growth also meant that this risk is lower, he added.
Brendon Thorne | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“While the housing sector is highly vulnerable to higher interest rates, actual housing construction should remain solid for a while thanks to a big pipeline of approved but yet to be completed home building projects,” said Oliver.
The economist added that Australia’s gas prices have not shot up anywhere near as much as that in Europe, and the falling Australian dollar will provide a buffer against global weakness.
After two years of port congestions and container shortages, disruptions are now easing as Chinese exports slow in light of waning demand from Western economies and softer global economic conditions, logistics data shows.
Container freight rates, which soared to record prices at the height of the pandemic, have been falling rapidly and container shipments on routes between Asia and the U.S. have also plunged, data shows.
“The retailers and the bigger buyers or shippers are more cautious about the outlook on demand and are ordering less,” logistics platform Container xChange CEO Christian Roeloffs said in an update on Wednesday.
“On the other hand, the congestion is easing with vessel waiting times reducing, ports operating at less capacity, and the container turnaround times decreasing which ultimately, frees up the capacity in the market.”
The latest Drewry composite World Container Index — a key benchmark for container prices — is $3,689 per 40-foot container. That’s 64% lower than the same time last September after falling 32 weeks in a row, Drewry said in a recent update.
In Europe, sliding container prices and rates reflect declining consumer confidence, Container xChange said.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
The current index is much lower than record-high prices of over $10,000 during the height of the pandemic but still remains 160% higher than pre-pandemic rates of $1,420.
According to Drewry, freight rates on major routes have also fallen. Costs for routes like Shanghai-Rotterdam and Shanghai-New York have fallen by up to 13%.
The falling freight rates tie in with a “sharp drop” in container shipments that Nomura Bank has observed.
Nomura, quoting data from U.S.-based Descartes Datamyne, said container shipments from Asia to the U.S. for all products except rubber products in September are down year on year.
“We assume that the sharp drop in container shipments largely reflects US retailers stopping orders and reducing inventories due to the risk of an economic slowdown,” Nomura analyst Masaharu Hirokane said in a note on Wednesday, adding that the bank has yet to see signs of a sharp fall in U.S. retail sales.
Port throughput around the world has also dropped. When Shanghai reopened after its recent lockdowns, port traffic volumes lifted but weren’t enough to offset the “wider downturn in port handling levels,” Drewry said.
In Europe, sliding container prices and rates reflect declining consumer confidence, Container xChange said.
“The European market is finding itself flooded with 40-foot high-cube containers. As a result, the region is experiencing a fall in the prices of these boxes,” Container xChange said.
The trends in logistics and supply chains from the past two years have reversed, logistics companies said. During that period, container shortages were constant as a result of delays at ports affected by lockdowns and soaring demand.
But now, demand for containers is falling and so are their rates, Seacube Containers chief sales director Danny den Boer said at the Digital Container Summit held earlier this month.
Idle time for containers is also on the rise, Sogese CEO Andrea Monti said at the same conference.
“Containers are stacking up at a lot of import-led ports. Shippers are giving containers away just because containers are being stuck there,” said Container xChange account manager Gregoire van Strydonck at the conference.
India’s Arcon Containers CEO Supal Shah said factories in China have stopped production for the foreseeable future.
“We heard four months,” he said at the Digital Container Summit conference.
“The container depot space is full in China, Europe, India, Singapore and most parts of the world.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attends a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 28, 2022.
Mary F. Calvert | Reuters
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke Sunday about his experience during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, stating that he, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “were resolute” about calling in the military and continuing the electoral vote count.
“Speaker Pelosi and I were resolute that first the military should come in and remove people from the Capitol. The Capitol Police were overwhelmed,” Schumer said according to reports from NBC News. “And we called the Secretary of Defense. We call[ed] the governors of Virginia and Maryland who had national guard as well as the D.C. police and urge[d] them to send reinforcements to the Capitol to make sure that these hooligans were removed.”
The hearing showed new clips of Pelosi and others calling multiple Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, to urge them to take action to quell the riot as they hid from the mob that overran the Capitol.
Some of the footage, captured by Pelosi’s daughter, showed Schumer and other members of Congress running to a secure location, according to NBC News.
Schumer said that one good moment from the day came when Republicans and Democrats came together and decided to continue counting the electoral vote.
“One good moment was when the four leaders, two Democrats and two Republicans got together at about five o’clock and said we are not going to let these hooligans stop the government process,” he said. “They would have succeeded. If we would have delayed counting the electoral vote, lord knows what would have happened.”
The House select committee unanimously voted Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump about his actions surrounding the insurrection in a move that has been under consideration for some time.
The vote marks the boldest step yet for the bipartisan panel, which has so far issued more than 100 subpoenas and interviewed more than 1,000 people throughout its investigation.
Russian citizens drafted during the partial mobilization begin their military trainings after a military call-up for the Russia-Ukraine war in Rostov, Russia on October 04, 2022.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Gunmen shot dead 11 people at a Russian military training ground, the defense ministry said, in the latest blow to President Vladimir Putin’s forces since the invasion of Ukraine.
RIA news agency cited the ministry as saying 15 others were wounded in the shooting on Saturday, in Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, when two men gunned down a group who had volunteered to take part in the war.
It said the two assailants – nationals from an unspecified former Soviet republic – had been shot dead. Some Russian independent media outlets reported that the number of casualties was higher than the official figures.
“A terrible event happened on our territory, on the territory of one of the military units,” the governor of Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said early on Sunday.
“Many soldiers were killed and wounded … There are no residents of the Belgorod region among the wounded and killed,’ Gladkov said in a video post on the Telegram messaging app.
The attack took place a week after a blast damaged a bridge in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. Earlier in the war, Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea blew up and sank.
“During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit,” RIA cited a defense ministry statement as saying.
Just a day earlier, Putin said Russia should be finished calling up reservists in two weeks, promising an end to a divisive mobilization that has seen hundreds of thousands of men summoned to fight in Ukraine and huge numbers flee the country.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a YouTube interview that the attackers were from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan and had opened fire on the others after an argument over religion.
Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim nation, while around half of Russians follow various branches of Christianity. The Russian ministry had said the attackers were from a nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which groups nine ex-Soviet republics, including Tajikistan.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the comments by Arestovych, a prominent commentator on the war, or independently verify casualty numbers and other details of the incident.
Elsewhere, Zelenskiy said that Ukrainian troops were still holding the strategic eastern town of Bakhmut despite repeated Russian attacks while the situation in the larger Donbas region remained very difficult.
Russian forces have repeatedly tried to seize Bakhmut, which sits on a main road leading to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Both are situated in the Donetsk region.
In the 24 hours to Sunday morning, Russian forces targeted more than 30 towns and villages across Ukraine, launching five missile and 23 air strikes and up to 60 rocket attacks, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Sunday.
In response, Ukraine’s air forces carried out 32 strikes, hitting 24 Russian targets.
Fighting is particularly intense in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the strategically important Kherson province in the south, three of the four provinces Putin proclaimed as part of Russia last month.
Shelling by Ukrainian forces damaged the administration building in the city Donetsk, capital of the Donetsk region, its Russian-backed administration said on Sunday.
Kirill Stremousov, a Russian-installed official in the Kherson region, said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that Russian forces had quashed an offensive by Ukrainian troops in the area and that the situation there was “under control”.
Ukraine’s Southern Command said its forces’ positions had come under repeated attack on Saturday and a small “shooting battle” had taken place near the village of Tryfonivka in the Kherson region.
Russian forces also fired nearly 20 Russian-made Grad rockets on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, it said.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday its forces had killed more than 50 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed five tanks near the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnipro River.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield reports.
Although Ukrainian troops have recaptured thousands of square miles of land in recent offensives in the east and south, officials say progress is likely to slow once Kyiv’s forces meet more determined resistance.
Ukrainian forces and civilians are relying on Starlink internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company. Musk said on Friday he could no longer afford to fund the service but on Saturday said he would continue to do so.
Zelenskiy said almost 65,000 Russians had been killed so far since the Feb. 24 invasion, a figure far higher than Moscow’s official Sept. 21 estimate of 5,937 dead. In August the Pentagon said Russia has suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties, either killed or wounded.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Telegram on Sunday that Ukraine would prevail in the war because of the continued military aid it is receiving from the West and the cumulative impact of Western sanctions on Russia’s economy.
“Ukraine’s offensive is strategic and the defeat of Russia is inevitable,” Yermak said.
China’s President Xi Jinping kicks off the ruling party’s 20th National Congress — held once every five years — with an opening speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 16, 2022. The week-long event is expected to pave the way for him to stay on for an unprecedented third five-year term.
Noel Celis | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping affirmed Sunday the country’s recent shift away from rapid growth and greater focus on national self-sufficiency, especially in technology.
Xi was speaking at the opening ceremony of the ruling Communist Party of China’s 20th National Congress, held once every five years. His same speech in 2017 had begun with much discussion of China’s economic growth.
In contrast, Xi on Sunday began his remarks with greater emphasis on China’s “national rejuvenation” and opposition to Taiwan independence.
Xi briefly mentioned in that opening section how the country’s Covid policy has achieved “positive results” in coordination with economic development. He did not state whether the policy would end or continue.
China’s Covid controls helped the country quickly return to growth in 2020. But the controversial “zero-Covid” policy has become increasingly stringent this year, prompting investment banks to repeatedly slash growth estimates for China.
Looking ahead, Xi emphasized the country needed a solid technological foundation in order to achieve its modernization goals. Some areas he mentioned included boosting the quality of China’s manufactured products, the country’s capabilities in space transportation and digital development.
“Without solid material and technological foundations we cannot hope to build a great modern socialist country,” Xi said in Chinese, according to an official English translation.
Since the party’s 19th National Congress, the U.S. has increased its pressure on China. The Biden administration has called China a strategic competitor and this month announced new export controls on semiconductors — in an effort to maintain a U.S. edge in tech over China.
Xi did not mention specific countries in his nearly two-hour-long speech.
However, he dedicated one section to stating how the country would emphasize education for developing its own talent in science, and accelerate the launch of national projects with “strategic” and “long-term importance.” He did not provide further details.
He also did not leave out growth plans altogether. Xi said the country would aim to boost productivity, make its supply chains more resilient and expand overall economic output.
The speech in general laid out a framework for Xi’s near-term plan for China, which he said is to “basically realize socialist modernization” between the years 2020 and 2035.
He cast prior success — in building the world’s second-largest economy and becoming a “major destination for global investment” — as achievements already in the books.
The Chinese Communist Party has already announced 100-year development goals — to “build a moderately prosperous society in all respects” by 2021 and “build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious” by 2049.
Xi’s list of “essential requirements” for Chinese modernization began with upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China, followed by “high-quality development.”
The list included achieving common prosperity — moderate wealth for all rather than just a few — and “harmony between humanity and nature.”
On Sunday, Xi spoke of promoting a “healthy” online environment. He said the country would encourage getting rich through hard work and expand its middle class. He indicated China would standardize an unspecified mechanism for wealth accumulation.
He did not specifically address China’s ongoing troubles in real estate, but repeated prior statements about speeding up measures to encourage both house purchases and rentals.
Xi warned of “dangerous storms” on the journey ahead, and called for commitment to the party’s leadership, “reform and opening up” and other principles.
In a wide-ranging speech during the opening session of the 20th Chinese Communist Party’s Congress, Xi spoke firmly about China’s resolve for reunification with the self-governed island, which Beijing considers part of its territory.
Noel Celis | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping said China reserves the option of “taking all measures necessary” against “interference by outside forces” on the issue of Taiwan.
In a wide-ranging speech Sunday, Xi spoke firmly about China’s resolve for reunification with the self-governed island, which Beijing considers part of its territory.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the ruling Communist Party of China’s 20th National Congress, held once every five years.
“We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the utmost effort,” Xi said in Chinese, according to an official translation. “But, we will never promise to renounce the use of force. And we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.”
“This is directed solely at interference by outside forces and a few separatists seeking Taiwan independence,” he said, emphasizing that resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese to resolve.
The visit came despite warnings from China, which maintains the island should have no right to conduct foreign relations. The U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole legal government of China, while maintaining unofficial relations with Taiwan.
On Sunday, Xi gave the issue of Taiwan greater prominence in his speech than he had five years ago at the party’s 19th National Congress.
The high-level meeting decides which officials will become the leaders of the party, and ultimately, of China.
Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, appears in an undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on October 5, 2022.
Handout | Via Reuters
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly outraised his opponent, Republican Blake Masters, in the third quarter, according to Federal Election Commission Records.
Kelly’s campaign went into October, weeks before the midterm elections, with almost six times the amount of cash on hand.
Kelly’s campaign raised just over $21 million from July 14 until Sept. 30. Masters, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, brought in over $4.7 million over that same time period.
Kelly’s campaign went into October with over $13 million on hand while Masters had just above $2.8 million in his war chest. One of Masters’ top individual donations was a $4,950 contribution from the National Rifle Association. Masters, a wealthy businessman, contributed over $570,000 last quarter to his own campaign.
Election Day is Nov. 8.
The race was once seen as a strong pickup opportunity for Republicans in the battle for control of the Senate, but Kelly has been ahead in many of the most recent polls. A RealClearPolitics polling average has Kelly ahead by 4.5 points. The Cook Political Report marks the race as “lean Democrat.”
Former U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters (R-AZ) on stage during a rally ahead of the midterm elections, in Mesa, Arizona, October 9, 2022.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
The Senate is split 50-50, with Democrats having to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris for tie-breaking votes.
A spokesperson for Kelly’s team pointed CNBC to a recent statement by campaign mangerEmma Brown touting the senator’s fundraising haul. A spokeswoman for the Masters campaign did not return a request for comment.
The lag in Masters’ fundraising versus Kelly has been a theme throughout the campaign. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows that going into the third quarter, Kelly had raised over $52 million while Masters had brought in just under $5 million.
The fundraising in the most recent quarter by both campaigns doesn’t include the amount raised by outside groups supporting each candidate. Saving Arizona, a pro-Masters super PAC that once saw $15 million from Masters’ ally and former boss, billionaire Peter Thiel, raised over $4 million from mid-July through the end of September. The super PAC, which can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money, has over $1.9 million on hand.
Although Thiel did not contribute to the super PAC last quarter, some of the more recent top donations include a $3 million contribution from shipping supply magnate Richard Uihlein and $1 million from cryptocurrency executives Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
Thiel has signaled that, with Masters behind Kelly in both fundraising and the polls, he’ll continue to fundraise for his former employee. Masters was until earlier this year the chief operating officer at Thiel Capital.
A smartphone with the Starlink logo displayed on the screen.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Elon Musk said in a tweet Saturday that his company SpaceX would continue to fund Starlink satellite internet terminals for the Ukrainian government as it battles invading Russian forces.
“The hell with it,” the billionaire tweeted, “even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
It was not immediately clear whether Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, was being sarcastic. In response to a tweet about the move, Musk said, “we should still do good deeds.” Responding to another tweet saying that Musk had already paid taxes that are funding Ukraine’s defense, he said, “Fate loves irony.”
The tweets follow a statement from Musk on Friday in which he said that SpaceX cannot continue fund Starlink terminals in Ukraine “indefinitely,” after a report suggested his space company had asked the Pentagon to cover the costs.
Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
SpaceX’s donated Starlink internet terminals have been crucial in keeping Ukraine’s military online during the war against Russia, even as communication infrastructure gets destroyed. Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February.
Musk drew criticism from Ukrainian officials earlier this month when he posted a Twitter poll gauging support for what he claimed was a likely outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We’re just following his recommendation,” Musk said.
The SpaceX founder is also in the middle of a $44 billion bid to buy Twitter, which he had tried to get out of. A judge ruled that he has until Oct. 28 to close the acquisition if he hopes to avoid a trial.
