Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - It’s getting worse for Adani

Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of beleaguered Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, pulled the plug on a record 200 billion-rupee ($2.4 billion) share sale as fallout from a short seller’s scathing report further engulfed the company in turmoil. The decision to cancel the sale came after a renewed slump in price for Adani and its sister firms. A week ago, New York-based investor Hindenburg Research leveled allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud against the conglomerate. And it gets worse. Earlier Wednesday, Credit Suisse stopped accepting bonds of Adani’s group of companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients, a sign that scrutiny of its finances is growing by the day. —Margaret Sutherlin

No surprises. The US Federal Reserve as expected slowed the pace of its rate hikes to a quarter-point. Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is still weighing future hikes to get rates to a restrictive level (despite what Wall Street wants) and that inflation, though falling, is still too high. As for those optimists out there looking for rate cuts later this year, don’t hold your breath. Here’s your markets wrap. 

US Vice President Kamala Harris attended the funeral of Tyre Nichols, a Black man beaten to death by Memphis police after a traffic stop. The five police employees who allegedly killed him, all Black, were named and charged with his murder. But a sixth member of the department involved in the attack on Nichols who is White wasn’t named by Memphis officials or charged, which has intensified questions of disparate treatment. Nichols’ killing added fresh calls for police reform around the US, calls that in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police have largely gone unheeded. US police have shot dead more than 1,000 Americans per year over the past eight years. Francis Wilkinson notes in Bloomberg Opinion that comes out to three deaths at the hands of police every day. “America,” Wilkinson writes, “has a police problem.” 

Protesters gather in Memphis after the beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of the Memphis Police Department. Photographer: Seth Herald/AFP

Big tech companies had a busy 2022 on Capitol Hill, outspending other industries—including pharmaceuticals and oil and gas—on lobbying. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft broke their lobbying spending records last year as they fended off heightened scrutiny.

Back in the early days of the global pandemic, Donald Trump famously and falsely suggested that a potential cure for Covid could be injecting disinfectant into people, a strategy that could easily prove fatal. Though clearly ludicrous, many did it anyway. Indeed, thousands of Americans were already firm believers that bleach cures all sorts of health ailments. 

The US ambassador to the United Nations condemned the Wagner Group, Vladimir Putin’s private mercenary army, over its actions in Ukraine and on the African continent. Meanwhile a new $2 billion aid package to Kyiv will include longer range artillery and ammunition.

Sean Penn’s disaster relief charity CORE has saved American lives during the pandemic, essentially becoming the de facto Covid response team for Los Angeles. But current and former employees say it has also failed to shield them from alleged sexual harassment or address financial mismanagement.

Sean Penn during the Haiti earthquake in April 2010. Photographer: Ramon Espinosa/AP

Since it first began to receive mainstream attention about 15 years ago, 3D printing has had a magical air to it, holding out the promise of turning every home into a miniature manufacturing hub. But 3D printers have gained a reputation for being unwieldy, expensive and slow. One company wants to change that. 

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

• The European Union has a new plan to compete on green investments.
• Chicago’s mayor wants a business champion for her city.
• China’s tourists are back: Gaming revenue in Macau jumped 82.5%.
• Facebook let Trump back on, but lost the power to help him anyway.
• A record number of Brooklyn homes sold for $10 million in 2022
• Why we can’t get enough of zombie apocalypse shows. 
• NFL Quarterback  Tom Brady promises he’s really going away this time.

Why are the recycling symbols on plastic cups misleading? How does the carbon credit market work? What’s the future of water in a drought-ridden world? Each week, actor and former White House aide Kal Penn will tackle questions like these as part of Getting Warmer With Kal Penn. Boy it’s getting hot in here. 

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