Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - No bears here

Less than 20 months after it began, the bear market that engulfed the S&P 500 during the pandemic is a mere 260 points from being completely erased. Chart patterns tracking everything from cross-asset momentum to transportation companies are painting a picture of burgeoning economic vigor. That said, some signals coming from the US economy are nowhere near as buoyant—and Federal Reserve policy makers sound only slightly less worried about inflation now than they did then, despite it having slowed precipitously this year. But investors aren’t worried: they just pushed stocks up for the eighth time in 10 weeks. Should the optimism persist, last year’s bear market has a shot at being unwound faster than all but three of its predecessors since World War II. “I’m shocked that the Fed has really pulled off the soft landing and everybody is caught underweight equity exposure,” said Dennis Davitt, co-manager of the MDP Low Volatility Fund, who recently adjusted its positions to prepare for more market upside. “As people have to get right sized on their portfolio, they’re going to have to come in and buy, and every day gets harder.” Here’s your markets wrap. —David E. Rovella

Indeed, 2023 has barely passed its midpoint and the market has barreled through most estimates for where Wall Street thought the S&P 500 would be by year’s end, John Authers and Isabelle Lee write in Bloomberg Opinion. In the process, it defied the gloom accompanied by all that talk of recession, soaring inflation and aggressive monetary tightening. And, they write, it’s left the strategists who made those estimates with a dilemma.

The one-time king of the bond world is talking down the Treasury market. While the yields may have peaked this year, “a bull market is not in the cards,” Bill Gross, the former chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management. wrote in his investment outlook. Gross’s call goes against a growing number of investors who expect a bond rally amid speculation that the Fed may end its tightening after one more hike next week. Ten-year yields have fallen to about 3.8%, from this year’s high of 4.1% set in early July, following a softer-than-expected inflation report last week.

Bill Gross Photographer: Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo

AMC Entertainment Holdings was blocked by a Delaware judge Friday from converting its controversial APE preferred units into common stock, a ruling that caused the company’s class A shares to surge up to 100% in after-hours trading. The decision sends the company, which is anxious to recapitalize, back to the drawing board. AMC has been eager to convert the APEs and issue additional shares as higher interest rates complicate its loan financing.

It’s the kind of acrimonious breakup that’s hardly unusual (except for maybe the sums involved). He says she took money out of a joint bank account and pilfered household items including a Nespresso machine. She says he’s retaliating after the relationship went sour, and that $1 million of her money is locked out of her reach. What also sets it apart is the characters involved: Terry Smith, a UK money manager beloved by retail investors, and his former partner Teresa de Freitas, who invested in his funds when the two were still a couple.

Terry Smith Photographer: Micha Theiner/Visum/Redux

Amazon will make some corporate employees relocate as part of a mandate requiring workers to be in the office three days a week, the latest source of strain between the tech giant and its workforce following its termination of tens of thousands of people. Some remote workers who were hired or moved during the pandemic will have to relocate closer to offices so they can meet the three-day requirement.

The UK’s decision to freeze an unsanctioned Russian tycoon’s £38 million ($49 million) superyacht was legal, a London court ruled, in a boost to the government’s attempts to get tougher on wealthy Russians and encourage them to speak out against Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

Fiat Chrysler lost its renewed bid to block  Mahindra & Mahindra from selling the redesigned Roxor off-road vehicle in the US after claiming the Indian automaker copied the design of its Jeep.

Mahindra’s Roxor at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 2019. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

• Putin amps up threats to shipping, Ukraine and a NATO country.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Buffett Florida bet bodes well for insurance market.
• Trump-appointed judge pushes his secret files trial to next May.
• If Trump wins in 2024, his priorities will include migrants and China.
• New Jersey sues over New York City’s planned congestion pricing fees.
• Kansas college nabs $1 billion gift from an anonymous donor.
• Spotify eyes $1 increase in monthly price of its ad-free service.

Enter the unlisted suite, the secret accommodation that can be booked only by those who know it exists. Not only does it shun the customary online booking engine, it practically evades public awareness altogether. These suites are wiped from hotel websites and missing from search results—all but phantoms in the highly visible, over-Instagrammed universe of luxury stays. But now, for just a moment, you can step inside six of them.

Villa de France, at Cheval Blanc in St. Bart’s Source: Cheval Blanc

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