Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - ‘Verge of the abyss’

Israel’s defense minister told the US to brace for a “long war” against Hamas just as Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Israel for further talks amid a global push to prevent the conflict from spreading. President Joe Biden, who has ordered two carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean along with other forces, may visit Israel in the coming days. US officials are worried about a regional escalation by Hezbollah or its patron, Iran, should Israel invade Gaza. And with good reason: Iran said Monday that an expansion of the war between Israel and Hamas was increasingly becoming unavoidable. More than 600,000 Palestinians have left northern Gaza on warnings from Israel amid a bombing campaign that’s killed thousands. The Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas killed at least 1,400 Israelis, with many others having been taken hostage. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the Middle East is on the “verge of the abyss.”  Read the latest on the war here. —Natasha Solo-Lyons and David E. Rovella

Stocks rose and bonds fell amid diplomatic efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from becoming a regional conflict. Oil declined, following last week’s rally. Here’s your markets wrap. 

Charles Schwab executives said its cash-sorting problems, with clients moving money from the bank into higher-yielding products, are beginning to abate despite persistently elevated interest rates.

The US plans to tighten sweeping measures to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors and chipmaking gear, seeking to prevent its geopolitical rival from obtaining cutting-edge technologies that could give it a military edge.

US pharmacy chain Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in an effort to close unprofitable stores, address lawsuits over its role in the opioid pandemic and rework a debt load of roughly $4 billion.

Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg

The lucrative broker commission system at the heart of the US residential housing market is facing unprecedented antitrust scrutiny from the Justice Department and in two class-action lawsuits. The US is focused on the real estate commission-sharing system that typically puts homesellers on the hook for a 5% to 6% cut of the sale, split between their agent and the buyer’s agent.

The push by employers to get American workers back into the office appears to be working. Fewer than 26% of US households still have someone working remotely at least one day a week, a sharp decline from the early-2021 peak of 37%. 

Apple’s new iPhone 15 is selling far worse in China than its predecessor, reflecting stubbornly weak consumption as well as the rise of rivals like Huawei. Sales of Apple’s flagship device are down 4.5% compared with the iPhone 14 over their first 17 days after release.

Photographer: Manaure Quintero/Bloomberg

• Big-money funds are betting against credit while ETF shorts build.
• Time is running out for the “year of the bond” as losses mount.
• The Goldman Sachs banker on a mission to help juice its stock.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Why are governments still subsidizing fossil fuels?
• Ford calls for end of  “acrimonious” strike as UAW doubles down.
• LinkedIn cuts 668 jobs in second round of firings this year.
• Taylor Swift tour movie sets record for concert film debut.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reported Monday in the journal Cell that they have identified Prozac and other drugs that boost levels of the chemical messenger—serotonin—as promising targets for future study in the fight against long Covid.

A researcher holds test tubes with Covid-19 cell cultures during a long covid sample processing in Magdeburg, Germany. Photographer: Ronny Hartmann/AFP

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