Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Bad news bear

Investors hoping for a boost to stocks by the end of the year may be disappointed. This according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson, who once again was named the best portfolio strategist in a survey by Institutional Investor. “Chances of a fourth-quarter rally have fallen considerably,” Wilson says, attributing his projections in part to “falling earnings revisions and fading consumer and business confidence.” These factors among others, he argues, “tell a different story than the consensus, which sees a rally into year-end.” Wilson’s bearish view on equities has been unfolding over the past three months as stock investors fret about the impact of higher-for-longer interest rates. The S&P 500 entered a technical correction on Friday amid rising volatility and hotter inflation numbers, with the benchmark closing 10% below its recent peak. On Monday, stocks rose, Treasuries fell and oil slid 3.5% as Israel’s slow-motion invasion of Gaza appeared less extensive than investors had feared. The yen climbed on a report that the Bank of Japan may raise a cap on bond yields. The S&P 500 added 1.2%. Here’s your markets wrap.  —Natasha Solo-Lyons

General Motors is said to have reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers, bringing to an end a historic six-week strike that upended US automobile production and cost the industry billions of dollars. The union managed to extract major structural pay increases from the Big Three. Now it may have some new targets for reckoning.

Goldman Sachs lifted its long-term growth estimates for the US and many other major economies as generative artificial intelligence is set to boost productivity over the next decade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls to resign over security failures in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,400 Israelis, and rejected increasingly global urging of a ceasefire as his army intensifies its assault on Gaza. More than 8,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombardment, including thousands of children, according to Gaza health officials. Here’s the latest on the war.

Alphabet’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai sought to downplay the portrayal of Google as the dominant internet search engine, saying it’s constantly challenged by rivals such as Apple. Pichai’s comments came as he took the witness stand Monday to defend his company against the US government’s antitrust claims.

Sundar Pichai. Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

Apple is set to capitalize on a computer market resurgence when the company unveils two new Macs and processors on Monday. The company will hold an online event at 5 p.m. California time—dubbed “Scary Fast” —where it’s poised to announce a new iMac and updates to its high-end MacBook Pro. Apple also is slated to unveil the next generation of its computer chip, the M3.

New York City’s pensions paid Wall Street money managers about $1.7 billion in fees last year, a roughly $150 million increase from the prior year. Fees paid by the city’s five pensions rose 10%, faster than the growth rate of assets, according to the city’s annual comprehensive financial report. 

More middle-class Americans are worried about the state of the economy than a year ago, a Harris Poll for Bloomberg News has found. Despite employment being near half-century highs, they’re more concerned with the rapid increase in interest rates deployed this year by the Federal Reserve to crush inflation. In the poll, 57% of middle-class respondents said higher borrowing costs were having a negative impact on their household finances.

• Why this Israel-Hamas clash is like nothing that’s happened before.
• Hedge funds pile into uranium stocks set for “dramatic” rise.
• Drugmakers set to pay 23andMe millions of dollars for your DNA.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Maine’s mass killing should change gun culture.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Exodus from NY, San Francisco is far from over.
• UK tech firms with higher RTO demands hire fewer women.
• Student loan debt payments hit HBCU graduates especially hard.

The NBA and Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand have struck a multiyear deal that will make Skims the official underwear partner of the NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball. The underwear label, recently valued at $4 billion, released its first ever mens collection last week which stared NBA All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. As part of the deal, Skims will receive increased media exposure on the league’s platforms and on-court virtual ads during NBA and WNBA national broadcasts.

Kim Kardashian Photographer: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Get the Bloomberg Evening Briefing: If you were forwarded this newsletter, sign up here to receive Bloomberg’s flagship briefing in your mailbox daily—along with our Weekend Reading edition on Saturdays.

Bloomberg’s Technology Transformation & the Strategic C-Suite: Join us in New York on Nov. 2 as CFOs and other senior leaders in corporate finance and operations gather for a special evening briefing on the ways they can transform and amplify the impact of their departments. New York: Register here.