Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Cooling job openings

US companies added fewer jobs than forecast in October, suggesting demand for workers in what’s been a historically strong American labor market may be starting to wane. Private payrolls increased 113,000 in October after posting the weakest advance in two years the month before, according to figures published Wednesday by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a reading of 150,000. Nevertheless, job gains continued and were broad across US industries, led by education and health services as well as trade and transportation. “No single industry dominated hiring this month, and big post-pandemic pay increases seem to be behind us,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “In all, October’s numbers paint a well-rounded jobs picture. And while the labor market has slowed, it’s still enough to support strong consumer spending.” In other words, just the kind of news the Federal Reserve has been looking for in its bid for a soft economic landing.  —David E. Rovella

On Wednesday, the Fed unsurprisingly kept steady on interest rates, but investors reading Jerome Powell’s tea leaves divined a potential end to further hikes. As far as stocks are concerned, just the other day one of Wall Street’s biggest bears broke the bad news that the fourth quarter wouldn’t see a rally. That may be so, but a contrarian signal is now forecasting better news over the next year. Bank of America’s “Sell-Side Indicator” is approaching a level that indicates an extreme degree of bearishness that is in fact bullish for stocks. The gauge’s current level implies a 15.5% price return for the S&P 500 Index over the next 12 months. Here’s your markets wrap.

Vineer Bhansali is the founder of hedge fund LongTail Alpha, and he’s newly obsessed with what was once among the sleepiest corners of finance: Treasury bonds. With volatility exploding in the long-placid market, he’s ordered his fund to shift away from other strategies and boost its focus on Treasuries. He says LongTail now buys and sells bonds constantly, making four times as many trades as it did a year ago.

Vineer Bhansali Photographer: Max Hemphill for Bloomberg Businessweek

Orsted A/S shares slumped to their lowest level in six years after the Danish utility dropped two US wind projects and recorded 28.4 billion kroner ($4 billion) in impairments as the wind industry crisis worsens. BP said it took a $540 million pre-tax impairment in the third quarter related to its offshore business in the US. In China, top turbine maker Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology said last week that third-quarter profit tumbled 98%, while Norwegian energy giant Equinor took a $300 million impairment on its US offshore wind projects.

Private equity can seem a little too private when investors are trying to raise cash in a down market and no one comes forward with decent bids on their stakes. Yann Robard of Whitehorse Liquidity Partners is offering them a way out. Robard is selling a twist on the age-old theme of trading away future rewards for money in hand now—investors get a cash advance tied to their stakes if they’ll give Whitehorse a cut of the upside on their holdings. His pitch comes amid a slide in public markets that has left investors over-committed to private assets.

Singapore’s financial regulator banned DBS Group Holdings from acquiring new business ventures for six months while the bank is to hold senior management accountable after a spate of digital banking service outages. The actions followed repeated and prolonged disruptions of DBS’ banking services this year, including just last month. The changes are to ensure DBS focuses on restoring the resilience of its digital banking services, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said Wednesday.

Some foreigners and wounded Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for the first time since Israel began its ground invasion, a breakthrough US President Joe Biden claimed was the result of diplomatic efforts led by the US and Qatar. Overnight, the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza was reportedly struck a second time in less than 24 hours, killing or wounding hundreds of people and increasing a Palestinian death toll that already exceeded 8,700, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The World Health Organization said there had been three attacks affecting health facilities in Gaza over 24 hours. One resulted in the destruction of a primary-care clinic, alongside damage to two hospitals. Israel, whose latest assaults drew fresh condemnation from across the Middle East, has said it killed some of the Hamas members responsible for the Oct. 7 surprise attack that killed 1,400 Israelis.

The problem with ignoring dead-end signs is that you eventually end up at the back of an alley with nowhere to turn, Marc Champion writes in Bloomberg Opinion. This is where Israel’s government now finds itself, he says, and a leaked document shows how some in the ruling elite are thinking through this lack of options. The Oct. 13 draft document called “Policy Paper: Options for a Policy Regarding Gaza’s Civilian Population’’ comes from Israel’s Intelligence Ministry. It recommends expelling the strip’s population to Egypt’s Sinai desert, Champion writes, and locking the door behind them.

Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 31. Hundreds were killed or wounded, local authorities said. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty

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There are family businesses and then there are family empires. Michael Andretti has ambitions for the latter, and his eponymous racing concern is on the verge of getting its crown jewel—a Formula 1 team. In partnership with General Motors’ Cadillac brand, Andretti Autosport has won approval from the FIA, F1’s governing body, to join the grid maybe as soon as 2025. But he’s not there yet: On this episode of the Bloomberg Originals series Power Players, we uncover the obstacles standing between Andretti and F1—and how winning that race may help him fully emerge from the shadow of his racing-icon dad.

Michael Andretti Source: Bloomberg

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Bloomberg New Economy Forum: The sixth annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum returns to Singapore Nov. 8-10 as the world’s most influential leaders gather to address the critical issues facing the global economy. This year’s theme, “Embracing Instability,” focuses on opportunities to better understand underlying economic issues such as persistent inflation, geopolitical tensions, the rise of artificial intelligence and the precarious state of the world’s climate. Watch the livestream on BloombergNewEconomy.com.