Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Bad Apple

Apple saw its sales drop for a fourth straight quarter, marking its longest slide in 22 years. The company is struggling with sluggish demand and a shaky smartphone market in China. Revenue fell to $89.5 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30. The results suggest that Apple is facing a bigger slowdown in China than originally feared. The government there has imposed iPhone bans in some workplaces, and a new phone from Huawei Technologies is providing fresh competition. —David E. Rovella

It may feel to some as if the US housing market is in a never-ending affordability crisis, with prices continually rising and inventory shrinking. The reasons have ranged from anemic construction to student loan debt to investors buying up starter homes. Americans with cheap loans don’t want to sell. Those without homes can’t afford to buy. Will anything budge? Here’s the story behind why buying a home has become an impossible mess.

And it’s not just America. Across the European continent, residential construction has tumbled while costs soar. Sluggish bureaucracies and increasingly stringent energy-efficiency regulations are adding to the headwinds. With housing already tight, the situation threatens to weigh on growth and further stoke political tensions as shortages squeeze more and more voters. 

The US wants to talk about steps that can be taken to better protect civilians in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said before heading to the region on Thursday. “We’ve seen in recent days Palestinian civilians continuing to bear the brunt of this action,” Blinken said. “And it’s important that the United States is committed to making sure everything possible is done to protect civilians.” More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s bombing and invasion of the densely populated strip, according to Gaza health officials. Recently, some foreigners have been able to escape the carnage, exiting into Egypt. “Good news—we got out today 74 American folks, dual citizens,” President Joe Biden said Thursday. Egypt’s foreign ministry says it’s working to facilitate the evacuation of around 7,000 foreigners hailing from more than 60 countries.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency has accused Nestle of being an “international sponsor of war” for continuing to sell goods and pay taxes in Russia. The world’s biggest food maker has been added to a list that includes rival consumer companies Mondelez International, PepsiCo and Unilever, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention told Bloomberg. “Despite the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, Nestle continues to operate in the aggressor state,” the agency said. As the war grinds on, with massive losses among Russian troops reported in the east as Ukraine inches forward in the south, Bloomberg’s Editorial Board writes that, for Ukraine to ultimately survive, if not prevail, it must first deal with the sea of landmines Kremlin forces have left behind.

The United Arab Emirates is considering investing as much as $50 billion in India, its second-largest trading partner, as part of a broader bet on the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The countries have been seeking to bolster ties over the past decade, and aim to increase non-oil bilateral trade to $100 billion. Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Abu Dhabi marked his fifth trip to the Gulf nation since he took over as India’s prime minister in 2014. 

As China prepared to cremate former Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday, some residents of his hometown were skeptical of the official account of his death. A number of mourners in eastern Anhui province this week expressed doubt that the former No. 2 official died of a heart attack. Li found himself sidelined by President Xi Jinping before exiting the Politburo Standing Committee a year ago despite being young enough to stay on. His death also comes as a series of unexplained exits among China’s leadership create a heightened sense of mystery around the Communist Party. Xi has recently fired two top ministers, as well as senior generals overseeing the nation’s nuclear arsenal, without explanation. Former leader Hu Jintao—who Xi also diminished after his tenure—was abruptly escorted off-stage during last year’s leadership congress, sparking intense speculation about his status. 

Mourners in front of the childhood home of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Hefei, China, on Oct. 31.  Photographer: Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg

Meanwhile, one of China’s biggest social media platforms shut the accounts of a K-pop superstar and a Chinese actress with more than 100 million combined followers, the latest example of entertainers facing heightened scrutiny as Xi cracks down on perceived cultural excesses. No explanation was given for the Weibo bans on Blackpink’s Lisa and Chinese actress Angelababy, but speculation was rife on social media that it had to do with a visit to a burlesque club.

• Five countries stand to gain as globalization yields to a fractured world.
• Hedge fund executive’s sudden death exposes a firm in deep trouble.
• Brookfield fires Cushman & Wakefield after a deal fails.
• Harvard, Yale warned by top law firms about antisemitism.
• FBI raids home of fundraising consultant for NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
• Want to go to Amsterdam next summer? Forget about taking JetBlue.
• Singapore’s rich are really unhappy when it comes to work-life balance.

In what was once a humming General Motors plant in northeastern Ohio, hundreds of yellow robot arms stand idle in a darkened assembly hall. But the factory remains alive, if on life support, thanks to Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, the giant electronics producer based in Taiwan. This may soon be ground zero for the Apple iPhone maker’s grand plans to make electric vehicles.

The Foxconn factory in Lordstown, Ohio Photographer: Ross Mantle for Bloomberg Businessweek

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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.