Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Ukraine in the balance

US President Joe Biden urged Congress to approve additional aid for Ukraine before Christmas as the administration warns the embattled nation’s ability to combat Russian invaders will be compromised without it. The latest package of assistance has been held up for months by Republicans, some of whom have made their price for supporting the US ally stricter regulations tied to US-Mexican border. “This cannot wait,” Biden said. “Petty, partisan, angry politics can’t get in the way of our responsibility as a leading nation in the world. And literally, the entire world is watching.” Biden opened the door for talks over the aid, signaling he was willing to consider immigration policy changes to secure a deal. Delays have stoked fears that the desperately needed assistance—over $110 billion of which is tied up in Congress—wouldn’t be approved. The main beneficiary of the gridlock on Capitol Hill has been Vladimir Putin, whose strategy to win his 21-month war has become clearer in the past months. He’s betting on a conflict lasting years, and may believe Russia and his willingness to sacrifice tens of thousands of his country’s soldiers, mercenaries and convicts can outlast the West. —Margaret Sutherlin and David E. Rovella

Putin is visiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, shoring up ties to the key oil producing nations. Putin’s trip shows he’s still welcome in parts of the globe despite an international arrest warrant on war crimes charges, and as the US and Europe seek to punish him with sanctions. His talks in Saudi Arabia are to focus on bolstering the partnership between the oil giants, and comes after OPEC+ agreed last week to extend and deepen production cuts to bolster prices. 

Israeli leaders rebuffed international pressure to halt their military campaign in the southern Gaza Strip, vowing to press on until Hamas is eradicated even as the death toll inflicted by Israeli forces reportedly exceeds 16,000. The United Nations has warned that Gazans have no safe harbor amid the bombing. Intense fighting resumed after a truce allowing aid distribution expired over the weekend. And the US Justice Department said it was investigating war crimes committed by Hamas against Americans. 

Smoke from destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip following Israeli air strikes on Dec. 6. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg

Options traders are loading up on bets that Bitcoin will surge to $50,000 by January, when many market observers expect the US Securities and Exchange Commission to finally allow exchange-traded funds to directly hold the cryptocurrency. The rally in bonds around the globe gained further traction, as traders expect central banks will begin cutting rates next year. New data suggested a cooling job market and stocks were lower. Here’s your markets wrap.

The heads of Wall Street’s giants warned that everyday Americans will be made to pay if banks are forced to meet higher standards aimed at preventing financial meltdowns like the regional bank disaster earlier this year. Congress is looking to force banks to set aside more cash as a buffer against losses. But JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon and Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, among others, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill their institutions were safe. Regulators want to require big banks to increase their capital cushion by almost 20% to ensure they can survive another crunch. US Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said before the hearing that changes were needed and that lenders should have no trouble picking up the tab, pointing to what he said are “immensely profitable stock buybacks, huge dividends, huge profits at the expense too often of working families.” The banks “threaten that these capital rules will mean they can’t loan to small businesses and to homeowners,” Brown said. “They’re not doing it enough anyway.”

From left, Charles Scharf of Wells Fargo, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Ron O’Hanley of State Street and Robin Vince of Bank of New York Mellon testifying before Congress on Wednesday. Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg

Donald Trump, under indictment for his alleged role in a scheme to subvert American democracy, wouldn’t rule out abusing the power of the office of president on the first day he returned to the White House. Trump, who was speaking in a taped interview, is the only US president to be impeached twice and has promised to target political opponents and seek retribution if elected in 2024. He has echoed language used by infamous 20th century dictators, calling his opponents “vermin.” The Republican has condemned as politically motivated the four prosecutions he faces in state and federal court. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the indictments, the most serious of which could result in lengthy prison sentences upon conviction at trial.

Just months after becoming the first Speaker of the House to be ousted in US history, Kevin McCarthy said he’s calling it quits in Congress at the end of the year. The 58-year-old California Republican styled himself as part of an emerging generation of conservative leaders when Tea Party Republicans swept into power following the election of President Barack Obama. But in the end, McCarthy ended up not being conservative enough and was viewed suspiciously by the party’s far right. 

As global leaders and negotiators meet at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, at the heart of the world’s fossil fuel industry, a damning new report on climate change says the world is in danger of crossing five “tipping points” that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions won’t reverse anytime soon. It means humanity is at an inflection point between two potential futures. An international team of more than 200 researchers found that the mass death of warm-water coral reefs is now likely given current levels of warming (1.2C), while four other processes—the collapse of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, disruption of the North Atlantic subpolar circulation and abrupt thawing of permafrost regions—are considered possible. Meanwhile in Dubai, progress has been slow as many delegates are clashing with oil executives and each other over how to reduce emissions. 

Icebergs off Greenland Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images Europe

• It’s too hot and dry to grow avocados in Spain. 
• How Russia punched an $11 billion hole in the West’s sanctions. 
• Italy will formally leave China’s Belt and Road investment deal. 
• Harvard, Penn and other schools pressured over antisemitism hearing.  
• Norman Lear, the creator of All in the Family and Maude, has died. 
• Apple will unveil 2024 upgrades for its iPad and MacBook Air.
• A new $10,000 members-only sushi restaurant is headed to Miami.

On March 15, 2020, just days after the US declared a national emergency because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the computer network for the US Department of Health and Human Services briefly vanished from the internet. With an historic crisis sweeping the country, the episode seemed unremarkable and quickly receded from public view. But the department knew at the time that the attack represented a serious and unusual kind of cyberthreat—and some officials are pointing squarely at China.  

The US Department of Health and Human Services in Washington Photographer: Getty Images

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