Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - The good news for 2024

Just one month after setting their 2024 target for the S&P 500, Goldman Sachs strategists increased that forecast as the year-end rally shows no signs of abating. The US Federal Reserve’s pivot last week along with lower consumer prices have brightened the picture, a team led by David Kostin wrote in a note. “Equities were already pricing positive economic activity but now reflect an even more robust outlook,” they said. Kostin sees the S&P 500 at 5,100 points by the end of next year, joining Wall Street peers at Bank of America and Oppenheimer Asset Management in expecting a fresh high. And the story on Monday was more of the same, with markets buoyed by a burst of deals as traders largely ignored efforts by Fed officials to temper expectations. Here’s your markets wrap. —David E. Rovella 

The Biden administration and Senate Democrats are struggling to make a deal with Republicans who are demanding more immigration restrictions as their price for assisting Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s 22-month long invasion. The talks continued as GOP frontrunner Donald Trump again used inflammatory, anti-immigrant rhetoric seen as echoing that of the Third Reich, this time at a rally at the University of New Hampshire where he praised modern day authoritarian leaders including Vladimir Putin. Trump—twice impeached and facing four felony indictments—has said he would abuse the office of president and retaliate against opponents if elected in 2024. The Biden campaign condemned his latest statements, saying Trump “parroted Adolf Hitler.” Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s approval rating has hit an all-time low, according to a new Monmouth University poll.

Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire  Photographer: Joseph Prezioso/AFP

Adobe walked away from its $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma after clashing with regulators in Europe and the UK. Adobe will pay Figma a $1 billion termination fee, the companies said. They saw “no clear path” to getting regulatory approvals from the European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

The work of legendary industrial designer Jony Ive and his colleagues helped established the Apple aesthetic—clean lines and intuitive interfaces—that helped make the iMac, iPhone and iPad into hits. Now, with the departure of Peter Russell-Clarke, one of Apple’s last remaining senior industrial designers from those salad days, almost all of the roughly two dozen core designers who worked under Ive have left the company.

Jony Ive Photographer: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

A group of bipartisan lawmakers asked the  Justice Department to probe whether Apple violated antitrust laws when it shut down third-party applications enabling Android devices to use the iMessage service to communicate with iPhone users. Meanwhile, the gadget maker will stop selling the latest versions of its smartwatch in the US because of a patent dispute, taking some of its best-selling devices off the market just in time for Christmas. Apple previously said its first-quarter revenue would be in line with the year-earlier period, which suggests the Apple Watch disruption could be the difference between revenue growing for the first time in a year or declining again. Already, Apple’s sales have dropped for four straight quarters—the longest such streak in two decades. Still, there’s at least one analyst who thinks this is all just a “bump in the road.”

Amazon executives tend to describe their satellite venture, Project Kuiper, in philanthropic terms, emphasizing its potential to connect people in remote or impoverished areas with education and global commerce. Less altruistically, Amazon also hopes the $10-billion-plus project can transform it into a global telecommunications giant. The endeavor is among the Seattle-based company’s biggest bets, one of just a few that have survived two years into a cost-cutting drive. But it’s also seen as a shot across the bow of Jeff Bezos’s controversial rival, Elon Musk.

Amazon’s Kuipersat-1 in orbit over Hawaii on Oct. 6. Source: Amazon

Nippon Steel will buy United States Steel for $14.1 billion to create the world’s second-largest steel company with a key role in supplying American manufacturers and automakers. The deal caps months of uncertainty over the future of US Steel, which has been considering potential transactions since it rejected another offer for $7.25 billion in mid-August. For American industry, the takeover will mark the end of an era. US Steel traces its roots back to 1901 when J. Pierpont Morgan merged a collection of assets with Andrew Carnegie’s Carnegie Steel Co.

BP said it will pause all shipments through the Red Sea after attacks on merchant vessels escalated, adding to signs that trade through the vital waterway is grinding to a halt. BP’s decision, the most tangible sign of disruption to energy flows since the Israel-Hamas war started, comes days after all the world’s top container shipping lines said they were temporarily halting. The Iran-backed Houthis say they are targeting any vessels with a connection to Israel as a response to that country’s war with Hamas, in which Israel has killed more than 19,000 Palestinians. Attacks on ships are now occurring almost daily. On Monday, the US announced a new task force to counter the Red Sea threat.

• Germany, France target emission-free power by 2035.
• Founder of would-be Tesla successor Nikola gets four years in prison.
• The last of the Fed’s non-believers are finally seeing the light.
• Sinclair rises on report of Amazon interest in regional sports networks.
• Embattled Argentina cuts key rate to 100%.
• Washington DC is ground zero for commercial real estate distress.
• Florida’s wealth boom yields a windfall for the state’s charities.

It’s the season for Champagne and cocktails. And lots and lots of panettone. No matter how stocked anyone’s cupboard, drinks cabinet and kitchen counter is, there’s always room for one more thing. That’s why Bloomberg Pursuits cast an extra-wide net this year on the subject of top gifts for food and drink lovers. The 2023 holiday list highlights new products, ranging from fresh-pressed olive oil to silky soap with the delicate aroma of summer tomatoes, to haute glassware and aged Scotch.

Illustration: Beya Panicha

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