US-China Trade: Trump and Xi Ease Tension With Truce on Tariffs, Rare Earths (Bloomberg)

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to extend a tariff truce, roll back export controls and reduce other trade barriers in a landmark summit on Thursday, potentially stabilizing relations between the world’s biggest economies after months of turmoil.
‌

In the first sit down between leaders since Trump’s return to the White House, the pair agreed China would pause sweeping controls on rare-earth magnets in exchange for what Beijing said was a US agreement to roll back an expansion of restrictions on Chinese companies.

The US will also halve fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods, while Beijing resumes purchases of what Trump called “massive amounts” of soybeans, sorghum and other farm products.

Trump said he would visit China next April, with Xi planning to head to the US afterward.

‌

Xi emphasized that dialogue is better than confrontation, calling for more communication between the two sides and cooperation in areas such as trade, energy and artificial intelligence, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shake hands as they leave after their talks in Busan. Photo: Getty Images

Climate Latest

Extreme Weather: Hurricane Melissa Wreaks $8 Billion of Damage, Kills Dozens (Bloomberg)

The devastation from Hurricane Melissa came into focus after the record-setting storm moved past Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba with at least 33 deaths and almost $8 billion of damage in its wake.

Across the Caribbean, the storm’s powerful winds have torn apart homes and buildings, blocked roads, trapped people on roofs and knocked out electricity. Airports on Jamaica were shut down, leaving about 25,000 tourists stranded. Authorities warned people to beware of crocodiles displaced by the storm.

Resilience Needed: Finance for Climate Adaptation is Only 1/12th of What's Needed, UN Report Warns (Bloomberg)
‌

The UN Environmental Program estimates that developing countries will need from $310 billion to $365 billion in adaptation finance per year by 2035. The Glasgow Climate Pact, agreed at the COP26 summit in 2021, called for developed countries to provide about $40 billion per year by 2025, well short of what is needed. 

The report does have some positive news. The poorest countries and small-island states at high risk from climate change have smaller gaps. More than 170 out of 197 countries worldwide now have a national adaptation plan, strategy or policy in place, up slightly from last year. And more nations are beginning to “mainstream adaptation into their regular planning policy,” according to the report.

How to find more money for it — public and private — is likely to be a focus of the UN’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil next month. The lion’s share of climate finance goes to mitigation, or efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although mitigation reduces the level of adaptation needed in the future, communities are at risk today from extreme weather.

Bill Gates: Investors Need to Put More Money into Climate Adaptation (Bloomberg Green Daily)
‌

“Climate change is serious, but we’ve made great progress,” he said in a memo published Tuesday. “We need to keep backing the breakthroughs that will help the world reach zero emissions. But we can’t cut funding for health and development — programs that help people stay resilient in the face of climate change — to do it.”

‌

In the memo, Gates said the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Brazil, COP30, should seek to focus on how best to adapt to reality and ensure human welfare is a priority. Read the full memo here. 

Climate of Hope: US Financial Markets Favoring Renewable Energy Over Fossil Fuels (Bloomberg Opinion - Matt Winkler)

What I'm Reading

Crypto Cash Machine: Binance Boosted Trump Family’s Crypto Company Ahead of Pardon for Its Billionaire Founder (Wall Street Journal)

‌

Trump granted Changpeng Zhao, crypto's richest man and head of Binance, a presidential pardon last week, likely paving the way for the world’s largest crypto-trading platform to return to the US, from where it was banned after the company pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering rules.

At the time, the government said Zhao had caused “significant harm to US national security” by allowing sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges, Russian drug-traffickers, Hamas militants and other criminal groups to move billions of dollars through the exchange. 

‌

The pardon marks the most distinct instance yet of Trump using the powers of his office to benefit someone at the center of deals that have enriched his family.

Income Soars: Inside the Trump Family’s Global Crypto Cash Machine (Reuters)

‌

In the first half of this year, the Trump Organization’s income soared 17-fold to $864 million from $51 million a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on the president’s official disclosures, property records, financial records released in court cases, crypto trade information and other sources.

‌

Of the first-half total, $802 million – more than 90% – came from Trump crypto ventures, including sales of World Liberty tokens. That $864 million payday represents actual income – cash flowing, free and clear, into Trump family coffers.

‌

Defense Windfall: Donald Trump, Jr. Is Poised to Profit From Pentagon Drone Proposal (New York Times)

‌

A small company that has been manufacturing motors domestically for only a few weeks and has Donald Trump Jr. as an adviser won a parts order from the Army. Unusual Machines gave Donald Trump Jr. 200,000 shares of its stock late last year in return for his help as an adviser. The shares are now worth about $2.6 million. Though officials at the company and the Pentagon say President Trump’s son has not reached out to the Defense Department on their behalf, he has relationships with some high-level figures there.

US Food Aid Plan Disappears: USDA Quietly Deletes Its Contingency Plan for Funding SNAP (NOTUS)

The US Department of Agriculture had a plan to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program running during a government shutdown by using contingency funds — but the document laying out that plan has now disappeared from the agency’s website.

Those contingency funds are now at the center of a political and legal battle as benefits for approximately 42 million Americans are set to stop on Nov. 1.

‌

A banner of Trump hanging on the USDA headquarters in DC. Photo: Getty Images

Progressive Win in the Netherlands: Centrist Party Ties Dutch Election as Far-Right Party Loses Seats (New York Times)

The outcome was a major win for the political center and a big defeat for the far-right party of Geert Wilders, who faced a significant setback in an election he forced.

Brazil Latest: Lula ‘Appalled’ by Deadly Police Raids in Rio, Minister Says (Bloomberg)

Brazil’s justice minister criticized a historically lethal police operation that left at least 119 people dead in Rio de Janeiro, chastising local officials for leaning on “brute strength” to try to root out drug gangs that operate across the city.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was “appalled” by the violence that struck Brazil’s second-largest city on Tuesday, after a series of pre-dawn raids spiraled into all-day shootouts that culminated in the deadliest police operation in its history.

Market Alert: Fed Cuts Rates, Powell Signals December Move ‘Far From’ Certain (Bloomberg)

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-2 to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.75%-4% on Wednesday. 
‌

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned investors against assuming the US central bank would follow its second straight interest-rate cut with another in December.

Tech Latest: Meta, Microsoft Test Investors’ Patience With AI Spending Spree (Bloomberg)

The largest technology companies are betting on an AI future powered by gigantic complexes of data centers filled with humming servers.

Three bellwethers from different corners of the technology world – Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — together racked up some $78 billion in capital expenditures last quarter. That’s up 89% from a year earlier.

Investors will get a clearer picture of the cloud computing industry on Thursday, when market leader Amazon.com Inc. is scheduled to post its results. Apple Inc. also is slated to give its quarterly numbers that afternoon.

Private Market Push: Morgan Stanley Buys EquityZen in First Deal for CEO Ted Pick (Bloomberg)

Data Boost: Bloomberg Adds Hamilton Lane Private Market Indices to the Terminal (Bloomberg - Press Release)

Bloomberg announced the addition of Hamilton Lane’s (Nasdaq: HLNE) suite of twenty private market closed-end fund performance indices to the Bloomberg Terminal and Data License, providing investors with new data and analytical tools to evaluate and compare performance. Selecting Bloomberg as a distribution channel marks a significant step in making Hamilton Lane benchmarks broadly available to the investment community, expanding access to data and driving even greater transparency across the asset class.

The collection of indices, covering more than 7,000 funds, is now available on the Bloomberg Terminal at [HLNE] with a subset available to mutual clients.

Tune in to the Daily Read Podcast: Stay ahead with AI-powered news insights every day — streaming now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

TV News: YouTube TV Inks Bloomberg Media Deal for 24-Hour News and Originals Channels (Variety)

Google’s YouTube TV is adding two channels from Bloomberg Media to its lineup, one with live 24-hour news and the other with the media company’s original series and documentaries.

‌

Next Week's Test for Democrats: The NJ and Virginia Races Will Answer a Key Question (Bloomberg Opinion - Ron Brownstein)
‌

The gubernatorial races next week in Virginia and New Jersey will offer the best measure yet of whether the Democratic Party has begun to reverse its losses among two key groups: prosperous suburbanites and economically strained racial minorities. Both groups shifted enough toward President Donald Trump and the GOP last year to help propel Republicans to total control of the federal government.
‌

Democratic gubernatorial nominees Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey appear on track to counter Trump’s inroads in upscale suburbs. That alone makes both women — especially Spanberger — the favorites in states that house large numbers of college graduates (and also historically elect governors from the party that’s out of the White House).

NYC Mayors Race: Mike Bloomberg Endorses Andrew Cuomo for Mayor, Gives $1.5 Million to Pro-Cuomo Super PAC (New York Times)

In a statement on Wednesday, Bloomberg said: “Being mayor of New York City is the second toughest job in America, and the next mayor will face immense challenges. Andrew Cuomo has the experience and toughness to stand up for New Yorkers and get things done.”
‌

Icon of Culture: A Flowing Toast to Diane von Furstenberg, Queen of the Wrap Dress (New York Times)

Diane von Furstenberg, wearing a dark blue chiffon caftan, sat slinkily on a couch at a party surrounded by her friends and admirers on Tuesday night at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan. 

Ms. von Furstenberg was being honored by the art center’s Icons of Culture Gala, which jubilantly fetes the city’s movers and shakers. Mike Bloomberg, who is the venue’s chair, was pivotal in funding the art center’s opening two years ago with a $130 million donation, adding to the $75 million contribution first stacked by Ronald Perelman.

Gateway Gallery: A First Look Inside JFK's New Terminal One. For Now, It's All About the Art (New York Magazine)

Tomorrow in NYC: How One Neighborhood Engineers the Ultimate Halloween Spectacle (New York Times)

Halloween is a special holiday for many New York City neighborhoods, with city dwellers decking out brownstones and Victorians, rowhouses and high-rises. But West 69th Street, especially between Broadway and Central Park West on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, transforms into an open-air museum of Halloween art. Part haunted carnival and part design showcase, the scene can include professional aerialists rappelling from brownstones, doormen donning gorilla costumes and aliens dancing under a disco ball.

Formed in 1969, the West 69th Street Block Association has nurtured a Halloween tradition dating back to 1971. Each year, its Halloween committee organizes a trick-or-treating affair that draws more than 4,000 children — a celebration many neighbors see as both a community service and a way to bring the block together.

Best of Late Night

On Trump's trip to Asia this week:

“Well, guys, President Trump was in Tokyo, where he attended a meeting and ate lunch with the new prime minister of Japan. The prime minister said it was her first time seeing someone dip their sushi in ketchup.”
-- Jimmy Fallon

“The prime minister gifted Trump a golf bag, a golden putter and told him that she had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump was like, ‘I think I found my soul mate.’” 
-- Jimmy Fallon

On President Trump recently telling reports that he'd had an M.R.I. scan, and that the results were “perfect.”:

“Wait a second, what’s that in his stomach? It’s the Epstein files!”
-- Stephen Colbert

And from The Daily Show: Desi Lydic breaks down Trump’s trip to Japan, which included a shockingly firm handshake from new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, decadent gifts to win the president’s heart, and a quick survey for the US Navy about magnets. Click the photo below to watch.