Good Morning

 

• Boeing workers in Seattle have rejected a contract offer and continued their strike, which has been ongoing for more than five weeks. 64% of workers voted against the offer, which provided for a 35% wage increase over four years.
  
  
• The USA has stated for the first time that North Korea has sent around 3,000 soldiers to Russia, possibly for deployment in the Ukraine war. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called this a serious development, but stressed that it is still unclear what the soldiers will be doing. US sources suspect that the North Korean troops are being trained at military bases in Russia. South Korean reports suggest that North Korea wants to send up to 10,000 soldiers. This is seen as a sign of Russia's personnel problems in the Ukraine war.
  
  
• A Russian cargo plane with a presumably Russian crew that was supplying the Sudanese army has crashed in Darfur. The rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claim to have shot down the plane. Documents and identity papers of two Russians were found in the wreckage, who are said to have previously been active in the arms trade. The plane, an Ilyushin IL-76, is said to have been delivering weapons and supplies to the army-held city of al-Fashir. The incident highlights the opaque role of foreign actors in the Sudanese conflict.
  
  
• The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are providing Argentina with financing totaling 8.8 billion US dollars. These funds are intended to contribute to the country's economic development. 2 billion US dollars from the World Bank are earmarked for social spending such as education and energy. A further 3 billion is to flow into the private sector, such as renewable energies and mining. The IDB is providing 2.4 billion US dollars for social spending and an additional 1.4 billion US dollars to strengthen the private sector.
  
  
• Nearly 25 million Americans have already cast their ballots in the 2024 election as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaign intensely in battleground states. Harris emphasized at a town hall in Pennsylvania that her administration would differ from Biden's policies to win over undecided voters. She sharply criticized Trump and promised to tackle issues such as rising food prices and the war in the Middle East. Trump, who held campaign events in Georgia, is focused on mobilizing Christian voters and praised the high voter turnout.
  
  
• An international meeting is being held in Paris to provide humanitarian aid for Lebanon, support the security forces and promote a ceasefire. France, with historical ties to Lebanon, is organizing the conference, but expects little concrete progress. The USA is concentrating on its own efforts and high-ranking representatives from the USA and Saudi Arabia are absent. The aim of the conference is to implement Resolution 1701, which calls for a demilitarized zone in the south of Lebanon, and to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces. Political progress, such as the election of a new Lebanese president, is uncertain.
  
• Asian equities fell due to uncertainty over the US elections and rising US government bond yields. The Nikkei in Tokyo rose slightly, while the stock markets in China and Hong Kong fell. Tesla brought some optimism after positive quarterly results and caused Nasdaq futures to rise. In Europe, trading is expected to start on a positive note, while US markets remained under pressure, partly due to strong economic data and fears of higher interest rates. The dollar remained strong and gold prices fell. Brent oil rose again after a slump due to US crude oil inventory data.
  
  
• Tropical storm “Trami” has caused severe devastation in the Philippines and killed at least 22 people.Many victims drowned, were buried by landslides or hit by falling trees.The main island of Luzon and the provinces of Albay and Catanduanes were particularly affected.More than 54,000 people had to flee.There was massive flooding and landslides, including at the Mayon volcano.Many people were trapped on their roofs for days. Power cuts and evacuations were ordered. “Trami” is expected to leave the Philippines on Friday.
  
• McDonald's saw its share price plummet after an outbreak of E. coli bacteria was linked to the chain's restaurants in several US states. 49 people fell ill and one person died. McDonald's suspects sliced onions used in the Quarter Pounder to be the cause. This burger has been temporarily removed from the range in affected regions. The share price fell by 5.80 percent, representing a loss of almost 14 billion dollars in market value.
  
  
• The Schwarz Group (think: Lidl, Kaufland) and Deutsche Bahn have jointly founded Datahub Europe - a data platform for AI models. The aim is to create a data-sovereign marketplace for European companies that meets the growing demand for high-quality and secure AI models.
  
• License dispute: Arm revokes Qualcomm's chip design license (FT)
• TSMC: Stops shipments to an APAC customer after unauthorized transfer of chips to Huawei (BBG)
• OpenAI: Hires former White House employee as chief economist (NYTimes)
• AI-powered immunoscience: revolutionizing healthcare (WIR)
• Top UK Startups 2024: Bloomberg takes a close look at the most innovative British companies, including numerous AI players (BBG)
• Nuclear power + AI: The double dystopia? (TAZ)
  
• Robert Habeck: calls for billions in funds for the German economy The Minister for Economic Affairs surprisingly - and apparently without consulting his coalition partners - presents an impulse paper with numerous proposals for supporting the economy. And, above all, sets the tone for his upcoming election campaign as the Greens' candidate for chancellor. (TAG)
  
• Major merger in the marine industry? New interested parties for TKMS Yesterday it was announced that PE firm Carlyle will not take over Thyssen-Krupp shipyard subsidiary TKMS. According to Handelsblatt, domestic interested parties are now positioning themselves - including shipyard Lürssen and armaments group Rheinmetall. (HB)
  
• Granola: AI notepad wows investors and receives $20 million in funding The AI-powered note-taking app has established itself as a popular tool among venture capitalists - which has now brought the start-up a quick $20 million in Series A funding. Since its launch in May, the user base has increased fivefold - and Granola plans to use the funding to develop a mobile offering. (TC)
  
  
  
• Altair Engineering: Listed engineering software provider valued at $9bn under review (RT) 
• Triton: PE firm exploring options for plastic container maker IFCO, at $5.4bn valuation (BBG) 
• Elevance Health: Acquires long-term care company CareBridge for $2.7 billion (BI)
• Dye & Durham: Listed legal software provider valued at $900m considers sale (WSJ) 
• Ambuja Cements: Acquires 47% stake in competitor Orient Cement for $451m (RT) 
• Second Name Brands: Acquires cookie brand Voortman from J.M. Smucker for $305m (RT)
• Brookfield: Resumes talks with Barclays to acquire a majority stake in its UK merchant payment service (RT)
• Frontier Airlines & Spirit Airlines: Revive their merger talks (FORT)
• Kneron: AI chip startup, aims to raise $300m at $1bn valuation (BBG)
• Socket: open source code vulnerability detection tool raises $40m in Series B led by a16z and Elad Gil (TC)
• Neysa: AI/ML infrastructure startup, raises $30m in Series A led by NTTVC, Z47 and Nexus Venture Partners (FIN)
• Interface.ai: AI-powered customer automation platform, raises $20m led by Avataar Venture Partners (TC)
• Stream.Security: Cloud security solution, raises $30m in Series B led by US Venture Partners (FIN)
• WarrCloud: Automated warranty processing platform, raises $20m in Series B led by Centana Growth Partners (FIN)
• BiltOn: Construction workflow and risk management software, raises $15m in Series B led by PSG Equity (FIN)
• Rollstack: Startup that facilitates the creation of data-driven presentations, raises $11m in Series A led by Insight Partners (IP)
• Highlight: desktop AI assistant, raises $10m led by General Catalyst (TC)
  
• Orban calls for resistance against the EU.
• A new parliament will be elected in Georgia on Saturday.
• Germany expands arms exports to Israel