Deals under scrutiny

The Biden administration is said to be increasing scrutiny of deals involving Middle Eastern wealth funds, part of a broader pushback on entities perceived to have close ties with Beijing. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, is reviewing several multibillion dollar deals this year on concerns they could pose national security risks. Officials in President Joe Biden’s cabinet are currently reviewing more than half a dozen acquisitions, including deals from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. In recent months, administration officials have also expressed mounting worries that critical technology, infrastructure and data that get to the United Arab Emirates could potentially end up in China’s hands. Stephenie Gosnell Handler, a Washington-based partner at Gibson Dunn, recently acknowledged the attention being paid by the US government, saying “we have been seeing CFIUS start to ask more questions.” —David E. Rovella

Hamas released 24 hostages held in Gaza under a four-day truce with Israel, a brief pause in six weeks of war that have devastated northern Gaza and killed 13,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, health authorities there have said. Those freed were among some 240 people Israel said were captured when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people. A cease-fire went into effect earlier Friday. Under the agreement, Israel released 39 jailed Palestinian women and minors on Friday, Qatar said. “It’s only a start, but so far it’s gone well,” Biden said. “We expect more hostages to be released tomorrow—and more the day after that.” Calling the agreement “the result of extensive American diplomacy,” the US president said he remains in contact with the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Israel to ensure the effort “remains on track.”

Black Friday sales show US consumers are watching their wallets and holding out for deeper discounts, which potentially sets retailers up for a subdued holiday shopping season and lackluster earnings results early next year. Consumers aren’t spending at the same pace they did during the past few years, when the holidays were marked by pandemic-related splurges. While estimates on brick-and-mortar Black Friday sales won’t be available for some time, Salesforce expects online US sales to grow 1% in November and December versus a year earlier, which would be the slowest growth in at least five years.

On Wall Street, the day after Thanksgiving is generally short and quiet, with nothing but giblets for those investors paying attention. But on this Friday, there was one bit of news worthy of a drumstick. As the S&P 500 closed little changed at 1 p.m. in New York, notching its fourth straight week of gains, the so-called fear gauge—the volatility index or VIX—dropped to its lowest since January 2020.

China’s health-care system is once again attracting international attention as a wave of pneumonia cases sweeps through the country, hitting kids particularly hard. The sudden increase in sick children, and a report suggesting widespread clusters of undiagnosed respiratory illnesses, prompted the World Health Organization to ask for more details in order to allay concerns that a novel pathogen—like Covid-19—might be a source of the outbreaks.

Just days after his surprise victory, Argentine President-elect Javier Milei is backing away from his more extreme campaign pledges and instead making noises that meet with approval on Wall Street. Milei’s boldest campaign proposals—dollarization and closing the central bank—appear to be on hold for now.

Berkshire Hathaway exited India’s Paytm by selling its 2.5% stake in the digital payments service provider via a block deal on Friday. BH International Holdings, an entity related to Berkshire Hathaway, sold 15.6 million shares in One 97 Communications Ltd., the parent of Paytm, via a single block trade that took place soon after start of trading on India’s National Stock Exchange.

A flurry of high-profile sexual-abuse lawsuits were filed in New York this week to beat the expiration of a state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on civil abuse and harassment claims, no matter how old. The list of defendants includes music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, rock legend Axl Rose and embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams. (The first person sued under the law was Donald Trump.) Adams, formerly a high-ranking employee of the New York City Police Department, faces a $5 million lawsuit by a woman who alleges she was assaulted by him in 1993. “The claims brought here allege intentional and negligent acts and omissions for physical, psychological, and other injuries suffered as a result of conduct that would constitute sexual offenses,” according to the suit. Adams, already at the center of an expanding federal investigation of his campaign, denied the allegations. The complaint also names as defendants the NYPD’s transit bureau and the New York Police Department Guardians Association.

Artificial intelligence is likely to transform our world in many ways, but one that hasn’t received much attention is the technology’s looming impact on real estate, Tyler Cowen writes in Bloomberg Opinion. As AI becomes an essential component of both business and daily life, the value of places where those who work on AI want to live will increase. At the same time, the value of lower-tier cities left out of the boom will diminish. The more that companies adopt AI, Cowen writes, the more those companies will look like and be run like the AI companies themselves. And with fewer workers around, commercial real estate—already reeling from a shift to work from home—will suffer.

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Bloomberg New Economy Forum: The sixth annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum returned to Singapore earlier this month, where the world’s most influential leaders gathered to address the critical issues facing the global economy. This year’s theme, “Embracing Instability,” focused 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. Now you can watch sessions from the Forum here on demand.