☀️ Dictator Divorce

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Good Morning — On this day in 1992, Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their divorce. Over the weekend Syria divorced from Syrian dictator Assad. Islamist militant group ‘HTS’ made rapid progress over the weekend forcing Assad to escape to Moscow, Russia. Luckily for Assad he speaks Russian, hates tea and is scared of heights.

In Today’s Morning Brief:

• Grand Reopening: Notre Dame stages grand reopening after 2021 fire.

• UK job vacancies disappoint: New job openings at lowest rate since pandemic.

• Stocks tumble: Investors were not pleased, hotter than expected inflation data shook the markets to the downside.

Week Ahead (Forecast)

Wed: 🇺🇸Core Inflation Rate MoM (0.3%)
Wed: 🇺🇸Core Inflation Rate YoY (3.6%).
Fri: 🇬🇧UK GDP MoM (0.2%)

and this is your Morning Brief

—Mateusz Caban, Harvey Williams, Alex Kozlowski

_MARKETS
Year to Date

*Stock data as of market close, as of 22:00pm GMT. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Stocks tumbled yesterday as investors were none too pleased with the slightly hotter-than-expected inflation data released this week. Further bringing down the vibes was Adobe, which issued weak guidance, worrying investors that the company’s AI bets are not paying off.

_TRAVEL
South Western Nationalisation

In 1996, South Western ran the first private train service of the modern era. Now it’s the first railway to be nationalised under Labour. The Government announced that it will not be seeking a new franchisee for the lines currently operated by South Western. From May 2025 the government will operate South Western Railways joining it’s portfolio of train lines; London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern & TransPennine Express.

Notable South Western Lines

• South West Main Line: London, Woking, Winchester, Basingstoke, Southampton, Bournemouth ,Poole ,Dorchester, Weymouth.

• Portsmouth Direct Line: Woking, Guildford, Haslemere, Petersfield Portsmouth.

• West of England Line: Basingstoke, Andover, Salisbury, Gillingham, Yeovil, Exeter.

Who’s next? C2C and Anglia will be nationalised in late 2025. Other railways have longer terms which will be nationalised as they expire. This will take at most 5 years.Nationalised railways will operate under the government’s holding company DFTO, joining the current portfolio of nationalised railways. Labour’s longterm goal is to bring British railways full circle from Thatcher’s privatisation to Labour’s renationalistion. — MC

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_WORLD
Headline Tour

🎥 Vivendi Shareholders Back Break-Up Plans: Vivendi shareholders gave the company the go ahead to commence a breakup that will see its core businesses listed on the stock market. With 97.5% of the votes backing the proposal that will see Vivendi spin off Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group. The spun off companies will start trading on Dec. 16 on the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Growth Paris, respectively. 

💼 Jay-Z, Accused in Suit of Raping Minor With Diddy: Jay-Z was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl with Sean Combs in a lawsuit filed Sunday by an unnamed plaintiff. He vehemently denied the allegation and accused the lawyer who brought the suit of trying to blackmail him with false claims. Mr. Combs, who is facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges and at least 30 lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. One of those lawsuits, filed in October, accused Mr. Combs and an anonymous celebrity of raping the plaintiff at a MTV Video Music Awards after-party New York in 2000.

Brief Explainer— Plaintiff (The Accuser ) Defendant (The Accused), Criminal Case (Usually brought by Government, potential of going to prison), Civil Case (Brought by Person/Company seeking a financial or other remedy)

💰UK job vacancies disappoint: The number of job vacancies in November fell at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, as business confidence slumped to its lowest level in almost two years, according to two new reports. The latest monthly report on the job market from accountancy firm KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) found demand for staff declined at a “sharp and accelerated pace” last month, with the steepest fall in vacancies since August 2020.

🇫🇷 Notre Dame Grand Reopening, Trump, Prince William Attend: "The bells of Notre-Dame are ringing again," French President Emmanuel Macron declared during the reopening ceremony of the world-famous cathedral in Paris. Prince William and Trump held their meeting, arranged at short notice, alongside the international gathering that marked the re-opening of Notre-Dame.

🚫 South Korea Bars President From Traveling Abroad: South Korea’s political dysfunction deepened Monday as its Ministry of Justice barred President Yoon Suk Yeol from leaving the country while officials investigate whether his brief declaration of martial law, amounted to leading an insurrection. Oh Dong-woon, the chief prosecutor, told lawmakers that he had sought the travel ban as the office carries out search-and-seizure operations targeting officials who were involved in the martial law order. - HW

_DEALS
UPDATE - US Steel Merger

US Steel (NYSE:X) sunk 10% after a report that President Joe Biden will formally block the $14 billion sale to Nippon Steel (OTCPK:NPSCY) over national security concerns. Biden is awaiting the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. recommendation on it, either by Dec. 22 or Dec. 23. Nippon Steel and US Steel are likely to pursue litigation if Biden moves with a block of the transaction, according to a Bloomberg report. “The President’s position since the beginning is that it is vital for US Steel to be domestically owned and operated,” White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma told Bloomberg.

President Biden has 15 days from CFIUS referral to announce a decision.

Nippon Steel in September was allowed to withdraw and refile its submission to CFIUS. The extension added three months and pushed the review past the U.S. election. Another extension to the CFIUS review isn't expected, according to Bloomberg. Last week, president-elect Donald Trump reiterated that he would block the Nippon Steel deal when he's officially president.Last month it was reported that Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sent a letter to Biden asking him to approve the Nippon Steel's deal to avoid marring recent efforts to strengthen ties between the countries. -AK

_{DEALS ON DECK}
AT&T to Buy US Cellular

• Patterson Companies (PDCO) will be acquired by Patient Square Capital in a $4.1 billion deal.

• Morgan Stanley Set to Buy €900 Million of Santander Mortgages.

• GC Biopharma to Buy Abo Holdings for $96.28 million.

• Blackstone to Buy Tokyo Complex From Seibu for $2.6 Billion.

• AT&T to Buy US Cellular Corp for ~$1 Billion.

_{DAILY FACT}
Pounds not Pence

Pounds not Pence - On the London Stock Exchange, UK stock prices are quoted in pence and not pounds. Such as ‘GBX 520’ and not £5.20. The UK is one of the only major economies that quotes its share prices in this way.

It is thought that the LSE’s system has roots in the old days of the pound – pre-1971 before the GBP was decimalised and one pound was worth 20 shillings. Each shilling was worth 12 (old) pence. This meant one pound was worth 240 pence. - AK

_GEOPOLITICS
Syria falls, Assad escapes to Moscow

Assad Regime Collapse - The government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, which had kept rebel forces at bay for more than a decade with Iranian and Russian military support, collapsed with astonishing speed on Sunday morning after an advance by opposition forces on the capital, Damascus. Mr. al-Assad fled the country as rebel forces closed in on Damascus.

The whereabouts of Mr. al-Assad, an authoritarian leader who had gassed his own people during a 13-year civil war, were unclear early on Sunday. Although Kremlin sources confirmed early Monday morning he had in fact escaped to Moscow, Russia.

Embarrassment for Putin - President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had built his strategy of making Moscow a player again in the Middle East around his support for Mr. al-Assad, even as the Kremlin grew weary of his refusal to engage with Turkey, not to mention the opposition, to settle the conflict.

1. 🏦 What is the largest stock exchange in the world?

2. 🇳🇿 Capital of New Zealand?

3. 🏅Youngest Olympic gold athlete?

4.  🎶 Who had an 1980's hit with the song "Is There Something I Should Know"?

5. ⚾️ What connection did Thomas Edison have with the construction of Yankee Stadium?

_WORLD
Headline Blitz

• Elon Musk’s rumoured $100m donation to Reform UK

• Facebook UK to cut 700 staff and reduced tax bill last year, accounts show

• Rupert Murdoch Loses Bid to Change Control of Family Trust

• Canada’s Trudeau Vows to Retaliate if Trump Imposes 25% Import Tariff

• McKinsey Promotes Its Smallest Group of Partners in Years

• Apollo-Backed Novolex to Buy Pactiv Evergreen for $3.22 Billion

• Israeli Troops Occupy Syria Buffer Zone in Defensive Step

Amortisation — is an accounting entry used to show the cost of using intangible assets. It is a non cash expense.

Say we run a business and and spend £1,000 on purchasing a intangible asset eg. a domain name that’s valid for 10 years. It would make no sense to expense the whole £1,000 on day one. As this would skew our business’s income making year 1 appear less profitable and subsequent years more profitable.

Instead we expense £100 every year for 10 years - This is called Amortisation.

What makes this an non cash expense? Well the whole £1,000 left our bank account on day one, there’s no money changing hands in year 2,3,4 and so on. Hence it’s a non cash expense.

Deprecation is exactly the same, only difference being it’s for tangible assets. Such as fixtures, furniture, computers etc. - AK

_{TO DO}
Extra Brief

📖 READ: UK’s listed builders on track to build fewest new houses in a decade
🎧 LISTEN: Peter Schiff and Steve Hanke Debate Inflation, Debt Crisis, Dedollarisation
📺 WATCH: Why the 3pm blackout needs to go

_GAMES

Answers

1. New York Stock Exchange

2. Wellington

3. Kim Tun Sa

4. Duran Duran

5. His company made the cement

_GAMES
House Hunt

Answers

1. New York Stock Exchange

2. Wellington

3. Kim Tun Sa

4. Duran Duran

5. His company made the cement