Opinion

• Trump’s Firing of US Attorneys Is Another Power Grab
  The Trump administration’s latest effort to evade the Senate confirmation process and upset the constitutional balance of power is focused on the fifth floor of a federal office building in downtown Seattle. That’s the home of the US attorney for the Western District of Washington, who was fired last summer, restored to office last week and removed again over the weekend.
• Britain Has Found a Politician Who Actually Knows Finance
  If Andrew Griffith wanted to write a guide on how not to run an economy, he has lots of examples from his fairly short stint in British politics. His first Westminster job in 2019 was for then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the man who secured the financially ruinous Brexit and who reportedly once uttered, “ F**k business.” Three years later Griffith served at the Treasury during the mercifully short premiership of Liz Truss, who destroyed the country’s credibility with the bond markets.
• Ellison’s Skydance Name Change Isn't Worth the Outrage
  Paramount played a key role in the movie Sunset Boulevard, as fading screen star Norma Desmond yearned to return to that nigh-magical dream factory behind those ornate studio gates.
• Audi’s $89,000 Q9 Shows Chinese Competition Is Hitting the US
  America’s automakers enjoy the refuge of an anti-Chinese wall. But so do foreign, non-Chinese automakers who also sell vehicles in America, especially if they manufacture here. This means Chinese competition is exerting pressure on US dealer lots already; indirectly, yes, but it’s likely to intensify. Detroit’s defensive moat is less impenetrable than it might seem.
• The Last Word on Lionel Messi
  Ten years ago, Lionel Messi was defeated, dejected, absolutely heartbroken.
• The US Shouldn’t Be So Afraid of Chinese Investment
  When the leaders of China and the US met in May, they announced a “Board of Investment” aimed at widening Chinese foreign direct investment in the US. In Washington last month, they barely mentioned the subject. The omission is unsurprising — and shortsighted.
• Keep Medicine Out of the US-China Tech War
  As Washington and Beijing tussle for dominance in frontier technologies, there’s one area in which competition shouldn’t preclude collaboration: innovative medicines. Beijing’s latest five-year plan for the biotechnology sector details how the country wants to lead the field globally. Unusually for an industrial blueprint, it comes with numeric targets.
• A $23 Billion Franco-US AI Bet Is Seriously Aggressive
  The financial mood is tense, borrowing costs are rising and dealmaking has been quieter since the summer. But Europe has a cohort of companies that are benefiting from the rise of artificial intelligence, and their animal spirits are stirring. Enter Schneider Electric SE with a surprising and very aggressive $23 billion deal to buy S&P 500 software firm PTC Inc.
• Nike’s Other Shoe Has Finally Dropped
  Elliott Hill didn’t clear the decks enough when he became chief executive officer of Nike Inc. two years ago. So on Thursday, Hill, accompanied by new Chief Financial Officer David Denton, slashed sales and profit forecasts.
• Musk Is Trying to Bully Delta Into Starlink. He Has a Point
  Elon Musk added to his annals of antics on Thursday, warning Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian that he will lose his job for choosing Amazon Leo to provide aircraft internet over SpaceX’s Starlink.
• Australia’s Energy Experiment Proved the Skeptics Wrong
  Just over 10 years ago, a wind storm sweeping through the state of South Australia appeared to deal a death blow for the energy transition.
• Iowa Is a Microcosm of All the GOP’s Problems
  Iowa is ground zero for everything that ails the GOP in its battle to maintain its governing majority.
• Apple’s Year Hinges on the Foldable iPhone Duo
  A big question Apple Inc. analysts are asking is: How many consumers are waiting for the iPhone Duo?
• What Anthropic’s ‘Existential Risks’ Tell IPO Investors
  Anthropic PBC’s public listing prospectus warned investors of “existential risks to humanity.” Why? Being long or short the artificial intelligence lab’s shares will not matter to investors wiped out by Skynet, the fictional AI of the Terminator movies that seems to some a vision of the future.
• India’s Gen Z Faces Down the Artificial Intelligence Future
  It took India 250 years to catch a break after its textile artisans lost out to new technology in the 18th century. How long will it take for the country to find the next growth frontier in the age of artificial intelligence?
• Japan’s Massive Bond Rotation Is France’s Nightmare
  A great asset migration is taking place in Japan. Yet as investors reallocate their overseas capital from bonds to stocks and unwind yen-funded carry trades, they’re also deepening France’s sovereign debt crisis.
• FROGS Is the Name of Europe’s Latest Debt Crisis
  You know it’s a European debt crisis when it has an acronym. This time it’s not a group of countries in serious trouble, the famous PIIGS of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. Instead it’s France alone being singled out with FROGS, which stands for French Oversized Government and Social Security (blame Parisian research firm Rexecode for that one).