Arvind's Newsletter

1.Donald Trump Returns to Power in historic comeback

Donald Trump has completed a stunning political comeback, and the United States has entered an uncertain new era.

Trump won a clear victory in the presidential election over Vice President Kamala Harris, likely including in all seven battleground states. After a defiant campaign filled with grim portrayals of the country’s condition, he is on course to become the first Republican to win the national popular vote in 20 years.

The result showed a country that had shifted to the political right, with voters unhappy about President Biden’s performance, especially on the economy and immigration result showed a country that had shifted to the political right, with voters unhappy about President Biden’s performance, especially on the economy and immigration.

Four years after being impeached for his role in a violent attack on Congress, five months after being convicted of a felony in New York and three months after surviving an assassination attempt, Trump will begin preparing his return to the White House.

Another sign of the breadth of Trump’s victory came in the races for the Senate. Republicans regained control by recapturing seats in Ohio, West Virginia and perhaps Montana. Races in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin remain close. It is unclear which party will control the House.

It appears that Latino men, especially, voted strongly for the Republican, while Kamala Harris failed to persuade women and minority voters, crucial to her chances of victory, to turn out.

2.Elon Musk’s gamble on Donald Trump pays off

“A star is born: Elon,” said Donald Trump in a lengthy shout out to his biggest donor while claiming victory in the US presidential race on Wednesday morning.  Trump’s win ushers in a new era for Musk — already the world’s richest person with a $260 bn fortune — whose gamble on a knife-edge US election paid off as he is set to become one of the incoming president’s most influential political and business advisers.

Musk’s promised role as head of a new Department of Government Efficiency will give the billionaire sweeping powers to recommend deep cuts to what he deems a “vast federal bureaucracy . . . holding America back in a big way”. 

Musk has also vowed to champion deregulation and will gain influence over US policy on artificial intelligence, space exploration and electric vehicles — all sectors that he has a personal stake in through his leadership of xAI, SpaceX and Tesla.

Shares in Tesla, whose chief executive Elon Musk became one of Trump’s most vociferous backers, surged as much as 13 per cent at the start of trading in New York.

Musk, who contributed more than $100mn to the pro-Republican America Pac.

3.Global stocks jumped as investors bet on Donald Trump’s promised tax cuts and vows to slash regulation. 

The price of Bitcoin — which Trump has promised to ease regulation on — reached a record high. “If you had the Trump trade on for the last six weeks, it’s been outstanding,” an analyst told Bloomberg. The dollar strengthened at the fastest rate in 2 years , pushing the Mexican peso to its lowest level since 2020, largely thanks to his pledge to impose tariffs on all imports. Economists say that policy would drive inflation, in turn likely prompting the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates: Treasury bonds fell as a result.

By contrast, renewable energy companies in Europe slumped amid fears that Trump could abolish the tax breaks and subsidies provided by Biden’s administration.

4.Apple warns investors future products may never be as profitable as iPhone

Apple has warned investors that future products may never be as profitable as its iPhone business, as it pushes into unproven new markets such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality headsets.

The iPhone maker added the new warning on growth and profit margins to its latest annual report, in the list of “risk factors” facing the tech group’s business.

“New products, services and technologies may replace or supersede existing offerings and may produce lower revenues and lower profit margins,” Apple said, “which can materially adversely impact the company’s business, results of operations and financial condition”.

5. Global deaths from cancer are projected to grow 90% by 2050. 

Researchers used recent rates of growth in 36 types of cancer across 185 countries along with UN population projections, and suggested the most rapid rise would come in low and middle income countries: Niger and Afghanistan, for instance, are expected to see nearly a threefold increase.

Partly the cause will be growing cancer risk, driven by higher levels of obesity and sedentary lifestyles as countries become richer — so far not offset by falling alcohol and smoking rates in poorer countries as much as in the West — but it is also a positive story: In order to die of cancer, predominantly a disease of aging, people must first not die of something else.

6.Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD said it would ramp up production and hiring on the back of rising sales, a sharp contrast with legacy automakers who reported disappointing results.

BYD’s announcement came after its latest results showed its revenues for the first time outpaced those of Tesla. Yet even as it and other major Chinese carmakers have expanded both their output and their ambitions, increasingly targeting overseas markets, historically powerful automotive companies BMW, Honda, and Toyota all posted sharp declines in quarterly profit, in large part because of sagging demand in China.

The dueling narratives came as Reuters reported that Beijing directed its automakers to halt investments in European Union countries that supported tariffs on China-made EVs.

7.AI startup Perplexity to triple valuation to $9 billion in new funding round

Perplexity is finalizing a new funding round that would value it at $9 billion—triple its valuation from just a few months ago—the latest sign of continued investor excitement for artificial intelligence startups.

The AI-powered search company is set to raise $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The venture firm Institutional Venture Partners, which also holds a board seat in the startup, will lead what would be Perplexity’s fourth funding round this year.

The funding round would turn Perplexity into one of the most valuable young AI startups to emerge out of the generative AI boom. It was valued at just $520 million at the start of this year.