ExclusiveFIRMS IN CHINA EXPRESS LOW MARKET SENTIMENT

Dom, good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, good to see you guys as always. Let me start off with an update on a recall on a vehicle here. So Volkswagen is recalling more than 4,600 vehicles in the United States over concerns that their high voltage batteries may overheat and increase the risk of a fire. And that's according to what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said today. The recall affects plug-in hybrids. National highway officials say dealers will install advanced diagnostic software to remedy the issue. The agency expects the remedy to be available in the second quarter of 2025. And before you hit that send button on the text message, the FBI is warning iPhone and Android users about Chinese hackers targeting U.S. networks. The agency said the cyberattacks are reportedly ongoing and at a larger scale than they thought. iMessages between Apple users and Android to Android messages are secure. Though it's from one to the other that's not secure. The FBI and other agencies suggest using encrypted messaging and phone calls. A Forbes article reports that the network's cyberattacks are connected to a group called Salt Typhoon, who is associated with China's Ministry of Public Security. Constitutional rights firm America Legal First says Southwest Airlines dropped its diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements Monday. The non-profit has sued the airline over what it alleged to be unlawful, discriminatory employment practices. In January, America First Legal filed a complaint against Southwest with the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The non-profit alleged that Southwest explicitly promoted illegal DEI policies that violated its equal opportunity agreements. The firm requested an immediate investigation into the airline for allegedly breaching federal law. According to the legal group, Southwest has received over $330 million in federal government contracts since 2007. The airline has agreed to end all DEI quotas, benchmarks, or preferences in its hiring and promotions practices. A long path completed from Campbell's Soup to the NFL Commander's. Mark Klaus, the CEO of the iconic chicken noodle soup company, is switching teams. He's been drafted by the NFL Washington Commander's football team to be its president. Klaus will be responsible for the team's business operations. Since Klaus became Campbell's CEO in 2019, shares of the company have risen more than 30 percent. Dollar Tree's third quarter profit and sales beat market expectations today. More customers shopped at its discount stores for non-expensive essentials, including groceries, setting its shares up about 10 percent in pre-market trading. People shopping for lower-priced products like groceries and personal care have been boosting sales at dollar stores. That's even as they're reluctant to make non-essential purchases. Meanwhile, carmaker Stellantis denied an Italian report that it planned to name Apple's outgoing chief financial officer as its new chief executive. Former CEO Carlos Taveras announced that he would be stepping down Sunday after nearly four years as the head of the company. Stellantis said Apple's CFO Luca Maestri will not head its portfolio that includes brands like Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, and Maserati. Starting today, Disney Plus subscribers can watch ESPN from the app, but only games and events from ESPN Plus. Next year, the entertainment giant is planning to include ESPN, the cable channel. Disney is making a hard push for bundling. Right now, Disney Plus subscribers can also access Hulu. The Verge is reporting that the ESPN streaming service could launch as early as next summer. For that service alone, it's rumored to cost up to $30 a month. General Motors gets beat up in China. The company is taking a $5 billion hit as it downsizes its China business. Here's more on that story. General Motors says it'll take a $5 billion hit from its China business. It's shutting down factories and expecting to sell fewer cars. CFO Paul Jacobson says the company's China business will continue despite the hardships. We expect that we'll be able to put in a position where we're continuing to target being profitable again next year. Like I said, on a much smaller scale. In the past decade, GM reliably made $2 billion a year in profit from China. Now, it's getting beat up. Every brand's getting beat up in China. What China does that we don't do here in the U.S., or most countries don't do, is they subsidize the sale of vehicles. Instead of a $60,000 car, they may offer it for $32,000. And what customer wouldn't say, geez, I can almost buy two of these. Auto expert Lauren Fix says foreign brands are struggling against native brands because the native brands are subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party. Brands like BYD were once considered inferior, but now Chinese consumers prefer them over cars from GM. As demand falls off, they'll have to make a decision. So some brands have already moved to the third largest marketplace, which is India, because they know they can sell vehicles. GM has already left India, as well as Europe, Australia, and parts of Southeast Asia. If it were to leave China, it would be heavily dependent on North America, its primary market. It was all aboard Amtrak this year, as the nation's passenger railroad company reported record ridership. In a news release, Amtrak said it carried nearly 33 million people on its passenger rail system in the fiscal 2024 year. That's up 15% from the year before. The rail service struggled to recover financially after the pandemic disrupted usual patterns. Its CEO has said that it would take five years to recover losses from the pandemic. Now Amtrak's goal is to double its numbers by 2040. Striking over a planned sale, nearly 500 journalists at The Guardian and its sister paper, The Sunday Only Observer, have walked off the job. They're protesting the sale of Observer to a digital startup. One reporter said she's concerned this would be the potential death of the historic brand. The Observer dates back to the 1700s. The strike started today and is expected to last two days this week and a couple more next week. It looks like women are dominating this era in the music industry. For a second year in a row, the top artist is none other than Taylor Swift. A Spotify-wrapped 2024 year and data revealed Swift was the number one most-streamed artist globally. Her The Tortured Poets Department album broke several Spotify records. Overall, women took over the most-streamed albums worldwide list with eight out of ten spots. That includes Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and Ariana Grande. Market sentiment among German firms in China is now hitting an all-time low. And this comes as they battle a slowing economy and growing competition from their Chinese rivals. For this year, it's about 60 percent of the respondents who expect that this year, from the overall economic situation which they are dealing with, the situation is worsening compared to last year. This is a significant increase, we have to say. According to the German Chamber of Commerce in China, more than half of German companies have indicated a downward spiral in their industries this year. They signaled a 32 percent improvement in 2025, the lowest growth figure since 2007. Today, Germany remains China's largest trading partner in Europe. Prominent automakers like Volkswagen and BMW have sent large investments into the communist nation. Beyond that, it's not just German companies enduring the blow. A recent British sentiment survey of companies operating in China also painted a bleak picture. Beijing considers foreign direct investment a sign of confidence for its economy. But that number has been falling for two years straight. Telegram has agreed to team up with a prominent international watchdog to combat child sex abuse content. For years, critics have condemned the service for relying the material on its platform. The Internet Watch Foundation maintains a database of abuse imagery and helps tech platforms flag and take it down. The UK-based organization announced a partnership with Telegram yesterday. French police arrested Telegram's co-founder and CEO Pavel Dorov at an airport in Paris back in August. Authorities accuse him and the platform of failing to adequately prevent explicit sexual content involving minors. Dorov holds both French and Russian citizenship, among others. The 40-year-old remains free on bail in France but cannot leave the country. In the face of potential trade tariffs from Trump, British exports could be impacted as much as they were by Brexit. UK service industry exports grew, but their goods trade shrank. Since Europe is Britain's biggest goods partner, a think tank recommends pursuing an EU-focused trade policy, even if that means sparing US tariffs. NTD's international correspondent Malcolm Hudson has more from London. Trump's proposed tariffs could hit British trade with the United States as hard as Brexit affected its trade with the European Union. That's according to the think tank, the Resolution Foundation, which warns of a In a report published on Wednesday, the Resolution Foundation said the service industry held up well after Brexit, but Britain's trade in goods suffered. Companies in areas such as advertising, IT and consultancies have found it easier to work around Brexit, while goods exporters can't avoid transport costs and border checks. The report found goods exports between the far less than the average 4.2% among OECD nations. Services, meanwhile, grew by 7.5%, exceeding the OECD 6.1% average. Trump has promised a range of tariffs, including a universal 10-20% levy on all goods imported to America. But the report recommends for the British government to avoid taking sides on tariffs, and that's advice that Starmer appears to be aligning with, on Monday rejecting the idea that he has to choose between allies. That somehow we're with either America or Europe, I reject it utterly. To this end, the report recommends for the UK to ease its trade in goods with Europe, and to reduce trade barriers for the free flow of services in and out of Britain. Now, here's the kicker. It's been suggested the incoming Trump administration could agree to a trade deal with Britain if the UK aligns itself with America's free trade model over the European Union's socialist economic approach. As you just saw, Starmer appears to be trying to walk a fine line between the two allies. This should be easier for Britain's service industry, but since Europe is Britain's biggest goods partner, it may mean Britain will have to bear the cost of the US tariffs. Malcolm Hudson, NTD News, London. Next, Volkswagen's CEO and union leader met today amid a standoff that could see tens of thousands of workers walk off the job. Management is pushing for major cuts while workers warn of more strikes if plant closures remain part of negotiations. Volkswagen insists that plant closures and pay cuts are needed in Germany to respond to Chinese competition. Workers say both proposals are unacceptable. Speaking to employees in Wolfsburg, CEO Oliver Bloom told workers, as management, we're not operating in a fantasy world. The European car industry is in trouble with thousands of jobs on the line for automakers and their suppliers. All are contending with the sliding market on the continent and a slower-than-expected adoption of electric vehicles. South Korean shares declined today after the nation's president declared martial law and then rescinded the order hours later. The move sparked the biggest political crisis in decades in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed down 36 points, or 1.4 percent. The won partially recovered after a sharp drop earlier in the day. The benchmark bond yield arose. South Korea's finance ministry said it was ready to deploy unlimited liquidity into financial markets in the wake of the political crisis. And just in time for the holidays is a new animated Christmas movie on Netflix. It's from Richard Curtis, the same writer behind films like Notting Hill, War Horse, and Love Actually, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Here's more. Christmas was knocking on Wellington's front door. The residents of an English town are in for a memorable yuletide in That Christmas. It is a time of year that I do consider particularly interesting, and particularly interesting in the context of family, because you are, you know, together at last, and it's always joyful, and there's always trouble. Richard Curtis created the characters for his children's books. The setting is also close to his heart. The place in the movie is a mixture of three towns very near where I live. And I love the fact that it's quite, it's a sort of quite, it's an animated movie, but it's a very realistic environment in many ways. If you feel alone, Christmas can be tricky. And our local heroes needed a giant sack full of fixing. This movie winds its way around the happy and the sad, and I hope the funny too. On to markets. All three major US stock indexes scored record closing highs today. Technology shares rallied after upbeat results from Salesforce, and comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave a late boost to the market as well. At a New York Times event, Powell said that the economy is stronger than it appeared in September when the central bank began cutting interest rates. Investors expect a third consecutive interest rate cut at the central bank's December 17th to 18th meeting. Investors also await monthly US job data due on Friday and jobs claims on Thursday. That is, we'll have more on that later in the week. And that's all for today's Business Matters. Back to you guys. Thanks for all those stories, Don. I especially like seeing the holiday Christmas movies starting to roll out. It's always a fun time where you can cozy up with your family and put on one of those classics and certainly give a new one a shot. But for me, I like to watch some of the classics myself. Yeah. And as a kid, you know, that's one of the big things that made me feel like the holiday season is here, watching those holiday themed TV shows and movies. And that report on this Netflix TV movie, That Christmas, looks pretty interesting. The animation looks pretty good. Maybe I'll take a look at that. Check it out. Yeah, I'm open to checking it out too. I'm also a very big fan of the classics, but who knows? New movies have to come out to become classics in a couple years, right? That's right. The only thing better than watching a holiday movie for me and my family is going to see The Nutcracker. Well, we'll see you back here tomorrow, Don. Thanks for all those reports.