FirstFT: Qatar’s sovereign fund plans to deploy money ‘aggressively’

Right now’s agenda: Microsoft poaches Google DeepMind workers; Russian forces in Syria; paying UK CEOs “like football stars”; Huge Learn on the price of cyber scams; and Martin Wolf on an period of sluggish progress

Good morning. We begin with Qatar’s $500bn sovereign wealth fund, which plans to deploy its money extra aggressively because it embarks on a quinquennial assessment of its funding technique.

What are its plans? The Qatar Funding Authority’s new chief government informed the Monetary Occasions it anticipated to “do bigger-ticket deals” and make investments with “more frequency”. Mohammed Al-Sowaidi stated the QIA was bullish on the US, the place it has elevated its publicity considerably over the previous decade, in addition to within the UK and Asia, with a concentrate on know-how, synthetic intelligence, healthcare, actual property and infrastructure. The fund additionally plans to construct up its workplaces within the US and Singapore and is “scaling up with third-party managers”.

What’s prompting the strikes? An anticipated petrodollar windfall. Qatar is without doubt one of the world’s prime liquefied pure gasoline producers, and general manufacturing capability is forecast to rise virtually 85 per cent by the tip of the last decade. The IMF estimated in a 2022 report that the growth would increase the Gulf state’s actual GDP by 5.7 per cent by 2027 and add roughly 3.5 per cent of GDP in export receipts a 12 months. The primary recipient of the LNG revenues would be the QIA, and Sowaidi stated the inflows had the potential to double its dimension over 5 years. Right here’s extra from Sowaidi, together with his tackle Donald Trump’s tariff plans and Elon Musk.

And right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on at the moment:

• Financial knowledge: The US has its November shopper value index, whereas Opec publishes its month-to-month oil market report.

• French strikes: Railway employees at SNCF are set to protest towards deliberate adjustments, together with a push for privatisation on the state-owned firm.

• Central banks: Brazil and Canada have rate of interest selections, whereas Sanjay Malhotra begins a three-year time period as Reserve Financial institution of India governor. For extra particulars on his appointment, learn the newest situation of India Business Briefing, the FT’s new publication on the world’s fastest-growing giant financial system.

• Corporations: British American Tobacco has a buying and selling replace, whereas Adobe, Inditex and Tui report outcomes.

Be a part of Monetary Occasions editor Roula Khalaf and different FT consultants on-line at 4pm GMT as they talk about their predictions for the world in 2025. Register right here.

5 extra prime tales

1. Unique: Microsoft is poaching workers from Google for its new synthetic intelligence shopper well being crew. AI head Mustafa Suleyman is hiring workers from an identical unit he as soon as led at Google DeepMind, because the rival firms race to create profitable purposes from the cutting-edge know-how. Madhumita Murgia has extra from London.

2. Russia is holding on to key army bases in Syria even because it pulls again forces from smaller outposts within the nation following the overthrow of ally Bashar al-Assad. Satellite tv for pc imagery confirmed no indicators of a Russian withdrawal from the principle naval and air bases it makes use of as staging factors for the Mediterranean and Africa. Learn the total story.

• Corrupt state: The insurgent transitional authorities are grappling with a paperwork full of phantom jobs, pervasive graft and a tradition of obedience.

• ‘Sterile’ zone: Israel’s defence minister stated it wished to create an space “free of weapons and terror threats” in southern Syria after seizing territory and pounding army targets.

3. Wall Road banks are betting that the blockbuster rally in US shares will cool subsequent 12 months as buyers flip cautious on the AI growth. Ten main banks count on the S&P 500 to rise roughly 8 per cent by the tip of 2025, beneath the index’s historic common annual returns. Morgan Stanley’s chief funding officer stated: “We’re fighting . . . euphoria that has helped people buy stocks versus the realities of next year.”

4. Donald Trump has vowed to hurry up regulatory approvals for buyers spending $1bn or extra within the US, a sign that he’ll handle one in all builders’ thorniest complaints when he takes workplace subsequent month. The president-elect’s pledge displays his plan to maneuver away from the subsidies favoured below Joe Biden to spur extra home investments via deregulation.

• Janet Yellen: The Treasury secretary has warned the incoming Trump administration towards imposing sweeping tariffs, saying they’d result in larger inflation.

5. British CEOs ought to be capable to be paid like “top-rate footballers” with out going through a backlash, billionaire financier Lord Michael Spencer informed the FT. The founding father of brokerage ICAP stated that if the UK hoped to draw one of the best executives to run among the largest London-listed firms, it wanted to deal with the “political hot potato” of government pay.

The Huge Learn

Developments in AI and the pace of real-time funds have made it simpler than ever for scammers to control somebody into willingly handing over cash, and to make off with it simply as rapidly. As the issue grows, so has debate between authorities, banks and know-how firms over who ought to foot the invoice.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• French politics: The federal government’s collapse has forged a pall over a slowing financial system, extending uncertainty over deliberate tax rises and grants for companies.

• BlackRock: The world’s largest asset supervisor has purchased a bonanza of billionaires, writes Brooke Masters. Can it maintain them in line?

• Tether: A cryptocurrency utilized by gangs, drug cartels and spies from Iran and Russia has a brand new good friend within the Trump White Home: Howard Lutnick.

• Romania: Authorities are investigating the chief of an armed group linked to far-right, pro-Russian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu.

Chart of the day

Has speedy financial progress on this planet’s high-income international locations come to an finish? Alternatives exist for the UK and its European neighbours, however they need to grasp the nettle of financial reform, writes Martin Wolf.

Take a break from the information

An archaeological discovery from a well-preserved tomb in Syria, carbon-dated again to 2400 BCE, might change the origin story of our alphabet, writes Anjana Ahuja.