5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett bets on Japan, US intelligence leaked ahead of President Joe Biden’s meetings with world leaders and Swi [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Billionaire investor Warren Buffett bets on Japan, US intelligence leaked ahead of President Joe Biden’s meetings with world leaders and Swiss lawmakers scrutinize the UBS-Credit Suisse deal. — [Kristine Aquino]( Buffett bets Japanese stocks rose after [Buffett said he’s mulling a boost]( to his holdings of the nation’s stocks. The chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway told Nikkei that he has raised his investment in Japanese equities to 7.4% from about 5% in 2020, and is looking to increase his exposure. Buffett is currently in Japan and plans to meet with different company leaders and “just have a discussion around their businesses and emphasize our support,” he told Nikkei, without naming the companies. Intelligence leaks President Biden’s meetings with world leaders in coming weeks come after [a trove of classified documents were dumped online]( and revealed just how closely Americans are spying on their friends and foes. According to the [New York Times]( and other outlets, the initial document leaks focused on US assessments of the war in Ukraine originally written in February and March. Among the more recent leaks, there have also been reports on the US gathering intelligence on its diplomatic allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine. The Justice Department has launched an investigation to root out the leaker of what a Pentagon spokesman called “highly sensitive, classified” information. Swiss grilling [Swiss lawmakers are set to scrutinize the government’s move](to agree to provide up to 109 billion francs ($120 billion) in taxpayer money to support UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse. While parliament can do little in the special session on Tuesday to derail the deal, lawmakers are still likely to try to push the government to overhaul too-big-to-fail rules and pursue legal action against management at Credit Suisse. It’s unclear at this point which executives might be targeted. Coming up… At 9 a.m., New York time, the IMF will release its World Economic Outlook report, followed by its Global Financial Stability report at 10:30 a.m. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will speak on priorities for IMF/World Bank meetings at 11:30 a.m. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will speak at an event at 1:30 p.m. His Philadelphia counterpart, Patrick Harker, will appear at another event at 6 p.m., while Minneapolis Fed’s Neel Kashkari will appear at another function at 7:30 p.m.  Mixed markets S&P 500 futures edged higher while Nasdaq 100 contracts were little changed as of 5:51 a.m. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index traded near the day’s lows, lifting most Group-of-10 currencies. Treasury yields retreated across the curve, diverging from UK and European markets that were catching up to Monday’s moves. Oil and gold climbed, and Bitcoin topped $30,000 for the first time since June. What we’ve been reading Here’s what caught our eye over the past 24 hours: - dollar gives pound, UK markets [a post-holiday boost]( - [Apple’s PC shipments plunge 40%]( in the first quarter - [Jes Staley’s “whines” dismissed](by judge overseeing Epstein cases - [Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to remain free](during appeal - [Rich Chinese flocking to Singapore](have yet to unleash big investments - Katie Cotton, who [led Apple’s media strategy for 18 years](, dies - [How AI can transform]( the future of death and grief And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning The other day (thanks to a commenter in the [Odd Lots discord]() I saw this story by ABC13’s [Brooke TaylorÂ](about a [homeowner in Houston]( frustrated that a gigantic utility has been placed in front of their house, just two weeks after having purchased it. I have no insight about the details and background of this particular decision, and whether it was necessary or whether the utility company did the right thing or whatever. That being said, it's become popular to bemoan how difficult it is to build anything in America these days. We can't build chip fabs fast enough. We can't build the 2nd Avenue subway fast enough. We can't build enough power lines to take advantage of the investment in renewable energy in the Inflation Reduction Act, and so forth. This is a very common source of frustration across a number of realms. It seems likely, though, that if changes were made at the local and national levels to have a more builder-friendly stance, we'd likely end up with more stories somewhat like this, where as a result of some big construction project, some individual or family ends up massively inconvenienced or financially harmed. Someone's family farm will get split in two. Someone with a baby, who is studying for a test, will be kept up at night by noise pollution. These stories, even if relatively few in number, would inevitably get more common. Yesterday we published [the transcript of a recent interview we did with Nassim Taleb](, in which he said: "People are swayed by anecdotes... Our world is becoming more complex and requires more statistical sophistication, while social media are driving us to the most primitive way of thinking." Building a lot more stuff -- transport, power lines, chip fabs etc. -- seems like a good idea. And there's a real effort underway to do it. But the benefits of these projects will be slow-moving and diffuse, while the anecdotes that pile up about some harm caused by them will likely grow significantly and be quick to go viral. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Twitter [@TheStalwart](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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