Your Weekend Reading: The Gathering Storm

(Bloomberg) --

Just how bad will it get? The U.S. killing of one of Iran’s most powerful generals has the world and investors on edge. A cyber attack looks like the most probable means of retaliation, although Iran’s options appear limited. For former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the drone strike could actually help him in the Democratic primary race.

What you’ll want to read this weekend

Carlos Ghosn’s stunning escape from Japan (here’s the plane he used) is bad news for any foreign suspects looking to post bail there. And with or without its former lodestar, Nissan has real problems.

Tesla was the only bright spot among carmakers last year. Its deliveries hit a record in the fourth quarter and investors loved that. The big automakers had gloomy numbers and their stocks took a beating.
 
The world aspires to green but recycling may barely seem worth it to some. China and poorer countries cut back on the rich’s trash. In New York City, recycling costs $18 more per ton than regular garbage.

A group of employees who pushed Amazon to combat climate change say they were threatened with termination. Meanwhile, temperatures in Britain are on the rise, and Australia is still burning.

Wanted: Weirdos and misfits to work for U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

What you’ll need to know next week

• Congress gets back to work; the impeachment standoff continues.
• Ghosn plans to explain why, and how, he fled Japan.
• Tech giants are in Las Vegas for the CES trade show.
• The Golden Globes may show Netflix is really a film studio.
• Airbus is set to confirm its dominance over a  troubled Boeing.

What you’ll want to read about the coming year

The one thing most money managers agree on is that this year investors will earn less, maybe a lot less. But for overall soothsaying, Bloomberg compiled key insights from 500 research calls, searchable and grouped by theme, asset class and institution.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net

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