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Good morning. In your final FirstFT of the week, we’re covering:
Large investment funds offload shares to avoid tax trouble
The extreme ads targeting swing voters
And why peak population maybe coming sooner than you think
But we start with partner pay at some of the US’s biggest law firms, which has hit record highs, according to a leading survey.
Researchers at recruitment specialists Major, Lindsey & Africa, who surveyed top lawyers at the country’s leading 200 firms, found that partner pay had risen 26 per cent over the past two years to an average of $1.4mn.
The boom in pay comes amid the early signs of a revival in mergers and acquisitions activity — including several so-called megadeals — and a sharp increase in litigation.
But the MLA survey found that the high rewards were not distributed fairly between male and female partners. Top male lawyers earned almost 30 per cent more than their female counterparts on average, at nearly $1.7mn.
While still a significant divide, the gender pay gap has narrowed from 47 per cent reported in MLA’s survey four years ago. The study said the discrepancy was driven in part by the fact that men “significantly outpace women in originations”, meaning they bring more business to their respective firms, and a difference in billing rates. Read more of the survey’s results, including geographical differences in pay.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:
Companies: Consumer brands including Colgate-Palmolive and Sharpie pen maker Newell Brands report earnings.
Economic data: Durable goods orders and the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index are published.
Campaign events: Vice-president Kamala Harris will hold a rally in Houston, Texas, where global pop star Beyoncé is expected to appear. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump will stage a rally in the swing state of Michigan.
Israel-Hamas war: CIA chief Bill Burns and his Mossad counterpart David Barnea renew talks over a potential Gaza peace deal in Doha this weekend.
Elections: Georgia holds parliamentary polls tomorrow that could decide whether it tilts towards Russia or the west. Bulgaria, Japan, Lithuania, Uruguay and Uzbekistan also have elections on Sunday.
Five more top stories
1. Large investment funds run by groups such as Fidelity and T Rowe Price are being forced to offload shares to avoid getting into trouble with US tax authorities. This year’s lopsided stock market rally has pushed them up against strict limits requiring them to maintain diversified portfolios. The stock market rally has driven the S&P 500 and other indices to near-record levels of concentration.
2. The European economy is set to fall further behind the US’s by the end of the decade, the IMF warned yesterday. The fund estimated Europe’s annual GDP growth rate for the 10 years until 2029 would fall to just 1.45 per cent, while the US’s is estimated at 2.29 per cent for the same period. Here’s why.
3. The US has approved a huge new lithium mine as part of its strategy to break China’s dominance over the supply chains of critical minerals. The project in Nevada is the first such mine approved by the Biden administration, which has also offered a $700mn loan to help build the project. Read the full story.
4. Vladimir Putin appeared to confirm yesterday that North Korean soldiers had been sent to fight in Russia as Ukrainian intelligence officials said troops had arrived in the Kursk region. Their presence has been an open secret since South Korea’s intelligence service released footage of North Korean troops training in Russia’s far east. More details on the Russian president’s remarks.
China’s reaction: The troop deployment threatens to destabilise the delicate balance of power on the Korean peninsula, upsetting China.
5. Justin Trudeau has announced big cuts to Canada’s immigration programme in response to a growing public backlash over the impact of migration on the cost of living and housing affordability. Trudeau, who trails opposition Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre by 13 points in the polls, blamed companies for abusing a temporary work scheme for rising housing unaffordability and youth unemployment.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Today’s big read
The US election will come down to seven key battleground states, and voters who live in them are being inundated with some of the most sophisticated and targeted advertising in political history. As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump try to win over undecided voters in a tight race, political ads in the swing states — from billboards to text messages — are everywhere, all the time.
We’re also reading . . .
Climate change: The world is on course for a “catastrophic” temperature rise of more than 3C above pre-industrial levels, according to a new UN report.
‘Bespoke’ banking: Ultra-wealthy clients who can pay for customised care in investments, tax and family governance may not get everything they need.
Italian tomatoes: A tomato sauce magnate tells the FT that cheap imports from China’s Xinjiang region have damaged the “dignity” of Italy’s staple red fruit.
Israel’s dead fathers: Since last October, families of fallen Israeli soldiers have been offered post-mortem sperm retrieval. FT Magazine explores the process — and its implications.
Chart of the day
Methods for predicting the world’s population growth vary and as a result so do the outputs. But, one after another, the projections keep missing — repeatedly underestimating the pace and duration of falls in birth rates. And new research challenges the conventional wisdom of a U-shaped recovery trend, writes chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch.
Take a break from the news
Aspen is mostly known as a glamorous ski resort. The exceptional and reliable snow conditions and the challenging and varied terrain guarantee its continued winter-destination appeal; but this is only part of Aspen’s identity, writes Josh Hickey, in this weekend’s HTSI autumn travel special.
Source: Economy - ft.com
