Trump loses one

Matt Gaetz is withdrawing from consideration to be US attorney general in the first major defeat for Donald Trump. The US president-elect wanted the controversial former Congressman to upend the Justice Department and potentially use it to target his political enemies. Gaetz, the subject of investigations ranging over allegations including sex trafficking of a minor and drug use, has categorically denied any wrongdoing. An earlier federal criminal probe of him was eventually dropped. But Trump’s problems don’t end there, as his selection of Russia-friendly Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence director, vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services and cable television host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense may also be in jeopardy. In the case of Hegseth, who has no high-level experience in government or the military and is of deep concern to the Pentagon for other reasons, the Associated Press today reported new details of sexual assault allegations from 2017. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing. —David E. Rovella

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, adding to pressure on the country’s leadership over the conduct of its wars on Gaza and Lebanon. The Hague-based court’s announcement on Thursday followed a request by the ICC’s chief prosecutor to judges in May. The court also issued warrants for former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was killed in Gaza months ago. Netanyahu now joins Vladimir Putin as a national leader who also is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant.

MicroStrategy shares tumbled after Andrew Left’s Citron Research said it’s betting against the software company, which has effectively transformed itself into a Bitcoin investment fund. The stock fell 16%, marking its worst day since April 30—and during an extended rally in Bitcoin no less. Under Chair Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy has become nearly synonymous with Bitcoin after it snapped up billions of dollars of the cryptocurrency, sometimes selling debt to finance the purchases. But with the rollout of Bitcoin ETFs, investors can buy such funds directly instead of using MicroStrategy’s stock as a publicly traded proxy.

Two Sigma Investments will dismiss roughly 200 employees after the firm’s new co-chief executive officers conducted a wide-ranging review of the hedge fund’s business. Thursday’s firings represent about 10% of the firm’s roughly 2,000 employees. Those affected were in the corporate, engineering, modeling and trading, and securities units, according to a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News. Brevan Howard Asset Management, another of the world’s best known hedge funds, also turned to job cuts as it sought to streamline operations, terminating around 10% of its workforce earlier this year.

Brazil’s federal police recommended criminal charges against Jair Bolsonaro after probing an alleged coup attempt following his 2022 election loss, the first time authorities have directly linked the far-right former president to attempts to keep his successor from assuming power. Charges are warranted against a total of 37 people, including Bolsonaro and high-ranking military members who served in his government, for plotting a coup and committing crimes against democracy, the federal police said. Earlier this week, police arrested five people for allegedly plotting to kill President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his vice president and a top judge as part of the 2022 coup attempt. The suspects—mainly military personnel, including a retired general—allegedly intended to prevent Lula from taking office after he defeated Bolsonaro.

Ken Griffin said he would consider selling a piece of Citadel. “We would be open to the possibility of selling a minority stake in Citadel at some point in the future,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday at the Economic Club of New York. In the wide-ranging conversation, Griffin also discussed the kind of firm he might consider for such a partnership with the $65 billion multistrategy hedge fund he founded in 1990. He also ruled out the possibility of taking its sister market-making firm Citadel Securities public any time soon and offered praise and caution for the incoming Trump administration.

Northvolt filed for bankruptcy protection in the US after a desperate bid to secure rescue funding fell short, leaving the struggling battery maker with just one week of cash in its accounts. The Swedish electric vehicle supplier will seek to restructure under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Northvolt had about $30 million in available cash and $5.84 billion in debt. The company decided to take the US legal route to provide a well-known framework for existing investors and third parties that have shown interest in providing financing.

Berkshire Hathaway reported its stock holdings last week—a widely anticipated quarterly update of Warren Buffett’s latest trades. But those moves have been overshadowed by Berkshire’s $325 billion cash hoard, Nir Kaissar writes in Bloomberg Opinion, nearly double the company’s cash balance at year end and the most Buffett has ever amassed. It also comes at a time when Buffett’s favorite valuation gauge—a ratio of the stock market’s value relative to the size of the US economy—is at a record high. Taken together, it might seem like Buffett is trying to time the market’s next downturn, Kaissar writes, but he’s actually doing something else—and everyone should know what that is.

A door may have blown off a Boeing 737 Max earlier this year, but, “in terms of actual risk, it makes no more sense to be afraid to fly than to be afraid to go into the supermarket because the ceiling might collapse,” says Arnold Barnett, who studies mathematical modeling of health and safety at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “When the risk of something gets incredibly close to zero, maybe we’re better off not worrying about it.” Indeed, airline travel remains far less lethal than driving.