Qatar’s sovereign fund plans to deploy cash ‘aggressively’

Good morning. In the news today:

• Microsoft poaches Google DeepMind staff

• Big Read on the cost of cyber scams

• Martin Wolf and Larry Summers discuss the election and what lies ahead for the US economy

The new chief executive of Qatar’s $500bn sovereign wealth fund has told the Financial Times he plans to deploy funds more “aggressively” and “do bigger-ticket deals” ahead of a petrodollar windfall that could ultimately double the fund’s size

Mohammed Al-Sowaidi also said the Qatar Investment Authority would invest with “more frequency” as it embarks on a review of its investment strategy.

Sowaidi said he was bullish on the US, where the fund has increased its exposure significantly over the past decade, as well as in the UK and Asia, with a focus on technology, artificial intelligence, healthcare, real estate and infrastructure.

“You can see the US is spending time on . . . creating more efficient fiscal policies, regulation and regulatory environment. The market perceives that it will be accelerated under the Trump administration,” Sowaidi said.

Qatar is one of the world’s top liquefied natural gas producers and wealthiest nations in per capita terms. The IMF estimated in a 2022 report that the Gulf state’s real GDP would grow by 5.7 per cent by 2027. The main recipient of the LNG revenues will be the QIA and Sowaidi said the inflows had the potential to double its size over five years. Here’s more from Sowaidi, including his take on Donald Trump’s tariff plans and Elon Musk.

And here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The US has its November consumer price index, while Brazil’s statistics agency publishes services sector activity data for October, and Argentina is due to release November consumer inflation data.

• Central banks: Brazil and Canada have interest rate decisions, while Mexico’s central bank publishes its latest financial stability report.

• Companies: ExxonMobil will outline its aims for oil and gas production, and refining, through 2030 in presentations to Wall Street analysts. Mary Barra, chief executive of General Motors, is scheduled to meet reporters in Detroit to discuss the carmaker’s operations.

• Congress: US secretary of state Antony Blinken is to testify at a House of Representatives committee hearing on the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Join Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf and other FT experts online at 4pm GMT as they discuss their predictions for the world in 2025. Register here.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: the Biden administration is poised to unveil steep new tariffs on imports of critical materials from China in its final effort to protect US manufacturing from the Asian superpower’s dominant cleantech industry. Here’s what to expect from the tariffs which come into effect on January 1.

2. Microsoft is poaching staff from Google for its new artificial intelligence consumer health team. AI head Mustafa Suleyman is hiring staff from a similar unit he once led at Google DeepMind, as the rival companies race to create lucrative applications from the cutting-edge technology. Madhumita Murgia has more from London.

3. The Onion’s attempt to acquire Infowars, the far-right web site created by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has been blocked by a Texas bankruptcy judge. The court said the auction for Jones’s media assets had not achieved the best bids for creditors. Read more on what’s next for the sale.

4. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been valued at $350bn in a new deal to purchase employees’ shares, making the rocket and satellite maker the world’s most valuable private start-up. The shares sold for $185 each, said four people with knowledge of the transaction, up from $112 apiece at the last sale in September.

5. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has described the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad as “no doubt” the result of a US-Israeli plan, in his first public comments since the overthrow of the Assad regime. Khamenei also suggested that Turkey had played “an obvious role”. Follow the latest developments on Syria.

• Disentangling Syria’s corrupt state: Transitional authorities are grappling with a bureaucracy filled with phantom jobs, pervasive graft and a culture of obedience.

• ‘Race against time’: The Biden administration is struggling to respond to the turmoil in Syria before the presidential handover.

Today’s Big Read

Advancements in AI and the increasing speed of real-time payments have made it easier than ever for scammers to persuade consumers to unwittingly part with their cash. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that in 2023 as much as $158bn was lost to digital fraud, up from $137bn in 2022. As the problem grows so is the debate between government, banks and technology companies over who should foot the bill.

We’re also reading . . . 

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

• Is Trump a threat to the US economy? Martin Wolf and Larry Summers discuss Donald Trump’s recent election victory and the risk his new administration poses to the US economy in the latest episode of the Economics Show podcast.

• Tether: A cryptocurrency used by gangs, drug cartels and spies from Iran and Russia has a new friend in the Trump White House: Howard Lutnick.

Chart of the day

Wall Street banks are betting that the blockbuster rally in US stocks will cool next year as investors turn cautious on the AI boom. Big US tech companies are “entering a new phase”, said one analyst. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Barclays are among the banks to have published their S&P 500 2025 predictions.

Take a break from the news

An archaeological discovery from a well-preserved tomb in Syria, carbon-dated to 2,400 BCE, could change the origin story of our alphabet, writes Anjana Ahuja.