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Speaker 1: News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now, I'm

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Speaker 1: Dan Schwartzman. China's economic recovery continues to sputter, as economists

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Speaker 1: survey by Bloomberg believe that data do Thursday will show

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Speaker 1: that Chinese consumer prices slid back into deflation in October.

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Speaker 1: Producer prices are also expected to have declined for a

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Speaker 1: thirteenth consecutive month. Back in August, the People's Bank of

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Speaker 1: China said that prices would rebound from the rough summer months,

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Speaker 1: although that assessment may prove to be too optimistic. Expectations

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Speaker 1: are growing that the Central Bank will provide more liquidity

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Speaker 1: support by cutting the reserve requirement ratio, which is the

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Speaker 1: amount of cash banks must keep in reserve. Some analysts

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Speaker 1: expect that to be done as soon as sometime in

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Speaker 1: the middle of this month. Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway

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Speaker 1: apparently has a lot of money, but not a lot

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Speaker 1: of places to put it. Bloomberg's Denise Pellegrini explains.

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Speaker 2: Well Berkshire Hathaway's cash pile it is hit a record

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Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty seven point two billion dollars in

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Speaker 2: the third quarter. That's thanks to hire interest rates and

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Speaker 2: also limited meaningful deals where Buffett could otherwise put his

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Speaker 2: money to work the cane. It actually trimmed its overall

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Speaker 2: equities portfolio in the quarter, and Berkshire also reporting operating

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Speaker 2: earnings of ten point seven to six billion dollars, a

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Speaker 2: jump on the previous year thanks to elevated interest rates

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Speaker 2: I mentioned on the cash pile, and also gains at

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Speaker 2: its insurance business. Insurance posted a profit of two point

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Speaker 2: four to two billion dollars versus a loss in the

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Speaker 2: prior period when the industry was hit hard by catastrophes. Geico,

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Speaker 2: which has struggled with unprofitability through twenty twenty two, also

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Speaker 2: posted a profit compared to a year ago as it

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Speaker 2: curtailed ad expenses. Overall, Berkshire posted a loss for the

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Speaker 2: quarter wider than the year prior, primarily due to losses

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Speaker 2: on its equities portfolio. The firm also spent one point

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Speaker 2: one billion dollars on buybecks in the period, and that

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Speaker 2: brings the total for the first nine months of the

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Speaker 2: year on buybeckx to about seven billion dollars. Denise Pellgreeny

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Denise top Envoye from the Middle East met with

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Speaker 1: Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin and i'm on Jordan to

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Speaker 1: discuss the Israel Hamas war. Arab counterparts disagreed with blinking

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Speaker 1: on the need for US ceasefire, as Blincoln said that

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Speaker 1: would only allow Hamas time to regroup. The Foreign ministers

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Speaker 1: of Egypt and Jordan both said a ceasefire was necessary

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Speaker 1: to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas has

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Speaker 1: now accused Israel of undermining an agreement that allows foreigners

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Speaker 1: and those with dual nationalities to leave Gaza, saying that

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Speaker 1: Israel is targeting ambulances and blocking wounded Palestinians from entering

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Speaker 1: Egypt for treatment. Israel says it bombed an ambulance being

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Speaker 1: used by Hamas militants, while the US says that Hamas

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Speaker 1: tried to get wounded members into Egypt. Turkey has now

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Speaker 1: recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations as a country's

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Speaker 1: foreign ministry says it's in view of the humanitarian tragedy

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Speaker 1: occurring in Gaza. With demand for electric vehicles, cooling automakers

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Speaker 1: such as Tesla, Ford and General Motors are rethinking their

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Speaker 1: investments in the sector. Companies have collectively committed around one

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Speaker 1: hundred billion dollars across North America to build affordable electric

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Speaker 1: cars for the mass market, but are realizing that the

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Speaker 1: majority of consumers aren't willing to pay more for an

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Speaker 1: EV compared to a gas driven vehicle. The batteries that

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Speaker 1: power evs are currently more expensive than gas engines, with

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg's BNEF research showing that it'll take around three years

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Speaker 1: before the price has become comparable. The way we get

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Speaker 1: around has changed since the start of the pandemic. Bloomberg's

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Speaker 1: Nancy Lions takes a look at a new report.

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Speaker 3: Walking between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty two was down

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Speaker 3: thirty six percent nationwide. Street Light Data says it was

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Speaker 3: a universal drop off, with every state in the one

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Speaker 3: hundred most populated areas seeing a drop of at least

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Speaker 3: twenty percent. Vehicle trips are down, but just by four percent.

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Speaker 3: Cycling is booming, though. The National Association of City Transportation

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Speaker 3: Officials says one hundred and thirteen million trips were made

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Speaker 3: on shared bikes and electric scooters in twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 3: That's double where we were in the first year of

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Speaker 3: the pandemic. I'm Nancy Lyons Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Nancy. That's news when you want it. With Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: News Now, I'm Dan Schwartzman. This is Bloomberg