The daily business briefing: November 27, 2018

1. GM to slash 14,700 jobs

General Motors will cut its salaried workforce by 15 percent, slashing 14,700 jobs in North America, the company announced Monday. The automaker may also shut down as many as five plants, including assembly plants in Detroit, Baltimore, and Canada. In an effort to focus on developing self-driving and electric vehicles, as well as fuel-efficient trucks and SUVs, the company will lay off 25 percent of its executives to "streamline decision making." GM has already offered buyouts to 18,000 white collar workers in recent months, with more coming as it cancels several models by 2019. GM expects the move to save $6 billion. President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to boost manufacturing employment, said his administration was exerting "a lot of pressure" on GM to bring the jobs back.

The Washington Post The Associated Press

2. Cyber Monday lifts stocks, but Trump's China warning renews caution

U.S. stocks surged on Monday, rebounding from last week's losses as signs of strong Cyber Monday shopping drove up shares for retailers. Online retail giant Amazon led the way, rising by 5.3 percent. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both gained roughly 1.5 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by more than 2 percent. Big discounts were expected to lift Cyber Monday sales to a record of $7.8 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. U.S. stock index futures edged lower early Tuesday after President Trump said in an interview published late Monday by The Wall Street Journal that it was "highly unlikely" his upcoming talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping would lead him to hold off on hiking tariffs on Chinese goods in January.

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Reuters MarketWatch

3. Trump says he doesn't 'believe' federal report on climate change

President Trump on Monday rejected the conclusions of a major report released by his administration warning that climate change could cost the U.S. billions of dollars a year unless greenhouse gas emissions are sharply reduced. "Yeah, I don't believe it," Trump said, echoing other Republican critics who said the scientists behind the report were biased. The report was issued Friday as part of the fourth congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment from the multi-agency Global Change Research Program. Hundreds of government and external scientists participated in the research, which concluded that "without substantial and sustained global mitigation" climate change could "cause growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of economic growth over this century."

The Hill

4. House Republicans propose another tax bill

House Republicans on Monday unveiled a tax bill they hope to push through in the lame-duck session of Congress. The legislation seeks to revive some expired tax provisions, fix glitches in the GOP's earlier tax-cut law, provide new tax breaks for start-ups, and change savings and retirement provisions. House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said the legislation is bipartisan and "builds on the economic successes we continue to see throughout our country." A spokeswoman for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Democrats were told nothing about Brady's plans until his press release, which "is not how you negotiate."

Politico

5. Bitcoin falls by 6 percent, extending slide

Bitcoin dropped by 6 percent on Monday, continuing a slide that saw the cryptocurrency lose nearly a third of its value in seven days. Bitcoin prices fell below $3,500 for the first time in 14 months before rebounding toward $3,900. It has now plunged by 81 percent since hitting a high close to $20,000 in late 2017. Bitcoin was worth pennies when it began trading in 2010. It first broke the $1,000 mark in December 2013, according to CoinDesk, but fell back below $200 within two years. Bitcoin's more than $15,000 dive since December 2017 has erased about $700 billion from cryptocurrencies' global market capitalization since it hit its peak, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com.

The Wall Street Journal CNBC