Prime and Spike.

Yesterday's missing link.

1. After months of deepening contention between the United States and China, President Biden and President Xi Jinping met in person for the first time as national leaders on Monday with a tone of mutual engagement that acknowledged that both their countries faced challenges from global conflict and economic headwinds. When their meeting began, they greeted each other like old companions. They agreed that neither wanted competition between their two superpowers to erupt in conflict. And after nearly three hours spent together, they promised more efforts to repair a relationship that has been at its most rancorous point in decades. None of that hid the deeply divergent views behind their disagreements, including over the future of Taiwan, military rivalry, technology restrictions and China’s mass detentions of its citizens. But with the stakes so high, both Mr. Biden’s and Mr. Xi’s language represented a choice not to gamble on unrestricted conflict but to bet that personal diplomacy and more than a decade of contacts could stave off worsening disputes. (Source: nytimes.com)

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2. China's economy suffered a broad slowdown in October as factory output grew more slowly than expected and retail sales fell for the first time in five months, underscoring faltering demand at home and abroad. The world's second-largest economy is facing a series of headwinds including protracted COVID-19 curbs, global recession risks and a property downturn. In a sign of persistent weakness in sector, data on Tuesday also showed property investment falling at its fastest pace since early 2020 in October. (Source: reuters.com)

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