Good morning. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, is soliciting people who want to sue Disney for discrimination. He says he is willing to help pay for their cases.

The outreach came the same day actress Gina Carano sued Disney and Lucasfilm, with Musk’s financial backing, for wrongful termination from “The Mandalorian,” a television series inspired by the Star Wars franchise.

• Come one, come all: “If you were discriminated against by Disney or its subsidiaries (ABC, ESPN, Marvel, etc), just reply to this post to receive legal support,” Musk said in a post on X.
   
• Atypical Elon: Richard Squire, a law professor and director of the Fordham Corporate Law Center, said he couldn’t recall another instance in which a CEO backed litigation against a company when their own business wasn’t involved. 
   
• Watch your backs: Debra Aho Williamson, an independent tech analyst, said Musk’s Disney fight is a warning sign for brands that advertise on X, as it shows he is willing to target companies that anger him.

UBS loses to whistleblower in Supreme Court decision.

A UBS unit must provide back pay to a former analyst who said he was fired for blowing the whistle on illegal pressure to change research reports, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a unanimous decision Thursday that will make it easier for whistleblowers to win retaliation lawsuits.

Whistleblowers don’t have to prove they were terminated because of “retaliatory intent,” the Supreme Court said in its decision, reinstating a win at trial for analyst Trevor Murray.

“This is a huge victory for whistleblowers all across the country, not only corporate whistleblowers,” Murray’s lawyer said.

China’s military and surveillance capabilities have been boosted by U.S. funds, House report says.

Five U.S. venture-capital firms invested a total of at least $3 billion in Chinese companies developing technology allegedly used in human-rights abuses and to benefit the Chinese military and government, according to a congressional investigation.

The committee doesn’t challenge the legality of the investments but calls for policy changes to ensure U.S. venture capital isn’t allowed to bolster Chinese national security and surveillance efforts.

• The Federal Communications Commission has outlawed unsolicited robocalls with voices generated by artificial intelligence amid growing concerns the technology can be used to deceive or mislead people.
   
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s human-resources operation has an HR problem. The two departments charged with addressing FDIC employees’ complaints of harassment and discrimination have long been beset by their own allegations of misconduct.
   
• Nicaragua’s authoritarian government, which has expelled religious leaders, political opponents and journalists, has granted asylum to a former Panamanian president convicted of money laundering.
   
• For the second time in 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department took action to enforce its oil price cap targeting Russia. The Treasury also moved to block imports of Russian diamonds.

Investors are almost always wrong about the Fed.

Investors are more convinced than ever that interest rates are coming down later this year. Their record on these things, however, isn’t great.

Wall Street has been caught offside in both directions while betting on the path of interest rates over the past few years. Few thought the Federal Reserve would get anywhere near 5% in the first place. Now traders keep ramping up bets that rate cuts are just months away, only to see that day recede with each batch of strong economic data. 

Those bets have widespread consequences. Borrowing costs nationwide rise and fall according to what happens in rate markets.

In China, deflation tightens its grip.

Deflation is becoming more entrenched in China, with consumer prices falling in January at their steepest pace in more than 14 years—a stark symptom of deepening economic malaise that spells trouble for the global economy.

The latest data suggest China faces a growing risk of slipping into a longer-term spell of falling prices that becomes harder to reverse the longer it lasts. The global economy can potentially also expect a flood of cut-price imports as Chinese factories search out buyers overseas for products they can’t sell at home.

• Earth’s temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the preindustrial era in the 12 months ending January, the first time temperatures averaged over a yearlong period have breached this key threshold in international climate diplomacy.
   
• A turbulent election in Pakistan was thrown into further question as results were delayed and mobile-phone service remained suspended early Friday.
   
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky removed his top general in the most significant shake-up of the country’s leadership since the full-scale Russian invasion began nearly two years ago. Stateside, the Democratic-controlled Senate cleared a critical hurdle toward passing a $95 billion national security-focused bill aimed at fortifying Ukraine, Israel and other allies.

• Sunday’s Super Bowl ads will share one thing in common: An even deeper-than-usual desire by marketers to avoid offending anybody.
   
• Finance chiefs are taking advantage of favorable conditions in the bond market while they last.
   
• Adam Neumann is trying to buy back WeWork as creditors consider a sale.
   
• Corporate America’s diversity initiatives aren’t dead, but the prescription has changed.

• Google is jumping into the tech industry’s latest craze: subscription chatbots.
   

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with investors to raise funds for a wildly ambitious tech initiative that would boost the world’s chip-building capacity.

• President Biden’s age and leadership abilities are under fresh scrutiny after a special counsel report on his handling of classified materials said he presented himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” and after he repeatedly confused the names of past and present European leaders at campaign events this week. Separately, a special counsel investigation of President Biden's handling of classified materials yielded no charges but said Biden was sloppy to keep certain material.
   
• The Supreme Court appeared likely to reject an attempt to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot. 
   
• Brazilian Federal Police seized the passport of former President Jair Bolsonaro Thursday and arrested four of his close allies as authorities narrowed in on the conservative and his aides over allegations that they plotted a military takeover.
   
• A $9.99 bag of Chex Mix that a comedian purchased at New York’s LaGuardia Airport has inspired a global scavenger hunt and impromptu internet referendum on why airport food prices can climb so high.
   
• Amazon’s newest competitors are stepping into its territory—literally.

Follow us on X at @WSJRisk. Follow Risk & Compliance editor David Smagalla @DSmagalla_DJ and reporters Mengqi Sun @_MengqiSun, Dylan Tokar @dgtokar and Richard Vanderford @VanderfordRich.

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