Hello and welcome to Bloomberg's Telegram channel! 👋 We're happy you're here. We'll be sending you a few big stories daily, which you can expect to start within 24 hours after you join.

You can also subscribe for unlimited access to Bloomberg.com at Bloomberg.com/subscriptions.

Hi, and a warm welcome to all of you who joined from our WhatsApp channel!

One big question that’s surfaced during six months of protests in Hong Kong is: What would be the financial center of Asia if it left the city? 💰

There’s no sign of a full-blown exodus yet — but if a departure comes, it could be surprisingly quick.

We looked at three potential rivals and asked if they could be the next Hong Kong: https://bloom.bg/2DOC254

China is breeding mutant pigs that could help save the nation from a pork apocalypse. 🐷

With billions in state funding, Chinese scientists are using the gene-editing tool Crispr to create super pigs that have bigger muscles, can grow faster and can better survive harsh winters.

But teams in the U.S. and Europe already have a critical edge. They've engineered hogs that can potentially survive deadly diseases, including the African swine fever virus that's been ravaging China's pig populations.

The question now is: Which country will be the first to sell them and get an economic advantage? Find out more: https://bloom.bg/2OUDtFx

🇭🇰 Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through Hong Kong to mark Human Rights Day and press for greater democracy in one of the biggest rallies during six months of unrest. Organizers estimated that about 800,000 people in total took part, while police put the crowd's size at 183,000 at its peak. http://bloom.bg/2PqIR25

🤖 Robots have replaced thousands of routine jobs on Wall Street. Now, they may be coming for higher-ups, like those who model prices and risk or build investment portfolios. That's because they may not be trained to work alongside algorithms, according to one expert. https://bloom.bg/2YAHSAQ

▶ And ICYMI this week, here's the Bloomberg 50, our look at the people in business, entertainment, finance, politics, and science and technology who defined 2019. https://bloom.bg/2LyNAhi

📈 Why did the U.S. repo market get so bad, so quickly? In September, rates briefly surged to 10% from around 2%. And according to a new analysis, the blowup suggests there’s a structural problem in this vital corner of finance — not just a temporary hiccup. https://bloom.bg/2PpVURz

🇮🇳 India is expected to approve legislation preventing Muslim migrants from neighboring countries from receiving citizenship. If passed, the move threatens the secular foundation of the world’s biggest democracy and its constitution that treats all religions equally. https://bloom.bg/2P6HJ57

❌ Foreign companies doing business in China are paying $2,500 an hour to avoid being blacklisted, which could threaten their expulsion from the country. It’s a corporate version of China’s social credit system. https://bloom.bg/33ZEwZ3

🇷🇺 How did a Russian colonel end up with $100 million in various currencies stashed at his parents' apartment, the pad he shared with a girlfriend, and inside his supercharged Mercedes-Benz?

38-year-old Kirill Cherkalin had been a key figure in the insular — and, for some, apparently highly lucrative — world of bank supervision. Now he's in prison, charged with fraud and bribery.

Read more on the great Moscow bank shakedown: https://bloom.bg/344Oto7

🇨🇳 Ever since protests in Hong Kong turned violent this summer, China’s celebrity-obsessed young generation has patrolled Facebook, Twitter and Weibo, ready to pounce on perceived slights and defend their motherland.

Meet China's "fangirls": https://bloom.bg/36n5xai

🇸🇦 A record $1.88 trillion. That’s how much Saudi Aramco is valued at after shares surged in its market debut on Wednesday, jumping the daily 10% limit. https://bloom.bg/2t8c76r

That means the oil producer leapfrogged Microsoft and Apple to become the most valuable listed company and lifted Saudi Arabia’s stock market into the ranks of the world’s largest. (Is that enough superlatives for you?)

This marks the end of a near four-year saga that’s been intertwined with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to global prominence. Now the hard work begins: https://bloom.bg/35b0UjL

📈 JPMorgan just unveiled its top trades for 2020.

Its strategists recommend shorting gold and buying a raft of stocks, including Japanese banks, German equities and emerging markets. https://bloom.bg/2LMb42x

🔊 Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook are listening to your most intimate moments.

The world’s biggest tech companies got millions of people to let temps analyze some very sensitive recordings.

“There’s no frickin’ way they knew they were being listened to,” one of those workers told us.

Here's how it happened: https://bloom.bg/2LNfExm

Here's the latest news:

🇺🇸🇨🇳 U.S. President Donald Trump has signed off on a phase-one trade deal with China, averting the December 15 introduction of a new wave of tariffs on about $160 billion of consumer goods from the Asian nation.

The deal presented to Trump by trade advisers included a promise by the Chinese to buy more U.S. agricultural goods, according to our sources. https://bloom.bg/2rIBc7v

🇬🇧 In Britain, Boris Johnson’s Conservative party is predicted to win its biggest majority since 1987, vindicating his gamble to call an election on Brexit.

The pound climbed to a 19-month high after exit polls indicated a clear win for Johnson and his party.

Follow the latest on our live blog: https://bloom.bg/2PeU4UA

🇬🇧 Boris Johnson won an emphatic election victory that redraws the political map of Britain and puts him on track to deliver Brexit. The pound rose by the most in almost three years. https://bloom.bg/2Efdlz6

Even if voters didn’t want Brexit, they wanted the madness to end. And for those who did want it, including many in the opposition Labour Party, Johnson was the best bet to get it done.

It won’t be easy sailing for the prime minister, though — he has to try and bring together a nation that’s arguably more polarized than ever.

Stocks surged on the news. These are the sectors gaining the most: https://bloom.bg/2PjfPTa