SPACs are under legal attack: SPACs are facing several class-action lawsuits in federal courts, the Wall Street Journal reports. There have been 19 lawsuits filed against SPACs so far this year, compared to five filed in all of 2020, according to an ins. brokerage. These include suits questioning legality of some high-profile SPACs including bn’aire Bill Ackman’s USD 4 bn Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, Go Acquisition Corp and E.Merge Technology Acquisition Corp. Other cases were brought against SPACs with shares suffering heavy losses, such as electric truck maker Nikola Corp.

Want to know more about SPACs? Check out our explainer on the topic.

Samsung is about to do some serious spending: The South Korean conglomerate will invest USD 205 bn in its semiconductor, biopharma and telecoms units over the next three years, media outlets quoted a Samsung statement saying. The investment will be led by Samsung Electronics and Samsung Biologics and is expected to create 40k new jobs by 2023.

The company is also going to be doing some serious explaining after a passenger’s Galaxy A21 burst into flames as a cross-country US flight ended. The device was apparently burned beyond recognition. Daring Fireball has more.

Distressed debt funds are seeing their strongest run in over a decade on the back of wide ranging economic stimulus that has buoyed markets and accelerated the recovery, the Financial Times reports. The funds — which typically buy the stock of companies that are about to go bust or take on their debt at a steep discount with the aim of riding and profiting off a recovery — had made returns of 11.45% for the year at the end of July, their tenth consecutive month of gains.

The UK’s financial regulator says it can’t keep a watchful eye on Binance’s operations in the UK despite the “significant risk” inherent in the crypto exchange’s products, the Financial Times reports, citing an 11-page memo (pdf) by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Binance has allegedly not responded to the FCA’s queries in order to enable it to oversee the HQ-less group. The crypto exchange had faced a barrage of scrutiny this summer as regulators in the UK, Canada, Cayman Islands and Thailand all took action or undertook investigations into the crypto exchange’s products, which allow consumers to take supercharged bets. Binance said it remains in conversation with the FCA about its regulatory standing.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.04% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.3 bn (38.2% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is up 2% YTD.

In the green: Pioneers Holding (+8%), AMOC (+8%) and Egyptian for Tourism Resorts (+6.7%).

In the red: Egypt Kuwait Holding (-1.1%), Cleopatra Hospitals (-0.7%), and Raya Holding (-0.4%).

It’s looking kind of grim out there this morning, boys and girls: It’s red as far as the eye can see in Asia (though not Apocalyptically so). Shares in Wall Street and much of Europe also look set to come under pressure at the opening bell later today.