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(Bloomberg) --
Boris Johnson is in at 10 Downing Street. Trade talks between China and the U.S. are back on. And Beijing would like Washington to keep its mitts off of Hong Kong. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
Boris Wins
Boris Johnson will be the U.K.'s next prime minister. The public face of the Brexit campaign won the contest to succeed Theresa May, taking over a country in crisis and a government on the brink of breaking apart. He defeated Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt by a landslide in a ballot of the Conservative Party's roughly 160,000 members. Johnson spent the hours after he was elected rallying the troops, telling Conservative members of Parliament what most of them wanted to hear: The U.K. will leave the EU on Oct. 31, and there won't be an early general election.
Trade On
China and the U.S. will resume face-to-face talks next week, with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer set to lead a small team of senior officials to Shanghai on Monday, people familiar said. Negotiations are scheduled to run through Wednesday. It will be the first in-person meeting since the process broke down in May. It’s probably a good thing that Christopher Wray wasn’t invited. The FBI director told U.S. senators Tuesday that China is engaging in a sweeping effort to steal its way to economic dominance, with more than 1,000 investigations underway on intellectual property theft “almost all leading back to China.”
Back Off
The U.S. should remove its “black hand” from Hong Kong, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said, claiming there are “signs of foreign forces behind the protests.” Beijing had previously been less specific in blaming other countries for demonstrations that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people concerned with proposed legal changes that would erode the city's autonomy.
Gloomy Outlook
The IMF cut its global growth outlook again and suggested that policy “missteps” on trade and Brexit could derail a projected rebound. The world economy will expand 3.2% this year and 3.5% in 2020, both down 0.1 percentage point from April projections. A rate of 3.3% or lower would be the weakest since 2009. China was predicted to expand 6.2% this year and 6% next year, both also down 0.1 percentage point. The U.S. forecast was to 2.6% and 1.9% respectively.
Car Cuts
Nissan plans to shed at least 5,200 additional jobs globally this year, according to Kyodo News. This would take the total number of dismissals to 10,000 worldwide, or more than 7% of the company's workforce. The cuts come as the automaker looks to revive business in the wake of car-inspection scandals and the arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.
What we’ve been reading
This is what’s caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
- Alibaba is opening up to U.S. merchants for the first time.
- Indonesia’s Jokowi courts Softbank, Saudi prince in pursuit of investment.
- The #NoMarriage movement is adding to Korea’s economic woes.
- Japanese bankers are feeling the pain of negative rates in their paychecks.
- Apple seeks Mac Pro parts tariff exclusion after move to China.
- The mysterious Chinese-state oil trader sanctioned by the U.S.
- Crazy about cold brew coffee? There’s a $1,400 Japanese device just for you.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexandria Arnold at abaca3@bloomberg.net
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