Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
Good morning. The G-20 summit has started so all eyes are pointed to Japan, Boris Johnson wants to keep no-deal an option and, shockingly, Bitcoin remains very volatile. Here’s what’s moving markets.
The Summit
The G-20 summit has begun in Osaka, Japan, with all eyes on talks due to take place over the weekend between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping. There’s little expectation that any kind of full accord will be reached between the two sides on a trade deal, but markets will instead be looking for at least some hope that negotiations will continue and that new tariffs will not be added. But watch too for a meeting between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, U.S. trade deals with India and Japan and, of course, chatter on tensions with Iran.
Proroguing
Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson has kept open the option of suspending, or proroguing, the U.K.’s Parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit. The move would be highly controversial but Johnson says it would be “absolute folly” to tell the European Union that no-deal is completely off the agenda. The woman he’s attempting to replace, Theresa May, has warned she may well vote to stop a hard Brexit scenario, so the opposition to such a move is strong. All this in the face of slumping consumer confidence in Britain.
Bitcoin and Bust
When it comes to Bitcoin, what goes up must come down with a vengeance. The cryptocurrency in the first few days of this week gave investors flashbacks to the crypto craze of late 2017, touching the $14,000 mark briefly, only to go hurtling lower again in a matter of minutes. It’s now back to where it was before the five-day rally it just went through. Big investors in the market are still optimistic overall, but are wishing they’d sold off a bit more of their holdings before the rally reversed.
Swiss Exile
A risk rumbling under the surface for European stocks came to fruition as Switzerland barred shares listed in the country from trading in the European Union from Monday, an unprecedented decision that followed the European Commission saying it saw no reason to extend recognition of Swiss stocks beyond the end of this month. Short-term, analysts think the fall-out will be manageable given some workarounds already in place, but longer term it could really threaten the attractiveness of Swiss capital markets. Keep watching for any further developments.
Coming Up...
Stocks in Asia slipped back a little on relatively low volumes as markets await the outcome of the G-20 summit and European futures are pointing to a mixed open. Gold is on track for its biggest monthly gain since 2016 and oil is headed for its best month since January. Lots of economic data to cogitate on, including European inflation, U.K. GDP and consumer confidence and the Baker Hughes rig count later in the day.
What We’ve Been Reading
This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours.
- Apple design chief Jony Ive has departed the tech giant.
- Wealthy investors want more feel-good investment options.
- A women’s soccer champion used to play for $10 a day.
- The firm pitching shabby chic to the 1%.
- Tinder’s trying to shed its hookup image to win over Asia.
- A fashion photographer who duped the drug lords.
- Are pencils underrated?
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net
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