Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
Good morning. Signs of trade optimism just keep on coming, Uber Technologies Inc.’s quarterly update left some unimpressed and the U.K. parliament has a new speaker. Here’s what’s moving markets.
Xi Reassures
Chinese President Xi Jinping is making reassuring comments about international trade. He told an an expo in Shanghai that his country is to give greater importance to imports, lowering tariffs and institutional transaction costs. Those remarks came as The Financial Times reported that the U.S. was debating whether to roll back levies on $112 billion of Chinese imports. Meanwhile, data from purchasing managers showed Chinese manufacturing continued to pick up in October. U.S. trade statistics due later may offer an insight on the tariff saga’s impact on U.S. imports and exports.
Uber Slides
Uber Technologies Inc.’s third earnings report since going public left investors wanting. Quarterly bookings growth and monthly active user numbers disappointed, sending the ride-hailing firm’s shares down more than 5% in after-hours trading in New York. That was despite higher-than-expected revenue and a pledge to turn a profit by 2021. Longer-term investors will be permitted to cash out when a lock-up expires on Wednesday, with the shares already 31% below the initial public offering price from May.
Last Day of Term
It’s the U.K. Parliament’s final day in Westminster before being dissolved, officially starting the countdown to the country’s first December general election since 1923. Early blows traded between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his main rival, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, are setting the tone for a dramatic campaign, while the former’s controversial backing by some hedge funds is garnering more and more attention. Lindsay Hoyle, previously a Labour MP who hasn’t revealed his views on Brexit, has been chosen to replace the charismatic John Bercow as speaker.
Stocks Lifted
Equities in Asia gained on trade hopes after European stocks yesterday had their biggest gains in three weeks and shares in the U.S. hit a record high. Unsurprisingly, U.S. President Donald Trump says the media should be focusing on that, rather than impeachment. According to Goldman Sachs, the best equities may well be in the U.S., while JPMorgan reckons Treasury yields may soon be jumping like it’s the nineties. Markets were further supported overnight after China’s central bank reduced the cost of one-year funds to banks for the first time since 2016.
Coming Up…
Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and the U.K.’s Associated British Foods Plc, owner of the Primark fast fashion chain, are on the earnings slate. Meanwhile in economic data, traders will be watching the October U.S. ISM-non manufacturing report, the gauge that showed a slump in September, heightening concern about a slowdown. And energy cartel OPEC publishes its World Oil Outlook from Vienna.
What We’ve Been Reading
This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours.
- Molecule may offer way to trap heat from the sun.
- Vaping might not be a gateway to teen smoking after all.
- U.K. gambling shares slump on digital crackdown proposal.
- Why don’t female Silicon Valley employees own more shares?
- Here’s some really bad pie charts.
- Billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus paid hefty premium to buy out family members.
- Mysterious Swiss trader may link U.S. indictments to probes in the U.K. and France.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net
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