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Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

(Bloomberg) --

Good morning. A U.K. credit rating boost couldn’t stop the pound sliding, China injected billions into the financial system and FedEx’s stock tumbled. Here’s what’s moving markets.

U.K. Ratings Boost

Ratings agencies S&P and Fitch both improved their assessment of the U.K.’s credit outlook Wednesday following Boris Johnson’s majority win last week, but the pound continued its slump overnight, having firmly wiped out the rally that followed the victory. That’s after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to set a Brexit deadline of December 2020 spurred fresh no-deal fears. Meanwhile, there’ll be no Swiss snow for Johnson to look forward to in January, as he won’t be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, choosing to concentrate instead on Brexit.

China Injection

Asian bourses traded mixed overnight, with a host of unknowns still clouding the U.S.-China trade deal, and as the People’s Bank of China injected $29 billion into the financial system before an expected bout of tighter liquidity next month. The dollar crept higher against a basket of currencies despite President Donald Trump on Tuesday once again urging the U.S. central bank to use expansionary monetary policy to boost American exports. “Would be sooo great if the Fed would further lower interest rates and quantitative ease,” he said in yet another tweet aimed at Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. 

FedEx Falls

FedEx was the big mover in after-hours U.S. trading, plunging after the delivery firm cut its profit forecast for the second straight quarter as weak international demand hurt sales and the courier ramped up investment to handle soaring e-commerce deliveries. The results for the company’s fiscal second quarter were “breathtakingly bad,” with weakness in both the ground-delivery unit and air-cargo business, according to Deutsche Bank AG analysts. European rival Deutsche Post AG could be one to watch today. 

Impeachment Votes

With the U.S. House of Representatives expected to vote to approve two articles of impeachment today, Trump laid out his defense against charges he abused his power and obstructed Congress while also ridiculing Democrats’ allegations. He accused Nancy Pelosi of turning the House into a medieval “star chamber” in pursuit of his impeachment, lashing out at the speaker in a blistering, six-page letter and vowing her party would be punished by voters in the 2020 election.

Coming Up…

European Central Bank boss Christine Lagarde is speaking at a conference in Frankfurt, while we’ll also get the latest reading of the German Ifo business climate index following miserable manufacturing statistics of late. Meanwhile, U.K. inflation numbers are likely to be overshadowed by politics and for FX traders the Czech central bank is seen making no change to its main interest rate. The earnings schedule is light, but keep an eye on shares of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and PSA Group, after their boards approved another step toward a merger.

What We’ve Been Reading

This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. 

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net

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