Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
U.S.-China trade talks continue despite Huawei standoff, showdown with Democrats looms for Trump, and Brexit is like a Beckett play. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
Still talking
Officials from the U.S. and Chinese administrations talked by phone earlier today, signalling that the road map for trade talks agreed at the G-20 in Argentina remains on track. Both sides have indicated they want to keep the negotiations separate from the furor surrounding the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, which in recent days had led to fears over the future of the talks. In China, support for Huawei has become something of a cause célèbre, with a number of companies offering employees subsidies to purchase the phone maker’s products.
Shutdown fight
President Donald Trump will meet later today with the top two Democrats in Congress as he seeks a deal over the border wall to avoid a potential government shutdown. Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have until Dec. 21 to resolve their differences or a partial government closure will be triggered. The Democrats are willing to offer funding for border fencing, rather than a wall, and say a failure to agree would lead to what Schumer and Pelosi have already labeled a “Trump shutdown.”
Waiting for Brexit
A parliament. A mace.
Evening.
Prime Minister Theresa May, sitting on a low bench, is trying to exit the European Union. She pulls at it with both hands, panting. She gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before.
Markets mixed
Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.3 percent while Japan’s Topix index closed 0.9 percent lower, falling to the lowest level since May 2017. The picture was brighter in Europe, with the Stoxx 600 Index 1.5 percent higher by 5:50 a.m. as the region’s stocks rebounded amid reduced trade worries. S&P 500 futures pointed to a gain at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.886 percent and gold was higher.
Coming up…
At 8:30 a.m. the November producer price index is published, with the headline final demand number expected to be unchanged from October. At 12:00 p.m. the EIA releases it’s short-term energy outlook and the USDA publishes the December World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates. In corporate news, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai testifies in front of the House Judiciary Committee from 10:00 a.m.
What we've been reading
This is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
- Pompeo blasts Russia for strategic bombers sent to Venezuela.
- Powell to widen Fed charm offensive as Trump’s attacks mount.
- How Asia fell out of love with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
- Where’s the bottom? The valuation case for an unstable stock market.
- Macron hands EU a new headache in the fight over the Italian budget.
- Volvo’s new pitch: Don’t buy this car.
- Voyager 2 enters interstellar space.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Cecile Gutscher
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