Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

24 Jul 2019, 02:05 PM IST

(Bloomberg) --

Good morning. Boris Johnson’s off to meet the Queen, big tech firms are facing a competition probe, U.S. officials will soon head to China and traders are eyeing a central bank meeting. Oh, and there’s another earnings dump coming. Here’s what’s moving markets.

Moving Day

Boris Johnson will pick up the keys to his new pad on Downing Street after being confirmed as U.K. prime minister at the palace later, with focus now turning to who will be in his cabinet. He spent the hours after his win was confirmed telling Tory colleagues that Britain will leave the European Union by Halloween, and there won’t be a general election. Here’s how he plans to get Brexit done and dusted in 100 days. The pound is pretty much back to where it was before yesterday’s result was announced.

Tech Examined

Big tech was given a jolt last night, as the U.S. Justice Department said it’s investigating whether dominant technology companies are thwarting competition in their markets. The statement didn’t name any companies, but Facebook Inc. was among the FAANGs whose shares declined, weighing on the Nasdaq benchmark. Elsewhere in the sector, there was cheerful news for chipmakers hit by the trade war as a better-than-feared outlook from Texas Instruments was seen to signal that a slump in orders for electronic components may end soon.

Let’s Chat

As expected, trade news came overnight -- U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and senior officials are set to travel to China next Monday for the first face-to-face talks since May, according to people familiar with the matter. It will be the first meeting of two sides in Shanghai, but probably won't yield major breakthroughs like the previous rounds. Asian stocks mostly rose overnight. Meanwhile, speaking of trade wars, a central American country was in Trump’s firing line yesterday.

Data Dependent

Attention will soon start turning to the European Central Bank’s rate decision tomorrow, with at least some investors forecasting a rate cut, but not the majority. Eurozone purchasing manager indexes out later are the final economic statistics due before the ECB update, with the manufacturing component of the data expected to remain in contraction territory. That’s after the International Monetary Fund reduced its global growth outlook again on Tuesday, warning policy “missteps” on trade and Brexit could derail a projected rebound.

Coming Up...

Deutsche Bank AG reported second-quarter trading revenue that fell short of estimates, while Mercedes parent Daimler AG's sales looked like a beat. Both had already updated the market recently, so might not bring much excitement, but don't worry, French luxury-goods merchants LVMH and Christian Dior, along with U.K. drug giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc, are also joining today’s earnings party.

What We’ve Been Reading

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

When Shoreditch graffiti isn’t what it seems.
Europe’s most important river risks a shutdown.
How to steer a giant tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.
Using a presidential trip to smuggle cigarettes.
It’s getting harder to fire Americans for using pot.
Globalization isn’t dying. It’s just evolving.
You’re right, it’s hot out there.

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