Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
ood morning. Boris Johnson has called an election, Amazon has stumbled and there’s another tech IPO in Europe today. Here’s what’s moving markets.
Brexit Catch-22
Trying to break three years of Brexit deadlock, Boris Johnson made a bid late Thursday for an early election. He promptly faced more roadblocks with Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn saying that he needs to know the length of the Brexit extension granted by the European Union before he can decide whether to back the call. That’s all causing a Catch-22 situation in Brussels, where diplomats said they wanted more clarity from the U.K. before agreeing on any potential extension. The pound fell as much as 1% amid the back-and-forth.
Prime Push
Amazon published its first quarterly profit drop in two years yesterday as the behemoth invested in getting packages from warehouse to doorstep in a single day. The binge isn’t over either, with the company forecasting the push will cost another $1.5 billion during the holiday quarter so no one has to buy last-minute gifts at the drugstore. While CEO Jeff Bezos’s has always promised to invest for the long term, he’s also paying the price: He is about to relinquish the title of the world’s richest person to Bill Gates after Amazon shares tumbled.
Trade Talk
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence criticized China’s actions against protesters in Hong Kong while calling for greater engagement between the world’s two biggest economies. Chinese state media welcomed Pence’s “positive attitude” toward getting a trade deal done, despite the Hong Kong comments. Pence didn’t only hit China: He also slammed Nike and the NBA, saying the shoemaker had “checked its social conscience at the door” and that the basketball league is “acting like a wholly owned subsidiary of the authoritarian regime.”
SoftwareOne
While initial public offerings for companies from luxury yachts to audio systems have struggled of late, technology, internet and fintech companies in Europe are enjoying the busiest listing period since the waning days of the 2000 tech bubble. Today brings yet the latest with SoftwareOne shares set to start trading in Zurich. Another high-profile listing is set for Monday in New York when investors will get to buy shares in the first publicly traded space-tourism venture as Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic merges with an investment firm.
Coming Up…
Stocks in Asia were mixed as the Amazon report sapped optimism. And it’s another big day for earnings in Europe, with updates from Barclays and Anheuser-Busch InBev. The beer giant missed estimates and said the headwinds it faced in the third quarter will continue in the year’s final three months. Its Asia unit earlier flagged a sharp profit drop amid a China slowdown. Keep an eye on the luxury sector in Europe after Gucci maker Kering reported growth at its biggest brand that topped expectations. And a more unusual asset goes to market today: The sweater that Kurt Cobain wore for Nirvana’s iconic performance on MTV’s “Unplugged” goes up for auction, despite missing a button.
What We’ve Been Reading
This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours.
- Seized supercars aside, his insta is still living the high life.
- Craft beer’s diversity problem.
- The fall of WeWork: how it became unglued.
- Pot funding is getting more expensive.
- Building on Mars.
- Global growth should pick up in 2020. Thank the U.S.
- The U.K.’s dirty money trail.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net
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