Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
Good morning. A missile strike may have downed the Ukrainian passenger jet, a Brexit bill cleared the House of Commons and Boeing’s Max woes continue. Here’s what’s moving markets.
Missile Strike?
Leaders of three countries said that a Ukrainian jet that crashed Wednesday near Tehran was probably brought down by an Iranian missile, albeit possibly unintentionally, and called for an international probe of the disaster. The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said it wasn’t possible that an Iranian rocket hit the plane and Iran and Ukraine have formed a task force to investigate. In the meantime, Lufthansa said an aircraft bound for Tehran had returned to Frankfurt due to a “changing assessment’’ of the security situation. Meanwhile, read here for the tell-tale signs a missile strike would leave.
Brexit Bill
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation cleared its final hurdle in the House of Commons, meaning the Withdrawal Agreement Bill now passes to the House of Lords. Johnson wants that done before the end of the month so the U.K. can leave the European Union on the current Jan. 31 deadline. After Johnson swept up an 80-seat majority in last month’s election, ending deadlock that prevented the U.K. from getting to this point, the split this month is nearly a formality with both sides already turning their attention to negotiating a trade deal.
Boeing
Boeing shares rose in U.S. trading after the comments about a possible missile strike causing the Iranian incident, which could rule out a mechanical failure that would affect other Boeing aircraft. But new internal messages released about the company’s troubled 737 Max may bring more discomfort. With one company pilot saying the airplane was designed by “clowns” who were supervised by “monkeys,” the messages threaten to upend Boeing’s efforts to rebuild public trust in the plane, which has been grounded since March after two deadly crashes.
U.S. Jobs
The final U.S. jobs report for 2019 arrives Friday. It’s forecast to show employers added 160,000 jobs in December, which would bring gains for the year to more than 2 million and higher than what economists had expected a year ago. Still, it would also be the slowest growth since 2011 and down from the year before. Forecasters also expect a further moderation this year, with uncertainty over the trade war, persisting Middle East tension and slowing global demand threatening to curb corporate investment. And all in an election year.
Coming Up…
Asian stocks are mixed and U.S. futures are slightly up ahead of the jobs report . On the corporate side, we will get updates from two U.K. retailers, JD Sports Fashion and B&M European Value Retail, giving investors more information on the spending habits of British consumers after disappointing updates Thursday from Marks & Spencer and Tesco. Next week will see the first round of U.S. bank earnings reports as the full-year earnings season kicks off.
What We’ve Been Reading
This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours.
- What financial freedom means for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
- Carlos Ghosn and the court of public opinion.
- Islamic State’s revival back in play.
- $100,000 to manage a Taco Bell?
- Life on the run is getting expensive.
- Musk’s ‘moonshot’ pay package doesn’t seem so crazy anymore.
- The 52 places to go in 2020.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net
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