Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on Thursday.
1. Global stocks are falling again. European and UK markets both fell more than 1%, amid lingering fears over US-China trade and a flattening US yield curve. US markets were closed to mark the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush.
2. China has confirmed major details about the Trump-Xi trade deal. While the statement was light on specifics, the Chinese official attempted to assuage skepticism about the deal that helped contribute to a major selloff in US stocks. The Chinese also made a concrete step toward addressing US concerns by releasing a new set of punishments for intellectual property theft. But confusion over the deal and ineffective communication by the Trump team has left many worried.
3. Nissan has found more cases of improper testing of vehicles in Japan and is considering recalling affected cars, the Nikkei reported on Thursday. Nissan has already revealed a few cases of improper inspections over the past year.
4. Facebook is in hot water, again, after the UK Parliament published a trove of top-secret Facebook executive emails on Wednesday. The hundreds of pages of documents provide an unprecedented window into Facebook leadership's approach to competition and growth. Here are the 7 biggest revelations you need to know about.
5. Private equity firm Blackstone Group is readying an IPO of Alight Solutions,a US provider of healthcare and retirement benefits services that could be valued at more than $7 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
6. The Northern Irish party that props up Theresa May's Conservative government would not vote to topple her in a confidence vote even if she loses a key vote on her Brexit deal next week, DUP lawmaker Sammy Wilson said.
7. Tesla has opened a tender process to build its Shanghai Gigafactory and at least one contractor has started buying materials, the clearest indication that construction is imminent.
8. The Australian dollar fell sharply on Wednesday, losing ground on the back of a big undershoot on Australian economic growth in the September quarter and dovish remarks from the Bank of Canada which resulted in broad-selling in commodity-linked currencies. At 8.10am AEDT, the Aussie was down 0.94% to 0.7268.
9. The number of electric vehicles in the region of 100 million people stretching from Poland in the north to Bulgaria in the south is expected to surge when tighter European Union emissions rules come into force in 2020.
10. Put down your avocado toast. A Michelin-starred chef says restaurants should stop serving avocados because they're "the blood diamonds of Mexico". Read why here.
