Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on Monday.
1. The Saudi stock market dropped as much as 7% on Sunday and oil prices jumped after President Donald Trump threatened “severe punishment” over the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Asian shares slipped on Monday as worries over Sino-U.S. trade disputes, a possible slowdown in the Chinese economy and higher U.S. borrowing costs tempered optimism despite a rebound in global equities late last week.
2. Europe’s highest court is set to decide whether Britain has the power to unilaterally halt Brexit. The case will test whether Britain’s withdrawal from the EU can be withdrawn by the UK prime minister.
3. Executives from JPMorgan and Ford Motors have distanced themselves from Saudi Arabia. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Ford Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to attend a Saudi investor conference, joining the growing list of individuals and businesses cutting ties with the Kingdom.
4. SoftBank Group Corp shares tumbled 5.3 percent on Monday, hurt by worries over its ties to Saudi Arabia as well as a broader market sell-off. Saudi Arabia, which provided much of the funding for the SoftBank Vision Fund, is seeing a growing number of attendees pull out of the "Davos in the Desert" investment conference after the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist.
5. President Donald Trump says he "trusts" North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, despite the fact that "nobody really knows" if the regime is actively building up its weapons arsenal. During an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes which aired Sunday night, interviewer Lesley Stahl pressed Trump over his relationship with Kim in the months since their June summit. Trump also backed off his claim that climate change is a hoax, but said he doesn't know if it's man made and said the climate will "change back again." Trump first called climate change a hoax in 2012 and has doubled down several times since then.
6. The Pentagon on Friday said there has been a cyber breach of Defense Department travel records that compromised the personal information and credit card data of US military and civilian personnel. According to a US official familiar with the matter, the breach could have affected as many as 30,000 workers, but that number may grow as the investigation continues. The breach could have happened some months ago but was only recently discovered.
7. China appears to have laid out how it wants Google to help it persecute its Muslim minority. Regional authorities in China passed new laws on how to crack down on its Uighur ethnic minority, which includes heavy surveillance, policing, and censorship from tech companies.
8. Sears, once America's most iconic retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Sears CEO Eddie Lampert previously blamed the company's decline on the media, shifts in consumer spending, and the rise of e-commerce, among other reasons.
9. Korean Air Lines Chairman Cho Yang-ho was indicted on Monday on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust, South Korean prosecutors said, adding to a string of woes at the country's biggest airline group.
10. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have arrived in Sydney for their first official royal tour. The couple will visit Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand during their 16-day trip.
