Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on Thursday.
1. The Trump administration will impose steel and aluminium tariffs on imports from the European Union, according to The Wall Street Journal. The tariffs come after talks between the EU and US failed to produce an alternative trade deal.
2. The Federal Reserve is proposing to ease a rule aimed at defusing the kind of risk-taking on Wall Street that helped trigger the 2008 financial meltdown. The Fed under new leadership on Wednesday unveiled proposed changes to the Volcker Rule, which bars banks from making risky trading bets for their own profit with depositors’ money.
3. US stocks rallied Wednesday as global markets shook off political turmoil in Italy and as the Federal Reserve Board voted to rewrite a post-financial crisis rule on bank trading. US Treasury bond yields rose, and the dollar fell.
4. Asian stocks rebounded from a two-month trough on Thursday, while the euro enjoyed a respite after sinking to its lowest in 10 months as political turmoil in Italy that had roiled global financial markets showed signs of easing.Japan’s Nikkei closed up 0.90%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng is up 1.06% at the time of writing (7.25 a.m. BST/2.25 a.m. ET), but China’s Shanghai Composite is down 2.5%. The euro is up 0.16% against the dollar to $1.1684.
5. Uber is talking with Alphabet's autonomous driving unit Waymo about using its technology on Uber's ride-hailing app, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said on Wednesday, signalling a possible thaw in relations between the firms. Khosrowshahi said on stage at the Code Conference that Uber's relationship with Waymo was "getting better" since Uber in February agreed to pay Waymo $245 million in shares to settle a legal dispute over trade secrets.
6. British transport company FirstGroup replaced its chief executive after what its chairman called a disappointing year and said it was putting its Greyhound bus business in the US under review. Reuters reports that FirstGroup, which rejected two approaches from a private equity firm earlier this year, reported a 5% fall in adjusted pretax profit to £197 million for the year to March 31, slightly behind a consensus forecast.
7. Oil surged Wednesday after a report said that OPEC will likely keep output cuts through the end of the year. The rally has cooled on Thursday morning, with West Texas Intermediate down 0.06% to $77.43 at the time of writing (7.25 a.m. BST/2.25 a.m. ET) and Brent down 0.1% to $77.40.
8. Citigroup is dedicating roughly 20% of its expense budget, or $8 billion, to technology, according to CEO Michael Corbat. "We're spending more this year than last year in an effort to spend less next year," Corbat said.
9. Warren Buffett was close to investing $3 billion in Uber, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. The deal fell apart because of disagreements over the size and terms of the stake, the report said.
10. Chinese facial recognition technology developer SenseTime Group has raised $620 million in its latest round of funding, valuing the company at more than $4.5 billion. The financing was led by Fidelity International, Hopu Capital, Silver Lake and Tiger Global, it said in a statement.
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