10 things you need to know in markets today

European
Commission President Juncker and U.S. President Trump talk to the
news media at the White House in Washington
Thomson Reuters

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on
Thursday.

1. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he struck a
preliminary deal with European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker to ease trade tensions and avoid a full-blown
trade war with the European Union. “This was a
very big day for free and fair trade,” Trump said during a
hastily scheduled joint appearance in the White House Rose Garden
with Juncker, hailing a “new phase” of trade relations with the
EU.

2. Facebook’s stock took a beating Wednesday — before being
utterly pummeled. Immediately following the
company’s disappointing earnings
report — in which it reported
worse-than-expected user growth and revenue — investors sent its
shares down more than 10%. Then, during the company’s earnings
call with investors, the shares fell even more as CEO Mark
Zuckerberg and his colleagues warned of slowing revenue growth
and increased expenses in the months ahead. At one point, the
company’s stock was down nearly 24%, and its valuation had fallen
by a whopping $148 billion. 

3. Asian stocks edged higher on Thursday, taking comfort from
gains on Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump and
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to work
toward eliminating trade barriers on industrial
goods. The meeting helped to extend a rally in
global stocks into its fourth day, as investors took heart from a
rare piece of good news amid global concerns over trade.

4. The European Central Bank will hold its July
monetary policy meeting on Thursday, with policy widely expected
to remain unchanged. The July meeting, the central
bank’s last before its summer break, is generally a low key
affair, with policymakers generally not keen to rock the boat
before an extended hiatus.

5. Ford on Wednesday posted a second-quarter net profit that was
down by almost half from the prior-year period, missing analyst
expectations. This was largely due to a fire at a
parts supplier that disrupted production of its popular pickup
trucks, while falling sales and tariffs hurt the automaker’s
business in China. The No. 2 US automaker reported a
second-quarter net profit of $1.07 billion, or 27 cents a share,
compared with $2.05 billion, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier.

6. Chinese online group discounter Pinduoduo Inc priced its U.S.
initial public offering  at $19 per American depositary
share (ADS), raising $1.63 billion. That makes it
the second-biggest U.S. float by a Chinese firm this year,
according to two people familiar with the
situation. The pricing values money-losing Pinduoduo
at $23.8 billion.

7. Visa, the world’s largest payments network, on Wednesday
posted a 13% rise in quarterly profit, as strong economic growth
globally helped fuel a booming credit card
market. Net income rose to $2.33 billion, or $1
per Class A share, in the third quarter ended June 30 from $2.06
billion, or 86 cents per Class A share, a year
earlier. 

8. Authorities in Beijing are responding to reports of an
explosion near the US Embassy in Beijing at around 1 p.m. local
time on Thursday, according to multiple eyewitness
reports. The blast was heard from several
blocks away, The New York
Times reported. One witness said she heard the
explosion and saw a cloud of smoke near where visa applicants
stand in line outside the US Embassy, according
to The Financial Times .

9. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday said he will
launch an economic recovery program for the South American
nation, which is struggling under hyperinflation and chronic
shortages of food and medicine. Few details of what
the program would look like were revealed.

10. Goldman Sachs has hired Erika Irish Brown as its new chief
diversity officer, according to an internal memo seen by Business
Insider on Wednesday. Brown joins the bank from
Bloomberg, where she served as their first-ever diversity and
inclusion officer. She also led diversity hiring
efforts at Bank of America and Lehman Brothers.