10 things you need to know in markets September 12

US
President Donald Trump gestures after arriving at John Murtha
Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Johnstown after arriving in
Pennsylvania to take part in the 17th annual September 11
observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County,
Pennsylvania, U.S., September 11, 2018.

REUTERS/Kevin
Lamarque

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

1.
Apple is holding its annual keynote event on Wednesday, where the
company is expected to announce a new lineup of iPhones, Apple
Watches, and more. Business Insider will be
attending and live-blogging the announcements, and the event will
be live-streamed on Apple’s website.

2.
Asian stocks were pinned near 14-month lows on Wednesday, as
investor confidence was chilled by the latest round of verbal
threats in an intensifying US-China trade conflict.
Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.24%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng is down
0.01% at the time of writing (7.12 a.m. GMT/2.12 a.m. ET), and
the Shanghai Composite is down 0.15% at the same time.

3.
Oil prices rose on Wednesday after a report of falling crude
inventories and the looming sanctions against Iran fueled
expectations of a tightening market. Brent oil is up
0.45% to $79.42 at the time of writing (7.13 a.m. GMT/2.13 a.m.
ET), while US West Texas Intermediate is up 1% to $69.94.

4.
A group of about 50 lawmakers in British Prime Minister Theresa
May’s government who oppose her proposals for a post-Brexit deal
with the European Union have met to discuss how and when they
could force her out of her job, the BBC reported on
Wednesday. The lawmakers, part of the European
Research Group (ERG), an anti-EU grouping in May’s Conservative
party, met on Tuesday night and openly discussed May’s future as
leader, the BBC said citing an unnamed source.

5.
SSE, the “big six” UK energy firm, has issued a profit warning
amid the looming price cap on the industry’s default tariffs
dubbed a “rip-off” by Theresa May. Sky News reports
the company said earnings at its household supply business for
the year to 31 March would be expected to be “significantly
lower” if Ofgem implements its curbs on standard variable tariffs
(SVTs) as expected in January.

6.
Executives from JPMorgan, Citi, and Barclays Ireland gave
evidence to UK MPs on Tuesday about the impact of Brexit on their
industry. All three said their banks expect just 150
roles to be moved out of London in the immediate aftermath of
Brexit — much lower than previous estimates.

7.
HSBC aims to increase its Asia private banking headcount by
two-thirds in five years and double client assets in eight as it
eyes a bigger share of the business in the world’s
fastest-growing wealth market, top executives said.
The lender’s private banking expansion plan in Asia, which
accounted for 75% of group-level profit last year, comes as the
unit that caters to the rich is focusing once more on growth
after years of painful restructuring.

8.
Tesco will unveil its new discount chain Jack’s next week as the
UK’s biggest supermarket throws down the gauntlet to the German
discounters Aldi and Lidl. The first of the stores,
named after the Tesco founder Jack Cohen, will be unveiled by the
supermarket’s chief executive Dave Lewis in Chatteris,
Cambridgeshire, on Wednesday.

9.
Mike Ashley, the billionaire founder and majority owner of Sports
Direct, faces a potential shareholder revolt at the company’s
annual meeting on Wednesday, though he will not be present to
hear any protests. Sports Direct last month said
that its board had agreed that CEO Ashley, who owns 61% of the
sportswear retailer, would not be required to attend the meeting
in central London because of “overriding demands for his time”.

10.
US securities law can be used to prosecute fraud cases over
cryptocurrency offerings, a New York federal judge ruled on
Tuesday, in what appeared to be the first court decision to
address the issue. The ruling from US District Judge
Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn allows federal prosecutors to pursue
their case against Maksim Zaslavskiy, a Brooklyn resident who was
arrested in November on charges that he defrauded investors in
two cryptocurrencies.