10 things you need to know in markets September 18

Trump
holds a worker meeting at the White House in
Washington
Thomson
Reuters

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

1.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he will impose 10% US
tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, but he
spared smartwatches from Apple and Fitbit and other consumer
products such as bicycle helmets and baby car seats.
Trump, in a statement announcing the new round of tariffs, warned
that if China takes retaliatory action against US farmers or
industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is
tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”

2.
US stock futures dropped and Asian shares are expected to come
under renewed pressure on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump
said he will impose 10% US tariffs on about $200 billion worth of
Chinese imports. The US dollar was down 0.19%
against the Euro at 7:40 a.m. BST.

3.
German luxury car brand Audi on Monday staged the global launch
of a new electric sport utility vehicle on the home turf of rival
Tesla, and highlighted a deal with Amazon to make recharging its
forthcoming e-tron models easier. The Audi e-tron
midsize SUV will be offered in the United States next year at a
starting price of $75,795 before a $7,500 tax credit.

4.
Goldman Sachs named Tim O’Neill as its vice-chairman, according
to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the latest top-level
appointment ahead of David Solomon taking charge as chief
executive officer of the Wall Street bank. The
appointment on Monday comes four days after Stephen Scherr was
named as the bank’s chief financial officer.

5.
SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space transportation company, was set on
Monday to name the first private passenger who will take a trip
around the moon aboard its forthcoming Big Falcon Rocket
spaceship, taking the race to commercialize space travel to new
heights. SpaceX said it will name the first
passenger to travel to the moon since the United States’ Apollo
missions ended in 1972 at an event Monday evening at the
company’s headquarters and rocket factory in the Los Angeles
suburb of Hawthorne.

6.
Symantec said on Monday it appointed three independent directors
to the cybersecurity firm’s board, including Peter Feld from
activist investor Starboard Value LP. Starboard had
nominated five directors in August to Symantec’s board after
taking a 5.8% stake in the company, upping pressure for moves to
improve performance.

7.
While US states’ financial health has strengthened in 2018
compared with last year, fewer than half have enough financial
reserves to weather the first year of a moderate recession,
according to an S&P Global Ratings report on
Monday. Only 20 states have the reserves needed to
operate for the first year of an economic downturn without having
to slash budgets or raise taxes, S&P said.

8.
The US Air Force estimated start-up costs for a proposed US Space
Force, a new military service backed by President Donald Trump,
will be around $13 billion in the first five years, according to
a Department of Defense memo seen by Reuters. The
Air Force, the US military branch that takes responsibility for
space, authored the September 14 memo outlining a proposal for “a
lethality focused organization that will field space superiority
capabilities.”

9.
Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, has chosen German financial hub
Frankfurt as its new EU headquarters as it puts in place
contingency plans for the possibility of a no deal Brexit, its
CEO said on Monday. Speaking to Bloomberg TV, UBS
boss Sergio Ermotti said that the bank’s preparations for a
disorderly Brexit have led it to choose Frankfurt as the base for
future EU operations once Britain has left the EU.

10.
Small jobs online platform TaskRabbit, which was bought last year
by the word’s biggest furniture retailer IKEA Group, said on
Tuesday it was expanding into Canada, its third market after the
United States and Britain. TaskRabbit, whose
platform connects people with freelance handymen and other
workers for tasks such as minor home repairs, deliveries and IKEA
furniture assembly, said it was launching in Toronto on Tuesday
and would roll out in Vancouver in October, then in Montreal in
2019.