10 things you need to know in European markets, Monday October 8

An
investor looks on in front of an electronic board showing stock
information at a brokerage house in Shanghai March 17,
2015.
REUTERS/Aly
Song

Good Morning! Here’s what you need to know on Monday.

1. Asian stocks tumbled on Monday as China’s markets reopened
after a week-long holiday. The People’s Bank of
China said it would ease policy on Sunday, cutting the required
reserve ratio for for most Chinese banks by 1%. But the move did
little to diminish concerns about trade tensions and the broader
Chinese economy, reflected in the large-scale declines seen so
far during the session.

2. Britain’s Lloyds
Banking Group is to merge its 13 billion pounds ($17.06 billion)
wealth management arm into a new joint venture with asset manager
Schroders, Sky news reported on Sunday. The deal
will see Lloyds owning 50.1 percent‎ of the new joint venture
with Schroders owning the rest, Sky said, citing sources.

3. Apple’s top security officer told
Congress on Sunday that it had found no sign of suspicious
transmissions or other evidence that it had been
penetrated in a sophisticated attack on its supply
chain. Apple Vice President for Information Security
George Stathakopoulos wrote in a letter to the Senate and House
commerce committees that the company had repeatedly investigated
and found no evidence for the main points in a Bloomberg article
published on Thursday.

4. China’s antigraft watchdog said late on Sunday that
the Chinese
authorities were investigating Meng Hongwei, who heads the global
law enforcement organization Interpol, for suspected
violations of the law. Meng, who is also a vice minister
of public security in China, had been reported missing after
traveling from France, where Interpol is based, to China, and his
wife has been placed under police protection after receiving
threats. French police were investigating what it called a
“worrying disappearance”.

5. A major report prepared by the United Nations body for
climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
has called
for “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects
of society.” The report outlines the impacts of
global warming of 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.

6. A Bulgarian
journalist who reported on an investigation into alleged
corruption involving European Union funds has been
murdered in the Danube town of Ruse, authorities said on
Sunday. Prosecutors in the Balkan country said that the
body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova was found in a park in Ruse
on Saturday. Marinova, who was a board member of the Ruse-based
TV station TVN – one of the most popular TV channels in
northeastern Bulgaria – is the third journalist to have been
murdered in the European Union in a year.

7. Japan said
it Japan hopes the US returns to the Trans-Pacific Partnership
but an overhaul would be very difficult. Asked about
suggestions Britain might join the trade bloc after it leaves the
EU, Japan’s chief negotiator for TPP, Kazuyoshi Umemoto, told
Reuters that any country which endorses the agreement and is
interested in joining would be welcome regardless of its
geographical location. TPP is set to be signed next month.

8. Walmart said on Monday it would partner with US movie studio
Metro Goldwyn Mayer to create content for its video-on-demand
service, Vudu, which the retailer bought eight years
ago. Walmart has been looking to prop up Vudu’s monthly
viewership that remains well below that of competitors like
Netflix and Hulu, which is controlled by Walt Disney, Comcast
Corp and Twenty-First Century Fox.

9. Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair
Bolsonaro turned his party from a footnote in a crowded Congress
into a national behemoth on Sunday, underscoring a seismic shift
in Latin America’s biggest nation as voters raged against the
political establishment. Sunday’s
strong showing for Bolsonaro allies in legislative elections
defied many pollsters’ forecasts and suggests the
formerly undistinguished congressman could have an
easier-than-expected time garnering support for tough economic
reforms.

10. The Saudi crown prince said that the stalled plan
to sell
shares in oil giant Aramco will go ahead, promising an
initial public offering by 2021, Bloomberg
reported. The state-run firm is worth $2 trillion or
more.