10 things you need to know in markets August 23

A
photo taken from the International Space Station and moved on
social media by astronaut Ricky Arnold shows Hurricane Lane in
the early morning hours near Hawaii, U.S., August 22,
2018.

@astro_ricky/NASA/Handout
via REUTERS

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

1.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly called off plans to take state oil
company Aramco public. The initial public offering
would have been the largest deal in history.

2.
The US and China both implemented tariffs on $16 billion worth of
each other’s goods on Thursday. The latest
tit-for-tat escalation comes as representatives from both sides
meet in Washington for further talks.

3.
Asian shares started cautiously on Thursday amid speculation US
President Donald Trump’s political position could be threatened
by the legal woes of two former advisers. Japan’s
Nikkei closed up 0.25%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng is down 0.43% at
the time of writing (7.15 a.m. BST/2.15 a.m. ET) and China’s
Shanghai Composite is up 0.55% at the same time.

4.
The equity bull market is now the longest on record, at 3,453
days. The benchmark S&P 500 has surged a
whopping 323% over the period.

5. It’s PMI day in Europe. IHS Markit will
release preliminary estimates for service sector, manufacturing,
and composite growth in France, Germany, and Europe as a whole in
August from 8.15 a.m. BST (3.15 a.m. ET) onwards. Overall
European growth is expected to accelerate slightly.

6.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday
rejected applications for nine bitcoin-based exchange-traded
funds (ETF) from three separate companies. ETF
provider Direxion proposed to list and trade five bitcoin ETFs,
while GraniteShares and ProShare presented two each, all of which
were rejected by the SEC.

7.
The Russian ruble fell 1% on Wednesday, putting it on track for
its lowest close since June 2016. The sell-off came
as Washington imposes new sanctions against Moscow. The
ruble is down 0.27% to $0.0147 at the time of writing (7.08
a.m. BST/2.08 a.m. ET).

8. Jackson Hole kicks off today. The economic
symposium, which is sponsored by the Kansas Fed, brings together
the top economists in the US and is closely watched for signals
about future economic policy. The
US dollar index is up 0.28% to 95.35 ahead of the meeting.

9.
Xiaomi posted a profit of 14.6 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) on
45.2 billion yuan revenue. The company’s main
business — smartphones — saw sales increase 58.7% versus last
year.

10.
RBC Capital Markets is trying to address investor anxiety
surrounding the nascent marijuana industry. RBC
estimates that the US’s legal marijuana sales could reach $47
billion in the next decade.