10 things you need to know in markets August 3

Apple CEO Tim
Cook.
Stephen
Lam/Getty

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

1. Apple became the first US publicly traded company to
reach a $1 trillion market capitalization. The
milestone was hit when the company’s share price rose to $207.05
Thursday morning. It comes just days after the
company reported
its strongest third quarter,which spurred a 6% spike in
share price Wednesday. 

2. Asian stocks were steady on Friday, with gains from the
tech-led rise on Wall Street capped by the latest exchange of
trade threats between Beijing and Washington, while safehaven
flows lifted the dollar to a two-week
high. Investors also remain cautious ahead of
the July U.S. jobs report due later on Friday, which will give a
reading on the health of the world’s largest economy and possible
clues about the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate rises.

3. President Donald Trump’s trade war is grabbing the attention
of some of America’s largest companies.
An analysis
by CB Insights found that mentions of the
word “tariff” on earnings calls hit a record high in the second
quarter, even before the most recent round of threats between the
US and China.

4. Two-thirds of business leaders believe the UK is “likely” to
be heading for a no-deal Brexit, according to a new survey which
reflects a growing concern that Theresa May will fail to strike a
deal in Brussels by March next year. A
Survation poll of CEOs, founders, and directors found that 66%
believe that Britain is “likely” to leave the EU without a deal,
with 25% of that cohort believing that it is “very likely.”

5. The Bank of England raised interest rates for just
the second time since the financial crisis on Thursday, in a
move widely expected by commentators and market participants
alike. Britain’s central bank raised its base
rate of interest from 0.5% to 0.75%, its second hike in less than
a year as it continues the process of slowly normalizing monetary
policy following more than a decade of unprecedented stimulus.

6. Sonos — the smart-speaker company powering sound waves in
seven million homes so far — raised $1.5 billion in an initial
public offering on Thursday. The Silicon Valley
firm has been making high-fidelity speakers for more than 16
years. And after raising more than $450 million over the course
of nine rounds on Sand Hill Road, Sonos finally made the leap to
Wall Street.

7. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, and CTO, JB Straubel, suggested the
company may not hit its goal of making 1 million vehicles by
2020 during its second-quarter earnings call on
Wednesday. After Wall Street Journal reporter
Tim Higgins asked if the company still planned to make 1 million
vehicles in 2020, Musk and Straubel said that was their goal, but
suggested the actual number may be lower.

8. Chinese tech giant Huawei, which overtook Apple as the world’s
second-largest smartphone vendor in the June quarter, said on
Friday it shipped more than 95 million smartphones globally in
the first six months. Huawei said its wearables
posted growth of 147% during the period from a year ago, and it
plans to add another 10,000 retail stores around the world before
the end of 2018.

9.
Shares of the commercial-real-estate giant Cushman &
Wakefield rose by as much as 7% in their trading debut on
Thursday. In a regulatory filing on Wednesday,
the company said it priced the shares on sale at its initial
public offering at $17, the midpoint of its estimated range, and
raised $765 million. It sold 45 million shares.

10. Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday he was
humbled to be elected and called for unity after a poll marred by
the deaths of six people in an army crackdown on opposition
protests. “This is a new beginning. Let us join
hands, in peace, unity & love, & together build a new
Zimbabwe for all!,” Mnangagwa said on Twitter.