10 things you need to know in markets August 6

An
oil pump jack at sunset near Midland Texas.
Thomson Reuters

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

1.
US employers added 157,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected,
according to a Bureau of
Labour Statistics
report released Friday. Economists had expected the
jobs report to show nonfarm payrolls increasing by 193,000 on
net. The job gains in June were revised higher.

2.
British trade minister Liam Fox said “intransigence” from the
European Commission was pushing Britain towards a no-deal Brexit,
in an interview published on Saturday by the Sunday
Times. Fox put the odds of Britain leaving the
European Union without first agreeing a deal over their future
relationship at 60-40, the newspaper reported.

3.
Oil prices rose on Monday after Saudi crude production registered
a surprising dip in July and as American shale drilling appeared
to plateau. Markets also anticipated an announcement
from Washington due later on Monday detailing renewed US
sanctions against major oil exporter Iran, set to be reinstated
at 1201 EDT on Tuesday (1601 GMT), according to a US Treasury
official.

4.Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, will stop
investing in bonds and shares of companies that generate more
than 30% of their sales with coal-related business, its chief
executive said, caving to pressure from investors.
“In the individual risk business, where we can see the risks
exactly, we will in future in principle no longer insure new
coal-fired power plants or mines in industrial countries,”
Joachim Wenning added in a commentary to be published in German
daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday.

5.HSBC said on Monday its pretax profit rose 4.6% for the
first half of the year, as Europe’s biggest bank showed early
progress in its strategy of returning to growth mode after years
of restructuring. HSBC reported a pretax profit of
$10.7 billion in the six months through June, up from $10.2
billion in the same period a year earlier.

6.China’s Unipec, the trading arm of state oil major
Sinopec, has suspended crude oil imports from the United States
due to a growing trade spat between Washington and Beijing, three
sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.
The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorized
to speak to the media.

7.Huawei Technologies is facing increased scrutiny in
Britain because it is using an ageing software component sold by
a firm based in the United States, one of the countries where
lawmakers allege its equipment could facilitate Chinese spying,
sources told Reuters. The fact that the British
misgivings stem in part from Huawei’s relationship with a US
company shows how trade wars and heightened national security
concerns are making it harder for technology firms and
governments to safeguard products and communication networks.

8.Deutsche Bank has uncovered shortcomings in its ability
to fully identify clients and the source of their wealth,
internal documents seen by Reuters show, more than a year after
it was fined nearly $700 million for allowing money
laundering. In two confidential reviews, dated June
5 and July 9, Germany’s biggest lender detailed the results of
tests on a sample of investment bank customer files in several
countries, including Russia.

9.Asian shares pared gains on Monday as Chinese stocks
swung into negative territory, dragged lower by the escalating
Sino-US trade war, though Beijing’s efforts to stop sharp
declines in the yuan helped support the currency.
Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.05%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng is up
0.10% at the time of writing (8.05 a.m. BST/3.05 a.m. ET), and
the Shanghai Composite is down 1.26%.

10.
ICE, the parent company of the iconic New York Stock Exchange, is
making a big move into the crypto market with a digital asset
platform. The firm, which previously dove into the
market for digital assets via a data feed product earlier this
year, had reportedly been exploring a cryptocurrency exchange
platform. On Friday, the company officially announced it had been
developing out such an offering.