10 things you need to know in markets, November 9

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

WASHINGTON,
DC – JANUARY 20: Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Robert Mueller testifies at a Senate Judiciary Hearing focusing
on the attempted bombing incident on Northwest Flight 253 January
20, 2009 in Washington, DC. The committee’s goal is to improve
the effectiveness of anti-terrorism tools and inter-agency
communication in an attempt to increase airline safety after the
attempted Christmas bombing of the flight.
Ann Heisenfelt/Getty Images

1. Northern
Ireland’s DUP has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May
to say that it will not support a Brexit deal that leaves
Northern Ireland separated from the rest of the United
Kingdom. The European Union wants a customs
border in the Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the rest of
the UK, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a letter from Theresa
May seen by the London Times newspaper suggested.

2.
Russian energy majors are putting pressure on Western oil buyers
to use euros instead of dollars for payments and introducing
penalty clauses in contracts as Moscow seeks protection against
possible new US sanctions. Western oil majors and
trading houses have clashed with Russia’s third and fourth
biggest producers, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, over 2019 oil
sales contract terms during unusually tough annual renegotiation
in recent weeks.

3.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe could be heading
into the home stretch. 
Mueller has
reportedly begun compiling a final draft of his findings into
Russian election interference as experts wonder aloud if his
clock is ticking in a post-Sessions White House.

4.
The US securities regulator is set to review this month rules on
corporate democracy. On November 15, the
Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a roundtable on the
‘proxy process’ by which big pension funds and other shareholders
can force companies to vote on a range of environmental, social
and governance matters.

5.
Cabinet ministers from the US, Mexico and Canada will sign a new
trade agreement on November 30, Mexico’s economy minister said on
Thursday. The deal will be signed in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, the Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told
reporters at an event in Mexico City. 

6.
US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is exploring a job opportunity
with Fox News as a contributor, sources familiar
with the situation said in a Politico report
published on Thursday. Zinke, who came under fire for a
series of scandals, plans on resigning from the Interior
Department by the end of the year, sources
said. 

7. Google
is reportedly expected to hire Geisinger Health CEO David
Feinberg to a new role leading the company’s healthcare
efforts. The
Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that
Feinberg’s role will be to coordinate the health initiatives
Google has underway, including the work happening in artificial
intelligence and devices. 

8. China
has recruited about 30 bright, patriotic kids to help design and
build the first generation of AI weaponry.That’s not
the pitch for a Bruce Willis movie, it’s actually happening, the
Beijing Institute of Technology says.

9. Google’s
CEO has just tried to put the lid back on the company’s notorious
party culture.Sundar Pichai’s new rules for drinking
at work, comes as Google struggles to deal with sexual-harassment
complaints at the company.

10. “I
don’t want prayers, I don’t want
thoughts.” The distraught
mother of one of 12 mainly young people shot in a Thousand Oaks,
California bar has made a gut-wrenching plea for gun control in
the US.