10 things you need to know in markets, October 11

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

A
trader reacts near the end of the day on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange in New York
Reuters/Brendan McDermid

1. The Dow Jones industrial average fell
831.83 points, the third-largest one-day point drop in
history, amid fears surrounding global growth,
rising interest rates, and trade disputes. The S&P 500
index dropped 3.29 percent, its worst one-day decline since
February, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 4.08 percent. Asian
markets followed. The Shanghai Composite Index has tumbled
4.34% to a four-year low. Here
are the biggest one-day point drops in the Dow’s history.

2. The stock market declines raised the stakes for U.S.
inflation figures due later on Thursday as a high outcome would
only stoke speculation of more aggressive rate hikes from the
Federal Reserve. The blood letting was bad enough
to attract the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, who

blamed the Fed, which he said has gone “crazy” raising
interest rates.

3. New reports published on Wednesday indicate that the

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman may have been involved in
a plot to lure journalist and prominent Saudi critic Jamal
Khashoggi from Virginia back to Saudi
Arabia. Khashoggi, a former adviser to senior
officials in the Saudi government who had been living in the US,
entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to secure
official documents. The 59-year-old has not been seen since,
leading to speculation that he could have been kidnapped or
killed inside the consulate.

4. Corporations around the world
should work together to reduce carbon emissions and stem climate
change rather than wait for government mandates, the chief
executive of U.S. oil producer Occidental Petroleum Corp said on
Wednesday. “We as corporations, we have to do our
part. There are enough companies committed to making it happen,”
Vicki Hollub said in an interview on the sidelines of the Tudor,
Pickering, Holt & Co Energy Disruption Conference in Houston.

5. Jack Dorsey-led Square said on Wednesday its
financial head Sarah Friar will step down to become the chief
executive officer of social networking service provider
Nextdoor. The payment processor’s shares fell
8.3 percent to $71 in extended trading, after closing down 10
percent in regular hours. Friar, who steered Square through
its blockbuster IPO in November 2015, will stay on until
December.

6. A lawmaker from the small Northern Irish party that
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government relies on for
support
has said his party will not be bullied in Brexit talks, and
that an unacceptable deal will be defeated in
parliament. Writing in the Telegraph, Democratic
Unionist Party (DUP) lawmaker Sammy Wilson said May’s British
government should not blink in negotiations and would face the
consequences if it submitted to “draconian” proposals from the
European Union. 

7. Germany’s
BMW said it will take majority control of its main China joint
venture for $4.2 billion, the first such move by a global
carmaker as Beijing starts to relax ownership rules for the
world’s biggest auto market. The luxury carmaker
will pay 3.6 billion euros to raise its stake in its venture with
Brilliance China Automotive Holdings to 75% from 50%, it said in
a statement. The deal will close in 2022 when rules capping
foreign ownership are lifted.

8. Micron Technology said on Wednesday it
planned to invest up to $100 million in startup companies working
on artificial intelligence technologies for use in
self-driving vehicles, factory automation and other growing
fields. The Idaho-based memory chip maker launched
a corporate venture capital program more than a decade ago, but
its investments until now had been “very sporadic” and “very
close to our core business” of making chips, Sumit Sadana,
Micron’s chief business officer, told Reuters.

9. Russia has become so good at information warfare that

American and allied military leaders are (rightfully) starting to
freak out about it. “The Russians are really
good at this. Better than us,” UK Army Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney
said at the AUSA Conference, according to Defense One.

10. Data
privacy rules in Asia are limiting the spread of financial
technology, an industry body said on Thursday, calling on
regulators to set out broad principles rather than precise
rules. Companies around the world want to make
better use of the large pools of data they have to both cut costs
and offer additional services. But governments and regulators in
Asia and elsewhere are tightening rules on how that data is used.