10 things you need to know in markets, October 15

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

Dan
Kitwood / Getty

1. The
Saudi stock market dropped as much as 7% on Sunday and
oil prices jumped  after President Donald Trump threatened
“severe punishment” over the disappearance of Washington Post
columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Asian shares slipped on Monday as worries over Sino-U.S.
trade disputes, a possible slowdown in the Chinese economy and
higher U.S. borrowing costs tempered optimism despite a rebound
in global equities late last week.

2. Europe’s highest court is
set to decide whether Britain has the power to unilaterally halt
Brexit. The case will test whether Britain’s
withdrawal from the EU can be withdrawn by the UK prime minister.

3. Executives from
JPMorgan and Ford Motors have distanced themselves from
Saudi Arabia. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Ford
Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to attend a Saudi investor
conference, joining the
growing list of individuals and businesses cutting ties with
the Kingdom.

4.
SoftBank Group Corp shares tumbled 5.3 percent on Monday, hurt by
worries over its ties to Saudi Arabia as well as a broader
market sell-off. Saudi Arabia, which provided much
of the funding for the SoftBank Vision Fund, is seeing a growing
number of attendees pull out of the “Davos in the Desert”
investment conference after the disappearance of a prominent
Saudi journalist.

5. President
Donald Trump says he “trusts” North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un, despite the fact that “nobody really knows” if the regime
is actively building up its weapons arsenal. During
an interview with CBS’
60 Minutes which aired Sunday night,
interviewer Lesley Stahl pressed Trump over his relationship with
Kim in the months since their June summit.
Trump also backed off his claim that climate change is a
hoax, but said he doesn’t know if it’s man made and said the
climate will “change back again.” Trump first called climate
change a hoax in 2012 and has doubled down several times since
then.

6. The
Pentagon on Friday said there has been a cyber breach of Defense
Department travel records that compromised the personal
information and credit card data of US military and civilian
personnel. According to a US official familiar
with the matter, the breach could have affected as many as 30,000
workers, but that number may grow as the investigation continues.
The breach could have happened some months ago but was only
recently discovered.

7. China
appears to have laid out how it wants Google to help it persecute
its Muslim minority. Regional authorities in
China passed new laws on how to crack down on its Uighur ethnic
minority, which includes heavy surveillance, policing, and
censorship from tech companies.

8. Sears, once America’s most iconic retailer,

filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Sears CEO
Eddie Lampert previously blamed the company’s decline on the

media, shifts in consumer spending, and the rise of
e-commerce, among other reasons.

9.
Korean Air Lines Chairman Cho Yang-ho was indicted on Monday on
charges including embezzlement and breach of trust,
South Korean prosecutors said, adding to a string of woes at the
country’s biggest airline group.

10. Prince Harry
and Meghan Markle have arrived in Sydney for their first official
royal tour. The couple will
visit Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand during their
16-day trip.