10 things you need to know in markets, October 23

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

1. Asian shares slumped on Tuesday as a cocktail of negative
drivers from Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic isolation to fresh worries
about trade wars whacked sentiment across the
region. Selling in Asia erased gains made in rally
of the previous two sessions, which were led by China stimulus
hopes, with the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan dropping 2.2%. Declines in many regional benchmark
indexes also exceeded 2%

2. Japanese lender Nomura’s early warning indicators (EWIs), a
model that has reliably signalled at least two-thirds of all
financial crises that have occurred since the early 1990s, the
risks of such an outcome is growing in Asia, in particular, Hong
Kong. “For Hong Kong, 50 warning signals were given
over the past 12 quarters out of a maximum of 60, the highest of
all the 30 economies in our sample,” they say.

3. Uber executive Cameron Poetzscher, who led corporate
development at the ride-hailing startup, has resigned following
reports of an investigation into sexual misconduct, according
to The Wall Street Journal. A spokesperson
for Uber confirmed Poetzscher’s departure to Business Insider
without commenting on the reason.”We thank Cam for his four and
half years of service to Uber,” the person said.

4. US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White
House as he departed on a trip to campaign in Texas, said on
Monday his administration plans to produce a resolution calling
for a 10% tax cut for middle income
earners. Trump said on Saturday his
administration was studying a tax cut to be rolled out some time
around the beginning of November just before congressional
elections.

5. British drugmaker AstraZeneca will buy a newly issued equity
stake of 9.8% in smaller French peer Innate Pharma, as
consolidation intensifies in the healthcare
sector. AstraZeneca will buy the stake via
around 6.26 million new shares being issued to it at a price of
10 euros per share, the companies said on Tuesday. Innate Pharma
has a current market capitalization of around 277 million euros
($317 million).

6. Netflix is launching a new $2 billion debt offering to
fund its cash-burning content business. Shares dropped 1.26% on
the news. 
The streaming-media giant
announced Monday that it
intends to offer approximately $2 billion of unsecured
senior notes in dollars and euros, and use
the 
net proceeds to support content
acquisitions, production and development, as well as other
corporate purposes.

7. Major economies should launch coordinated regulation of
cryptocurrencies, the head of Goldman Sachs-backed startup Circle
said on Monday, underscoring growing industry support for
international rules on digital
money. “Ultimately there needs to be
normalization at the G20 level of critical crypto-related
regulatory matters,” Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Boston-based Circle,
told Reuters in an interview in London.

8. An explosive device was found on Monday in a mailbox near the
New York home of billionaire financier George Soros, a favorite
target of right-wing campaigners in the United States and eastern
Europe, the New York Times reported, citing
police. Authorities responded to the home in
Katonah, New York after they received a call about a suspicious
package at about 3:45 p.m., the Times reported.

9. UBS allows all its staff to travel “freely in and out” of
China and it is business as usual there, the Swiss bank said,
after local authorities last week asked one of its bankers to
delay her departure from Beijing to meet with
officials. That move by the Chinese authorities
led to UBS asking its wealth management staff to reconsider any
travel plans to China, a person familiar with the matter told
Reuters on Saturday.

10. Gilberto Benetton, a co-founder
of Italian clothing retailer United Colors
of Benetton who masterminded the family empire’s
diversification into construction, transport and catering,
has died at the age of 77. The former head of
family holding company
Edizione which controls Italy’s biggest
infrastructure group Atlantia, died after a
short illness, the family said on Monday.