10 things you need to know in markets September

FILE
PHOTO: Car manufacturers display their wares on the show floor of
the North American International Auto Show in
Detroit
Thomson
Reuters

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

1.


U.S. President Donald Trump is set to nominate former Federal
Reserve economist Nellie Liang to the central bank’s board of
governors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing
a person familiar with the matter.

2.
China plans to reduce the average tariff rate on imports from
most of its trading partners as soon as October, Bloomberg News
reported on Thursday. In July, China cut import
tariffs on almost 1,500 consumer products ranging from cosmetics
to home appliances as part of efforts to open up its economy, the
world’s second biggest.

3. Volkswagen
will end almost of all its operations in Iran, Bloomberg reported
on Wednesday, citing a U.S. official who led the discussions with
the carmaker. The Trump administration persuaded
Volkswagen to comply with U.S. sanctions on Iran, Bloomberg
said. 

4. Luxury
British carmaker Aston Martin said on Thursday it was seeking a
valuation of up to 5.07 billion pounds ($6.7 billion) as it set a
price range of £17.50 to £22.50 per share for its stock market
flotation. The company, famed for making the sports
car driven by fictional secret agent James Bond, said last month
it was pursuing an IPO, the first British carmaker to do so for
decades.

5. Nestle
said on Thursday it was exploring strategic options for its skin
health business, saying it believes the unit might be better off
outside of the Swiss food maker. Following a
strategic review earlier this year, Nestle’s board decided to
increase the company’s focus on food, drinks and nutritional
health products.

6. The
CEO of British American Tobacco Nicandro Durante is preparing to
step down in the wake of a sector-wide share price decline
prompted by investor concerns over slowing sales growth, Sky News
reported on Wednesday. Durante is expected to leave
the company at some point in the next year and likely to be
replaced by an internal candidate, Sky News said, citing sources.

7. Amazon.com
Inc is considering a plan to open as many as 3,000 new Amazon Go
cashierless stores in the next few years, Bloomberg
reported. The Amazon Go store, which has no cashiers
and allows shoppers to buy things with the help of a smartphone
app, is widely seen as a concept that can alter brick-and-mortar
retail. 

8. Coinbase
has hired finance executive Brian Brooks as chief legal officer,
it said on Wednesday, as the cryptocurrency exchange grows its
compliance and government affairs capabilities amid intensifying
regulatory scrutiny of the nascent market. Brooks
was most recently executive vice president, general counsel and
corporate secretary of Fannie Mae, the U.S. mortgage finance
company. 

9. Hard
pressed to quash allegations that its popular “fear gauge” is
being manipulated, Cboe Global Markets is turning to artificial
intelligence to help put those concerns to rest. In
its latest effort to police trading tied to the volatility index,
known as the VIX, the Cboe is working with FINRA, its regulatory
services provider, to develop machine learning techniques to tell
whether market conditions surrounding the VIX settlement are
potentially anomalous, the exchange told Reuters.

10. Jeffrey
Gundlach, chief executive officer of DoubleLine Capital, on
Wednesday said bond prices across the U.S. Treasury yield curve
could fall if the 30-year yield closes above 3.25 percent twice
in a row.The yield on the 10-year Treasury note and
30-year Treasury bond both hit four-month highs early Wednesday.
The 10-year yield was currently trading around 3.08% and the
30-year around 3.22 %.