10 things you need to know in markets today

Jeff Sessions.
Win
McNamee/Getty Images

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

1. Theresa May should call a second Brexit referendum to avoid
the potential “catastrophe” of a no-deal Brexit, the former
head of the UK civil service has told Business
Insider. Lord Kerslake, who led the civil
service between 2012 and 2014 and now advises Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn, told BI that the UK should be offered a two-choice
referendum which includes the option to remain.

2. Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned on
Wednesday at the request of President Donald
Trump. Matthew Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff,
will take over as acting attorney general, Trump said. A Justice
Department representative confirmed that Whitaker would assume
supervision of the Russia investigation.
Democrats are sounding the alarm.

3. Asian stocks rose to a one-month peak on Thursday as
investors, relieved to have moved past the US midterm
elections without any major political surprises, drove a
Wall Street rally. At the same time the dollar
bounced and pulled away from 2-1/2-week lows.MSCI’s broadest
index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.8%
to stand at its highest since Oct. 8.

4. China reported stronger-than-expected exports for October
as shippers rushed goods to the US, its biggest trading partner,
seeking to beat higher tariff rates due to kick in at the start
of next year. Import growth also defied forecasts
for a slowdown, suggesting Beijing’s efforts to cushion the
cooling economy may be slowly starting to make themselves felt.
Exports rose 15.6% last month from a year earlier, picking up
pace from September’s 14.5%.

5. Toshiba said it is cutting headcount and liquidating its
UK nuclear power unit in an effort to reduce costs as it
struggles to find new growth pillars. The plans are
part of a new five-year business strategy Toshiba announced on
Thursday.

6. The US is determined to push Iranian oil exports to zero,
US Special Representative Brian Hook said on Wednesday, through a
‘calibrated’ approach using maximum economic pressure without
lifting oil prices. The US resumed sanctions on
Iran’s oil, shipping and banking industries on Monday after
President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal earlier
this year.

7. Robyn Denholm will replace Elon Musk as chair of Tesla,
CNBC reported on Thursday. Denholm will leave her
role as CFO and head of strategy of Telstra once her six-month
notice period with the Australian telecommunications company is
complete.

8. Samsung unveiled its much-anticipated foldable phone in
San Francisco on Wednesday, urging Android developers to start
writing apps for it. The South Korean tech company
needs to get the foldable phone right to reverse steep declines
in profit for its mobile division and restore some of the cachet
its brand has lost to Apple.

9. Google is nearing a deal to buy or lease an office
building in New York City that could add space for more than
12,000 new workers, The Wall Street Journal reported on
Wednesday. Google’s deal to buy or lease 1.3
million-square-foot office building at St. John’s Terminal could
house nearly double the search giant’s current staffing in the
city.

10. UBS said it expects to be sued by the US Department of
Justice as early as Thursday on civil charges related to the sale
of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008 global
financial crisis. The Swiss bank said the claims
were not supported by the facts or the law and it would contest
any such complaint “vigorously.”