Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,884.73
    +74.07 (+0.37%)
     
  • AIM

    743.26
    +1.15 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1700
    +0.0006 (+0.05%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2637
    +0.0015 (+0.11%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    55,672.91
    -342.87 (-0.61%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,205.81
    +1.00 (+0.01%)
     

10 things you need to know in markets today

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May reacts as the Downing Street Christmas tree lights are turned on in London, Britain December 8, 2016.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May reacts as the Downing Street Christmas tree lights are turned on in London, Britain December 8, 2016.

REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets on Friday.

David Davis, Britain’s Brexit secretary, says he is "not really interested" in a transitional deal to cushion Britain from the effects of Brexit and that he would consider one only in order to "be kind" to the EU, according to a memo seen by the Financial Times. Finance companies have pressed the government to agree a transition period after Britain leaves the bloc and before new trade terms are finalised, during which current arrangements remain in place.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein may not have voted for President-elect Donald Trump, but he is ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Mr. Trump may turn out to be a much better president than anyone else might have been in that place," Blankfein said in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

ADVERTISEMENT

Time Inc., the publisher of People, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines, has hired Morgan Stanley and Bank of America to help it deal with takeover offers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Time Inc. was reportedly approached by the billionaire investor Edgar Bronfman Jr. in November but rejected the takeover offer.

US stocks rallied to record highs again on Thursday as the rally since the election continued. Meanwhile, global bonds sold off after the European Central Bank announced it would extend its quantitative-easing program until at least December 2017 but would scale down its asset purchases to €60 billion (£50.5 billion) a month from €80 billion (£67.4 billion).

Japanese stocks hit a 1-year high overnight, taking their cue from the US. Japan's Nikkei stock market closed up 1.23%. Elsewhere in Asia, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index is down 0.42% at the time of writing (6.30 a.m. GMT/1.30 a.m. ET) and China's Shanghai Composite is up 0.47%.

Samsung will supply semiconductors to US electric car maker Tesla, South Korea's Electronic Times reported on Friday citing unnamed sources. Samsung would contract manufacture chips for self-driving features in Tesla vehicles, the paper reported, without putting a value on the order.

UK trade balance figures are coming at 9.30 a.m. GMT (4.30 a.m. ET). The Office for National Statistics admitted earlier this week that it has miscalculated trade for the last year and a half. Economists are pencilling in a £5.2 billion trade deficit for October but it may surprise given the miscalculation.

There have been more departures from Credit Suisse in recent weeks. Among the New York departures are two equity analysts and the head of execution for programme trading in the US.

Here's the presentation famed investor David Einhorn of hedge fund Greenlight Capital gave at the exclusive Robin Hood Investors Conference last week. In it, he explained his long thesis for pharmaceutical giant, Bayer.

British businesses are not willing to invest in UK research, a situation that has to change, a leading academic has said. UK firms lag competitors in France and Germany, and are below the EU average said Professor Louise Richardson of the University of Oxford told the BBC.

NOW WATCH: These are the watches worn by the smartest and most powerful men in the world

See Also:

SEE ALSO: The 10 things before the markets open archive