US MARKETS:
S&P 500 futures up 1.1% to 2,976.25
Brent futures up 2.8% to $66.53/bbl
Gold spot down 1.5% to $1,388.10
US Dollar Index up 0.4% to 96.51
GLOBAL NEWS:
Donald Trump suggests that the measures taken against Huawei will be relaxed. Bloomberg reveals that the American president has announced that American companies can sell their equipment to Huawei, saying that it is equipment that does not pose a major national security problem. This suggests that the sanctions put in place by the US government preventing the Chinese brand from collaborating with US companies - depriving it de facto of Google's Android - should be considerably relaxed if not completely lifted.
20,000 job cuts at DB? Deutsche Bank shares went up on Monday on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, driven by press reports announcing an impending reorganization plan and the loss of thousands of jobs at Germany's leading bank. Several media outlets report up to 20,000 people expected to leave the bank in the coming years, more than a fifth of the 91,500 people counted at the end of March.
Brookfield Infrastructure eyes Genesee & Wyoming. Brookfield Infrastructure is buying freight railway owner and operator Genesee & Wyoming in a transaction valued at $8.4 billion including debt, the firms announced today. They said in a press release that partnering with Brookfield will allow G&W to modernize and integrate its railway systems into a more streamlined and competitive network.
Blackstone close to sell $1.1B mortgage. Blackstone Group is close to agreeing on a deal valued at about $1.1 billion to sell a portfolio of Spanish mortgages to CarVal Investors, from a 6.4 billion euros book of loans that Blackstone bought from Catalunya Banc SA in 2014, Bloomberg reports.
Swiss vs EU. As of this Monday morning, the European Union (EU) no longer grants Switzerland stock exchange equivalence, due to the expiration of the previous equivalence, as negotiations stall for a framework agreement between EU and Switzerland. But to counteract this, the small central European nation has adopted a plan B, which also applies as of Monday. It aims to repatriate the trading of Swiss shares on Swiss platform, by forcing foreign financial platforms wishing to trade Swiss shares to apply for recognition from the Swiss authorities. While New York or hong Kong will be approved, EU platforms will not be approved without mutual recognition.
