Squawk Box Europe Express

President Trump says he is on the road to recovery after being hospitalised with Covid-19 on Friday. He was put on a course of treatments normally prescribed for more severe cases as his oxygen levels fluctuated over the weekend. Trump surprised fans and well-wishers with a motorcade drive-by yesterday as contact tracing within the White House was ramped up. Asian markets have rallied and European...

President Trump tests positive for COVID-19. Both he and the First Lady begin self-isolating as the White House physician says the President feels well and will continue his duties in full. The announcement follows the news that top aide Hope Hicks had tested positive after recently travelling with the Trump administration’s inner circle. The news drags on US futures and sends risk assets broadly...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tells CNBC that he is prepared to meet Democrats in order to strike an agreement on the virus stimulus deal after earlier talks stalled, delaying a House vote on the matter. Following Tuesday night’s fractious first presidential debate, planners promise a more orderly face-off next time with new rules. In Japan, trading is suspended after a technical glitch d...

U.S. President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden go head-to-head in the first of three presidential debates. The two clashed over healthcare, race, the economy and the Covid-19 pandemic during a fraught ninety minutes in Cleveland. Markets react with U.S. futures largely negative. Stateside indices are now on course to finish September mostly in the red. Disney announces 28,000 job los...

US markets close sharply higher but the Dow, Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are all set to finish September firmly in the red to break a 5-month winning streak. As cases continue to rise amid the virus resurgence, Democrats are hopeful of striking a deal with the White House after proposing a fresh $2.2tn stimulus bill. Meanwhile the U.S. election race heats up with the first presidential debate set f...

A U.S. judge makes an eleventh-hour ruling to stop the Trump administration from blocking TikTok from app stores. This, as the Chinese social media company looks to seal the deal with Oracle and Walmart. Washington-Beijing trade tensions continue to weigh on the technology sector as China’s largest chip maker sees its shares dive after it is hit with tighter U.S. restrictions over security concern...

Major U.S. indices survive a rocky session, finishing marginally to the upside. However, stocks are still on track to log a fourth week of losses. The outlook Stateside is marred by more pandemic uncertainty as Covid-19 cases in the U.S. rise to 7 million, with a surge in the MidWest and the Great Plains. In the UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveils a £10bn programme to safeguard jobs as he confirms...

The Dow loses 500 points in a broad U.S. sell-off, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says more fiscal support is needed, while other central bankers say the US economy remains in a 'deep hole'. Asian equities join the declines, with the Hang Seng and Shenzhen Composite taking the heaviest losses, while European markets look set to open in the red. In corporate news, Tesla takes the trade w...

‘Perilous point’: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposes a new round of lockdown restrictions that could last up to 6 months as cases rise. At a virtual UN General Assembly, tensions rise as President Trump slams China for its role in the Covid-19 outbreak. Chinese President Xi Jinping says he is not seeking a cold war, nor a hot one. US indices break their losing streaks with tech stocks once ag...

Markets on both sides of the Atlantic plunge on heavy losses for banks and travel stocks. The Dow falls 500 points, the S&P 500 posts its first four-day losing streak since February and the Stoxx 600 sees its worst day since June. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to impose a new round of Coronavirus restrictions including a 10pm pub curfew and rolling back returns to work. T...

Shares in HSBC fall to their lowest level since 1995 in Hong Kong as the bank is implicated alongside Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and others in a series of leaked documents detailing alleged suspicious fund transactions. The White House grants Chinese social media group TikTok one more week to seal a deal with Oracle and Wal-Mart. President Trump has given the deal his nod, but says parent c...

Going public? TikTok considers a U.S. IPO as the Chinese-owned social media group looks to avert sanctions ahead of a weekend deadline set by the Trump administration. In Spain, Bankia and Caixabank join forces to create the country’s largest lender with up to €700bn in assets. Ratings agency S&P puts German finance company Grenke on negative creditwatch as it awaits the result of an accountin...

The Federal Reserve promises to keep interest rates at record lows until 2023, pushing the S&P 500, the Nasdaq and Asian indices into the red. President Trump says he is concerned about TikTok’s Oracle plan, saying he does not want Chinese tech firm ByteDance to maintain control. He is also seeking payment for the U.S. government’s role in facilitating the deal. And cloud-computing firm Snowfl...

The dollar falls on expectations that the Federal Reserve will remain cautious on the outlook for the U.S. recovery. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon tells CNBC that the central bank has so far done enough to prevent a financial crisis. We also hear from Standard Chartered boss Bill Winters who says that continued central bank easing is hurting banks’ profitability. In tech news, Microsoft ups its quarter...

The Nasdaq reverses a two-day losing streak as the U.S. Treasury says it will review the proposal for a tech tie-up between Oracle and TikTok. Chinese recovery improves with retail sales rising for the first time in 2020 and industrial production topping forecasts. UBS Chairman Axel Weber is reportedly drawing up a mega-merger plan with rival Credit Suisse to create a wealth management and investm...

Time is running out… Oracle emerges as the apparent winner for TikTok’s U.S. assets as CNBC learns that ByteDance hopes a “technology partnership” with the American software giant will stave off sanctions. This, after the Chinese group rejected a full-sale offer from Microsoft. Softbank shares surge after agreeing to sell chip designer Arm to Nvidia for $40bn. There are reports the Japanese invest...

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track for their second week of losses. Market sentiment is dampened by the U.S. Senate voting down a GOP virus stimulus bill. London and Brussels are at loggerheads after the UK rejects the European Commission’s ultimatum and threats of legal action against the British government over its attempts to unpick the Brexit divorce treaty. Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastian J...

Tech turnaround… U.S. equities snap a three-day losing streak with the Nasdaq posting its best session since April. In Europe, the ECB is expected to hint at further stimulus measures to tackle weak inflation and a strong euro. CNBC learns that Chinese tech company ByteDance is in talks with the U.S. government to avoid a full sale of its video app TikTok, ahead of President Trump’s deadline next...

Tech wreck on Wall Street: a massive sell-off in U.S. tech shares wipes off $1tn from the market cap of the six largest firms. The Nasdaq is plunged into correction territory after losing a further 4 per cent. Tesla loses a fifth of its value in a single session, falling more than 20 per cent in its worst-ever trading day, after the electric car giant is left out of the S&P 500. Asia...

Decoupling decisions…President Trump pledges to end America's reliance on China 'once and for all'. But in Beijing, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping says he supports multilateralism while standing ready to face external risks. Investors satisfy their thirst for liquidity, piling into debut trading of Hong Kong water giant Nongfu, sending shares over 80 per cent higher from its listing price. AB Inbev te...

China’s largest chipmaker, SMIC, sees its shares nosedive by almost 20 per cent on concerns the company could be blacklisted by the U.S. administration. In Washington, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he expects a deal to fund the government until December to be agreed upon by the White House and Congressional Democrats by the end of this week. Japan’s investment giant Softbank’s shares...

Selling strikes Wall Street… The Dow sinks over 800 points in its worst day since June, as investors flee tech stocks in an abrupt end to the winning streak. Apple shares plunge 8 percent in the stock's worst day since March, as the tech giant loses $150bn in market value during the session. Asian equities see red, following US majors lower, as big technology firms across the region lead declines....

The Dow Jones enjoys its best day since mid-July, soaring 450 points on the back of strong U.S. factory orders offsetting weaker-than-expected in private payrolls. In China, the Caixin PMI grows for the fourth straight month in August as the service sector sees a surge in hiring for the first time since January. The French government is set to launch a €100bn virus relief package as Covid-19 cases...

Starting September with fresh record highs... The S&P 500 and Nasdaq touch new peaks as U.S. manufacturing activity rises to a 19-month high, with new orders jumping to levels not seen since 2004. In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is expected to throw his hat in the ring to fill the void left by outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. And in corporate news, Swiss pharma giant R...

China’s Caixin manufacturing activity grows at its fastest rate in almost a decade, driven primarily by new export orders rising for the first time in 2020. It’s a mixed start to September for Asian indices with concerns that the rally seen in August is waning on higher volatility around the U.S. elections. CNBC learns that Chinese video app developer ByteDance has chosen its preferred U.S. bidder...