Five Things World Business Will be Talking About Today

(Bloomberg) 

Tax bill coming ‘very shortly,’ it’s PMI day, and HSBC executive convicted of fraud. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.

Tax bill due

House and Senate leaders, responding to President Donald Trump’s goal of delivering major tax cuts by the end of the year, have laid out an ambitious schedule for releasing tax legislation over the next few weeks. While Trump yesterday tweeted that there would be no adjustments to tax-deferred retirement plans, members of Congress indicated that potential changes to 401(k) accounts remain on the table. The president also told reporters yesterday that he is “very, very close” to announcing his nominee for chair of the Federal Reserve.

PMI day

A composite Purchasing Managers’ Index for the euro area slipped to 55.9 in October, IHS Markit said this morning. While the drop was slightly larger than economists had predicted, job creation in manufacturing rose to the highest level since data collection began in 1997. The enduring economic recovery will give European Central Bank policy makers food for thought as they gather in Frankfurt later this week where they are likely to decide on how to taper asset purchases. Markit release manufacturing and services PMI data for the U.S. at 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time.

Fraud

Former HSBC Holdings Plc currency trader Mark Johnson was convicted of nine out of 10 fraud and conspiracy counts by a jury in New York yesterday.  This is the first conviction in the global currency-rigging scandal that has seen banks pay more than $10 billion in penalties. Johnson’s London counterpart at HSBC, Stuart Scott, is still fighting extradition to the U.S.

Markets mixed

Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.1 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average extended its record winning streak to a 16th day. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.1 percent lower at 5:45 a.m. as markets remained quiet ahead of Thursday’s ECB decision. S&P 500 futures were unchanged after the index ended yesterday’s session lower, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.395 percent, and gold retreated.

Party party over

China’s Communist Party congress ended with an elevation of President Xi Jingping to the party’s constitution, putting him alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Xi’s call to let the market play a “decisive role” in the economy was also included in the text. That’s a sentiment that might ring a little hollow considering officials asked some loss-making firms not to publish quarterly results during the twice-a-decade congress in a bid to maintain economic stability.