10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open
Russia Is Abandoning A Major Pipeline Project. President Vladimir Putin announced that a pipeline which would have exported gas into south-east Europe has been scrapped, according to the Financial Times.
Asian Markets Bounced. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.42%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently up 1.35%, making up a lot of the losses made on Monday.
Hedge Funds Are Closing Like It's 2009. This year could be the worst for hedge fund closures since the financial crisis, Bloomberg reported.
Hong Kong's Protest Leaders Are Telling Demonstrators To Give Up. The three original founders of Hong Kong's pro-democracy Occupy movement tearfully announced Tuesday they would "surrender" by turning themselves into police and urged protesters still on the streets to retreat.
Global Banks Are Back In Profit, But Europe Is Lagging. The global banking industry has moved beyond recovery and regained overall profit for the first time since the financial crisis, although European lenders are still lagging far behind rivals, an industry study showed.
More Federal US Authorities Want All Takata Airbags Recalled. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has now gotten into the act, demanding that Takata declare its airbags defective, which would facilitate a country-wide recall of the devices.
S&P Joined Moody's In Criticism Of Japan's Public Finances. Standard & Poor's cast doubt on Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ability to repair the country's tattered finances, a day after Moody's tarnished the government's economic record less than two weeks away from a major election.
And Japanese Workers' Wages Came In Below Inflation For The 16th Month. Wages rose by only 0.5% in the year to October, well below inflation, even after stripping out the effect of April's sales tax increase.
Honda Sales In China Are Down By More Than A Tenth. Honda and its two Chinese joint ventures sold 72,973 vehicles in China in November, down 12.1 percent from a year earlier, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday.
European Producer Prices Are Coming. At 10 a.m. GMT, inflation seen by companies in October will be announced, with analysts expecting a 0.3% rise from September. The figure is an early indicator of how inflation might feed through to consumer prices.