10 things you need to know before the opening bell
The pound is getting smoked. The British currency fell after news Sunday that Mayor Boris Johnson of London would campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. This adds to uncertainty over the country's future in the bloc. One in three voters in the UK considers Johnson's position as "important" in deciding which way to vote, according to a recent Evening Standard poll. An agreement was reached Friday that included several reforms demanded by British Prime Minister David Cameron, including a temporary halt on in-work benefits for migrants, and guarantees that London would be shielded from eurozone financial regulation. The pound fell as much as 1.9% to $1.4129 against the dollar, the biggest decline since 2010.
Global markets are surging. US futures were up more than 1%, following the best week of the year, as major global indexes also rallied sharply at the start of the week. West Texas Intermediate crude futures in New York rallied 4% to $33 a barrel.
The SEC is investigating HSBC. A footnote in the bank's earnings statement disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into its hiring practices of candidates with ties to government officials in Asia. The SEC opened an investigation into JPMorgan in 2013 on the hiring of princelings, or the relatives of China's politicians and elite. "It would be inappropriate to comment further," HSBC representative Gareth Hewett told Reuters. HSBC swung to a loss totaling $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter.
Deutsche Bank is firing 75 people in its global markets division, split between New York and London. Higher regulatory costs, competition from US banks, and volatile markets have made traditional investment-banking business models less profitable. The cuts are in the bank's fixed-income trading unit, which deals with products like bonds and interest-rate swaps. "We are restructuring our FICC business to make it more suited to future market demands," a spokesman said. Deutsche Bank previously announced a loss of $7.4 billion for 2015.
The FBI's director says unlocking the San Bernardino iPhone will not create a precedent. Director James Comey said in a blog, without mentioning Apple, that the agency didn't want to break anyone's encryption or set loose a master key to devices like the iPhone. He added that the case was "quite narrow" and not intended to set a precedent. "It is about the victims and justice," he wrote.
More Takata airbag recalls may be on the way. According to Reuters, citing sources in the know, auto-safety regulators are checking whether 70 million to 90 million more airbag inflators should be recalled. This could nearly quadruple the 29 million inflators already recalled and linked to nine deaths in the US.
Yahoo could start reaching out Monday to potential buyers for its core business. A source familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T were interested parties along with private-equity buyers like Bain Capital, KKR, and TPG. Yahoo's board announced Friday that it had created an independent committee to start looking for "strategic alternatives" to spinning off its core business, which includes search, mail, and news.
Facebook created a new team to double down on virtual reality. The Social VR team would focus on figuring out ways that virtual reality can help people connect, according to a company blog post. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on hand at Samsung's Galaxy S7 launch event at the Mobile World Congress on Sunday to talk up both companies' plans in VR. Samsung in 2014 announced a new VR headset in partnership with Oculus VR, which is owned by Facebook.
The CDC understated the cancer risk from Lumber Liquidators' flooring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Sunday that their earlier report incorrectly stated ceiling heights and understated the formaldehyde concentration by two-thirds. The company has been under scrutiny since a "60 Minutes" report last year said flooring sourced from China contained excessive formaldehyde levels. Shares were down as much as 22% premarket.
In earnings, Allergan reported a fourth-quarter loss of $700.5 million, with a weak sales outlook. Fitbit and Motorola are due after the market close. And in economic data, Markit's flash manufacturing PMI will cross the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET.