10 things you need to know in markets today
Oil is rallying. The price of European Brent crude is up 3.66% to $30.70 (£21.56) at the time of writing (6.10 a.m. GMT/1.10 a.m. ET), while US crude is up 4.01% to $30.71 (£21.57).
Asian stocks are higher, following gains in Europe and Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei erased its stunning reversal of yesterday afternoon and closed up a huge 5.88%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 2.95% at the time of writing (6.10 a.m. GMT/1.10 a.m. ET) and China's benchmark Shanghai Composite is up 1.30%.
It's flash PMI day in Europe. From 8.00 a.m GMT (3.00 a.m. ET), we'll be getting early readings of manufacturing, service sector, and overall economic growth in France and Germany in January, as well as final growth figures for the Eurozone as a whole in December.
Mario Draghi is speaking at Davos. The European Central Bank President's speech will be closely watched, after comments yesterday on interest rates and stimulus helped pick global markets off the canvas. Draghi is scheduled to speak at the World Economic Forum's conference at 7.45 a.m. (2.45 a.m.).
Hedge fund billionaire George Soros is pretty bearish. "We are repeating [2008]," Soros said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman is having a hard time making out what has caused the recent market turmoil. Speaking with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gorman said it was not clear to him what exactly had led to "the emotional state the markets are in."
China's vice president told Bloomberg News on Thursday that his government has no intention of devaluing the yuan. "The fluctuations in the currency market are a result of market forces, and the Chinese government has no intention and no policy to devalue its currency," Li Yuanchao told Bloomberg in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The Russian Central Bank summoned bank chiefs on Thursday evening after the ruble plummeted to new record lows against the dollar. Central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina has cancelled her trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos in the wake of the collapse. "The Bank of Russia held a working meeting with the leadership of banking associations and several banks regarding the conditions and prospects of banks' crediting of the economy in 2016," the central bank said in a statement.
JPMorgan's board of directors has approved CEO Jamie Dimon pay for 2015, and it's a pretty big number. Dimon will receive $27 million (£18.9 million) in total compensation for the year. Broken down, it's $1.5 million (£1 million) in salary, $5 million (£3.5 million) in cash bonus and $20.5 million (£14.4 million) in performance share units, or PSUs, according to an SEC filing.
Google's Android operating system has generated revenue of $31 billion (£21.7 billion) and profit of $22 billion (£15.4 billion), Bloomberg reported, citing a statement made by an Oracle Corp lawyer in court. Google's parent company Alphabet said the disclosures should not have been made public, Bloomberg reported on Thursday