10 things you need to know in markets today
Twitter is planning a big round of layoffs that could affect up to 8% of its staff, or 300 people, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources. The layoffs come as the money-losing social networking company continues to struggle to grow its audience and its business, and as plans to sell the company appear to have foundered.
Britain is at risk of "sleepwalking into the next financial crisis," unless changes are made to empower the UK's financial watchdog, according to a new report. Reuters says that a new 150-page report from the New City Agenda think tank and Cass Business School claims the FCA is "timid and cowed," and at risk of "group think" or lack of internal challenge, "box ticking," and watering down rules.
Japan's Nikkei hit a 6-month high. The stock market is up 0.74% at the time of writing (6.30 a.m. BST/1.30 a.m. ET), buoyed by a weak yen driving hopes of an exports recovery. China's Shanghai Composite is down 0.20% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng is down 0.17%. US stock markets closed higher overnight.
Now that AT&T's plan for an $85 billion (£69.5 billion) acquisition of Time Warner is official, the big question is whether or not it will make it through the review process by US regulators. Even before the deal was announced it faced harsh skepticism among analysts. By Monday, both presidential campaigns had raised their concerns about the deal.
If it does make it through, the deal would be the largest of the year, and it could make for a huge payday for the Wall Street banks advising the two companies. Consultant Freeman & Co. estimates the investment banks and advisory firms involved could make up to $390 million (£319.1 million) on the deal.
Executives at South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group plan to take a voluntary 10% cut in wages from this month, the first such move since 2009, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified high-ranking group official. The report came the day before Hyundai reports third-quarter earnings that are expected to be squeezed by a protracted strike - resolved earlier this month - as well as falling sales at home.
Apple Watch sales are in freefall. Apple shipped 1.1 million Apple Watches in the third quarter of 2016, which is down 71.6% from the year-ago period, according to an estimate from IDC. Last year, during the third quarter, Apple shipped 3.9 million Apple Watches.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is backing Hillary Clinton. In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday, Blankfein said he is backing Hillary Clinton in her bid for the White House, despite not agreeing with all of her policies or everything she's done in her political career.
Mark Carney is answering questions in the House of Lords. The under-pressure Bank of England Governor will be grilled by the Lords Economics Affairs Committee at 3.35 p.m. BST (10.35 a.m. ET).
Google just bought Eyefluence, a startup which builds eye-tracking technology for virtual reality. The company was founded in 2013 by Jim Marggraff, a serial entrepreneur who previously founded Livescribe, a smart pen company that was acquired by Anoto.