10 things you need to know in markets today
Donald Trump is officially pledging to boost US growth to 4% per year during his presidency. "To get the economy back on track, President Trump has outlined a bold plan to create 25 million new American jobs in the next decade and return to 4 percent annual economic growth," reads the White House site.
Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for a "hard Brexit" will lower UK incomes and cost up to 10% of GDP over 15 years, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In a note to clients, the US investment bank highlighted the economic benefits of the customs union and single market, as well as the costs of leaving.
May will hold talks with new US President Trump next week, becoming one of the first foreign leaders to meet with him since his inauguration. She will discuss a "possible future trading agreement" between the UK and the US during the meeting with Trump, as well as "how we can build the special relationship," she said.
Australia has said it is willing to wrap up a trade deal with the UK in less than a year, if immigration restrictions are relaxed between the two countries, according to a top diplomat. Australia's high commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, said a quick free trade agreement would be possible once there was more clarity from the government about post-Brexit priorities.
Online mortgage broking startup Habito has raised £5.5 million from Silicon Valley-based Ribbit Capital and existing investor Mosaic Ventures. The Series A round takes the total raised by the British startup to £8.2 million. Other investors in the two-year-old business include Transferwise CEO Taavet Hinrikus, Funding Circle's cofounder Samir Desai, and Russian tech billionaire Yuri Milner.
China's three largest bitcoin exchanges, whose activities have drawn increased scrutiny from the central bank, said they will begin charging trading fees effective Tuesday. BTCC, Huobi and OkCoin said in separate statements on their websites late on Sunday that they will charge traders a flat fee of 0.2 percent per transaction.
The dollar started the week on the back foot in early Asian trade on Monday. The move occurred in tandem with the euro edging up to its highest in more than a month as investors locked in gains on the dollar's recent rise as they waited for U.S. President Donald Trump to offer details of his promised stimulus.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he plans talks soon with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement."We will be starting negotiations having to do with NAFTA," Trump said. "We are going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration and on security at the border."
Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn believes that job losses in the UK could be "huge" if Britain does not manage to secure a favourable trading relationship with the European Union following Brexit. Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, Corbyn said that the UK needs to make sure maintaining "an effective trading relationship" with the continent is a priority in negotiations, or could risk significant job losses.
Iraq announced the sale of $1 billion in bonds guaranteed by the United States, paying an interest of 2.1 percent, far below the price the country is paying for its non-guaranteed debt. The U.S.-guaranteed five-year bonds were issued on Wednesday, the finance ministry said in a statement.