Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets on Thursday.
A Deutsche Bank rates trader has been suspended after asking a trading counterparty to join a WhatsApp group, according to a source familiar with the matter. The incident happened two weeks ago, and the bank's internal investigation is yet to close, the source told Business Insider.
Eight months after Deutsche Bank settled a lawsuit claiming it manipulated gold and silver prices, documents it disclosed as part of the accord provide "smoking gun" proof that UBS, HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia, and other firms rigged the silver market, plaintiffs claim. Bloomberg reports that the allegation came in a filing Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed in 2014 by individuals and entities that bought or sold futures contracts.
Glencore and Qatar are to deliver a $10 billion (£7.9 billion) boost to the Kremlin’s coffers by buying a fifth of Rosneft, Russia’s state-controlled oil group. The Times reports that the deal marks a dramatic return to dealmaking and expansion for Glencore, which has spent the past year allaying investors’ concerns by cutting billions in debt by selling assets.
France's leading financial regulator has told the BBC that major banks are in advanced stages of planning to shift some operations from London to Paris. Benoit de Juvigny said that "large international banks" have undertaken the due diligence needed to set up a subsidiary in the French capital.
US stocks closed at an all-time high on Wednesday — the 12th record since Donald Trump was elected president in November. The Dow Jones Transport Average hit an intraday high for the first time in two years.
Asian shares are at a one-month peak. Japan's Nikkei closed 1.44% higher, the Hong Kong Hang Seng is up 0.67% at the time of writing (6.20 a.m. GMT/1.20 a.m. ET), and China's Shanghai Composite is up 0.03%.
Mario Draghi is speaking today. The European Central Bank (ECB) chief will hold a press conference at 1.30 p.m. GMT (8.30 a.m. ET) after an announcement from the bank on interest rates and deposit rates at 12.45 p.m. GMT (7.45 a.m. ET). The ECB is expected to hold the interest rate unchanged at 0% and the deposit rate unchanged at 0.4%.
The European Union will take action on Thursday against seven nations including Germany and Britain for failing to police car emissions rules, EU sources said, after the Volkswagen cheating scandal showed suspicious behaviour in the industry. Amid frustration in Brussels over nations' responses to diesel vehicles flouting pollution limits, the European Commission is resorting to the strongest legal action it can take against members of the 28-nation bloc - potentially ending in court.
Barclays wants to appoint a former director of Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage lender that collapsed in the financial crisis, as chairman of the UK retail bank it is setting-up to meet tough new ring-fencing rules. The Telegraph reports that the bank has sought the approval of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), part of the Bank of England, to name Sir Ian Cheshire as the first chairman of its new subsidiary.
Honda Motor's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group will invest roughly 3 billion yuan (£344 million, $436 million) in a new factory in China, the Japanese automaker said in a statement on its website on Thursday. The statement confirms a Reuters report in October that cited sources saying the automaker would build a new factory by 2019 with annual production capacity of 120,000 vehicles.
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