1. Britain could lose its AAA credit rating for the first time in 40 years if it leaves the EU:
Standard & Poor’s chief sovereign rating officer Moritz Kraemer, said Britain could be hit with a one-notch downgrade if it voted to leave the bloc, and could possibly face a double cut if relations between Britain and Brussels soured.
2. LinkedIn earnings smashed expectations and sent stock soaring:
On Thursday, LinkedIn’s revenue came in at $US780 million (£508.6 million) in the 3rd quarter, beating expectations for $US756 million (£493 million).
3. Royal Bank of Scotland plans to sell off the last of its stake in US lender Citizens Financial:
RBS will sell its 21% holding, comprising nearly 110.5 million shares worth a total of $US2.7 billion (£1.8bn), through a secondary stock offering, The Telegraph reports.
4. Volkswagen’s US sales have grown “slightly” in October, the first full month since the emissions scandal broke:
The German carmaker is offering discounts on new models and other incentives in the world’s second-largest auto market.
5. Eurozone inflation and unemployment data will come up today.
The unemployment rate might hold steady at 11%, according to The Economist.
6. The Bank of Japan refrains from adding stimulus as inflation, growth wane:
On Friday, BOJ declined to step up its monetary stimulus, even as it postponed its time-frame for reaching a 2 percent inflation target for the second time this year.
7. Dollar steadies vs yen as Japan budget report lifts risk appetite:
The U.S. currency had earlier dipped to as low as 120.29 after the Bank of Japan stood pat on monetary policy, disappointing some speculators who had bet that the central bank would expand its already massive stimulus.The dollar bounced against the yen on Friday, as a report that Japan may unveil a supplementary budget lifted risk appetite and helped the dollar pare earlier losses.The dollar was up 0.1 percent at 121.24 yen.
8. JPMorgan asks who’ll provide market liquidity as review end near:
According to JPMorgan Chase & Co, Global regulators are finalizing tougher guidelines after the financial crisis revealed that buffers against trading losses were insufficient. Investment banks are pulling back from businesses that aren’t sufficiently profitable as stricter rules hike up costs. Capital charges for market risk may increase by more than four times if regulators press ahead with the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book proposals.
9. The boss of Hilton hotels is not worried about Airbnb:
At a quarterly earnings call this week, Chris Nassetta, CEO of Hilton Worldwide, said, “I strongly do not believe that they are a major threat to the core value proposition we have”.
10. China’s Google” has reported a 36% rise in revenue:
China’s biggest search engine, Baidu , reported revenue of 18.38 billion yuan (£1.9 billion, $US2.9 billion), up from 13.52 billion yuan (£1.39 billion, $US2.13 billion).