Couple of things. They are looking at numbers of infected across the world, but also the fed decision. Stocks are struggling for direction. Treasuries pretty steady. It is all about the fed, the policy meeting, and what they will give us in indications. In asia, modest gains in hong kong and south korea. They outperformed in china but low volumes. 1957. 157 lets get straight to the first word news in london with laura wright. James the uks looking at ways to loosen its coronavirus quarantine rules after restrictions on trips prompted backlash. One possibility is abandoning blanket restrictions in favor of regional bands and another is reducing the time passengers arriving in britain need to stay in quarantine. The u. K. And u. S. Voiced concern about hong kongs election after a flurry of media reports the government is considering postponing the vote maybe for a whole year. Hong kongs opposition argues the coronavirus outbreak is being used as an excuse to push off the pivotal election
Battle for patents for the second time in seven years. Donald trump calls on carl icahn to help him combat excessive regulation as the activist investor will become the president elects special adviser. Good morning. Good morning. Do you hear that . Whole bunch of kids super excited. Santa on the way. Always on the roof. Dasher, dancer, prancer. I think we should do something on reindeer, whether or not they really have red noses. The stoxx 600 flat to a couple points lower. You would anticipate we would be looking at light liquidity at the moment. People already packing up their bags if theyre heading to the caribbean. Trade very thin. Just a reminder that officially the japanese market is closed tomorrow because of the emperors birthday. So we will have no trade another reason for quiet. Exactly. Mixed markets in europe, the ftse, xetra dax, a bit lower. To the upside, media, autos, healthcare. Big story in healthcare biotech, the underlying pharmaceuticals. Basic resources off by 1
Plus, another big m a deal in japan, snapping up mobile messaging startup for nearly 1 billion. Display youre watching worldwide exchange, bringing you Business News from around the globe. Hello. Warm welcome to the show. We have italian gdp up 0. 1 quarter on quarter. Up 0. 1 quarter on quarter. The contraction has finished. We contracted in the third quarter. So the contraction has finished for italy. So thats fairley good. Down 0. 8 year on year. Take a look at where we are with tenyear yields. 3. 72 . Just above the 3. 66 that we hit a couple of days ago, which is the lowest since april 2006. We had bond auctions yesterday where we saw the yields continue to fall at auction, 1. 4 . 7. 02 in the 30year yesterday. 4. 59 . Well before precrisis levels for italian debt. Growth number, italy back in growth this morning. And thats after we saw better numbers, as well, out of germany and france this morning. Which was also fairley good. 0. 3 for the french economy. There had been some fea