1. G20 in Buenos Aires: Leaders representing the world’s largest economies have gathered in Argentina for a crucial summit.
Trade will be high on the agenda at the G20. Investors will monitor talks between the United States and China for any signs of a breakthrough that would ease tensions and help avoid more tariffs.
President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to have dinner on Saturday.
“I think we’re very close to doing something with China, but I don’t know that I want to do it, because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
2. Oil prices in focus: The price of US crude has plunged roughly 22% so far in November. Oil futures dropped another 1% on Friday to below $51 amid continued worries about oversupply.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, leaders of two of the worlds biggest oil producers, will meet this weekend at the G20.
The two countries are key signatories to an agreement that aims to reduce supply and boost prices. There’s talk that OPEC and Russia may agree further cuts at a meeting next week in Vienna.
That’s exactly what Trump doesn’t want. Last week he tweeted a “thank you to Saudi Arabia,” for keeping prices down, “but let’s go lower,” he added.
3. More trouble for Deutsche Bank: German authorities carried out raids of Deutsche Bank (DB) offices in Frankfurt for a second day on Friday as part of an investigation into potential money laundering.
Shares in Deutsche Bank dropped another 2%, bringing total losses for 2018 to a staggering 48%.
Prosecutors say Germany’s largest lender is suspected of helping clients to set up offshore companies in tax havens. Investigators are also looking at whether Deutsche Bank failed to report suspicious transactions.
The investigation comes amid continued questions about the bank’s business strategy and direction.
4. Global market overview: US stock futures were pointing lower.
European markets opened in negative territory, while stocks in Asia ended the session mixed.
The Dow closed down 0.1% on Thursday. The S&P 500 shed 0.2% and the Nasdaq lost 0.3%.
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5. Economics: The Federal Reserve on Thursday paved the way for an interest rate hike in December, but sent a clear signal to investors that it would exert greater flexibility with its plans to ratchet up rates in 2019.
Minutes of the US central bank’s November policy meeting showed “almost all participants” agreed another rate hike would likely be necessary “fairly soon,” if incoming data matched policymakers current expectations.
Canada’s third quarter GDP report will be published at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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6. Coming this week:
Friday — G20 begins in Argentina
