Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on Friday.
1. Northern Ireland’s DUP has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May to say that it will not support a Brexit deal that leaves Northern Ireland separated from the rest of the United Kingdom. The European Union wants a customs border in the Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a letter from Theresa May seen by the London Times newspaper suggested.
2. Russian energy majors are putting pressure on Western oil buyers to use euros instead of dollars for payments and introducing penalty clauses in contracts as Moscow seeks protection against possible new US sanctions. Western oil majors and trading houses have clashed with Russia’s third and fourth biggest producers, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, over 2019 oil sales contract terms during unusually tough annual renegotiation in recent weeks.
3. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe could be heading into the home stretch. Mueller has reportedly begun compiling a final draft of his findings into Russian election interference as experts wonder aloud if his clock is ticking in a post-Sessions White House.
4. The US securities regulator is set to review this month rules on corporate democracy. On November 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a roundtable on the 'proxy process' by which big pension funds and other shareholders can force companies to vote on a range of environmental, social and governance matters.
5. Cabinet ministers from the US, Mexico and Canada will sign a new trade agreement on November 30, Mexico's economy minister said on Thursday. The deal will be signed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told reporters at an event in Mexico City.
6. US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is exploring a job opportunity with Fox News as a contributor, sources familiar with the situation said in a Politico report published on Thursday. Zinke, who came under fire for a series of scandals, plans on resigning from the Interior Department by the end of the year, sources said.
7. Google is reportedly expected to hire Geisinger Health CEO David Feinberg to a new role leading the company's healthcare efforts. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Feinberg's role will be to coordinate the health initiatives Google has underway, including the work happening in artificial intelligence and devices.
8. China has recruited about 30 bright, patriotic kids to help design and build the first generation of AI weaponry.That's not the pitch for a Bruce Willis movie, it's actually happening, the Beijing Institute of Technology says.
9. Google's CEO has just tried to put the lid back on the company's notorious party culture.Sundar Pichai's new rules for drinking at work, comes as Google struggles to deal with sexual-harassment complaints at the company.
10. "I don't want prayers, I don't want thoughts."The distraught mother of one of 12 mainly young people shot in a Thousand Oaks, California bar has made a gut-wrenching plea for gun control in the US.