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Opening Bell: 8.28.18

Trump in a trade cul-de-sac; UBS banker in a pickle; Uber back in the money; Teetotaling kangaroo; and more!
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Trump Dents Hopes for a China Deal After Agreement With Mexico [Bloomberg]
Trump’s remarks are his latest in recent weeks to suggest he doesn’t see a quick end to trade tensions with China, stoking concerns in Beijing that his actions are part of a wider plan to contain the nation’s rise. Fears are growing that the spat between the world’s biggest economies may spill over into geopolitical flash points, from North Korea to Taiwan.
Negotiations between the U.S. and China have been stalled since May, when Trump put a stop to a deal for China to buy more energy and agricultural goods to narrow the trade deficit. After mid-level trade talks in Washington last week ended with no agreement, a person familiar with the discussions said that Chinese officials had raised the prospect of suspending talks until after U.S. congressional elections in November.

Twinkie Trump

World stocks hit six-month high as NAFTA deal eases trade war fears [Reuters]
European and Asian shares followed Wall Street’s lead, inching to multi-month highs after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes surged to fresh records on Monday led by gains in technology stocks.
The dollar slipped to a four-week low and implied volatility across currencies and equity markets also eased, as investors took on greater risk appetite. Emerging market stocks hit their highest since Aug. 9.
“Global trade tensions have undoubtedly been the most significant source of risk in 2018,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM.

How a Banker’s Message to a Client Spelled Trouble for UBS [WSJ]
An individual at the bank sent a message to ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co., a company whose backers include the founders of Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. The message revealed the identity of an investor who bought shares during ZhongAn’s September 2017 IPO and quickly sold them for a profit, the people said.
The disclosure after the deal, which UBS sponsored with other banks, went against client confidentiality rules typical at Wall Street firms, according to the people. Major banks and securities firms often stipulate that clients’ identities, including investors’, be kept confidential if not already public or required to be disclosed by law, meaning they shouldn’t be shared with issuing companies or other clients.

Toyota invests $500m in Uber driverless car partnership [FT]
The deal offers a boost to Uber’s self-driving car efforts after March’s fatal collision involving one of its autonomous vehicles.
After suspending its fleet for several months during an investigation into the incident, Uber is now preparing to get its cars back on the road in autonomous testing mode in the “not too distant future”, according to Jeff Miller, its head of business development for strategic initiatives.

Campbell’s Loeb rejection could set off ugly proxy fight [NYP]
The struggling canned-food giant is expected to announce this week that it doesn’t plan to sell itself to a strategic buyer — a move that could provoke billionaire Dan Loeb into waging a nasty proxy fight against the company’s board of directors, sources told The Post.
Campbell, owner of the Swanson, V8, and Pepperidge Farm brands as well as its namesake soup brand, will announce the results of a three-month board review on what direction the company is taking when it reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

Ousted Papa John's founder blames company CEO for 'rot at the top' in accusation-filled letter [CNBC]
Those allegations, which Schnatter detailed in a letter addressed to franchisees on the website "savepapajohns.com," blamed Ritchie for "bad financial decisions, insufficient management skills to correct them, a toxic senior management culture, and serious misconduct at the top levels of our leadership."

Wild kangaroo joins campers, declines beer [UPI]
A curious kangaroo approached some campers in Australia and politely refused a woman's offer of beer.
A video recorded Saturday at a campsite in the South West Rocks area of New South Wales shows the large kangaroo coming within arm's reach of her filmer, who offers a bottle of beer to the marsupial.

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