Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Written by
Celeste Perri
Written by

Celeste Perri

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(Bloomberg) --

Good morning. The Aramco IPO finally got priced, the U.S. is moving towards impeachment and France faces strikes until Monday. Here's what's moving markets.

Aramco

What earns more money than Apple, Alphabet and Exxon Mobil put together? That's Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil behemoth that raised $25.6 billion in its initial public offering to put it on track to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company at $1.7 trillion. The deal, a key element of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's plan to reshape the nation, is a far cry from what had first been touted back in 2016 when he aimed to raise as much as $100 billion. While the total valuation may have fallen short of his once hoped-for $2 trillion, it still gives Aramco a sizable lead over Microsoft and Apple, the only two other companies in the world worth more than $1 trillion.

Impeachment

The U.S. House of Representatives is on a path toward a vote to impeach President Donald Trump after Speaker Nancy Pelosi last night set out a rapid timetable that could bring the process to conclusion before the Christmas holiday. Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler has indicated his panel was moving toward at least three articles of impeachment: abuse of power, bribery and obstruction. For his part, Trump has implored Democrats to move quickly in their proceedings so the country can “get back to business,” and there are scant chances that the Republican majority in the Senate will convict him at a trial that would likely begin in January. Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani, whose work in Ukraine is at the heart of the impeachment case, is back in that country but officials seem to be steering clear.

U.K. Votes

With less than a week to go before the election, U.K. party leaders will face off in a debate on the BBC on Friday. For jobs, the election can't come soon enough: political uncertainty is “playing havoc” with the U.K. labor market, according to a report that showed demand for workers rising at the slowest pace for a decade and wage pressures easing. The uncertainty is also playing into the currency market: Even the news that the pound is on its longest winning streak since June amid optimism of a Tory victory is making some investors nervous of an upset. Read why there's more at stake than just Brexit in these elections.

French Strikes

After tussling with President Trump this week about NATO, French President Emmanuel Macron's ability to deliver pension reform is being tested at home as labor unions extended their strike until Monday. Workers in sectors including rail, garbage collecting, air-traffic control, education and health care walked off the job on Thursday. Somewhere between 800,000 to 1.5 million people — the numbers differ depending on whom you ask — demonstrated across the country. Either way, it was the biggest protest against Macron since he took office more than two years ago.

Coming Up…

Asia stocks are modestly higher ahead of an update on the U.S. job market. Elsewhere in oil news, OPEC stood on the verge of a deal to cut its official production target overnight, though ministers left before a final agreement was nailed down. We'll also get a glimpse of how the economy is holding up with German industrial production figures. And Elon Musk may find out as early as today whether he'll have to pay for a tweet fired off in anger disparaging a British cave expert following the rescue of soccer players in a Thai cave.