Following China's easing of foreign ownership restrictions on domestic securities brokerage and asset management joint ventures, JPMorgan Chase & Co. applied with the China Securities Regulatory Commission to launch a brokerage joint venture in the country, The Wall Street Journal reports. Gao Li, a spokeswoman for the Chinese regulator, told the Journal that the commission will review J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Ltd.'s application to hold a 51% stake in the joint venture.
As the more open Chinese market quickens investor demand for analysis, JPMorgan is expanding its equity research team by more than 50%, Bloomberg News reports, citing James Sullivan, JPMorgan's head of Asia ex-Japan equities research. Sullivan had previously said that the company will increase the research team's headcount by 30% to 40%. The new hires will be mostly comprised of senior analysts and will help double the bank's coverage of China-listed companies to over 200, according to the report.
The U.S. Justice Department charged Akshay Aiyer — who was a trader at JPMorgan from 2006 until 2015 — for conspiring to fix prices on the South African rand, Russian rouble, and other currencies in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa between 2010 and 2013, the Financial Times reports.
Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley were hired by Volvo Cars owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. for an initial public offering
In other banking
In M&A
Romulus, Mich.-based Public Service CU is purchasing seven branches of Co-Op Financial Services in the Detroit metropolitan area.
In asset management
Activist hedge fund Third Point LLC is considering forming a special purpose acquisition company, Reuters reports, citing "people familiar with the matter." It is still unclear what kind of companies the hedge fund plans to acquire.
Specialty lender
In other parts of the world
Asia Pacific: JPMorgan applies for China JV; ANZ may sell NZ life ops; Indian bank posts loss
Europe: Monte Paschi, Piraeus Bank report Q1; Bank of England holds rates
Middle East & Africa: US sanctions Iran currency network; South Sudan gets new central bank chief
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 1.02% to 31,122.06, and the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.16% to 22,758.48.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.09% to 7,693.397, and the Euronext 100 decreased 0.19% to 1,068.34.
On the macro front
The import and export prices report, the consumer sentiment report and the Baker-Hughes rig count report are due out today.
The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.