Banks are making the biggest round of job cuts in four years as they slash costs to deal with a slowing economy and adapt to digital technology, Bloomberg reports, citing filings and labor unions. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is the most recent bank to join the spree, cutting about 1,500 jobs, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, more than 50 lenders have announced plans to get rid of a combined 77,780 jobs this year, the most since 91,448 in 2015. European banks, which face negative interest rates, account for almost 82% of the total.

Global equity markets spread holiday cheer

U.S. stock futures all point up, following rising equity markets in Europe and Asia that brought global benchmarks to new records. S&P futures gained 0.2%, the Nasdaq rose 0.3% and the Dow added 0.3%, following a record-setting session on Thursday that was buoyed by strong holiday sales reported by Amazon and Mastercard’s SpendingPulse. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up 1.3% and Taiwan’s TPEx 50 rose 0.4%, led by communication services and tech stocks. Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3% in early trading in Europe; the FTSE gained 0.3% and Germany’s DAX increased 0.4%.

Boeing counselor handling Max crash legal matters retires

J. Michael Luttig, who has been managing legal matters associated with the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes, will retire from Boeing (NYSE:BA) at year-end. Luttig served as the planemaker’s general counsel since 2006 and assumed his current responsibilities in May 2019.
 

YouTube creators gain more control in copyright claims

Creators using Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube can now address copyright claims directly in the Studio back-end workspace. The update also provides an “Assisted Trim” feature, which pre-sets endpoints to where the claimed content appears in a video for easier editing. Copyright disputes between creators and music labels or other third parties have been a consistent problem, with creators often accusing the copyright holders of overzealous claims.

Coca-Cola denies plans to enter CBD market

The beverage maker refutes an anonymous YouTube video claiming that Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is developing a drink containing CBD extract for the Canadian market. A company statement said the rumors aren’t true, and repeated its stance that it has no plans to enter the CBD market.

Mortgage insurers keep an eye on Genworth

Several mortgage insurers may be holding on to some excess capital in case Genworth’s (NYSE:GNW) deal with China Oceanwide falls apart and the U.S. mortgage unit comes up for sale, Compass Point analyst Chris Gamaitoni wrote. The analyst said he doesn’t have any insight into the reapproval status of the deal, but is watching closely “to see if any developments lead to a disposal of the U.S. mortgage insurance business. On Monday, Genworth and Oceanwide extended the deadline for the merger to March 31, 2020, their 13th extension, and said the deal would require reapproval from the New York Department of Financial Services, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan -0.36%. Hong Kong +1.30%. China -0.08%. India +1.00%.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.35%. Paris +0.40%. Frankfurt +0.36%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.28%. S&P +0.22%. Nasdaq +0.32%. Crude +0.34% to $61.89. Gold +0.13% to $1,516.30. Bitcoin -0.34% to $7,216.2.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -1 bps to 1.89%.

Today's Economic Calendar
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
3:00 PM Farm Prices