Friday Morning Reads

EU will respond to U.S. tariffs, Germany’s Maas says

The European Union will take retaliatory measures in reaction to new U.S. tariffs on European goods, German foreign minister Heiko Maas told newspapers. “The European Union will have to react and, after obtaining the approval of the World Trade Organization, probably impose punitive tariffs as well,” Maas said. The comments come after the WTO ruled that some subsidies EU states paid to planemaker Airbus were illegal, allowing the U.S. to slap tariffs on $7.5B of EU products exported to the U.S.

Apple orders 10% boost to iPhone 11 production

Facing unexpectedly higher demand, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has told suppliers to boost production of the iPhone 11 by up to 10%, Nikkei reports. The up-to-8M-unit increase suggests a more budget-minded focus in the new iPhones is paying off in higher shipments - and the lowest-end model is receiving the biggest order surge. Suppliers are on watch Friday including Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Qorvo (NASDAQ:QRVO), TSMC (NYSE:TSM), Skyworks (NASDAQ:SWKS), LG Display (NYSE:LPL), and Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE).
Go deeper: Apple: Strong iPhone 11 Series Sales to Drive Upside Surprise by Mark Hibben

SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 struggles as WeWork falters

SoftBank's (OTCPK:SFTBY) Masayoshi Son is struggling to raise funds for Vision Fund 2, the company's second massive technology investment fund, Reuters reports. That comes after recent missteps including the failed IPO of The We Company (WE) and falling valuations in other investments. While the fund claimed $108B lined up at launch this summer, the only large committed amount so far is $38B from SoftBank itself.

BP’s drilling chief to take over as CEO

BP (NYSE:BP) names Bernard Looney, currently head of the energy company’s upstream operations, to succeed Bob Dudley as CEO. After a 40-year career with BP, Dudley, who became CEO soon after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will step down as CEO and from the board in February and will retire at the end of March. Looney, who joined BP in 1991 as a drilling engineer, will join the board on Feb. 5. He’ll continue in his current role until that date.
Go deeper: Compare BP’s key stats with those of its peers.

U.S. lobbied Indonesia for Visa, Mastercard - Reuters

The U.S. lobbying of Indonesia helped loosen local regulations opposed by card networks Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA), Reuters reports. The change means U.S. card companies can process transactions without a local partner, making for a more lucrative arrangement. The U.S. Trade Representative tied the rule changes to Indonesia keeping a privileged trade status that gets the country lower tariffs on $2B in annual exports to the U.S.

U.S. shopping mall vacancies hit 8-year high

Some 9.4% of units were unoccupied in Q3, equaling a post-financial crisis high reached in 2011, according to data from Moody’s Analytics’ Reis. The data, which tracks 77 metro areas, found that 17 cities had a vacancy rate under 7%, with San Francisco leading with a 4.1% rate. On the other hand, 24 cities had vacancy rates above 12%, including Memphis, Buffalo, and Albuquerque.

What else is happening...

HP (NYSE:HPQ) to cut up to 9K jobs; 2020 EPS guidance below consensus.

AG Barr asks Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) to hold off on encryption.

Fed will do what it takes to sustain growth, Clarida says.

Arbutus (NASDAQ:ABUS) -24.5% as it discontinues hepatitis treatment.