Five Things Everyone Will Be Talking About Today

China’s stock rally continues, Volkswagen sales are hit and Greek lenders seek a debt exchange. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about this morning.

China rally

The Shanghai Composite Index finished the session 1.6 percent higher and 6.5 percent higher for the week, its best performance in four months. China is due to release GDP data on Monday (10 p.m. Sunday ET) with the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg now looking for 6.8 percent growth, below the government’s 7 percent target and the slowest quarterly pace since 2009. Find out here what to watch for in the report.

Alibaba offer

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has offered to buy the rest of China’s most popular video-streaming website Youku Tudou Inc. for $26.60 a share which would be a 30 percent premium on yesterday’s closing price in New York.

Volkswagen loses market share

The Volkswagen emissions scandal has hit the company’s sales in Europe as it failed to keep pace with competitors in September. As the Volkswagen prepares to recall 8.5 million cars in Europe, one analyst says that there has been a noticeable uptick in discounting from the manufacturer in the month as it tries to maintain sales.

Greek debt exchange

Greek banks met with a group of bondholders on Monday to discuss the possibility of swapping debt for shares, according to people who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Euro-area finance ministers, who have ear-marked as much as €25 billion from Greece’s latest bailout for bank recapitalization have said that bondholders may have to take losses before public money is used.

Coming up..

This week has already seen mixed data on the U.S. economy, with retail sales disappointing while initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since Nixon was president. Today we get another look at the jobs market when JOLTS data is released and a measure of the broader economy with the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, both of which are due at 10 a.m. ET.

Bloomberg

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