EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING - Stocks Push Higher But -2-

Swedish gaming group Modern Times Group MTG AB said late Monday that is selling esports company ESL Gaming to Savvy Gaming Group in an all-cash deal worth $1.05 billion.

Following the sale, MTG will focus fully on accelerating growth in its pure-play gaming business, it said.

Royal Mail Downgrades FY 2022 Guidance on Plan to Cut Around 700 Manager Jobs

Royal Mail PLC said Tuesday that it plans to cut 700 manager jobs, and that it is reducing its guidance for fiscal 2022 because of the launch of a consultation process for its restructuring.

The British letter-and-parcel courier said that on a year-to-date basis, it has spent more than 340 million pounds ($458.7 million) on overtime, additional temporary staffing and sick pay during the coronavirus pandemic, which has been a headwind to delivering its productivity targets.

Unilever Plans Job Cuts as Activist Investor Trian Takes Stake

Unilever PLC plans to cut thousands of jobs as part of a reorganization aimed at speeding up its decision making, according to a person familiar with the matter, a move that comes as the Ben & Jerry's owner looks for ways to jump-start growth.

Unilever's chief executive, Alan Jope, has been under pressure to buoy sales growth for months but that has ratcheted up in recent weeks. The Wall Street Journal and others reported over the weekend that Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP had acquired a stake in Unilever, just days after the company abandoned its $68 billion bid for GlaxoSmithKline PLC's consumer-healthcare business, after being rebuffed on price.

NATO to Send Ships, Jet Fighters to Eastern Europe Amid Standoff With Russia

BRUSSELS-NATO allies are bolstering the alliance's eastern flank in response to Russia's military buildup around Ukraine, as the European Union set out plans for loans and grants for Kyiv worth more than $1.3 billion and the Pentagon ordered thousands of troops to prepare for possible deployment.

The moves are part of efforts by the U.S. and its allies to gird for what they believe could be an imminent military invasion of Ukraine, which Russia denies it is planning. President Biden held a videoconference with European leaders Monday afternoon to coordinate the trans-Atlantic response to the Russian troop buildup.

Differences Splinter U.S. Team Negotiating With Iran on Nuclear Deal

With talks to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran reaching a critical phase, differences have emerged in the U.S. negotiating team over how tough to be with Tehran and when to walk away, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

U.S. officials confirmed over the weekend that Richard Nephew, the deputy special envoy for Iran, has left the team. Mr. Nephew, an architect of previous economic sanctions on Iran, had advocated a tougher posture in the current negotiations, and he hasn't attended the talks in Vienna since early December.

GLOBAL NEWS

Treasury Wants Banks to Loop in Foreign Affiliates on Suspicious Transactions

The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has proposed a new rule that would allow banks to share so-called suspicious activity reports more readily with foreign affiliates.

The proposed rule, which FinCEN announced Monday, would create a pilot program to allow banks to share SARs with foreign branches and affiliates, a bid to improve financial institutions' ability to counter money laundering. The new program was mandated under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which came into force in January 2021.

Investors Lose Appetite for Stocks of Unprofitable Companies

The prospect of rising interest rates has been especially hard on the Russell 2000 small-cap index, in large part because of the high proportion of small-caps that aren't making money.

During the market selloff of recent weeks, investors have been shedding speculative investments from tech stocks to cryptocurrencies. Speculative investments with their promise of higher returns thrived in the ultra-low-rate environment of 2021. Now that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates as soon as March to combat inflation, investors are less comfortable with risk.

Glynn's Take: RBA Set to Entertain Interest Rate Rise in 2022, Exit QE in Feb

SYDNEY-In a significant rethink of the economic outlook, the Reserve Bank of Australia is set to concede that an interest-rate increase is now highly possible by late 2022, but reject money-market bets that it will keep pace with U.S. interest rate increases.

The RBA's first policy meeting for 2022 on Feb. 1 will also see its program of government bond buying wound up entirely, as it publishes revised economic forecasts that include the unemployment rate soon falling below 4.0%, its lowest since the 1970s.

Singapore Central Bank Tightens Policy in Surprise Move

Singapore's central bank on Tuesday unexpectedly tightened its currency policy as a pre-emptive move to stem the inflationary impact of supply-side constraints and rising commodity prices.

In an announcement before its scheduled policy meeting in April, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would slightly raise the rate of the Singapore dollar's appreciation against a basket of currencies.

SEC Looks to Bolster Market's Cyber Defenses

WASHINGTON-The Securities and Exchange Commission is exploring ways to improve cybersecurity in capital markets, including by extending compliance obligations to companies that currently don't have to meet them, Chairman Gary Gensler said Monday.

"The economic cost of cyberattacks is estimated to be at least in the billions, and possibly in the trillions, of dollars," Mr. Gensler said in a virtual speech to the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law's annual Securities Regulation Institute conference. "We at the SEC are working to improve the overall cybersecurity posture and resiliency of the financial sector."

North Korea Launches Suspected Cruise Missiles

SEOUL-North Korea launched two suspected cruise missiles on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, in what would be the Kim Jong Un regime's fifth weapons test of the month.

The missiles were believed to be launched from an unspecified inland location, South Korea's military said, without providing further details. North Korea's state media didn't immediately comment.

Biden Curses at Fox News Reporter After Inflation Question

WASHINGTON-President Biden called a reporter who asked him about the potential political consequences of inflation a "stupid son of a bitch" at a White House event on Monday.

Mr. Biden's comments came after Peter Doocy, a White House correspondent for Fox News, asked the president if inflation would be a political liability ahead of the midterm elections.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-25-22 0607ET