The daily business briefing: October 20, 2016

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1. Mexican peso hits 6-week high as markets bet against Trump
2. Tesla to make all its cars capable of self-driving
3. Google signs CBS to join its web TV service
4. Theresa May to explain Brexit plans at her first E.U. summit
5. California launches criminal investigation into Wells Fargo sales scandal

published 20 October 2016

1. Mexican peso hits 6-week high as markets bet against Trump

The Mexican peso spiked briefly after Wednesday's presidential debate in what analysts interpreted as a sign the market is firming up bets against Republican nominee Donald Trump, although the peso's gains faded overnight. "The Mexican peso flew to a six-week high post the debate," said Tobias Davis, head of corporate treasury sales at Western Union International Bank, in a note. "The currency tells us [Hillary Clinton] won the evening." Trump has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he says benefits Mexico and hurts the U.S. "With the polls so heavily in Clinton's favor, markets are priced for her victory," said Sean Callow, a senior strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney. "There probably would only have been a sharp move in markets if Trump had performed extremely well, which wasn't the case."

Tesla announced Wednesday that all of its new cars would be equipped with hardware for "full self-driving capabilities," although it won't activate the feature until further testing in the wake of a recent fatal accident involving a Model S driver who was using Autopilot mode. The gear will include eight cameras with 360-degree viewing at distances up to 820 feet. The autopilot also will have 12 ultrasonic sensors capable of detecting soft and hard objects, and forward-facing radar that works in rain and fog. "The full autonomy update will be standard on all Tesla vehicles from here on out," said the electric car maker's CEO, Elon Musk. Tesla also announced that new orders on its new Model 3 won't be delivered until 2018, although deliveries of cars already ordered will begin in late 2017.

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Google has struck a deal with CBS Corp. to carry the broadcast network on its Unplugged web TV service scheduled for launch in 2017, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Google is also talking with 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney Co. about carrying their programming. Unplugged aims to be a low-cost alternative to cable or satellite TV. Google is entering an increasingly crowded market. Dish Network's SlingTV and Sony's PlayStation Vue launched last year. Apple and Hulu also are working on bundles of live TV for cord cutters.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday will attend her first European Union leaders' summit. The two-day summit will focus on trade, migrants, and Russia, not Brexit. Still, other leaders are expected to be looking for clarification on her recent remarks suggesting Britain will try to make a hard break from the trading bloc. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted Monday that May had agreed to update leaders of the 28-nation trading bloc on her Brexit plans, and when the formal exit process might begin.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris' office has launched a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo's sales scandal, according to a search warrant and supporting affidavit released Wednesday. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other federal regulators ordered the bank to pay $190 million in fines and restitution to settle charges that Wells Fargo employees, aiming to meet sales targets, opened as many as two million accounts without permission from customers. The scandal has resulted in compensation clawbacks for top executives and the abrupt retirement of CEO John Stumpf, who this week also resigned from the boards of Target and Chevron.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.