The daily business briefing: August 28, 2019

1. Johnson confirms effort to suspend Parliament ahead of Brexit

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked Queen Elizabeth II to suspend Parliament, sharply limiting the time opposition lawmakers have to propose legislation to block a no-deal Brexit. Johnson confirmed Wednesday that he plans to hold the Queen's Speech on Oct. 14. The speech is typically a formality outlining the legislative agenda, but since Parliament is normally suspended until the speech is delivered, Johnson's move will leave Brexit opponents with little time to pass legislation barring the government from leaving the European Union as scheduled on Oct. 31 unless it has an approved deal with the trading bloc. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said the effort to suspend Parliament "represents a constitutional outrage."

The Associated Press

2. Purdue Pharma, Sackler family propose $10 billion opioid settlement

Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, have offered to settle a wave of lawsuits over the company's role in the opioid crisis for $10 billion to $12 billion, news outlets reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the negotiations. About $3 billion of the settlement money would come from the Sacklers, who would give up control of the company, The New York Times reported. The company faces more than 2,000 lawsuits by states, cities, and counties that accuse the OxyContin maker of starting and fueling the opioid crisis, which killed more than 400,000 people from 1999 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The company denies the allegations, but says it "sees little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals."

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CNBC The New York Times

3. Deutsche Bank says it has tax returns covered by Trump subpoena

Deutsche Bank confirmed Tuesday that if it responds to a House subpoena related to President Trump, lawmakers will see some tax returns. The bank, in a letter to a federal appeals court, confirmed it "has in its possession tax returns," although it did not specify whether it had Trump's tax documents. It also could have financial records for the president's children Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump; other close relatives; the Trump Organization; as well as other entities. Deutsche Bank said it could not publicly reveal the names of the people covered in the documents. The bank told the court whose tax returns would be handed over, but the names were redacted from the public record due to legal and privacy concerns. Trump has been fighting the subpoena.

CNN

4. Stocks edge up despite bond-market recession warning

U.S. stock index futures fluctuated early Wednesday, struggling for traction as the bond market continued to flash a recession warning signal. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq made slight gains early, but later were down by 0.1 percent or less. On Tuesday, yields for 10-year Treasury bonds fell below those of the 2-year note by 6.2 basis points. Yield-curve inversions like that often precede a recession, and this marked the biggest inversion since 2007. The 30-year bond yield also fell to a record low on rising concerns about economic damage from the U.S.-China trade war. The Dow fell by 0.5 percent on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped by 0.3 percent.

CNBC Reuters

5. Former Google self-driving-car leader charged with trade-secret theft

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged former Google executive Anthony Levandowski with 33 counts relating to the alleged theft of trade secrets from the company. Levandowski was once a confidant of Google co-founder Larry Page, and he played a key role in developing the internet-search giant's autonomous vehicles. According to the indictment, Levandowski downloaded more than 14,000 files relating to Google's research on self-driving vehicles, and transferred them to his personal laptop when he left the company in 2016. Levandowski joined Uber later the same year when it bought his self-driving trucking start-up Otto to boost its effort to develop its own autonomous vehicles.

The New York Times