The daily business briefing: December 10, 2019

1. Amazon accuses Trump of steering cloud contract to Microsoft

Amazon on Monday filed a complaint accusing President Trump of putting "improper pressure" on the Pentagon to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to rival Microsoft. Amazon said in the complaint that Trump made "repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks to steer" the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract away from Amazon Web Services. The online retail giant said Trump wanted to "harm his perceived political enemy Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder and CEO of AWS's parent company, Amazon.com ... and owner of The Washington Post." Trump has accused Amazon of paying too little in taxes and using the Post to spread "fake news" about Trump. The complaint said: "The question is whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of DoD to pursue his own personal and political ends."

Reuters

2. Former Fed Chair Paul Volcker dies at 92

Former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, who led the central bank in the early 1980s, has died, his office said Monday. He was 92. Volcker became the Fed's lead policy maker in 1979 in a period of runaway inflation. On his watch, the Fed boosted interest rates to historic highs to bring down double-digit inflation. The moves made it so costly for individuals and companies to borrow money that the economic weakened, tumbling into a recession that lasted six months. Former President Jimmy Carter, who picked Volcker to serve in the job, said he was a "giant of public service." "Paul was as stubborn as he was tall, and although some of his policies as Fed chairman were politically costly, they were the right thing to do," Carter said.

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The Associated Press

3. Morgan Stanley to cut 1,500 jobs

Morgan Stanley is cutting about 2 percent of its global workforce, or about 1,500 jobs, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The cuts will include several managing directors in a push to increase efficiency at the end of the year. The reductions are expected to result in a charge of between $150 million and $200 million in the company's fourth-quarter results. Investment banks including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have been slashing staff as they contend with a multiyear trading slump. A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to make an immediate comment on the report.

Bloomberg

4. Stocks struggle with U.S.-China trade, Fed meeting in focus

U.S. stock index futures fell early Tuesday in a sign of concern over U.S.-China trade tensions five days before the latest round of tariffs on Chinese goods are scheduled to take effect. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq were all down by 0.3 percent or more several hours before the opening bell. China has stepped up purchases of U.S. soybeans, a positive sign as the two sides continue efforts to reach a "phase one" deal to end their trade war. The three main U.S. stock indexes all closed down by 0.3 percent or more on Monday. Investors also will be monitoring a two-day Federal Reserve meeting expected to end Wednesday with policy makers at the central bank holding interest rates steady.

CNBC

5. Report: Democrats, Trump back tentative deal on North America trade

House Democrats, labor leaders, and the White House reportedly have hammered out a tentative agreement on revisions to the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, one of President Trump's priorities. "I'm hearing very good things," Trump said. "I hope they put it up to a vote, and if they put it up to a vote, it's going to pass." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said lawmakers had made progress in the negotiations, and would continue talks on Tuesday. "We're close," she said. "We're not quite finished yet. We're within range." Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said in Mexico City late Monday that negotiators from the three North American nations would meet Tuesday "to announce the advances achieved" toward the pact.

The Associated Press