The University of Michigan's monthly survey of consumers produced a reading of 92.1 for August, well short of 97 that economists had expected. Richard Curtin, the survey's chief economist, said the results point to increased consumer uncertainty "but not pessimism."

Bakkt, Intercontinental Exchange's cryptocurrency platform, has been granted a charter by the New York State Department of Financial Services to operate as a limited liability trust company. The license allows Bakkt to provide custody services for bitcoin in support of its launch of physically delivered bitcoin futures contracts on Sept. 23.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says recession risks in the US are low despite warning signals from bond markets, which he contends are mostly driven by circumstances outside the country. "We have nothing to fear about a recession right now except for the fear of recession," he said.

The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup spoke with President Donald Trump by phone Wednesday, the day the US stock market fell sharply and interest-rate movements triggered recession fears, sources said. The discussion, which reportedly followed a scheduled meeting between the CEOs and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on other matters, centered on the economy, financial markets and consumer spending.

The growing volume of end-of-day trading in Europe could lead to demand for a longer trading day. Among the factors driving the trend are deeper liquidity and less onerous regulations governing closing auctions under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.

A leaked report by the British government says a no-deal Brexit will likely lead to shortages of food and medicines, freight stalled at ports for months and turmoil at the Irish border. Kwasi Kwarteng, an energy minister, said the warnings were nothing more than scaremongering and the country "will be fully prepared to leave without a deal on the 31st of October".

London Stock Exchange Group shares have surged since its acquisition of financial data provider Refinitiv, but the deal's success will hinge on how Refinitiv now performs against rivals like Bloomberg.

Britain has appointed consultants PwC to run its "bad bank", UK Asset Resolution. UKAR was set up during the 2008 financial crisis to administer assets held by collapsed lenders Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock.

US regulators should be consistent with each other and global authorities in setting timetables for initial margin requirements, said Scott O'Malia, CEO of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. A decision by global authorities to allow smaller market participants an additional year for implementation "will reduce the risk of a documentation bottleneck", he said.

The People's Bank of China will change how it sets its loan prime rate to bring down interest rates companies pay to borrow capital. The central bank said that the new rate will be based on open-market operations and that the national interbank funding centre may start publishing the rate Tuesday.