Business News

NEW YORK, Oct 13 (APP/AFP): The British pound reversed its 10-day fall Wednesday on easing worries over a hard Brexit, while Samsung’s shares tumbled again after it slashed its earnings outlook due to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Asian and European markets were broadly lower for the day, but US stocks were steady, taking in stride the release of the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting which supported expectations of an interest rate hike coming in December. The pound’s possible bottoming out came after a six percent plunge since the beginning of the month on worries that the European Union would play extremely tough with Britain after it voted to pull out of the 28-nation bloc. Wednesday’s turnaround was helped by a move by British Prime Minister Theresa May to permit parliament to scrutinize her plan for Brexit before she begins the formal process to exit the EU. “Theresa May’s decision last night to allow the House of Commons a debate on the government’s Brexit plans… have allayed some of the concerns about a ‘hard Brexit,'” said ETX Capital analyst Neil Wilson. “While some may hope that this means no Brexit, in reality it will mean the difference between a hard or soft exit. If Parliament puts up a good fight sterling will rally,” said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management. Meanwhile Samsung’s woes over the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone mounted. A day after the South Korea giant killed production of the phone, it slashed its latest quarterly profit estimate by one third, to 5.2 trillion won ($4.6 billion), compared with the 7.8 trillion won it announced just last week.