| Welcome to your morning markets update, delivered every weekday before the European open. Good morning. Iran's admission was met with public protests, Brexit and trade deal formalities take place this week and Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA may be edging toward a split, according to reports. Here's what's moving markets. Admission Protests hit Iran after its government admitted one of its missiles downed a Ukrainian jet earlier this month, claiming 176 lives, hours after the Arab nation targeted American military bases in Iraq. The White House announced new sanctions Friday, and the British ambassador to Iran was arrested and briefly detained. It's unclear where we go from here, but fears of a full-scale military escalation have well and truly receded, according to the oil market. Formalities There's lot's of pomp and ceremony for international relations this week: In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson sees his Brexit deal go to the House of Lords — the British upper house — for approval, while over in the U.S., the White House will host Chinese Vice Premier Liu on Wednesday for a signing of the first phase of a trade deal whose negotiations kept investors on tenterhooks for months. Both events should be mere formalities, but you never know. Nissan-Renault Saga After the former head of Nissan and Renault, Carlos Ghosn, captured the world's attention in a press conference last week, latest press reports say the Japanese company has stepped up contingency planning for a possible split from Renault SA. The preliminary discussions for a separation include a total division of engineering and manufacturing as well as changes to Nissan's board, according to the Financial Times, which cites people familiar with the matter. Positive Start Asian stocks started the week higher, fueled by more optimism on China's economy, while the yuan strengthened but Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. European futures were little changed, while U.S. futures gained after the S&P 500 dropped from record levels Friday with the latest jobs report delivering mixed signals. Elsewhere, the pound fell after Bank of England policy maker Gertjan Vlieghe said he will vote for an interest-rate cut this month if there are no signs of the economy improving. Coming Up… In economic statistics, U.K. monthly gross domestic product and industrial production numbers kick off a run of releases due this week. In corporate earnings, Spanish construction group Ferrovial SA is the highlight of a light schedule. U.S. earnings season gets underway this week, with banks Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. among those reporting. What We've Been Reading This is what's caught our eye over the weekend. And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morning Last week's European bond market showed signs of both the strength and fragility of global investor sentiment. With over $100 billion of new debt sales, the region saw its biggest week ever with issuers from China, Indonesia, Japan and the U.S. joined local borrowers in tapping Europe's super-low funding costs. While a strong start to the year was expected, given the traditional seasonal rush, issuers hurried to get their deals done as events in the Middle East threatened to spark global market turmoil. The size of the issuance suggested deals planned for later in the month were quickly brought forward. Still, the success of the bond sales suggests demand was never going to be a problem. 2019 was a record year for issuance and last week showed appetite from Europe's bond buyers is showing no signs of abating. The sense of nervousness in global markets at the beginning of the year remains palpable, but investors are getting on with it and any cracks in sentiment are being quickly filled in.  Cormac Mullen is a Cross-Asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more. | 
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