Equities set for worst quarter since 2011, the death of diesel and the Ikea test

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

US and global equities are heading for their worst quarterly performance since 2011, with investors rattled by China’s economic slowdown, uncertainty over Federal Reserve policy and growing pessimism about corporate earnings.

Adding to investors’ unease, the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday warned that corporate failures were likely to jump in the developing world, after a borrowing binge in the past decade. (FT)

In the news

The climate change gauntlet Bank of England governor Mark Carney had a stark message for the fossil fuel industry on Tuesday night: Investors face “potentially huge” losses from climate change action that could make vast reserves of oil, coal and gas “literally unburnable”. (FT)

Rewiring the brain Researchers in the US have developed an implant to help a disabled brain encode memories, giving new hope to Alzheimer’s sufferers and wounded soldiers who cannot remember the recent past. (FT)

‘The death of diesel’ The fallout from the VW scandal presents a chilling scenario for European carmakers: greater scrutiny from regulators and tougher emissions tests will make it more expensive to produce “clean” diesel cars, diminishing the sector’s already razor thin margins. That, according to some industry insiders, means the days of small diesel cars are numbered. (FT)

Putin’s coalition of the willing Moscow has stepped up efforts to forge a Russia-led anti-terror coalition in the Middle East, inviting other countries to join a co-ordination centre that will share intelligence between the Russian armed forces and Syria, Iran and Iraq. The US rejected an invitation to join the centre, which Mr Putin said was open to all “interested in combating terrorism”. (FT)

Man on a mission Jeremy Corbyn used his first speech at the Labour party conference to burnish his credentials as a man of the people, saying the party’s central purposes would be to challenge inequality and fight government spending cuts. “Now is the time for capital investment in our infrastructure,” he said. (FT)

It’s a big day for

US governance Funding for the government’s operations expires at the end of Wednesday, putting pressure on Democrat and Republican lawmakers to reach an agreement to extend funding — if only for a matter of months. (FT)

Food for thought

In the line of fire A tanking economy and a lingering corruption scandal have seen public opinion in Brazil shift decisively in favour of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. The question for politicians is whether it would damage the country to remove an elected president for merely being unpopular, even incompetent, without her having been found to have committed a crime. (FT)

‘No-tech’ education A south London school is testing the limits of technology-free education: students are banned from using any kind of digital screen – even during school holidays. According to school rules, children are not allowed television at all before the age of 12 and the internet is off-limits for everyone under 16. (The Guardian)

Benefits of migration questionable In the end, Europe will neither be completely closed nor totally open to migrants but striking the balance will prove difficult. “In doing so, it is perfectly reasonable for countries to argue that their own citizens always come first,” says the FT’s Martin Wolf. (FT)

A Texas-sized ocean sanctuary New Zealand has announced plans to develop a massive fully protected marine zone, becoming the latest nation to put ecological protection and tourism ahead of fishing and mining industries. The proposal follows moves by the Pacific island nation of Palau to convert its entire 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone into a sanctuary. (WSJ)

The Ikea test Much has been said about the potential for robots to steal our jobs, but there is still one area which remains firmly in the control of human hands: assembling Ikea furniture. Researchers in Singapore tried to teach the craft, but found the robot moved more like a drunken human than a sophisticated assembling machine. (Quartz)

Video of the day

Testing the bottom John Authers reports on a wobbly session in Wall Street as the S&P 500 avoids a new low for the year following a sell-off in Asia. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with FirstFT. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: A worker fills the tank of a car at a petrol station. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany.