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Here is what you need to know. 1. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly wants Ireland to agree to temporarily leave its trading pact with the European Union and join the UK instead after Brexit. Under the new rules, Ireland would gain a "special dispensation" from Brussels to leave its trading rules until new "alternative arrangements" to the Northern Ireland backstop are established. 2. Alibaba reportedly postpones its rumored $20 billion listing amid Hong Kong unrest. Two unnamed sources told Reuters the company will delay its plans to raise $20 billion by listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. 3. Former Trump official Dina Powell has helped put Goldman Sachs in the running for a role in Saudi Aramco's IPO. The former deputy national security adviser is part of a team working to win the bank an advisory role in the stock-market debut of the world's biggest oil company. 4. The US and Japan are holding trade talks, and a deal could settle shaky markets. Americans want to export more beef and pork to Japan, while the Japanese want to avoid upcoming automobile tariffs. 5. Investors are pulling billions out of China and the bleeding is unlikely to stop anytime soon. Investors pulled $2.9 billion out in the month to August 14 alone as "economic activity looks set to slow before long." 6. President Donald Trump said in a tweet Tuesday that he scrapped plans to meet with Denmark's prime minister after she rebuffed his idea of purchasing the autonomous island of Greenland. Trump previously said the idea to purchase Greenland was not on his list of priorities and that it was not the sole basis for his visit to Denmark. 7. Target beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly same-store sales on Wednesday. The big-box retailer benefited from higher online sales and an increase in shoppers at its stores, sending shares up 5% in pre-market trading. 8. Stocks are rising today after Asia's mixed close. US futures are rising as the S&P 500 (+0.7%) and the Nasdaq (+0.8%) are both up. European equities rose with both Germany's Dax and the Euro Stoxx 50 up (+1.1%). In Asia, the Nikkei (-0.3%) was down while the Shanghai Composite was flat and Hang Seng (+0.2%) was up marginally. 9. There is a stack of earnings out today. Today's highlights include Royal Bank of Canada and HP. 10. There are swathes of data out later. Among the highlights are the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee July meeting ahead of the Jackson Hole conference tomorrow. | 