SQUAWK BOX, FRIDAY 29TH MAY, 2020

Talking tough… Asian equities fall, with the Nikkei retreating from three-month highs as President Trump says he is “not happy” with Beijing following its approval of a controversial Hong Kong security bill. The U.S. President also promises to weaken a law protecting social media firms, saying they have breached their “unchecked powers”, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tells this channel that social media platforms have no right to fact-check users’ posts. France and the UK have unveiled further measures to ease the pandemic lockdown. Paris relaxes travel restrictions and will allow restaurants to reopen next week, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson permits larger social groups to gather. In autos news, Renault announces 15,000 job cuts aimed at stemming losses from plunging sales. And European market sentiment is buoyed by the news that coffee company JDE Peet’s aims to raise over €2bn in Europe’s biggest IPO so far this year.