Here is what you need to know.
- Theresa May faces a vote of no confidence. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting for her political life Wednesday as she faces a vote of no confidence following Tuesday's historic Brexit defeat.
- The White House acknowledges the government shutdown is causing problems for the US economy. A White House official told INSIDER that an updated internal model most recently estimated that the government shutdown was taking 0.13 percentage points off of quarterly gross domestic product every week.
- Snap's CFO is quitting. Snap shares plunged more than 8% late Tuesday after Tim Stone notified the company he was resigning "to pursue other opportunities." Stone is Snap's second chief financial officer to leave in the past eight months.
- The world is swimming in a near record $244 trillion of debt. The amount of debt in the world has topped 318% of global gross domestic product and is just below the record high of 320% set in 2016, according to a new report from the Institute of International Finance.
- Investors are paying a record premium for the safest stocks. Stock-market investors are paying a 45% premium for low-volatility versus high-volatility names, and Keith Parker, UBS' US head of equity strategy, says there's a more efficient strategy.
- Netflix pops after announcing price hikes. Shares rallied more than 6.5% Tuesday after the streaming giant announced it was hiking prices for its plans by as much as 18%.
- A new strategy propels United Continental to an earnings beat. The airline earned an adjusted $2.41 a share in the fourth quarter — easily beating the $2.04 consensus by IBES data from Refinitiv — as United Airlines won back customers by flying more flights out of its main hubs, Reuters says.
- Stock markets around the world were mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+0.27%) led the gains in Asia, and the Euro Stoxx 50 was little changed in Europe. The S&P 500 was set to open flat near 2,609.
- Big banks report. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs were among the names reporting their quarterly results ahead of the opening bell.
- US economic data keeps coming. Import and export prices were to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, and the NAHB Housing Market Index was set to cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET. The Fed's Beige Book was due out at 2 p.m. ET.