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Amazon shocked the world last week when it announced a $13.7 billion deal to buy organic-grocer Whole Foods — a warning shot that officially put competing grocers on notice and sent their shares tumbling. 

In a town hall meeting the day the deal was announced, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey shed light on how the deal went down — and it's unorthodox.

As Mackey tells it, it all started with a blind date six weeks ago, which was love at first sight. 

Here's Mackey, from the town hall transcript (emphasis ours):

So I just— putting it a little bit in narrative form— how did we meet? It was actually mutual friends set us up on a blind date. (LAUGHTER) And— Jason Buechel and Ken Meyer and David Lannon and I flew up to Seattle a little over six weeks ago. And— it— we just fell in love. It was truly love at first sight. (LAUGHTER) 

I’m very serious. It’s like we came outta there. We talked for 2 1/2 hours. I think we coulda talked for 10 hours. And— when we huddled together, it was like we just had— we just had these big grins on our faces, like, “These guys are amazing.” They’re so smart. They’re so authentic. They say what’s on their mind. They’re not playin’ a bunch of BS games. And it was like, “This is gonna be so incredible.” ‘Cause we were talkin’ about the things we can do together, things that I cannot talk about today and won’t be able to talk about until this deal closes.

So— it’s been a whirlwind courtship. Because— little over six weeks after we met on this blind date, we’re— we’re f— officially engaged, (LAUGHTER) as of today. But like an old traditional marriage, where there are all kinds of rules and chaperones, we can’t consummate the marriage, (LAUGHTER) until we’re actually officially hooked up. This is not— this is not a Tinder relationship. (LAUGHTER) I got a feeling I’m off script. 

A positively ebullient Mackey continues to gush about Amazon, raving about their innovation and how good the merger will be for Whole Foods. 

Then, bizarrely, Mackey tells the town hall that he had foreseen the merger with Amazon in a dream a year and a half ago. 

Take it away, Mackey (again, emphasis ours):

And I will tell you something. About a year and a half ago, I dreamed that we merged with Amazon. I woke up, and I told my wife about it. And she said, “That’s crazy.” (LAUGHTER) And I said, “I know. That’s really weird, isn’t it?”

And then of course, I didn’t think about it again, until it’s like— I remember telling Glenda, “Glenda, do you wanna know something weird? I had this dream (LAUGHTER) a year and a half ago.” And so now, today, it’s coming true. So dreams are powerful things.

Soon, there will be a collective dream. There’ll be a Whole Foods dream merging in with an Amazon dream. And together, these two companies are gonna do tremendous dreams together.

Later, an Amazon executive begins to tell the crowd that Mackey will stay on as CEO — and is interrupted by Mackey, who chimes in, "Until death do us part."

There's been a lot of chatter that rivals might emerge to try and outbid Amazon for Whole Foods. But based on Mackey's stirring testimony, it would take an awful lot to make star-crossed lovers out of Amazon and Whole Foods.

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SEE ALSO: Amazon is acquiring Whole Foods — and Walmart, Target, and Kroger should be terrified

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After taking over Wall Street, the Fearless Girl has invaded Cannes.

Asset manager State Street — and advertising agency McCann New York — put a bronze statue of a defiant girl in front of Wall Street’s iconic charging bull statue in February.

It was part of a campaign by State Street to pressure companies to add more women to their boards (and of course draw a little attention to itself). 

Now, the statue is sweeping the Cannes Lions, the biggest annual gathering of executives from the advertising and media industries, picking up the Grand Prix in the Glass, PR and Outdoor Lions categories on the festival's first day itself.

The sculpture was created by artist Kristen Visbal as a way for the State Street to call attention to the lack of gender diversity in boardrooms. The money manager cited gender diversity as a way to improve company performance and increase shareholder value, and said it would vote against boards if a company failed to take steps to increase its number of members who are women.

“Its simplicity in the use of symbolism transcends geography, it transcends language, it transcends culture,” Wendy Clark, CEO of DDB North America and the Cannes Glass Lions jury president, told Adweek. “For us, while it is a girl, it elegantly captures women’s journeys and our path to empowerment. And it also encapsulates our hopes and our ambitions for every little girl in the world.”

Clark also called attention to business results for State Street, including a 374 percent increase in the size of the so-called SHE fund —  its SSGA Gender Diversity Index.The index tracks the performance of U.S. companies that are leaders in advancing women through gender diversity on their boards and in senior leadership positions.

Of course, a single statue won't solve this problem — even at State Street, which itself is run by a leadership team that is 82 percent male. 

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Amazon announced on Friday that it was buying the high-end grocer Whole Foods.

Whole Foods hosted a town hall meeting with staff on the same day to talk through the deal, and thanks to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, we now know what was said. 

The transcript from the town hall is pretty colorful, and we'd recommend you give the whole thing a read. One takeaway: Whole Foods is going to be changing.

Here are the key extracts from Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's speech:

• On cost cutting: "We’re gonna evolve.  So I can’t say there’s not gonna ever be any changes. Because you already know we’re evolving. We are— we’ve sent out, publically, we’re doing category management. We’re committed to putting— launching affinity program. We’re gonna take $300 million out of our cost structure."
• On hiring consultants: "We’ve hired Boston Consulting Group, who’s come up with some amazing analysis of things that we can do to reduce our cost while improving our service to our customers. So this evolution’s gonna continue. We do think our partnership with Amazon is gonna help us do that more skillfully and, hopefully, faster."
• On leadership changes: "There’ll be leadership changes at Whole Foods Market. But they’re just not gonna be, I don’t think, forced on us by Amazon. We’re gonna evolve. We need to evolve. We wanna make this deal, because we think they can help us evolve quicker and better than we could do on our own. So I— I don’t want people goin’ away, thinkin’ that nothin’s gonna change around here. ‘Cause things are gonna change. There’s just no question about that. So— I don’t know if they have any plans for, you know, but in a good marriage, you know, we want Amazon people to be here."
• On cultural change: "It’s gonna change our culture. I mean, it’s the truth. It’s inevitable. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. We’re going to evolve. Our culture is evolving all the time. And so we are affected by everything we encounter.And there’s an integrity to our culture. And I think they are gonna respect that integrity. These g— they’re really smart people. They’re not stupid enough to go in and trash the very asset that they are spending billions of dollars to acquire. But our culture is going to evolve. I— I just wanna make sure everybody understands that. It’s gonna evolve in very constructive, positive ways. It’s going to be us pulling it in, for the most part. It’s gonna be us learning and saying, “That is so cool, what they’re doing,” and take— making it part of us.
• On the two companies combining: "Their people will inter— intermarry with our people and— and, probably, literally. And— and it’s inevitable that there’ll be some cultural mingling. And we— we will also influence their culture. That’s just the way it is."

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The Trump administration is getting ready to put out an executive order on drug pricing that might look a lot different from President Donald Trump's earlier remarks about the pharmaceutical industry. 

Trump has said that drugmakers are "getting away with murder," and has expressed an interest in negotiating drug prices, something the government isn't allowed to do for Medicare and Medicaid.

Later in January, Trump met with the heads of pharma companies, where he reiterated his interest in bringing drug prices down in the US. In March, Trump also tweeted that he's working on "a new system where there will be competition in the drug industry." Since then, Trump hasn't said much on the topic.

The executive order, however, might be a lot more in favor of drug companies than Trump's previous comments have been, according to reports from Kaiser Health News and Politico.

The "Drug Pricing and Innovation Working Group," a group of officials from the Trump administration, have been meeting every two weeks to talk about drug pricing. The group's led by Joe Grogan, an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget who up until March worked for Gilead Sciences. 

Here's what's to expect out of the cooled down executive order.  

• The group wants to extend overseas patents, which would give drugmakers longer periods of exclusivity before generic drugs come to the market. 
• It also wants to promote competition in the US through changes to the regulatory system and reimbursements for medications. 
• The group has chatted about value-based pricing, a concept in which prescriptions are paid for based on how well they work, rather than on a per-pill basis. 
• The group considered setting up Treasury bonds to pay for expensive treatments that have led to only the sickest patients receiving treatment because of the high cost in recent years.
• Some of the text used in the working group's documents has been lifted from papers written by the drug industry's lobby the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (or PhRMA).
• Other documents from the working group discuss being more lenient on clinical trials, which the FDA uses the data from to vet experimental drugs.

Noticeably absent: any references to allowing Medicare negotiate drug prices. And according to KHN, the policies wouldn't ease the cost of prescription drugs, and might even increase them.

Politico reports that the White House is pushing to release the executive order, though an exact timeline hasn't been reported.

SEE ALSO: Pharmacies take a $10 billion hit as Amazon lands Whole Foods deal

DON'T MISS: The CDC mapped out where people with cancer live in the US — here's what it found

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Spurred by a sudden exchange listing, the price of the cryptocurrency litecoin hit a new all-time high today above $50.

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Bernard Arnault, CEO and chairman of the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, has a dire warning for the global economy.

"For the economic climate, the present situation is ... mid-term scary," Bernard Arnault said on CNBC on June 15.

Arnault justified his outlook on high stock prices, low interest rates, and "the amounts of money flowing into the world."

"I think a bubble is building and this bubble, one day, will explode," Arnault said.

Arnault didn't specify timing, but insisted that it could be soon, because the last major crisis was in 2008, and these tend to happen every 10 years.

Arnault remained optimistic about the long term, however, pointing to advances in tech that will ultimately help the global economy recover.

SEE ALSO: Under Armour's hotly anticipated new sneaker is 'not good enough' to save business

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Michael Steinberg, a former top trader at billionaire Steve Cohen's hedge fund, then known as SAC Capital Advisors, has raised at least $25 million for his newly-formed fintech venture fund, Reciprocal Venture Management, according to Bloomberg's Miles Weiss. 

Steinberg was found guilty of insider trading in December 2013 while at SAC, but the conviction was dropped two years later. The New Yorker previously reported that a potential insider trading case against Steve Cohen was based on an email that Steinberg had received from his analyst, that was then forwarded to another portfolio manager at the firm, and eventually Cohen himself. 

SAC Capital Advisors, was barred from managing external money and pleaded guilty to insider trading. Cohen was never charged, and he neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in a civil settlement. He is allowed to manage external capital again in 2018, and is reportedly prepping a huge hedge fund comeback. 

In a March filing, Steinberg said he was looking to raise as much as $60 million for the Reciprocal Ventures I fund, and in May, a separate filing showed that the fund managed $25 million. An unidentified person told Bloomberg that the fund has since raised more.

Reciprocal is finalizing its first three investments for the fund, Bloomberg reports. Details are scant, but the firm plans to focus on five categories: capital markets, asset management, business-to-business payments, financial SaaS (software as a servive), and blockchain digital ledgers.

Before the fund, Steinberg personally invested in a tech company called Dataminr, which turns social media's firehose of data into useful information for the finance and government sectors. 

Business Insider has reached out to Reciprocal for comment and will update this post if any more details emerge. 

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Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours. Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. 

The S&P 500 is up 9% so far this year, and it would like to thank its most trusted allies: high-flying tech stocks.

But the benchmark's reliance on mega-cap tech has come at a price. Market pessimists have frequently cited the highly-concentrated gains as a negative driver, arguing that while the ride higher is enticing, any unwinding can be swift and brutal.

After all, just 10 companies have accounted for almost half of the benchmark's return this year. It's all a misconception, argues JPMorgan, which doesn't think the concentrated market move is anything out of the ordinary.

On the flip side, Mizuho Securities has had just about enough of this pesky, ultra-resilient stock market. And it's not backing down from calling a correction. 

President Trump is holding a big meeting with tech CEOs to talk about cutting government waste and improving services. The Trump administration still doesn't know how it's going to deal with the most pressing economic issue, according to Business Insider's Bob Bryan. And we just got our first concrete evidence that running for president was good for Trump's businesses

Talk of a skills gap in the labor market is "an incredible cop out," writes Business Insider's Pedro da Costa. Millennial entrepreneurs really do want different things. And thousands of Americans are going to church in dead malls.

On Wall Street, Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants the Federal Reserve to clean house at Wells Fargo, asking for the removal of the 12 members of the board of directors who served while the fake accounts scandal was ongoing. 

A Wall Street investor call revealed part of the secret of why drugs are so expensive. And Valeant is jumping after John Paulson joined its board.

More talking in the boardroom is a good thing, says Jared L. Landaw, partner at Barington Capital Group. And a rogue trader who lost £350 million explains why he became so addicted to risk-taking.

Amazon just spent $13.7 billion to prove once again that it's the most dangerous company in tech. But at least seven retail companies' stocks are "un-Amazon-able," according to Oliver Chen, a senior equity research analyst at Cowen.

Blue Apron plans to raise up to $587 million as it goes public. And oil and gas driller EQT has inked a deal to buy rival Rice Energy for $6.7 billion.

Boeing just attacked Airbus' most dominant plane with $30 billion in orders. Qatar Airways CEO says the "illegal blockade" won't change growth plans.

Lastly, these will be the world's 10 biggest cities in 2030.

SEE ALSO: The 27 most important finance books ever written

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Bitcoin miners are now actively showing their support for a network scaling proposal by flagging signaling directly on the blockchain.

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Sneakers are more popular than ever, and they're starting to supplant once was once the keystone of ever man's professional wardrobe.

As sneakers rise in both prominence — and price — men are spending the hundreds of dollars they would typically spend on dress shoes. These aren't your typical athletic sneakers however — instead of the latest release, they're often luxury versions with soft leathers and designer logos.

Neiman Marcus CEO Karen Katz told analysts that sneakers now account for 50% of the men's shoe business at the department store chain, according to the New York Post.

Execs in Silicon Valley almost exclusively wear high-priced sneakers, like Lanvin and Common Projects, that Neiman's sells. Silicon Valley is the birthplace of the casual work wardrobe, so it's no surprise that its leaders are dressing down and sneakers have become a cornerstone of that. In the San Francisco area, the top selling style on luxury consignment platform TheRealReal is a Louis Vuitton high top sneaker.

As the casualization of the workplace continues, it's not surprising to see sneakers gain a foothold. These more expensive sneakers usually look the part, with minimal branding that can fly under the radar unlike your yellow and orange Nike shoes. The idea of what a sneaker can be — understated, clean, and luxury — has changed, and it matches the new casual American workplace. Sneakers go a lot better with denim, after all.

Looking up and down Manhattan's 5th Ave, you see a lot more office drones wearing sneakers than anything else — especially in warmer, more casual sneakers. As time goes on, it'll probably be more useful in identifying the office hierarchy if you can pick out a Lanvin sneaker than a Gucci Bit Loafer.

It seems the "debate" over whether men can wear sneakers has been settled. It's a resounding "yes" — as long as the sneakers are subtle, leather, and luxurious.

SEE ALSO: A startup wants men to never tuck in their shirts again, and investors think their solution is worth $200 million

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants the Federal Reserve to clean house at Wells Fargo, asking for the removal of the 12 members of the board of directors who served while the fake accounts scandal was ongoing. 

In a letter sent to Fed Chair Janet Yellen Monday, Warren argued that the directors present from 2011 to 2015, when Wells Fargo employees opened as many as 2.1 million accounts for customers without their knowledge, need to go — and that the Fed has the authority to remove them under a Congressional statute regarding the governance of insured depository institutions like Wells Fargo. 

"I urge you to exercise your legal authority to remove the holdover Wells Fargo Board members. Federal Reserve regulations and guidance impose clear risk-management obligations on the Board — obligations that are quite demanding for a bank as large and complex as Wells Fargo," Warren wrote. "The Board did nothing to stop rampant misconduct in the Community Bank that resulted in more than 5000 bank employees creating more than two million fake accounts over four years."

Warren cited a statute that empowers the Fed to remove board members who "engaged or participated in any unsafe or unsound practice" that caused depository institution "financial loss or other damage" and that showed "continuing disregard ... for the safety or soundness" of the institution.

She argues in the letter that the directors failed in their risk-management obligations, resulting in "massive financial losses" and "long-lasting reputational damage to the bank that has eroded the bank's customer base."

So far, the accounts scandal has resulted in $185 million in fines, the ouster of CEO John Stumpf and other high-level executives, and a spate of ongoing government investigations. The company has set aside some $1.7 billion to pay for potential costs surrounding the scandal.

Warren criticized the Fed for having "done nothing" with its authority to hold Wells Fargo accountable.  

"While other federal regulators with jurisdiction over this scandal ... have taken steps to hold Wells Fargo accountable and promote the integrity of the banking system, the Federal Reserve has done nothing to date, despite its ample statutory authority," she wrote in the letter.

Wells Fargo issued a statement Monday highlighting the company's efforts to make amends and changes in the wake of the scandal:

"Wells Fargo’s board and management team have taken many actions in response to its retail sales practices issues, including changes in senior leadership, executive accountability actions and numerous steps to ensure we make things right with any customer affected by unacceptable sales practices. That work continues and remains a core part of our efforts to build a better Wells Fargo for the future." 

Shareholders blasted the company at its annual meeting in April over the scandal. Some board members were reelected by only slim margins. 

The company came under fire last week over a new allegation: That in 2015 the bank was changing the terms of customers' mortgages without telling them, several lawsuits allege.

SEE ALSO: Wells Fargo may be in hot water again

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There are plenty of apps that can turn your phone or tablet into a synthesizer, but they tend to fall into two camps: they're either affordable and simple or pricey and robust. While that's sometimes due to the nature of the instruments they're repl...

If you have citizenship in Denmark, you have a great deal of traveling power — Danes can fly to 157 countries without ever showing a visa. This makes international travel cheaper and easier than it is for citizens of many other countries, like those of Pakistan, who can enter just 25 countries without a visa.

These stark differences are revealed in the Passport Index, which ranks countries based on the number of nations where residents can go without purchasing a visa in advance or on arrival. The global financial advisory firm Arton Capital compiled government data from 193 countries and six territories to create the 2017 ranking.

The map below shows the power of every passport in the world, while the chart reveals the countries with the greatest traveling power on each continent.

SEE ALSO: The hourly wage needed to rent a two-bedroom home in every state

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You've probably heard that millennials are different.

They are more likely to prefer cooking at home than their elders. They want to buy from and invest in companies that have a purpose and an eye on social good. They're over the idea of collecting stuff. You get the idea. 

A lot of these points of difference owe their origin to the economic experiences of younger professionals. They probably started work just before, in the middle of, or right after the great recession. And as Tyler Cowen writes in "The Complacent Class," their "passions take forms other than those of the old climb-the-social-ladder variety."

The generational differences even extend to entrepreneurs, according to a HSBC study of 4,000 entrepreneurs. HSBC surveyed entrepreneurs with at least $250,000 in personal wealth in 11 countries.

It found that millennial entrepreneurs are much more likely than their older peers to be interested in bettering themselves, building a name for themselves, and having a positive impact in their community. For example, just 16.6% of US respondents in their 50s said they became an entrepreneur to have a positive impact in their community. The number is 28.5% for entrepreneurs in their 20s. 

Yes, some of that might just be due to the change in outlook that people experience between their 20s and their 50s. But other extracts from the report show that millennials are thinking differently on several fronts: 

• "49% of American entrepreneurs in their 20s say they went into business to be their own boss, this is substantially lower than the 64% of American entrepreneurs in their 50s."
• "The Millennial generation of entrepreneurs in America is more focused on building their influence. For example, 47% said they were motivated to go into business by the desire to better themselves, 29% wanted to have a positive impact in their communities and 32% wanted to build a name for themselves. This compares to 43%, 17% and 19% of American entrepreneurs in their 50s respectively."

These millennial entrepreneurs also spend more time focused on strategy and managing the teams around them than the baby boomer generation, according to the research:

"Those from the Baby Boomer generation emphasize self-determination and personal profit. Millennial entrepreneurs, meanwhile, are placing more emphasis on the social capital required for successful entrepreneurship, such as relationship building and reciprocity."

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LONDON — Analysis of the global stock market over the last 12 months shows that some asset classes are performing much better than others, with Asia Pacific equities delivering huge returns on investment compared to European stocks.

The research, by investment company Fidelity International, shows that Asia Pacific equities have delivered a 36.89% return over the past year, while Emerging Market Equities are just behind, at 36.23%.

Asian markets have enjoyed strong growth throughout 2017 despite heightened risks from US President Donald Trump's protectionist rhetoric.

If you invested £10,000 in Britain's benchmark share index, the FTSE 100, on 24th June — when the UK voted to leave the EU — you would now have £12,565, according to Fidelity's figures.

Here is a breakdown of returns since the Brexit vote:

Total returns of various asset classes since the EU referendum results

The value of the pound tumbled following the vote to leave the EU, and is yet to return to its pre-vote level. The surprise result of the UK's snap election also caused the pound to drop on June 9, the day of the result. But a weaker pound has been good news for Britain's exporters and overseas earners: since almost 70% of FTSE 100 companies' revenue is made abroad, they make more when sterling is weak.

"For many people, the result of last June’s vote was a shock. Equally shocking was the market reaction in the following months," said Tom Stevenson, investment director at Fidelity International.

"However, it should not have been such a surprise — the fall in the pound has been the key driver of market returns in the UK over the past year and it will be the key driver of the economy and markets over the next 12 months," he said.

"In the grand scheme of things, the UK plays a small part in the overall global economy and whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, the US economy will continue to recover, Europe will remain on the mend and emerging markets will continue to outstrip the growth in the developed world."

Despite generally good returns, cash and commodities have been generally unprofitable.

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A group of influential US senators want to see digital currency holdings declared at the border – and advocates of the tech are pushing back.

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LONDON — TSB plans to switch all its customers from Visa debit cards to MasterCard from 2018, a major win for the card issuer in the UK.

TSB, which was spun out of Lloyds in 2013, will reissue debit cards to all of the bank's current account customers in 2018 as part of a 7-year deal with MasterCard.

TSB has over 5 million customers in the UK and controls 4.5% of the British current account market. The bank, which is now owned by Spanish banking group Sabadell, will be MasterCard's largest debit card issuer in the UK once the deal completes.

Mark Barnett, MasterCard's UK & Ireland chief, says in an emailed statement: "This deal is an example of our commitment to grow the issuance of debit Mastercard among our banking partners, and as such we are best placed to support TSB with their transactional and digital banking plans."

TSB is tight-lipped about what those digital banking plans are. Jatin Patel, TSB’s Product Director, says in a statement: "This partnership presents lots of opportunities for TSB and our customers in 2018 and beyond. We’re looking forward to seeing these opportunities develop and sharing more about what’s in store next year as we continue on our mission to bring more competition to UK banking and ultimately make banking better for all UK consumers."

MasterCard has been investing heavily in digital banking over the last few years and embraced the new wave of challenger banks and bank-like services that have sprung up in the UK over the last few years. App-only startup bank Monzo and foreign exchange card Revolut are just two examples of hot startups that use MasterCard for their plastic.

Virgin Money and Citibank will issue debit MasterCards to their customers this year, and Metro Bank, and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group already do.

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LONDON — Asking prices for UK homes fell by 0.4% in June, according to property website Rightmove, the first price decline in the month since 2009.

June usually registered a seasonal price rise but saw prices dip slightly, with political instability, inflation, and wage stagnation blamed for the drop. Lower prices in London also dragged.

The average UK house price was 1.8% higher than in June last year, the smallest annual increase since 2013.

Rightmove's figures were based on properties advertised between May 14 and June 10, and therefore largely cover the weeks before the June 8 general election where Theresa May unexpectedly lost her parliamentary majority.

While individual month-on-month indexes are subject to volatility, year-on-year trends point to a major loss of momentum in the UK housing market. Every major house price index indicates that prices have levelled since the referendum after years of runaway growth.

Rightmove said that house prices in most areas of England and Wales increased, but falls in the south-east, led by a 2.4% drop in London, pushed the index negative.

"The price of property coming to the market had increased in June in every year since 2009, so buyers' confidence has clearly been affected by inflation outstripping their pay packets and current political events," Rightmove director Miles Shipside said.

Figures published last week showed that consumer inflation jumped to 2.9% in May while wage growth remains stagnant, placing a big squeeze on households' disposable income.

Russell Quirk, chief executive of property website eMoov, said that political instability appears to have driven the dip in prices. He said: "Anyone that claims the political landscape has no direct impact on the UK housing market need only to look at the latest index from Rightmove to be told otherwise.

"That said, it is probably unfair to be drawing comparisons to the market during the peak of the credit crunch as we are in a much steadier climate then compared to now. Although price growth is likely to remain stagnant for the rest of the year, it is unlikely that we will see any notable dips, perhaps a marginal adjustment, if any."

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LONDON — The pound is slightly higher against the dollar and the euro after a few hours of trade in London on Monday morning, with Britain set to begin official Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

Brexit Minister David Davis will begin talks with EU officials in Brussels on Monday to work out a deal on Britain's exit from the EU and its future relationship with the bloc. Officials on both sides have until March 2019 to work out a deal, after which Britain will official exit the EU.

CMC Markets' chief market analyst Micheal Hewson says in an email: "The initial tone of these talks could well offer significant clues as to how long, protracted and adversarial they are likely to be."

The other major story on Monday morning is a "potential terrorist attack" in North London, where a van was driven into a crowd outside a mosque in the early hours of the morning. One person has been confirmed dead and at least 10 are injured.

Sterling was marginally lower against the dollar and euro in early morning trade in London. But, at close to 9.20 a.m. BST (4.20 a.m. ET), the pound is making gains against both.

Sterling is up 0.28% to $1.2799 against the dollar:

And up 0.19% against the euro to €1.1435:

The euro got an overnight boost after French President Emmanuel Macron secured a comfortable majority in parliament in Sunday's election.

However, Hewson cautions: "Macron will need to tread carefully, with some questioning the validity of his mandate on a 45% turnout, the lowest in fifty years.

"He will also face an enormous amount of resistance on the ground from the vested interests of the trade unions which still wield an enormous amount of influence, and could make life very difficult for the inexperienced new President and his party."

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LONDON — Five of the UK's leading business organisations are calling for the government to maintain access to the Single Market and Customs Union until a Brexit deal is reached and to prioritise the rights of EU citizens in the UK.

The heads of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), manufacturing trade group the EEF, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), and the Institute of Directors (IoD) have all signed an open letter to the government.

The groups say they accept the result of last year's EU Referendum but have come together "to urge the Government to put the economy first." Collectively the groups speak for hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK.

Business leaders are concerned about the government's stated position that "no deal is better than a bad deal" for Brexit. This could see UK businesses crash out of Europe in March 2019 with no clear rules on how to trade with the EU bloc.

Formal Brexit talks between UK and EU representatives begin on Monday. Chancellor Philip Hammond has dismissed the idea that the UK could stay in the Customs Union and Single Market following the UK's departure from the EU. He did, however, concede that no deal would be "very, very bad for Britain."

The business lobbies say in Monday's letter that a final Brexit deal should include tariff-free goods trade, minimal customs formalities at borders between the UK and the EU, and a "flexible system" of movement for both UK and EU workers "that enjoys public support."

The letter also stresses the importance of maintaining an "open and frictionless border" between Ireland and Northern Ireland throughout the transitionary period.

As well as business groups, the letter's signatories include Labour MP Keir Starmer. Starmer last week urged Brexit Minister David Davis to take a "new tone and approach" to Brexit talks and to rule out the idea that "no deal" would be better than a bad deal.

"The belligerent and reckless approach adopted by the Prime Minister to date has needlessly wrecked relations with the EU," he said. "A much more constructive and responsible tone is needed," he wrote, adding that "no deal has never been a viable option."

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LONDON — British stocks had a strong start to the week on Monday morning, with the FTSE 100 opening up around 0.75% as traders take their cue from strong Asian markets overnight and await the first reports of official Brexit talks between the UK and EU.

The index was up 0.75% ten minutes after the open to trade at 7,519.5 points. Here is the chart:Brexit secretary David Davis heads to Brussels to begin official negotiations with EU officials on Monday, and the index's performance is likely to be significantly influenced by the tone and sentiment emerging from the talks.

Victory for pro-European Union French President Emmanuel Macron in Sunday's parliamentary elections is also providing a boost.

Mike van Dulken and Henry Croft, analysts at Accendo Markets, say in a morning note: "A positive opening call comes as traders welcome another Macron victory in France, this time in Parliamentary elections, which give hope to him passing reforms that can help both the French economy and thus Europe.

"There is also optimism about a positive start to UK-EU Brexit negotiations which kick off today in Brussels. The GBP may be off its lows, but not proving a FTSE hindrance yet."

Big gainers on the index were mining firms Anglo American, up 2.05%, Antofagasta, up 1.73%, and Glencore, up 1.72%.

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NOW WATCH: THE BOTTOM LINE: A top Wall Street strategist says there's nothing to worry about and we examine bitcoin's surge