No Majority for Any Brexit Option

The British voted on alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal —  and rejected all eight of the proposed models. The pound retreated. Earlier, May promised to resign from the leadership if her Conservative Party colleagues drop their opposition to her Brexit strategy and vote to ratify her deal. There were early signs that May’s dramatic gamble could pay off. Several pro-Brexit Tories — including Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith — told colleagues they will back down and support the divorce agreement, according to people familiar with the matter. If she succeeds in persuading a majority of members of Parliament to vote through her accord — potentially as early as Friday — it will represent one of the biggest political come-backs in recent British history.

More Signs of a China Recovery

China’s economy is showing further signs of recovery after months of slowdown, according to a Bloomberg Economics gauge that aggregates the earliest available indicators on market sentiment and business conditions. There’s optimism about the state of the economy thanks to news that the U.S. and China may be nearing a trade deal, although the outlook for global commerce is still grim. Stocks and smaller business sentiment have improved as the government directs credit toward smaller businesses and this month announced the biggest tax reduction on record. On Wednesday, the China Beige Book showed “an unmistakable first-quarter recovery” after a weak end to 2018, though the level of new borrowing casts doubt on the sustainability of the rebound.

Stocks Fall, Dollar Climbs

Asian stocks looked set to open lower after U.S. stocks fell on concerns about the global economic outlook. Treasury 10-year yields declined to the lowest level since December 2017, and rates on benchmark German bunds sank further below zero after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said an accommodative stance is still needed. Energy companies in the S&P 500 Index joined a slide in oil, while industrial shares gained. Traders piled into bonds amid concern about a slowdown in global growth. Recent data showed weakness from U.S. housing to retail sales and consumer sentiment, prompting a more dovish tone from the central bank.

Facebook Bans White Nationalism

Facebook Inc. will ban content that references white nationalism and white separatism, taking a major step toward curbing racism and hate speech on the site. The social media giant’s policies have long excluded posts on white supremacy, but Facebook said it didn’t apply the same lens to expressions of white nationalism because it wanted to be able to include “broader concepts” of nationalism such as American pride and Basque separatism, which are linked to people’s identity. After an investigation by tech publication Motherboard and conversations with experts in race and civil rights groups, Facebook said in a blog post Wednesday that it concluded “white nationalism and separatism cannot be meaningfully separated from white supremacy and organized hate groups.”

Boeing Says It Was Nearing Fix

Boeing Co. said it was agonizingly close to a software fix for its 737 Max jetliner when an Ethiopian Airlines jet plunged to the ground March 10, the second deadly crash in less than five months. The U.S. planemaker, working with regulators, has spent months refining the software since flight data from the October crash of a Lion Air jet in Indonesia indicated that the system had repeatedly tipped the nose down before pilots lost control. The upgrade proved more complicated than the manufacturer initially estimated, according to a Boeing executive. Boeing intends to present U.S. regulators with the final documents for certification later this week, the last step in a process the company outlined for the Federal Aviation Administration on Jan. 21. Boeing will also have to convince skeptical regulators in Canada, Europe, China and elsewhere of the system’s safety.