Caroline Hepker

And I'm Caroline Hepker.

The European Council president has told Bloomberg that the EU must review its powerful competition rules to boost the bloc's economy.

Antonio Costa was speaking ahead of a gathering of EU leaders this week, which will focus on improving competitiveness as the region faces challenges from the US and China.

The European Council president was speaking after the German and Italian governments warned Europe must act now on reforming its single market.

In a paper circulated ahead of tomorrow's leaders' meeting, they called, among other measures, for the EU to loosen merger rules, allowing European companies to scale up and rival America's tech giants.

Russia's oil revenues are collapsing as the country offers steep discounts to keep its trade going.

A Bloomberg analysis of crude shipments shows that exports are holding steady at 3.3 million barrels per day, the same level since the start of the war in Ukraine.

But the country's revenue is now at its lowest point in five years.

Weaker global prices, a shortage of buyers and a stronger currency are all pushing Russia's oil revenues lower as the US continues to try to bring Russian and Ukrainian envoys together for peace talks.

Investment in UK fintechs plummeted by more than 20% last year to the lowest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bloomberg's Ewan Potts has the story.

And those are our top stories for you this morning.

Looking at the markets, Asian equities climbing.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index is up by 1.1%, so record high.

The dollar is declining this morning, so down by three-tenths of 1% on the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.

This ahead of a US jobs report.

Economists predicting 65,000 jobs added to January payrolls.

Gold this morning is steady $5,063.

Bitcoin at $67,000 is down by 1.9%.

I'm Caroline Hepka.