Huawei founder Ren warns it's 'live or die moment' for company

Citing an internal memo sent out by Huawei Technologies Co.'s founder Ren Zhengfei, several news outlets today reported that the founder warned the company was in a 'live or die moment' amid the uncertainty surrounding the US-China trade conflict.

Ren reportedly told employees to form 'commando squads' to explore new projects and threatened to cut their salaries and even lay them off if they fail to do so.

Contradicting with these reports, in an interview with the Associated Press earlier today, Ren said that they did not expect any relief from the US sanctions. "Whether the entity list is extended or not, that will not have a substantial impact on Huawei's business. We can do well without relying on American companies."

Meanwhile, market sentiment remains sour on Tuesday with the 10-year US Treasury bond yield erasing more than 2% and the S&P 500 Futures pointing out to a negative start to the day in Wall Street's main indexes.