10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Advertisement

Tour de France

Reuters/Benoit Tessier

The 104th Tour de France cycling race - The 181.5-km Stage 9 from Nantua to Chambery, France.

Here is what you need to know.

Advertisement

Mnuchin throws cold water on a tax hike for the wealthy. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on ABC News' "This Week," "I have never heard Steve [Bannon] mention that," in regards to a report Bannon wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for middle class tax cuts.

Inflationary pressures in China steadied. Consumer prices in China rose 1.5% in June, unchanged from May, according to data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Britain's businesses are slumping. The latest BDO Output Index, which indicates how businesses expect their order books to develop over the next three months, fell from 95.4 in May to 94.9 in June, leaving business output at a four-year low.

Traders keep pulling out of their bullish bets on the US dollar. Net long positioning in the dollar fell by a $200 million last week to $4.5 billion, making for the lowest reading since the middle of last year, according to the latest Commitment of Traders data.

Advertisement

Goldman Sachs says the Bank of Canada won't raise rates at this Wednesday's meeting. "While certainly a close call, we expect the BoC to hike rates for the first time in October, not next week," wrote Goldman strategist Michael Cahill in a note to clients.

Tesla's Model 3 is here. The first Model 3 has rolled off of the assembly line, and it belongs to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The first 30 vehicles are scheduled for delivery on July 28.

Tesla sales in Hong Kong have gone to zero. Sales of Tesla's Model S and Model X fell to zero in April following the government's decision to scrap a tax break for electric vehicles, the Wall Street Journal says.

China's Wanda is selling a chunk of its assets. The property giant is unloading the majority of its theme parks and hotels business to Sunac China for $9.3 billion, making it the second-largest real estate deal ever in China, Reuters says.

Stock markets around the world are higher. Japan's Nikkei (+0.76%) led the gains in Asia and Germany's DAX (+0.45%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.17% near 2,429.

Advertisement

US economic data is light. Consumer credit will be released at 3 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 2 basis points at 2.37%.