10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Evan Spiegel

Getty/Michael Kovac

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel

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Here is what you need to know.

The trade war escalates. The second tranche of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods will go into effect August 23, hitting $16 billion worth of imports.

Elon Musk wants to remove Tesla from the stock market. "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured," the CEO tweeted before issuing a formal statement on the company's website.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund reportedly amassed a $2 billion stake in Tesla. According to the Financial Times, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund now owns between three and five percent of Tesla's outstanding stock.

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Snap beat on Q2 earnings, but reported its first drop in daily active users. The stock initially soared by as much as 13% in after-hours trading before giving back the gains.

Disney earnings miss. Second-quarter profit was weaker than expected due to higher programming costs and a drop in ESPN subscribers.

Mutual funds are bleeding cash at an unprecedented rate, and they're increasingly vulnerable to a meltdown. According to Moody's, investors have pulled cash from actively managed equity mutual funds in the US at the fastest year-to-date pace on record.

One in two initial coin offerings (ICOs) failed in the second quarter - and those that succeeded suffered huge losses. The average return for ICO tokens in the quarter was -55%, compared with a gain of nearly 50% in the first quarter.

Salesforce just promoted its top salesman to the title of co-CEO. Keith Block, formerly the chief operating officer, will lead with long-time CEO Marc Benioff and report directly to Salesforce's board of directors.

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More earnings are on tap. Yelp, 21st Century Fox, Monster Beverage, and the travel-fare aggregator Booking Holdings report after the closing bell.

US equity futures are slightly higher. The 10-year yield is up by less than one basis point at 2.975%.

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