10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Here is what you need to know.
1. 17 current and former Goldman Sachs directors are facing criminal charges over the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia, including Alibaba's president. The 1MDB scandal brought down Malaysia's prime minister, the prime suspect is still on the run, and now Goldman Sachs is in the firing line.
2. Stocks are dropping on Italian political strife, weakness in the UK and German economies, and lingering trade-war fears. Investors reacted to a shrinking UK economy, a decline in Germany manufacturing output, and a snap election in Italy.
3. The UK economy shrank for the first time since 2012, as output fell 0.2% in July and August. The pound fell 0.4% on the news, adding to the 4.5% decline in July and August.
4. Uber's stock is set to plunge 8% after losing more money than expected. Shares tanked as much as 12% in aftermarket trading on the news, and were down about 7% in Friday premarket trading.
5. Facebook is reportedly offering news publishers up to $3 million a year to license articles for an upcoming news section. After suffering criticism for its role in spreading fake news and misinformation, Facebook is looking to license real news.
6. Tinder's owner just launched an app to help 'highly motivated' singles in Japan get married within a year. The owner of Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com is targeting Japanese singles looking to get hitched and shaking up the Asian nation's "omiai" or arranged-marriage industry with Pairs Engage, a marriage-concierge app.
7. Bayer soars on report the German pharma giant is proposing a $8 billion Roundup settlement. Bayer shares soared as much as 11% on Friday on a Bloomberg report that the German company has proposed to pay $8 billion to settle more than 18,000 U.S. lawsuits centered on its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup.
8. Stocks are dropping today in a day of uncertainty in politics. US futures are sliding with the S&P 500 (-0.6%) and Nasdaq (0.8%) down. In Europe, stock indexes were down including the Dax (-0.9%) and Euro Stoxx 50 (-1.0%). The Nikkei 225 (+0.4%) was up on close but the Hang Seng (-0.8%) and Shanghai Composite (-0.7%) were down.
9. Earnings season is winding to a close. Today's highlight is Insulin giant Novo Nordisk, and WPP the advertising titan released earlier.
10. There is lots of interesting data on the docket today. The producer prince index excluding food and energy is the highlight.