10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Reuters / Amit Dave

Here is what you need to know.

Apple crushed on earnings, beating its own expectations. It reported profit and revenue that exceeded Wall Street analyst targets, growing sales for all three of its major product lines - iPhone, iPad and iMac.

The iPhone X is one sale now - and people have queued up for days to be first to get it. Announced in September, the iPhone X is the first major redesign of the iPhone in years, with an almost edge-to-edge screen, facial-recognition technology, and an increased emphasis on augmented reality.

President Donald Trump is headed to Asia. The president will visit Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The White House says Trump will be aiming to "underscore his commitment to longstanding United States alliances and partnerships, and reaffirm United States leadership in promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region."

Trump picked Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as Fed chair. His appointee is a current Federal Reserve governor and former finance executive, and he'll face key decisions on whether to continue raising interest rates as the economy sends mixed signals about the growth outlook.

Trump's Twitter account was deleted for 11 minutes by a Twitter employee on their last day of work. This was done to his personal account rather than his official White House account.

UK house price growth is set to slow by half over the next 5 years. That's according to estate agents Savills, who used the forecast on Thursday. They see prices growing 14.2% between 2018 and 2022, a drop-off from the 28% price growth seen in the previous five years.

Australian retail sales fell short of expectations. Data from the ABS showed nominal sales growth in September was flat at 0.0% in seasonally adjusted terms, short of forecasts for a gain of 0.4%.

Stock markets around the world gained. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+0.3%) rose in Asia, while the Nikkei also climbed (+0.53%). The FTSE 100 (+0.12%) led strength in Europe, which saw Germany's DAX increase (+0.29%). The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.1% near 2,579.

Earnings reporting remains heavy. Fortis, Moody's, Revoln and US Concrete are among the companies set to report quarterly earnings on Friday.

US economic data flows. Monthly nonfarm payrolls will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, as will the US unemployment rate. Other economic data includes: average hourly earnings, trade balances and factory orders.