10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Here is what you need to know.

The SEC sues Elon Musk. The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing Tesla CEO Elon Musk on charges that he made "false and misleading statements" when tweeting that he had secured funding to take the electric-car company private at $420 a share, and seeks to bar him from being the head of a public company.

Tesla plunges. Shares are down more than 10% ahead of Friday's opening bell.

Stanley Druckenmiller lays out how the next financial crisis might happen. The billionaire investor says conditions are ripe for a financial crisis that could put the last one to shame.

Howard Marks explains where we'll find "ground zero" of the next financial crisis. The legendary investor says the seven worst words in investing are "too much money chasing too few deals" and explains where things will go wrong during the next crisis.

Companies are sticking to a practice that Warren Buffett and other business titans warn is damaging the economy. Last year, S&P 500 companies issued forward guidance at the fastest rate since 2008.

Investors betting against this year's best-performing S&P 500 stock have lost $1 billion over the last few months. Wagers against AMD, which has gained 115% in 2018 and is the top-performing S&P 500 stock this year, have lost more than $1 billion since the beginning of July, according to data from the financial-analytics firm S3 partners.

Italian markets are getting hammered after its populist government agreed to an EU-defying budget. The benchmark FTSE MIB lost 3.8% and the 10-year yield spiked above 3.25% after the Italian government said it had agreed to set Italy's budget deficit at 2.4% of GDP - far above the 1.6% level that technocratic finance minister Giovanni Tria had lobbied for.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+1.06%) led the gains in Asia while the EURO STOXX 500 (-0.7%) is under pressure. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,910.

Earnings reports trickle out. Blackberry reports ahead of the opening bell.

US economic data is heavy. Personal income, personal spending, and PCE prices will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before Chicago PMI and University of Michigan consumer confidence cross the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET respectively. The US 10-year yield is down 2 basis points at 3.03%.