10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Advertisement
10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Hong Kong independence

Reuters/Bobby Yip

Pro-Hong Kong independence protesters shout during a demonstration on China's National Day in Hong Kong, China.

Here is what you need to know.

Advertisement

The US and Canada reach an agreement on NAFTA. The agreement, which came hours before a self-imposed deadline, will allow American farmers more access to Canada's dairy market, keep the Chapter 19 dispute resolution in place, and give Canada some assurances that future tariffs on imported cars and auto parts will not hit the country. As part of the deal, NAFTA will be renamed the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA).

The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar are rallying. The peso trades up 0.7% at 18.5454 per US dollar while the Canadian dollar is higher by 0.4% at 1.2804 per US dollar.

Elon Musk settles fraud charges with the SEC. Tesla CEO Elon Musk will neither admit nor deny the allegations, resign as the company's chairman for at least three years, and both him and his company will pay $20 million fines.

Tesla's stock soars. Shares of the electric-car maker are up more than 16%, at $307.45, ahead of Monday's opening bell.

Advertisement

The stock market is behaving unusually, and it could be signaling that the next big crash is near. "For a stock market supposedly driven by some of the best economic performance of the entire recovery, its leadership seems out of whack," Jim Paulsen, the chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group, wrote in a recent note to clients. "It might be worth paying attention to this oddity."

A 'blue sweep' could pressure key parts of the stock market. While still not its base case, Morgan Stanley showed clients several polls that pointed to rising odds of the Democrats recapturing a Senate majority in the midterm elections and offered some recommendations for investors who want to hedge their portfolios.

Facebook is facing a massive EU fine for its most recent data breach. The social-media giant could be fined as much as $1.36 billion, or 4% of its annual revenue, under the EU's new privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, for last week's data breach that impacted about 50 million users.

Stock markets around the world are higher. China's Shanghai Composite (+1.06%) led the gains in Asia and Germany's DAX (+0.71%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.65% near 2,932.

Earnings reports trickle out. Stitch Fix reports after markets close.

Advertisement

US economic data keeps coming. Markit US Manufacturing PMI will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET before construction spending and ISM Manufacturing cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET. US auto sales will be announced throughout the day. The US 10-year yield is up 3 basis points at 3.09%.

{{}}