10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Reuters/Phil Noble

A group of young people hold up placards during a demonstration to demand a second referendum on Brexit outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain.

Here is what you need to know.

1. We are starting to see some positive signs in the US-China trade war. Trade officials in the Trump administration held a call with their Chinese counterparts on Tuesday, kicking off the next round of negotiations between the world's two largest economies.
2. Theresa May faces a vote of no confidence. Conservative MPs will vote on the future of Prime Minister Theresa May's leadership role on Wednesday as she has so far failed to convince Parliament to approve the Brexit deal she has negotiated with the EU.
3. Huawei's CFO is out on bail. Meng Wanzhou, who faces fraud charges in the US for Iran sanctions violations was released into private custody in Vancouver, Canada, after posting bail of $7.4 million (10 million Canadian dollars, including 7 million Canadian dollars in cash).
4. Something unusual is happening in US markets. The US dollar index and US Treasury yields aren't positively correlated for the first time in over a year.
5. A formerly controversial and widely criticized trade is making a big comeback. The "short-volatility" trade is making a comeback, but Goldman Sachs says there's only a short window of opportunity for you to make money.
6. Dell votes to go public again. Dell announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy back "tracking" shares of VMware - a company of which it owns 80% - for $120 apiece, or $23.9 billion, and trade publicly on the New York Stock Exchange beginning on December 28.
7. Softbank is reportedly getting ready to sell its stake in Nvidia. The Japanese telecom provider SoftBank's Vision Fund plans to sell its stake in the chipmaker Nvidia sometime next year for a possible $3 billion profit, Bloomberg says.
8. China's biggest streaming-music service reportedly prices its US IPO. Tencent Music on Tuesday priced its US initial public offering at $13 a share, raising about $1.2 billion, the Wall Street Journal says. Shares will debuted on the NYSE Wednesday, under the ticker "TME."
9. Stock markets around the world are higher. Japan's Nikkei (+2.15%) led the gains in Asia and France's CAC (+1.71%) paces the advance in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.87% near 2,660.
10. US economic data remains light. The consumer price index will cross the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.89%.