10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Pumpkin patch

AP/Michael Probst

People collect pumpkins on a field in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany

Here is what you need to know.

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Trump is pulling the US out of an obscure 144-year-old treaty to take a shot at China in the trade war. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the US would withdraw from the Universal Postal Union, which allows Chinese producers to ship items to the US at significantly low rates even compared to some US domestic shipping rates.

China's economic growth missed for the first time in 3 years. The Chinese economy grew at a 6.5% clip in the year to September, missing the 6.7% pace in the year to June, and expectations for an increase of 6.6%, data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Top Chinese officials have staged an extraordinary intervention to stem the stock-market bleeding. The head of China's central bank and a number of top regulators made statements on Thursday expressing optimism about the country's economy, sending the Shanghai Composite up more than 2.5%.

A key indicator of Italy's financial health is flashing red. The spread between the German 10-year and Italian 10-year now stands at almost 3.4 percentage points, its highest level in almost five years.

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Beware the 'real killer' in markets that's threatening to strike after decades in hiding. The pain in bonds may just be getting started as a measure known as "real yield" edges towards troublesome territory, Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group, wrote in a client note.

Bill Gates gives tribute to Paul Allen. "Paul deserved more time in life," Gates said of his Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, in a Wall Street Journal oped out Thursday. "He would have made the most of it. I will miss him tremendously."

Tesla is finally making a lower-cost Model 3. The vehicle will have a base price of $45,000, but will cost $35,000 in California after federal and state tax rebates, CEO Elon Musk said.

PayPal beats across the board. The digital-payments company beat on both the top and bottom lines and gave fourth-quarter earning-per-share guidance of between $0.65 and $0.67, ahead of the $0.65 that was expected.

Earnings reports trickle out. Honeywell, Proctor & Gamble, and Schlumberger report ahead of the opening bell.

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US economic data is light. Existing home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 3.17%.

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