10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Trump in China

Artyom Ivanov\TASS via Getty Images

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Here is what you need to know.

1. China threatens retaliation after the US House passed a bill supporting Hong Kong protesters. House lawmakers passed a bill yesterday which would mean that the US reviews how autonomous Hong Kong is each year, determining its trade policy.

2. SoftBank reportedly hired restructuring and bankruptcy bankers to help revive WeWork. Houlihan Lokey, a bank known for its restructuring expertise, has been hired to assess loss-making practices, Bloomberg reported.

3. Bank of America beats Q3 Wall Street estimates as CEO focuses on costs in 'moderately growing economy'. The bank beat estimates on its earnings per share and met estimates in income.

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4. Boris Johnson will ask for Brexit to be delayed if he fails to agree a deal this week. The Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay confirmed on Wednesday that the prime minister may have to write a letter requesting that Brexit is delayed.

5. WeWork's IPO woes are bleeding into the biotech market - and health startups' plans to go public now look dimmer. M&A bankers say the WeWork debacle is part of what's weighing on health firms' IPO plans.

6. Amazon's massive investment in food delivery startup Deliveroo faces further delays thanks to a formal antitrust probe. Amazon led a $575 million investment into Deliveroo in May 2019.

7. Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency is in damage control mode after a quarter of its partners dropped out. Seven of the 28 original backers have bowed out including big names PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and eBay.

8. Stocks are mixed today. US futures underlying the S&P 500 (-0.2%) and the Nasdaq (-0.3%) fell. In Europe, stocks are rising the DAX (+0.3%) is up as is the Euro Stoxx 50 (+0.2%). In Asia, stocks closed mixed with the Nikkei (+1.2%) rallying, as did the Hang Seng (+0.6%) but the Shanghai Composite (-0.4%) fell on close.

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9. There are lots of interesting earnings out. IBM is the highlight.

10. There is a lot of data out later. The retail sales control group is in the spotlight.

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