10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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Here's what you need to know before the markets open.

1. SoftBank's profits nosedived 99% last quarter. Here's why its stock went up 12%. Investors cared more about a federal judge ruling in favor of SoftBank-owned Sprint's merger with T-Mobile than a $2 billion loss at the Japanese tech investor's Vision Fund.

2. Bitcoin rockets past $10,000 after the Fed says it's 'taking a deep look' at a government cryptocurrency. The digital coin jumped 5% to over $10,300 after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is exploring the technology.

3. Ex-Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein laid into Bernie Sanders after his New Hampshire win, saying he'll wreck the economy and let Russia 'screw up the US.' The former investment-banking chief warned Democrats that Sanders is "just as polarizing as Trump" and will "ruin our economy."

4. The US says Huawei has been spying through 'backdoors' designed for law enforcement - which is what the US has been pressuring tech companies to do for years. US officials say the Chinese telecoms titan has had this technology for over a decade, the Wall Street Journal reported.

5. Nissan may report its first quarterly loss since March 2009. Three senior officials at the Japanese automaker told Reuters that they expect to publish poor results on Thursday, with one of them calling the figures "dismal."

6. "Angry Birds" maker Rovio's profit plummets. The game developer stomached a 96% drop in profits last quarter due to higher user acquisition costs and its 5G gaming platform, Hatch.

7. Airbnb reportedly lost $322 million in the first 9 months of 2019, and it could mean a bumpier path to going public. The Wall Street Journal reported that the home-rental platform swung to a hefty loss after making a $200 million profit in the same period of 2018.

8. Stocks are up. European equities rose with Germany's DAX up 0.8%, Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.3%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.5%. Asian indexes rallied with China's Shanghai Composite up 0.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.9%, and Japan's Nikkei up 0.7%. US stocks are poised to open higher with Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures up 0.4%, and Nasdaq futures up 0.5%.

9. Earnings season continues. Cisco and CVS Health are the highlights.

10. Economic data is trickling out. Powell's testimony and the monthly budget statement are worth keeping an eye on.

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