Here's what you need to know before
1. Famed hedge funder Kyle Bass is betting big against the Hong Kong dollar as the US threatens to remove a key peg. Bass is betting big that the US will remove a key peg against the Hong Kong dollar, which has been in place since 1983.
2. An amateur investor turned $15,000 into $1 million then lost it all, the latest cautionary tale in the day-trading frenzy. One of the most painful examples of the perils of the day-trading boom has emerged, after an amateur trader turned $15,000 into $1 million, then lost it all, the New York Times reported this week.
3. Joe Biden slams Trump, vows to help working families not wealthy investors: 'They don't need me'. Joe Biden accused President Trump of caring about share prices more than people during a speech in Pennsylvania on Thursday, and pledged to help middle-class Americans instead of rich investors if he's elected in November.
4.The S&P 500 will fall 8% by the end of 2020, according to Bank of America's equity chief, who says a Joe Biden victory could tank stocks."I wouldn't paint myself as a bear, but the risks between here and year-end are completely to the downside," Savita Subramanaian said during a webinar.
5. Goldman Sachs says Wall Street is bracing for a historically wild stock market as the presidential election nears. Investors are paying extraordinarily high premiums to hedge their portfolios around an expectedly volatile election time, according to a recent note from Goldman Sachs.
6. Wall Street is being shaken to its core by a legion of Gen Z day traders. From a casual hobbyist to a 20-year-old running a 14,000-person platform, meet the new generation of retail investors. As the stock market attempted to claw back from multiyear lows spurred by the coronavirus outbreak, retail investors flooded the market with speculative bets and improbable picks.
7. Ed Hyman was named Wall Street's best economist 39 times and called the tech bubble. He outlines 3 market drivers that are aligning for investors looking to capitalize on coronavirus chaos. "We've taken a real hit," Hyman, the founder, chairman, and head of economic research of Evercore ISI, said on "The Sherman Show" podcast in reference to the damage the coronavirus has spawned in markets.
8. Stocks are mixed. European stocks are up. Asian stocks are down. US futures are pointing to a negative open between -0.2 to -0.4%.
9. Earnings coming in. Yaskawa Electric Corp 1Q 2020 and Activia Properties 2Q 2020 are expected Friday.
10. On the economic front. USA WASDE Report and US Baker Hughes Oil Rig count are due.