10 things you need to know before the Opening Bell

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Here is what you need to know.

1. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is giving a speech this week, and traders will be listening closely for any hints of further interest-rate cuts. The Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates for the first time in a decade last month, and traders are hungry for more cuts.

2. Stocks are soaring on fresh hopes of a ‘tidal wave’ of government stimulus and an end to the US-China trade war. World governments are actively boosting their economies, while Donald Trump struck a positive note in his latest comments on the trade war.

3. Trump calls blacklisted Huawei a national security threat and says he doesn’t want US companies to trade with the Chinese tech titan ‘at all’ in an apparent policy flip. "At this moment it looks much more like we’re not going to do business," Trump said.

4. A Malaysian court has postponed the biggest of five trials linked to a multi-billion-dollar scam at state fund 1MDB, allegedly involving former prime minister Najib Razak. Najib, who lost a general election last year, has been hit with 42 criminal charges of graft and money laundering at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and other state entities.

5. Chinese financial institutions provided $1 billion in ‘green’ finance to coal projects in the first half of the year. The projects involved power plants fueled by coal or coalbed methane as well as coal-to-chemical projects.

6. Japan’s exports and manufacturing confidence have fallen in the face of slowing global growth and the US-China trade war. Exports dropped for an eighth consecutive month in July, dragged down by car parts and microchip-production equipment, while manufacturers’ confidence turned negative for the first time in six years.

7. Donald Trump said Apple CEO Tim Cook "made a good case" that tariffs could hurt the iPhone maker as Samsung’s products aren’t subject to the same duties. Tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, including consumer electronics, are scheduled to go into effect later this year.

8. Global stocks are rallying on Monday on stimulus hopes. US futures are rising, with both the S&P 500 (+0.9%) and the Nasdaq (+1.0%) up. Europe opened strongly, with the Dax and Euro Stoxx 50 both up (+0.7%). Asia rallied on close as the Nikkei 225 rose (+0.7%), the Shanghai Composite was up (+2.1%) and Hang Seng climbed (+2.2%).

9. There are lots of earnings out later. Beauty company Estee Lauder has its fourth-quarter earnings out today.

10. There is a stack of European data on the docket today. Europe’s consumer price index, a key inflation measure, is out later.

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