10 things you need to know before the opening bell
China is considering its options to stop capital outflows. Beijing is considering several options to stem the tide of capital rushing out of the country, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The FX market is beginning to take note with offshore yuan up 0.8% at 6.9037 per dollar .
Euro area inflation hit a 3-year high. A flash estimate released by Eurostat showed annual inflation in the euro area rose 1.1% with energy (+2.5%) having the highest rate of all the main components. The euro is stronger by 0.3% at 1.0433 versus the dollar.
UK construction shrugs off Brexit. Construction PMI rose to 54.2 in December, well ahead of the 52.8 that was expected. "UK construction companies signalled a positive end to the year, led by the fastest rise in new order volumes since January 2016. Stronger demand patterns resulted in sustained job creation and a broad-based upturn in business activity during December," a release from IHS Markit said.
Crude oil clings to gains. West Texas Intermediate crude oil trades up 0.3% at $52.50 per barrel as traders await inventory data that will be released after the stock market close.
Manhattan home prices slide. The median price for condos and co-ops in Manhattan dove 6.3% from a year ago to $900,000, making for the biggest annual decline since Q3 2012, Bloomberg reports, citing a report from Miller Samuel Inc. and Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Tesla misses on deliveries for 2016. The electric automaker reported 22,200 deliveries for the fourth quarter, bringing its 2016 total up to 76,230. That was considerably below the 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles Tesla had expected to deliver.
A judge has halved the $1 billion award in Johnson & Johnson's hip implants case. US District Judge Ed Kinkeade has ordered the $1 billion judgment against Johnson & Johnson's DePuy Orthopedics unit be cut in half because of "constitutional considerations" that limit the amount of punitive damages, Reuters says.
Rex Tillerson says he will cut ties with Exxon Mobil.President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state says he will sever ties with his former company to prevent any conflict of interest, Reuters reports.
Stock markets around the world are mixed. Japan's Nikkei (+2.5%) surged on its first trading day of the New Year and Germany's DAX (-0.4%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open higher by 0.4% near 2,262.
The latest FOMC minutes are coming. The minutes from the December 14 FOMC meeting, when the Fed hiked rates for just the second time since the financial crisis, will be released at 2 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.45%.