10 things you need to know before the opening bell
May 20, 2019, 16:29 IST
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Here is what you need to know.
- US tech companies are cutting off critical software to Huawei. Intel, Qualcomm, and other US technology companies have cut ties with the Chinese technology company Huawei until further notice, Bloomberg reports.
- The US lifts steel and aluminum tariffs for Canada and Mexico. President Donald Trump announced Friday that the two US neighbors would no longer face tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum.
- Oil spikes as Trump threatens Iran. Oil prices climbed by as much as 1.6% on Monday morning after Trump threatened the "official end of Iran."
- Japan's GDP blows past expectations. The Japanese economy grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.5% in the first quarter, outpacing the 0.1% growth that economists surveyed by Reuters were expecting.
- Bitcoin is back below $8,000. The cryptocurrency trades down 3% at $7,935 a coin.
- The white-hot IPO market is full of duds. There have been 80 companies that have gone public so far in 2019, but unclear paths to profitability and an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop have spelled trouble for some big names during their early days of trading.
- JPMorgan's quant guru explains why stocks could surge. "Our base case was, and still is, that the trade war with China will get resolved this year, and we remain cautiously constructive," wrote Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan's global head of quantitative and derivatives strategy.
- T-Mobile and Sprint are making moves to get their merger done. The telecom providers are planning to sell one of their pre-paid brands, build out their 5G network, and reiterated their promise not to raise prices as the network is being built, Bloomberg says.
- 'Avengers: Endgame' is dethroned from the top spot at the box office. "John Wick 3" raked in an estimated $57 million at the domestic box office this past weekend, ending the three-week-long streak by "Avengers: Endgame."
- Stock markets around the world were lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.57%) paced the decline in Asia and Germany's DAX (-0.55%) led the losses in Asia. The S&P 500 was set to open down 0.32% near 2,850.