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10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Jonathan Garber   

10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Stock Market3 min read

fountain

Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee

A boy cools off under a water fountain on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India.

Here is what you need to know.

Apple invested in Uber's biggest competitor in China. The tech giant put $1 billion of its cash haul to work, investing in Chinese car-hailing app Didi Chuxing. "We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters. Other Didi investors include Tencent and Alibaba.

Shake Shack had a great quarter. The fast-food chain announced adjusted earnings of $0.08 per share on revenue of $54.2 million. Those numbers were ahead of the adjusted $0.05 per share and $52.2 million that was anticipated by the Bloomberg consensus. Same-Shack sales surged 9.9%, propelled by the introduction of the Chick'n Shack sandwich. Shake Shack raised its full year 2016 revenue outlook to $245 million to $249 million, versus its previous projection of $237 million to $242 million. Shares were higher by more than 8% in after-hours action.

Nordstrom is getting crushed after its earnings miss. The high-end retailer was the latest sign there's trouble in the sector. Nordstrom announced earnings of $0.26 per share, missing the $0.46 Bloomberg consensus by a wide margin. Revenue edged up 2.5% to $3.25 billion, just missing the Wall Street estimate. Meanwhile, comparable-store sales fell 1.7% versus expectations of a flat reading. Nordstrom's outlook also disappointed as it now sees full year 2016 earnings of $2.50 to $2.70 per share versus analyst estimates of $3.20 a share. Shares were down more than 14% in after-hours trade.

Acacia Communications is IPOing. The optical-networking products maker priced its initial public offering at $23 per share, the upper end of its $21 to $23 range. The 4.5 million share offering will raise about $103.5 million. Acacia will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker 'ACIA.'

Global investors are fleeing stock market funds. In a note to clients, analysts at Jeffries said global equity funds "recorded their fifth consecutive weekly outflow, at a net $7.3 billion." The biggest outflow came from Japanese stock market funds where investors pulled $4.9 billion. $3.1 billion left European funds, leading to an 11th straight week of outflows. US funds fared slightly better as only $1.8 billion fled.

South Korea kept policy on hold. The Bank of Korea held its key interest rate at 1.50%, as expected. The BOK said exports continue to slow and that employment growth appears to be slowing. Looking ahead, the central bank forecasts "consumer price inflation will continue at a low level, under the influence of the low oil prices for example." The South Korean won ended Friday's session weaker by 0.8% at 1171.47 per dollar.

Eurozone GDP missed. The eurozone's economy grew 0.5% in the first quarter, missing the 0.6% that economists had forecast.Spain's economy was the standout, growing at a 0.8% clip. On a year-over-year basis, growth came in at 1.5%, which was just shy of the 1.6% that was anticipated. The euro is weaker by 0.3% at 1.1345 per dollar.

Stock markets around the world are in the red. Japan's Nikkei (-1.4%) led the losses in Asia and the UK's FTSE (-0.5%) trails in Europe. S&P 500 futures are down 6.50 points at 2052.25.

Earnings reports trickle out. J.C. Penney is the only notable reporting ahead of the opening bell.

US economic data picks up. PPI and retail sales will be announced at 8:30 a.m. before data concludes for the week with the 10 a.m. ET release of business inventories and University of Michigan consumer sentiment. The US 10-year yield is down two basis points at 1.73%.

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