10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Here's what you need to know before markets open.
1. Gold's explosive rally is not 'quite finished yet,' a Standard Chartered strategist said. Just when gold prices seem to have taken a bit of a breather after their historic rally above $2,000, Standard Chartered thinks the surge in the precious metal will likely continue.
2. The catastrophic US coronavirus response is allowing China to stake its claim as the world's dominant superpower, former Fed chair Greenspan says. The failure of the US to effectively limit the spread of the novel coronavirus has "worsened" its road to economic recovery, he said in a blog post.
3.The world's largest sovereign wealth fund lost $21 billion in the first 6 months of 2020 as COVID-19 decimated returns. Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the largest of its kind in the world, posted a loss of 3.4% in the first six months of the year, as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country's portfolio of assets.
4. Charles Schwab's stock-picking chief told us why a COVID-19 vaccine would trigger a mass exit from tech stocks — and pinpoints 3 companies that would benefit instead. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, investors have rushed into tech stocks — so much so that 74% of fund managers in a July Bank of America survey said that being long on tech was the most crowded trade. That might be about to change.
5. Inside Eagle Investors, the 20,000-member online community run by 2 Indiana University students that's helping spearhead the Gen Z day-trading revolution. Millions of Americans are trading stocks for the first time, hoping to profit from pandemic-fueled volatility and unprecedented government aid. Many of them are using Eagle Investors.
6. Bruce Fraser outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 286% as a hedge-fund manager before switching to real-estate investing. He details the strategy he used to amass more than 1,600 multifamily units. Bruce Fraser, a managing partner at Elkhorn Capital Partners, isn't your typical real-estate investor.
7. US states seek $26.4 billion from drug firms in opioid litigation. US states are seeking a combined $26.4 billion from three major drug distributors and Johnson & Johnson to settle opioid litigation against the companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
8. Most stocks are up a little. European stocks have gained between 0.1% and 0.6%, Asian indexes made similar gains, and US futures are pointing to a higher open between 0.2% and 0.3% for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq.
9. Earnings coming in. Walmart Q2 2021 and Home Depot Q2 20 earnings are due.
10. On the economic front. A speech from the Fed's Lael Brainard, and API Weekly Crude Oil Stock data are due.