10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 5, 2020.

Here's what you need to know before the markets open.

1. 'Things will get worse before they get better': Ex-Cisco CEO John Chambers predicts the US economy won't recover fully until next year. "It's time to reinvent or be left behind," he said.
   
   
2. 'Finger-pointing from politicians': Stocks slide after eurozone leaders fail to agree on coronavirus response."We came close to a deal but we are not there yet," said the Eurogroup chairman, Mario Centeno.
   
   
3. The world's biggest iPhone maker is going to start making ventilators. Foxconn is joining companies like Ford, GM and Tesla in switching some of its manufacturing lines to make ventilators.
   
   
4. In an email to employees Tesla says it will cut salaries and furlough non-essential employees. The electric-vehicle titan will begin to implement certain cost-cutting measures starting on April 13.
   
   
5. EasyJet founder continues battle over $5.5 billion Airbus order. The founder says the new Airbus planes are useless given the impact of coronavirus on air travel.
   
   
6. EU to adopt pan-European approach on mobile apps to fight coronavirus. To assuage privacy concerns, there will be a strict limit on the processing of personal data.
   
   
7. Zoom sued for overstating, not disclosing privacy, security flaws. The remote-conferencing service lost nearly a third of its market value since touching record highs in late-March.
   
   
8. Stocks dropped on Wednesday. In Europe, Germany's DAX fell 1%, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.5%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 1.5%. In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.2%, but Japan's Nikkei rose 2.1%. In the US, futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq rose as much as 0.2%.
   
   
9. On the earnings calendar today. UK's supermarket titan Tesco and Japan's largest retailer Aeon report their fourth-quarter.
   
   
10. On the data docket today. MBA Mortgage Applications, the US 10-Year Note Auction and Federal Open Market Committee minutes are highlights.

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