Here's what you need to know before
1. Global stocks jump as Trump signals 'gamechanger' plan to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the election. "Markets were willing to look beyond the president's geopolitical needling to focus on celebrating this moment of progress," an analyst said.
2. Short bets against US stocks have fallen to the lowest level since records began as the market's seemingly endless rally continues. Even the most pessimistic investors are struggling to bet against US stocks at the present time.
3. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman starkly laid out the disconnect between the stock market and the real economy in a scathing op-ed. He warned that investor optimism over Big Tech's profits would not go far as people cannot survive on "rosy projections" about the future.
4. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has made $87 billion on Apple — more than the tech titan's entire market cap in 2009. Apple's market capitalization tumbled below $87 billion in March 2009, while Berkshire's market cap dropped below that level in October 2000.
5. President Trump will officially be nominated for a 2nd term this week. RBC says buy these 48 stocks spanning every industry that are poised to crush the market if he wins reelection. RBC's analysts are naming dozens of stocks that could have important edges on their rivals if President Donald Trump wins another term in office.
6. Stocks are making their most extreme moves in 20 years — and one quant expert warns the COVID-19 crash was a preview of more 'wild swings' to come. Stock-market moves that stray far from the norm are at a 20-year high, according to quantitative strategists at SocGen.
7. 'Unintended detrimental consequences': A former Wall Street chief strategist says the Fed has driven flimsy stock-market highs that will come crashing down — and warns bullish day-traders will be futile to stop it. "The equity markets are now like an old elevator way over capacity," said Peter Cecchini, the CEO and founder of AlphaOmega Advisors.
8. Global stocks are up. In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 2.2%, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.7% and the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 1.9%. In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.7%, and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3% at the close. In the US, futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the US Tech 100 rose 0.9%.
9. Earnings expected today. Palo Alto Networks and the Hong Kong and China Gas Company are highlights.
10.On the economic front. Both the 3-month and 6-month bill auction, and the Chicago Fed national activity index are due.