Here's what you need to know before
1. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals $6 billion investment in 5 Japanese giants. The billionaire investor's company revealed that it owns just over 5% of Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni, and Sumitomo.
2. China's biggest banks saw their biggest profit declines in over a decade amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to Bloomberg, all four of the country's biggest banks — Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China — posted double-digit falls.
3. The head of the world's key trade body, the World Trade Organization, has stepped down. Director-general Roberto Azevedo left his post on Monday, leaving the WTO facing "the biggest crisis in its 25-year history."
4. TikTok's sale in the US could be thrown into chaos after China rewrote its export rules to give itself a new veto. On Friday, Chinese officials widened a list of technology sales over which it can wield a veto, seeking to give itself new authority over any TikTok deal.
5. 35-year market vet David Rosenberg warns the stock market's rally features distortions that were glaring during the tech bubble — and lays out his plausible scenario for a crash. Rosenberg is concerned about the outsized role that a few big-tech companies are playing in lifting the stock market to all-time highs.
6. GOLDMAN SACHS: Buy these 9 stocks that are poised to continue crushing the market as the 'shared favorites' of Wall Street's biggest investors. Goldman Sachs recently analyzed the stock holdings of 815 hedge funds and 572 mutual funds to uncover the companies that both groups own the most.
7. A market expert unloads on the central bank-driven 'failure' of the modern financial system — and says another stock meltdown is likely coming. David Morgan, author of "The Morgan Report," likens the financial system to "basically one mass manipulation at this point in time."
8. Stocks are mostly up around the world. In Europe, the broad Stoxx 50 is up 0.4%, Germany's DAX is up by a similar margin. UK markets are closed for a holiday. Asian stocks were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei climbing 1.2% and China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.2%. US futures point to gains of between 0.1% and 0.3% for the major US indexes.
9. Earnings data Monday. Video conferencing upstart Zoom and Russian energy giant Gazprom are among earnings highlights.
10. Economic insights are coming. Fed policymakers Raphael Bostic and Richard Clarida speak, and Germany's latest inflation data is released.