10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, MDB)

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October 20, 2017 11:36 AM

This is what traders are talking about.

Here is what you need to know.

The Senate passes its budget, clearing a huge hurdle for Donald Trump's tax plan. The Senate passed a 2018 budget resolution with a 51-to-49 vote, paving the way for Republicans to pass a tax bill without support from Democrats.

Brexit trade negotiations delayed by the EU until Christmas. Brexit trade talks have been postponed until the end of the year after European Union leaders agreed that there had not been "sufficient progress" on Britain's divorce from the EU.

Hong Kong's stock exchange is shutting down. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing says it is shutting the stock exchange down by the end of the month to join others in going fully automatic, the Associated Press reports.

Wall Street banks are starting to sound the alarm on a correction. Bank of America Merrill Lynch says that a stock market drop of at least 10% is coming by Valentine's Day and that the "most obvious catalyst" would be a spike in wage and inflation data that brings back "fear of Fed."

SoftBank plans to massively increase the size of its Vision Fund. The Japanese conglomerate plans to grow its $100 billion Vision Fund to $880 billion by establishing Vision Funds 2, 3, and 4 every two or three years, CEO Masayoshi Son told Nikkei.

MongoDB soars in its trading debut. The database provider priced its initial public offering at $24 a share, above the expected range of $20 to $22, and finished its first day of trading up 33% at $32.07.

Stitch Fix files to go public. The personal styling company plans to raise $100 million through an initial public offering and will trade under the ticker SFIX, according to its S-1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Stock markets around the world are higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+1.17%) led the gains in Asia, and Britain's FTSE (+0.24%) paces the advance in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open higher by 0.23% near 2,568.

Earnings reports keep coming. General Electric and Honeywell report ahead of the opening bell.

US economic data is light. Existing-home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 5 basis points at 2.37%, and near levels last seen in July.

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