A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day

STOCKS/ECONOMY

-Stock futures are higher. Most of the investment focus this morning is on the oil news. (See below)

-China's exports are shrinking again, but a quirk in the calendar may have played a role.

-The Chinese government's continued propping up of its basic materials sector is causing a global glut of steel, aluminum, and diesel fuel.

OIL/ENERGY

-Crude oil is up about 1% to the $45/barrel level. The Canadian oil fire continues to drive up supply concerns.

-Gasoline prices fell to $2.20/gallon, national average.

-The big news in the oil world is Saudi Arabia has replaced its longtime oil minister Ali Naimi. This is seen as the biggest example of Prince Mohamed bin Salman's efforts to consolidate power and fight the market war with Iran.

-Saudi Arabia's plan is moving foreword to take its sovereign oil company Aramaco public. It's hoping to list the shares in London, New York, and Hong Kong.

ELECTION

-Donald Trump says the rich will probably pay more taxes if he becomes president. And he says he's open to a minimum wage hike.

-Trump is also bringing back his attack on Hillary Clinton as an enabler of Bill Clinton's abuse of women.

-Hillary Clinton is getting more and more campaign contributions from Wall Street and the financial sector.

-The Trump campaign may try to remove Paul Ryan as convention chair.

-Just to show where the real info center and debate arena is in this election, Hillary Clinton's super PAC is making a big effort to confront her social media detractors.

DEALS/NO DEALS

-Tribune's second biggest shareholder wants the company to consider the takeover offer from Gannett that Tribune rejected last week.

DEFENSE

-According to Army Times, cuts have left the US Army with the fewest active troops since 1940.

-Twitter is barring US intelligence services from getting access to its data analytics on all Twitter users.

-The market for underwater drones is expected to reach $4 billion by 2020.

MOVING AMERICA

-Uber and Lyft are no longer going to operate in Austin after the city's voters backed the city's plan to fingerprint the two companies' drivers.