North Korea concerns really taking hold on global stock markets

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stocks futures were weaker this morning as North Korea tensions pushed Wall Street lower for the third straight session on Thursday. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq, which turned in their worst daily performances since May, were all tracking sharply lower for the week. (CNBC)

* Inflation: consumer price index for July at 8:30 a.m. ET (CNBC)
* New poll: economic expansion to last at least another two years (Reuters)

JC Penney (JCP) was plunging about 21 percent in the premarket after a worse-than-expected quarterly loss and same-store sales. Revenue slightly beat. Since all-time highs in early 2007, JC Penney shares have lost nearly 95 percent of their value. (CNBC)

Snap (SNAP) shares were tanking about 13 percent in premarket trading after the social network reported worse-than-expected quarterly loss and revenue number. The Snapchat-parent also added fewer users than analysts had anticipated. (CNBC)

Nvidia (NVDA) was losing about 8 percent in the premarket despite reporting stronger than expected quarterly earnings and revenue. Nvidia, which makes graphics chips that can be used for mining cryptocurrencies, said that business is "likely continue to grow over time." (CNBC)

The oil market is re-balancing as demand continues to grow but more time is needed before these shifting fundamentals are felt by markets, according to the latest report from the International Energy Agency. Oil prices were under pressure this morning. (CNBC)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

President Donald Trump this morning on Twitter said the U.S. military is "locked and loaded should North Korea act unwisely." On Thursday, Trump pledged to increase missile defense spending by "many billions of dollars." (CNBC)

* Defense Secretary Mattis says US is 'ready' to counter North Korean threat (CNBC)
* China should be neutral if North Korea fires first on US (Global Times)

South Korea's stocks, which rallied to record highs last month, may have just gotten derailed by the rising spat between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. The Kospi index fell about 3 percent this week. (CNBC)

The White House plans to release a brief document next month outlining a framework for overhauling the U.S. tax code. The three-to-five-page document won't be accompanied by tax legislation, according to sources who spoke to Reuters.

Commentator Jeffrey Lord, one of President Trump's staunchest defenders on cable news, was dumped by CNN after he tweeted a Nazi salute to a liberal media analyst. (USA Today)

Trump's hotel in Washington, D.C., raised its rates in the months after he became president from what it had planned to charge, helping the facility to outperform the company's expectations, new financial documents show. (WSJ)

Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, a supporter New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, accused the African-American woman who leads the Democrats in the State Senate of having done "more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood." (NY Times)

Benchmark Capital, one of Uber's earliest investors and largest shareholders, is suing Travis Kalanick, the ride-hailing giant's co-founder and former CEO. Benchmark alleges fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. (Axios)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has cancelled a much anticipated meeting to talk about gender issues. Employees expressed concern over online harassment after the uproar over an anti-diversity memo released by a now fired engineer. (Recode)

* Google's Pichai to instead speak at girls' coding event (The Verge)

Hackers who stole data from HBO and TV scripts, including those from "Game of Thrones," have leaked an email from a network executive who said the company would pay $250,000 in bitcoin as a "bug bounty payment." (CNBC)

Netflix (NFLX) is in "active discussions" with Disney (DIS) about keeping Marvel and "Star Wars" films after 2019. On Tuesday, Disney said it plans to pull its new movies in 2019 from Netflix and start a Disney-branded video streaming service. (Reuters)

Amazon (AMZN) is reportedly seeking to partner with U.S. venue owners to sell event tickets, a move that could loosen Ticketmaster's powerful grip on the lucrative ticketing business. (Reuters)

It's do or die for SoundCloud, the struggling streaming music company that recently laid off 40 percent of its staff despite having raised over $230 million in venture capital. Investors need to accept or reject a reorganization proposal by today. (Axios)

General Electric's new CEO John Flannery is making a big bet that the industrial giant's flagging fortunes will improve. He bought nearly $2.7 million in GE stock, according to a regulatory filing. (Reuters)

The combined jackpots of the Mega Millions and Power Ball multi-state lotteries were nearly $750 million as of Friday morning. Mega was about $393 million and draws tonight. Power Ball was about $356 million and draws tomorrow night.

The Perseid meteor shower, beginning tonight and stretching into Saturday night, will have a higher-than-usual rate of about 150 meteors per hour. The shower meteor happens annually when the Earth passes through remnants from a comet. (USA Today)

WATERCOOLER

England's Premier League kicks off today when Arsenal hosts Leicester at Emirates Stadium. There will be some rules changes on the soccer pitch including two-match bans for players who take a dive to deceive referees. (USA Today)

The second round of the PGA Championship tees off today at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jordan Spieth, looking a win to complete a career grand slam, struggled with his putter on Day 1. The PGA is the last golf major of the year. (USA Today)