Morning Brief

Wall Street records continue to fall as Dow closes in on 23,000

Key Points

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures were near breakeven this morning after a record close that left the Dow about 43 points shy of the 23,000 milestone. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed at new highs on Monday. The Dow and S&P 500 were up in four out of the past five sessions. The Nasdaq was up in 13 of the past 15 trading days. (CNBC)

Earnings season kicks up a notch today with quarterly results from three Dow components before-the-bell, Goldman Sachs (GS), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and UnitedHealth (UNH) and others; and one Dow stock after-the-bell, IBM (IBM).

*UnitedHealth tops profit estimate on growth across businesses (CNBC)
*J&J beats estimates on earnings and revenue (Reuters)

Netflix (NFLX) was higher premarket after earnings late Monday beat estimates, with revenue essentially in line with forecasts. The company also posted better than expected subscriber growth even as competition intensifies in the streaming video content market. (CNBC)

It's also a busy day for economic numbers, beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET with the release of import and export prices for September. Industrial production for September is out at 9:15 a.m. ET. The National Association of Home Builders issues its monthly home builder sentiment index at 10 a.m. ET.

IN THE NEWS TODAY

President Donald Trump interviews Janet Yellen on Thursday about her potentially staying on as chair of the Federal Reserve after her first term ends in February, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to CNBC.

*Hillary Clinton: 'I'm not going to run again,' but will continue to call out Trump (BBC)

Senate Republicans gained crucial support for a vote on a budget resolution that's vital to Trump's hopes of signing tax reform legislation into law before January. Two GOP lawmakers, once seen as potential 'no' votes, said they would likely support the measure. (Reuters)

*Trump and McConnell: We're friends, really (CNBC)
*Trump says 'massive' campaign spending fuels rise in drug prices (CNBC)
*Massive trade deal among 11 heavyweight economies emerges (CNBC)

In an interview with the Nation, San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich slammed Trump for his false claims about his predecessors not calling the families of fallen service members. He called the president a "soulless coward" and a "pathological liar."

*Trump falsely claims Obama didn't contact families of fallen troops (NY Times)
*McCain condemns "half-bakes, spurious nationalism" (Washington Post)

North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador warned that the situation on the Korean Peninsula "has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment." He also said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense. (AP)

*North Korea's economy may not survive another year, defector says (CNBC)
*Trump is toying with Iran, and another US adversary is watching (CNBC)

More evacuees were expected to return home today in Northern California where the state's wildfires have killed at least 41 people and destroyed homes. Officials said they expected the death toll to rise as 88 people were unaccounted for in Sonoma County alone. (Reuters)

Credit Suisse cut its third-quarter EPS estimates on CBS by 5 percent, citing the company's softer Sunday NFL ratings. The firm's new estimate is $1.08, below the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.12. The media company reports on Nov. 2. (CNBC)

Apple (AAPL) has considered an expansion into health-care clinics and had talks to buy a start-up called Crossover Health, which works with big employers to build and run on-site medical clinics, according to three sources familiar. (CNBC)

*Cramer: The action in Apple's stock is a lesson on buying into weakness (CNBC)

Facebook (FB) says it has acquired tbh, a teen-focused messaging app, for an undisclosed amount. The four founders of the app that lets users 13 and over create anonymous polls will join Facebook. (CNBC)

*'Unicorn' companies are worth half of what is reported for their valuation, study finds (NY Times)
*$100 billion is not enough, SoftBank is in talks to raise a second giant tech fund (ReCode)

STOCKS TO WATCH

Microsoft's (MSFT) secret internal database was hacked in 2013, according to five former employees quoted by Reuters. The database is used for tracking software bugs, and contained descriptions of unfixed vulnerabilities in Microsoft software, including its Windows operating system.

General Motors (GM) plans to become the first company to test self-driving cars in New York City, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sonic (SONC) reported adjusted quarterly profit of 45 cents per share, beating estimates by 2 cents. However, the restaurant chain's revenue was short of forecasts, and same-restaurant sales declined in a drop the company said was partly due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey.

Pearson (PSO) boosted its full-year profit forecast, with the U.K.-based publisher saying pressures on its North American business have eased.

Boeing (BA) is calling the Airbus purchase of a majority stake in Bombardier's CSeries jet program a "questionable deal between two heavily state-subsidized competitors." Boeing accuses its jet-making rivals of trying to skirt recent findings of unfair subsidies by the U.S. government.

Procter & Gamble (PG) said Nelson Peltz's bid to be elected to its board lost by 6.15 million votes, which amounts to about 0.2 percent of outstanding shares. The vote is now headed to a recount.

WATERCOOLER

Larry Flynt says "things are getting interesting" after the pornography publisher offered $10 million in cash for any information leading to the impeachment of President Trump. Flynt took out a full-page ad in the Sunday edition of The Washington Post. (USA Today)