Stocks are set to decline at the open as trade concerns persist
BY THE NUMBERS
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lower open on Wall Street. The first trading day of September on Tuesday got off to a similar negative start, but the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all finished well off their session lows. (CNBC)
Trade concerns were hampering stocks, as the U.S. and Canada resume talks today after failing on Friday to bring them into the U.S.-Mexico deal. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday, "No NAFTA is better than a bad NAFTA deal for Canadians." (Reuters)
Dow stock Caterpillar (CAT) is rated buy in resumed coverage of the machinery sector at Deutsche Bank, which cites compelling valuations and favorable credit cycle trends. (CNBC)
Amazon (AMZN) briefly became the second publicly traded company after Apple (AAPL) to reach $1 trillion in market value. But it closed below the magic number and was under some pressure this morning. (CNBC)
The government releases July trade figures at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Mortgage Bankers Association said home loan applications overall were little changed last week and refis were off 1 percent. (CNBC)
* The ADP private-sector jobs report for August, normally out on a Wednesday, comes tomorrow due to the Labor Day holiday. However, the government's August employment is out on Friday.
* It's a busy day for Fed speeches, featuring St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, New York Fed President John Williams, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic.
U.S. oil prices extended their losses today, falling towards $68 per barrel as Tropical Storm Gordon hit the Gulf coast and weakened, offsetting support from forecasts of lower U.S. inventories and sanctions against Iran. (Reuters)
* Powerful typhoon kills 10 in Japan, leaving thousands stranded (Reuters)
IN THE NEWS TODAY
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing is set to continue. He's expected to take questions today after a raucous first day before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (CNBC)
Facebook (FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg, in the opening statement she's set to deliver to the Senate Intelligence Committee today, said the social network knows it can't stop election meddling by itself. Google won't be represented. (CNBC)
Twitter (TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey, who will appear with Sandberg, is also set to go before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce today. In prepared testimony, Dorsey said Twitter doesn't use political ideology to make decisions.(Reuters)
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are making their first major foray into politics with a $10 million contribution to a super PAC that aims to elect military veterans to Congress. (WSJ)
President Donald Trump calls a new book on his White House by Bob Woodward, whose reporting led to the end of Richard Nixon's presidency, "just another bad book" and "nasty stuff." (CNBC)
* Rudy Giuliani to Trump advisors ripping the president in Bob Woodward's book: Find another job (CNBC)
Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley beat a 10-term incumbent to win the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Congress, and she immediately came out swinging at President Trump. (Reuters)
Declining health and rising death rates in rural Republican bastions helped tilt the presidential election toward Donald Trump, according to a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. (CNBC)
* 75% of Americans want to keep Obamacare protections for pre-existing conditions: Poll (CNBC)
* GOP state attorneys general to argue today in federal court that Obamacare is unconstitutional (WSJ)
Embattled blood-testing firm Theranos will soon formally dissolve, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a shareholder email. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and its former president were indicted in June on fraud charges.
British prosecutors named two Russian men they believe were behind the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in the U.K. earlier this year. (CNBC)
Shares of Chinese e-commerce JD.com were losing another 5 percent in premarket trading as new details surfaced about last week's arrest in Minneapolis of founder and CEO Richard Liu on a rape charge. Liu denies any wrongdoing. (CNBC)
Toyota (TM) is recalling about 1 million hybrid models to fix an engine wiring issue. In the US market, 192,000 Prius models produced between June 2015 and May 2018 are affected. (Reuters)
Thirty more people are sick after eating Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal, which was recalled in June over salmonella concerns. That brings the total number of cases to 130, the CDC reports. (USA Today)
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan have found a chief operations officer to run their new health venture: Jack Stoddard, most recently general manager for digital health at CNBC-parent Comcast.
STOCK TO WATCH
RH (RH) reported adjusted quarterly profit of $2.49 per share, well above estimates. The Restoration Hardware parent's revenue was below forecasts, but it did raise its full-year profit outlook.
Workday (WDAY) exceeded estimates by 5 cents with adjusted quarterly profit of 31 cents per share. Revenue also beat. The maker of HR software raised its full-year outlook for subscription revenue.
Coupa Software (COUP) reported an adjusted quarterly profit of 5 cents per share, compared to an estimates for a 9-cent loss. The business software firm also saw revenue beat. Shares were taking off in the premarket.
WATERCOOLER
Serena Williams is supporting her sponsor Nike (NKE) in the Colin Kaepernick ad controversy. After winning her U.S. open tennis match last night, she said Nike made a "powerful statement to a lot of other companies." (USA Today)