Stock market news: Opening bell, October 19, 2018

People
collect pumpkins on a field in the outskirts of Frankfurt,
Germany
AP/Michael
Probst

Here is what you need to know. 

Trump is pulling the US out of an obscure 144-year-old treaty to
take a shot at China in the trade
war. President Donald Trump announced Thursday
that the US would withdraw from the Universal Postal Union, which
allows Chinese producers to ship items to the US at significantly
low rates even compared to some US domestic shipping rates.

China’s economic growth missed for the first time in 3
years. The Chinese economy grew at a 6.5% clip
in the year to September, missing the 6.7% pace in the year
to June, and expectations for an increase of 6.6%, data released
Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed. 

Top Chinese officials have staged an extraordinary intervention
to stem the stock-market bleeding.  The head of
China’s central bank and a number of top regulators made
statements on Thursday expressing optimism about the country’s
economy, sending the Shanghai Composite up more than 2.5%.

A key indicator of Italy’s financial health is flashing
red. The spread between the German 10-year and
Italian 10-year now stands at almost 3.4 percentage points, its
highest level in almost five years. 

Beware the ‘real killer’ in markets that’s threatening to strike
after decades in hiding. The pain in bonds may
just be getting started as a measure known as “real yield” edges
towards troublesome territory, Jim Paulsen, chief investment
strategist at Leuthold Group, wrote in a client note.

Bill Gates gives tribute to Paul Allen. “Paul
deserved more time in life,” Gates said of his Microsoft
cofounder Paul Allen, in a Wall Street Journal oped out Thursday.
“He would have made the most of it. I will miss him
tremendously.”

Tesla is finally making a lower-cost Model
3. The vehicle will have a base price of
$45,000, but will cost $35,000 in California after federal and
state tax rebates, CEO Elon Musk said. 

PayPal beats across the board. The
digital-payments company beat on both the top and bottom lines
and gave fourth-quarter earning-per-share guidance of between
$0.65 and $0.67, ahead of the $0.65 that was expected.

Earnings
reports trickle out. Honeywell, Proctor &
Gamble, and Schlumberger 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 down 1
basis point at 3.17%.