Stock market news: Opening bell, November 5, 2018

Russian
soldiers dressed in Red Army World War II winter uniforms stand
prior to the start of a rehearsal in Red Square, with St. Basil
Cathedral in the background, in Moscow, Russia
AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Here is what you need to know. 

Trump says his administration is ‘looking at’ whether Amazon,
Facebook and Google are violating antitrust
laws. President Donald Trump told the news site
Axios in an interview that aired on HBO Sunday night that the
European Union’s $5 billion fine against Google made him consider
pursuing regulation. 

Amazon is zeroing in on a home for its HQ2. The
e-commerce behemoth is is in advanced talks with Crystal City, a
Northern Virginia town just outside of Washington, D.C., to be
the home of its second headquarters, according to the Washington
Post. 

Berkshire Hathaway’s sees a big boost from Trump’s tax
cuts. The Warren Buffett-led conglomerate said
its operating profit in the third quarter doubled to $6.88
billion from a year ago and that it bought back almost $1 billion
of stock as its insurance business dodged hurricanes and it
benefited from Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Reuters says.

Wall Street breaks down what the midterm-election results will
mean for stocks. Business Insider’s Akin
Oyedele combed through Wall Street research to find out how the
pros say you should play every possible election outcome. 

New orders are drying up for Chinese
businesses. New orders for Chinese businesses
increased at a “marginal pace” that was the weakest in 32 months
according to the October reading of the Caixin-IHS Markit China
Composite PMI out Monday. 

Oil hits lowest level in almost 7 months as Trump’s sanctions
against Iran begin. West Texas Intermediate
crude oil trades down 0.52% at $62.81 a barrel, its lowest since
April, as Trump’s sanctions that target Iran’s energy and
financial institutions took hold at midnight. 

The star investor of ‘The Big Short’ is betting on a no-deal
Brexit. “The Big Short” investor Steve Eisman
told a conference in Dubai over the weekend that he is shorting
two big British banks in anticipation that the UK fails to secure
a Brexit deal.  

Stock markets
around the world are mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang
Seng (-2.08%) led the losses in Asia and Germany’s DAX (+0.44%)
paces the advance in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open
little changed near 2,724.

Earnings reporting picks back up. Ferrari and
Sysco report ahead of the opening bell while Avis Budget,
Marriott, and Pandora release their quarterly results after
markets close. 

US
economic data trickles out. Markit services PMI
and ISM non-manufacturing will cross the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET
and 10 a.m. ET respectively. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis
point at 3.20%.