Stock market news: Opening bell, November 16, 2018

Two
Central American migrants walk along the top of the border
structure separating Mexico and the United
States.
AP/Gregory
Bull

Here is what you need to know. 

Trump seems to be backing down in the trade war with
China. President Donald Trump and his
administration have taken a softer tone against China in recent
weeks, and talks between the two sides have restarted ahead of
the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, scheduled for the end
of November. 

A top economist warns Trump’s China trade war is doing more
damage to the US economy than people
think. 
“We expect a material slowing in
the fourth quarter of this year — so right now — into the first
quarter of next year,” Seth Carpenter, UBS’ top US-focused
economist, said in London on Thursday at the launch of the bank’s
2019 Global Economic Outlook.

The IMF just became the latest to warn about the $1.3 trillion
‘leveraged loan’ market. “With interest rates
extremely low for years and with ample money flowing though the
financial system, yield-hungry investors are tolerating
ever-higher levels of risk and betting on financial instruments
that, in less speculative times, they might sensibly shun,” the
IMF said. “It is not only the sheer volume of debt that is
causing concern. Underwriting standards and credit quality have
deteriorated.”

Oil is gaining ground. West Texas Intermediate
crude oil was up 1.54% at $57.33 a barrel, on track for a third
straight day of gains after closing at its lowest level in a year
on Tuesday. 

California’s biggest utility provider has seen half its market
value wiped out since the wildfires
started. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company
has lost more than 60% of its market value after saying last week
that it experienced problems with transmission lines and
substations near where the wildfire in Paradise California
erupted. Shares were up 38% ahead of Friday’s opening bell after
a state regulator said late Thursday that he can’t see a scenario
where PG&E would go bankrupt. 

Nvidia misses on revenue and profits. Nvidia
was down 18% early Friday after reporting third-quarter adjusted
earnings of $1.84 a share on revenue of $3.18 billion, missing
the $1.92 and $3.24 billion that analysts were expecting. The
chip maker’s fourth-quarter revenue guidanced also fell short of
estimates.  

The world has a new most-expensive living
artist. The sale of David Hockney’s “Portrait
of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” for $90.3 million at
Christie’s auction house easily broke the 2013 record of $58.4
million, set by Jeff Koons when his orange balloon dog sold in
2013. 

Stock markets
around the world were mixed. China’s Shanghai
Composite (+0.41%) led the advance in Asia and Britain’s FTSE
(-0.12%) clings to losses in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to
open down 0.46% near 2,719.

Earnings
reports trickle out. Viacom releases its
quarterly results ahead of the opening bell. 

US economic data flows. Industrial production
and capacity utilization will cross the wires at 9:15 a.m. ET
before TIC flows are released at 4 p.m. ET. The US 10-year
yield is unchanged at 3.11%.