Opening Bell, September 11, 2018

Reuters / Anna Driver

Here is what you need to know.

Hurricane Florence is
close to hitting Category 5 as it surges towards the East Coast
of the US. It is expected to hit the Carolinas
on Friday morning and move farther inland. The National
Hurricane Center said it will likely bring devastating storms,
rain, and floods.

CBS reportedly dropped the ball on
sexual misconduct allegations against Les Moonves.
This is because of the well-publicized power struggle
between Moonves loyalists and Shari Redstone, president of
the CBS parent company, National Amusements.

Google Cloud’s head of AI
will step aside. Dr. Fei-Fei Li will return to
her professorship at Stanford and the new leader will be Dr.
Andrew Moore, of Carnegie Mellon University.

Mark Carney extends term
as Bank of England governor to steer Britain through
Brexit. Carney was previously set to leave his
role in June 2019, but has been persuaded to stay on by
Chancellor Philip Hammond.

Elon Musk is retiring 2
Tesla paint options to ‘simplify’ the fraught manufacturing
process. The Obsidian Black Metallic and Silver
Metallic options are being cut.

Someone found a dead rat
in their meal in China, and shares in the restaurant company are
crashing. Shares of Xiabuxiabu Catering Management
China Holdings, the Hong Kong-listed group overseeing the
restaurant in question, have slumped by about 15%.

One Wall Street strategist warns
that further Fed rate hikes could cause the next stock bear
market. At the center of the forecast is a neutral
Fed funds rate, which Stifel says will trigger a sell-off of 20%
or more if it climbs much higher.

Morgan Stanley warns that the
stock market’s favorite tech juggernauts are headed for a rude
awakening. The firm offers an alternative
recommendation for a sector that they say is far better
positioned for the future.

Stock markets around the world are
trading lower. The Shanghai Composite (-0.2%)
declined in Asia, while Germany’s DAX (-0.7%) led losses across
Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open down 0.3% near 2,872.