Stock market news: Opening bell, August 27, 2018

People
change money at a currency exchange office in Istanbul,
Turkey.
Reuters/Osman
Orsal

Here is what you need to know. 

Stocks closed at record highs on Friday. The
S&P 500 settled at 2,874.69, erasing any doubt about this
being the longest-running bull market in US history.

Powell says he sees interest rates rising
gradually. 
“The economy is strong,” Fed
Chairman Jerome Powell said in his speech at the Kansas City
Fed’s Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday. “Inflation is near our 2
percent objective, and most people who want a job are finding
one… If the strong growth in income and jobs continues, further
gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate
will likely be appropriate.”

The yield curve is at its narrowest point since
2007. The spread between the US 10-year and
2-year yields touched 19 basis points on Monday. It has gone
negative prior to every recession dating back to the 1960s. 
 

A group of investors with $16 trillion at stake is struggling to
find success, and its survival is in
jeopardy. Fewer mutual funds are missing their
benchmarks and JPMorgan and Vanguard Group recently
announced new announced products that could put the
active-management industry under even more strain.

Main Street’s thriving job market could be foreshadowing a stock
meltdown — and mass layoffs across Wall
Street. Main Street workers enjoy their lowest
unemployment rate in 18 years, the fact that it’s so low could be
portending a very dangerous period ahead for markets, according
to Leuthold’s chief investment strategist, Jim Paulsen.

Elon Musk is going to keep Tesla public. “After
giving this a lot of thought, I have come to the conclusion that
the best path for the foreseeable future is for Tesla to remain a
public company,” Musk told Tesla employees in an email sent
Friday. “There are certainly a number of very compelling reasons
to go private, so this is far from an obvious decision, but, on
balance, being public appears to best serve the interests of
Tesla and those who have invested in our future.”

Tesla
shares are lower. They are down 4.49% at $308.32
apiece following Musk’s announcement. He had previously said he
was trying to take the electric-car maker private at $420 a
share. 

The
Turkish lira is under pressure. The lira is weaker
by 3.36% at 6.1839 per dollar as Turkish markets reopened after a
week of holiday.

Stock markets
around the world are higher. Hong Kong’s Hang
Seng (+2.17%) led the gains in Asia and Germany’s DAX (+0.57%) is
out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.26% near
2,882.

US
economic data is light. Dallas Fed
manufacturing will cross the wires at 10:30 a.m. ET. The US
10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.82%.