Stock market news: Opening bell, July 24, 2018

Mariam
Emad from Parkour Egypt “PKE” practices her parkour skills around
buildings on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt.
Reuters/Amr Dalsh

Here is what you need to know. 

Chinese policymakers are moving to shore up economic
growth. A statement released by China’s State
Council on Tuesday said policymakers are taking steps to
support economic growth, including delivering additional
corporate tax cuts and promising to speed up infrastructure
spending.

Goldman Sachs breaks down the damage a trade war could cause in
the stock market. The firm says a deepening of
the trade war would cause a 15% drop in S&P 500 earnings next
year, and offered two trades for investors who are worried things
will get worse. 

Bitcoin tops $8,000. The cryptocurrency has
rallied more than 35% since its June lows, and is back above the
$8,000 mark for the first time since May. 

Alphabet tops Wall Street targets. Google’s
parent company beat on both the top and bottom line and delivered
strong growth in the face of the European Union’s record-breaking
$5 billion fine.

Papa John’s creates a poison pill to prevent founder John
Schnatter from taking it over. The Papa John’s
board of directors has adopted a limited-duration stockholder
rights plan to prevent the company’s founder, John Schnatter,
from taking control of the company.

MoviePass shareholders approve 2 measures meant to keep the
company from being kicked off its stock
exchange. At a special meeting on Monday,
shareholders of Helios & Matheson — which owns 92% of
MoviePass — approved the possibilities of issuing 4.5 billion new
shares or of carrying out a reverse stock split, which can be
exercised independently at management’s discretion. 

A top Tesla sales exec is out. Ganesh Srivats,
a top Tesla sales executive in charge of global growth at the
company, has resigned to become CEO of the online retailer Moda
Operandi.

Stock markets
around the world are higher. China’s Shanghai
Composite (+1.61%) led the gains in Asia and Germany’s DAX
(+1.47%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open
up 0.36% near 2,817.

Earnings
reporting heats up. 3M, Harley-Davidson, and
Verizon Communications are among the names reporting ahead of the
opening bell while AT&T releases its quarterly results after
markets close.

US economic keeps coming. FHFA home prices will
be released at 9 a.m. ET before Markit US manufacturing and
services cross the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is
down 1 basis point at 2.95%.