Stock market news: Opening bell, November 12, 2018

Firefighters
battle the Woolsey Fire as it continues to burn in Malibu,
California.
Reuters/Eric
Thayer

Here is what you need to know. 

Saudi Arabia vows to cut oil production. West
Texas Intermediate crude oil gained as much as 1.8% to $61.28 a
barrel early Monday after Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih
reportedly told reporters in Abu Dhabi that the kingdom plans to
cut production by 500,000 barrels per day in December. 

The UK is edging closer to a no-deal
Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May is
reportedly planning to trigger a no-deal Brexit unless there is a
breakthrough in talks this week between UK and EU
negotiators.  

It’s all going dark in the gambling capital of the
world. Wynn Reports last week forecast doom for
revenues in the gambling capital of the world — Macau — and while
some on Wall Street say the casino giant is being overly
conservative, economic indicators on mainland China tell a
different story.

An investing strategy that’s withstood the worst stock-market
crashes since the 1920s is on the verge of a
comeback. Growth stocks have dominated during
the bull market, but Societe Generale says the conditions are now
ripe for value investing to make a comeback. 

The world’s biggest tech investor is targeting a $21 billion IPO
in December. The Japanese conglomerate Softbank
is launching a 2.4 trillion yen (~$21 billion) initial public
offering for its mobile division. The IPO’s size will make it one
of the biggest floats ever. 

Alibaba makes e-commerce history. The online
retailer raked in $30.8 billion in a 24-hour span as part of its
Singles Day celebration. 

SAP is
buying the startup Qualtrics days before it’s scheduled to
IPO. The German database giant has agreed to
pay $8 billion for the experience-management startup Qualtrics
just days before it was expected to go public at a valuation of
more than $5 billion. 

British American Tobacco plunges on report the US could ban
methanol cigarettes. Shares of the cigarette
maker fell as much as 11% in London after the Wall Street
Journal, citing senior agency officials, reported late Friday
that US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb
wants to ban methanol cigarettes.  

Stock markets
around the world trade mixed. China’s Shanghai
Composite (+1.22%) paced the gains in Asia and Germany’s DAX
(-0.53%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little
changed near 2,781.

Earnings reporting is light. Aurora Cannabis
reports ahead of the opening bell.