Stock market news: Opening bell, October 1, 2018

Pro-Hong
Kong independence protesters shout during a demonstration on
China’s National Day in Hong Kong, China.
Reuters/Bobby Yip

Here is what you need to know.

The US and Canada reach an agreement on
NAFTA. The agreement, which came hours before a
self-imposed deadline, will allow American farmers more access to
Canada’s dairy market, keep the Chapter 19 dispute resolution in
place, and give Canada some assurances that future tariffs
on imported cars and auto parts will not hit the country. As part
of the deal, NAFTA will be renamed the US-Canada-Mexico
Agreement (USMCA).

The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar are
rallying. The peso trades up 0.7% at 18.5454
per US dollar while the Canadian dollar is higher by 0.4% at
1.2804 per US dollar. 

Elon Musk settles fraud charges with the
SEC. Tesla CEO Elon Musk will neither admit nor
deny the allegations, resign as the company’s chairman for at
least three years, and both him and his company will pay $20
million fines.  

Tesla’s
stock soars. Shares of the electric-car maker
are up more than 16%, at $307.45, ahead of Monday’s opening bell.

The stock market is behaving unusually, and it could be signaling
that the next big crash is near. “For a stock
market supposedly driven by some of the best economic performance
of the entire recovery, its leadership seems out of whack,” Jim
Paulsen, the chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group, wrote
in a recent note to clients. “It might be worth paying attention
to this oddity.”

A ‘blue sweep’ could pressure key parts of the stock
market. While still not its base case, Morgan
Stanley showed clients several polls that pointed to rising odds
of the Democrats recapturing a Senate majority in the midterm
elections and offered some recommendations for investors who want
to hedge their portfolios. 

Facebook is facing a massive EU fine for its most recent data
breach. The social-media giant could be fined
as much as $1.36 billion, or 4% of its annual revenue, under the
EU’s new privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, for
last week’s data breach that impacted about 50 million users.

Stock markets
around the world are higher. China’s Shanghai
Composite (+1.06%) led the gains in Asia and Germany’s DAX
(+0.71%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open
up 0.65% near 2,932.

Earnings reports trickle out. Stitch Fix
reports after markets close.

US economic data keeps coming. Markit US
Manufacturing PMI will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET before
construction spending and ISM Manufacturing cross the wires at 10
a.m. ET. US auto sales will be announced throughout the day. The
US 10-year yield is up 3 basis points at 3.09%.