Stock market news: Opening bell, October 12, 2018

Fenway
Park grounds crew pull a tarp over the field as it starts to rain
during the Boston Red Sox’s workout.
AP/Elise Amendola

Here is what you need to know.

The stock-market meltdow relents with a global
rally. Global markets are in rally mode after two
days of heavy selling, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (+2.12%) pacing
the advance in Asia and Britain’s FTSE (+0.69%) out front in
Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 1.3% near 2,764.

Trump says he can do ‘a lot more’ to hurt China’s economy if no
concessions are made ahead of Xi meeting. “It’s
had a big impact,” Trump told Fox News in regards to the impact
of the tariffs he recently placed on China. “Their economy has
gone down very substantially and I have a lot more to do if I
want to do it.

China posts a record trade surplus with the
US. China’s trade suplus with the US ballooned
to a record  $34.13 billion in September, easily
surpassing the previous record of $31.05 billion that was set in
August, Reuters reports.

Gold logs its biggest gain since
Brexit. Thursday’s stock-market sell-off
sparked a flight to safety that sent the yellow metal up 2.46% to
more than $1,224 an ounce, making for the biggest gain since the
Brexit vote in June 2016.

The madness in markets has traders paying the most in years to
protect against more damage in tech
stocks. Skew, or the premium options traders
are paying to protect against a 10% loss in the PowerShares QQQ
Trust ETF over the next three months, relative to wagers on a
similar increase, is at a level only seen a handful of times in
the past decade.

Richard Branson and Virgin Group are severing their business
relationships with the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. In a blog post on Virgin Group’s
website, the company said Virgin Galatic and Virgin Orbit
will suspend its discussions with the Public Investment Fund
(PIF) of Saudi Arabia in the wake of the disappearance of
the journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi Consulate in Turkey
last week.

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert is exploring a bid for some of the
company’s assets in an alternative bankruptcy
scenario. Lampert is considering making a play
for Sears’ Kenmore appliances brand and home services
business in addition to some real estate, creating a scenario
that would help the retailer at least initially avoid
liquidation, Reuters says, citing sources. 

Square has been getting demolished. Shares of
the payments company plunged nearly 11% Thursday after the
unexpected resignation of CFO Sarah Friar. They have lost more
than 30% since hitting a record high on October 1. 

The banks
kick off earnings season. Citigroup, JPMorgan,
and Wells Fargo all report ahead of the opening bell. 

US economic data keeps coming. Import and
export prices will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET and University of
Michigan consumer confidence will cross the wires at 10 a.m.
ET.