Premarket: 7 things to know before the bell

1. Japan election landslide: Investors are cheering a clear election victory by the ruling coalition of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Nikkei stock index added 1%. Abe said Monday that his Liberal Democratic Party had won an outright majority in parliament.
Japan’s benchmark index has more than doubled since Abe came to power in 2012 and implemented his “Abenomics” economic reform program.

The reforms, coupled with major action by the country’s central bank, have helped push down the value of the yen.

The Nikkei and yen often move in opposite directions because the index is heavy on exporters that benefit from a cheaper currency.

2. Chaos in Catalonia: The euro dropped against most major currencies as Catalonia spiraled deeper into political crisis. Spain’s benchmark stock index opened 0.7% lower.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced on Saturday that he plans to dissolve the Catalan parliament and remove the region’s elected leaders.

Catalan leaders insist they will reject any attempt by Madrid to impose direct rule.

3. Europe’s populist threat: Billionaire tycoon Andrej Babis won a general election in the Czech Republic by a significant margin on Saturday.

His success is the latest example of electoral gains by populist forces opposed to further European Union integration. Populists have also performed well in recent German and Austrian elections.

The blue chip PX index in Prague opened 0.4% lower and the Czech koruna was down against most major currencies.

4. Global market overview: U.S. stock futures were flat.

European markets opened mostly down, while Asian stocks ended the session mixed.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 2% last week and closed at a new record on Friday.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also ended the week at all-time highs.

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5. Stock market movers: General Electric (GE) shares were lower premarket after it reported earnings last week that revealed its troubles are deeper than investors initially thought.

6. Earnings and economics: Halliburton (HAL), Hasbro (HAS), Kimberly-Clark (KMB) and Philips (PHG) will release earnings before the open, while Knoll (KNL), Logitech Intl SA (LOGI) and Whirlpool (WHR) will follow after the close.

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7. Coming this week:

Monday — Hasbro
Tuesday — AT&T, GM, Chipotle, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar and McDonald’s earnings
Wednesday — Coca-Cola, Walgreens, Boeing and Visa earnings; ECNY luncheon with Wilbur Ross
Thursday — Mattel, Twitter, Alphabet, Microsoft, Intel, Comcast, Ford, Southwest, American Airlines, Hershey, Xerox and Amazon earnings; ECB rate decision
Friday — ExxonMobil, Chevron and Merck earnings; U.S. Q3 GDP