Premarket: 6 things to know before the bell

Fri Dec 01 2017
Mark Cooper (3143 articles)
Premarket: 6 things to know before the bell

1. Dow hits 24,000: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 24,000 on Thursday, smashing yet another milestone.

Reminder: The index first hit 23,000 barely a month ago.
The Dow has spiked nearly 6,000 points since President Trump was elected. It has notched 80 daily records over the period.

The S&P 500 added 0.8% and the Nasdaq gained 0.7% on Thursday. Both are near record highs.

Friday could be more restrained: U.S. stock futures were pointing lower.

2. Tax bill hurdle: The dollar is under pressure after U.S. tax reform hit a snag in the Senate.

Senate Republicans had hoped their tax bill would easily win approval this week, but there are now concerns over its cost.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, has made clear that he will not vote for a tax bill that increases the deficit.

The problem: A new analysis shows the bill would add more than $ 1 trillion to the federal budget deficit over the next decade.

Republicans, who had been on track to pass the bill along party lines, are now considering whether to include future tax increases.

3. Oil up: U.S. crude futures were trading 0.5% higher at $ 57.70 per barrel.

The gain comes after OPEC and other major oil producers including Russia agreed to extend their production cuts until the end of 2018.

OPEC and its allies first agreed to slash output in late 2016, a response to oversupply and an oil price crash.

There are signs that the global oil glut is now shrinking.

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4. Global market overview: European markets opened lower, while Asian markets ended the session mixed.

Bitcoin(XBT) continued its wild ride, swinging as high as $ 10,050 and as low as $ 9,400.

Gold reversed some of its weekly losses, edging 0.2% higher.

5. Earnings and economics: Big Lots (BIG) will release earnings before the U.S. open.

The Institute for Supply Management will publish its November index at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Canada will release third quarter GDP and November unemployment data at 8:30 a.m.

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6. Coming this week:

Friday — Institute for Supply Management index; Auto sales data; Canada GDP and unemployment data

Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper is Political / Stock Market Correspondent. He has been covering Global Stock Markets for more than 6 years.