1. Dow to open slightly higher as Coca-Cola and American Express report earnings
People walking along Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan on September 03, 2019 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a mixed Friday open on Wall Street — with two Dow stocks, Coca-Cola and American Express, reporting earnings before the bell. Coca-Cola fiscal second-quarter profit matched estimates. Revenue beat. Several international factors were in play, including weak Chinese GDP growth, Saturday’s U.K. Parliament vote on Brexit and fighting between Turkish and Kurdish forces despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were modestly higher Thursday, on track for a second straight positive week The S&P 500 just missed its first close over the 3,000 since Sept. 19, while the Dow just above 27,000.
2. China reports weakest GDP in decades as trade war takes its toll
Employees work on the production line of a robot vacuum cleaner factory of Matsutek in Shenzhen, China August 9, 2019.
Jason Lee | Reuters
China’s latest reading on economic growth came in at its weakest level in 27½ years, as the trade war between Beijing and Washington continued to take its toll. China’s gross domestic product in the third quarter grew just 6% from a year ago. Apple CEO Tim Cook met the chief of China’s market regulator in Beijing, after the U.S. tech giant last week removed from its App Store an app that helped Hong Kong protesters track police movements.
3. EU strikes a Brexit deal, but also faces new tariffs from US
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Boris Johnson gives a press conference at European Parliament on October 17, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium.
Jean Catuffe | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The U.K. and European Union struck a long-awaited draft Brexit deal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson now must persuade U.K. lawmakers to back his agreement, ahead of what is expected to be a close vote on Saturday. At midnight, defying retaliation threats, the U.S. imposed $7.5 billion worth of tariffs on EU goods, including targeting Airbus, Italian cheeses, French wines, Spanish olives and Scotch whisky.
4. Democrats see Trump decision to hold G-7 at Doral as more impeachment fuel
View leading into Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida on April 3, 2018.
Michele Eve Sandberg | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump will host the 2020 G-7 summit of world leaders at the Trump National Doral Miami, a move Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry were quick to criticize as presidential self-dealing. Trump confirmed that Energy Secretary Rick Perry will step down at the end of the year. In recent weeks, the former governor of Texas became entangled in the Democratic-led impeachment probe into Trump’s actions involving Ukraine.
5. Fighting erupts in Kurdish-held Syrian town despite US-brokered cease-fire
A woman stands along the side of a road on the outskirts of the town of Tal Tamr near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain along the border with Turkey in the northeastern Hassakeh province on October 16, 2019, with the smoke plumes of tire fires billowing in the background to decrease visibility for Turkish warplanes that are part of operation “Peace Spring”.
Delil Souleiman | AFP | Getty Images
Despite U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect overnight, fighting continued Friday in a northeast Syrian border town at the center of the fight between Turkey and Kurdish forces. Trump framed the cease-fire deal with Turkey as “a great day for civilization.” Turkish troops and their allied Syrian fighters launched the offensive on Oct. 9, two days after Trump suddenly announced he was withdrawing American troops from the border area.
CNBC’s before the bell news roundup
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— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
