10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

MIKE BIRD

 OCT. 23, 2014

REUTERS/CDIC

Peugeot CEO Maxime Picat.

Good morning! Here are the major stories making a big impact early Thursday.

The World’s Second Largest Retailer Is In Trouble. Tesco’s profits came in down 91.9% in comparison to their last result, and shares are down another 5%, after dropping by more than half in the last year.

It Looks Like France Is Back In Recession. France’s PMI figures are the worst in eight months, at 48, while Germany’s manufacturers look like they are out of the danger zone.

British Retail Sales Dipped. Sales fell 0.3% between August and September, in comparison to the 0.1% increase that economists expected.

European And Asian Markets Are Down. France’s CAC 40 is down 0.37%, Germany’s DAX is down 0.22%, the UK’s FTSE 100 is down 0.76%. The Nikkei fell 0.37% and the Hang Seng dropped 0.30% last night. 

The US Manufacturing PMI Is Coming. At 8:30 a.m. ET, jobless claims are out. At 9:45 a.m. ET, Markit’s US manufacturing PMI is out. Analysts expect a 57 print.

Business Activity Is Up In China. The huge developing economy’s PMI reading inched up to 50.4 from 50.2, despite a lot of concerns about China’s growth. 

Huawei Says Q3 Smartphone Shipments Jumped 26%. Shenzhen-based Huawei shipped 16.8 million smartphones globally in the quarter ending Sept. 30.

US-Led Air Strikes In Syria Have Killed 533 People. The strikes have killed 464 Islamic State group fighters, 57 militants from Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, and 32 civilians, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Two More Italian Banks Will Likely Have To Raise Capital After Stress Tests. Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Banca Carige will likely need additional capital to plug shortfalls found by the European Central Bank in region-wide bank stress tests, according to Bloomberg.

Peugeot Says Sales Are Edging Them Out Of The Crisis. Peugeot Citroen said Wednesday strong quarterly sales in China and by its car-parts subsidiary has kept its drive away from crisis on track, despite an overall lackluster performance.