10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

MIKE BIRD

 OCT. 24, 2014

pamhule/flickr

China Central Television’s headquarters in Beijing.

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know. 

The Ruble Is Getting Crushed. The Russian ruble has fallen further against the dollar and the euro hitting record new lows against the currencies.

UK GDP Was In Line With Expectations. GDP rose by 0.7% in the third quarter, compared to the second, driven particularly by services. 

The EU Is Ordering The UK To Pay An Extra $2.6 Billion To Brussels. Britain has been told it must pay an extra €2.1 billion into the European Union budget by the end of next month because the UK economy is doing better relative to other European economies.

The Big European Markets Are Down. The FTSE 100 is down 0.23%, France’s CAC 40 is down 0.45%, and Germany’s DAX is down 0.32%. The Nikkei closed 1.01% higher. 

China’s Crumbling Property Market Just Wiped Out A Year’s Gains.Property prices are falling in 69 of China’s 70 major urban areas.

73 Swiss Banks Want US Tax Amnesty Deals Revised. Lawyers representing 73 Swiss banks seeking to avoid a tax-evasion probe by US authorities wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice raising questions over a dozen demands, including the banks’ cooperation with other nations.

Asian Economic Growth Is Set To Languish As China Slows. Emerging Asia will contribute less to the global economy in 2015 than was expected just months ago as a slowdown in China drags on growth in the region, partially offset by acceleration in the United States, Reuters polls showed.

New Home Sales Are Coming. US sales of new homes in September will be out at 10 a.m ET, with analysts expecting about 470,000 sales. 

Amazon Is Taking A $170 Million Charge For Unsold Fire Phones. Amazon said it had $83 million worth of unsold Fire Phones at the end of the third quarter this year.

A US Port Squeeze Could Ruin Holiday Shopping. A shortage of transportation equipment and possible labor disruptions at ​the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, ​the nation’s busiest, is delaying shipping containers for up to three weeks, threatening timely delivery to retailers for the holiday season.