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Stocks opened mixed as traders braced for additional volatility in a week that’s already been bumpy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, 22 points, to start trading near 27,880, while the S&P 500 was little-changed, opening near 3,360. The Nasdaq Composite was about 59 points higher, 0.5%, trading near 10,969. Friday marks quadruple witching, which refers to the day when various types of financial-asset options expire, traditionally leading to intraday volatility. Shares of United States Steel Corporation dipped despite reporting better-than-expected earnings.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/smart-cities-expert-stresses-the-importance-of-smart-mobility.html

Shares of U.S. Steel Corp. rallied 1.1% in premarket trading Friday, after the steel producer provided an upbeat third-quarter outlook, including a “significantly better” performance expected for its flat-rolled business and signs that the tubular business has bottomed. The company said it an adjusted per-share loss of $1.45, compared with the FactSet loss consensus of $1.52. “Improving market conditions experienced in June and July have accelerated through August and September,” said Chief Executive David Burritt. “We have grown confident in the recovery that is underway in North America and Europe,” he said. The stock has dropped 26.3% year to date through Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 2.2%.

The U.S. current-account deficit, a measure of the nation’s debt to other countries, widened sharply in the second quarter. The current-account deficit widened to $170 billion from a revised $111.5 billion in the first quarter. This is a 52.9% increase. The large widening reflected an expanded deficit of goods and reduced surpluses on primary income and on services, the government said. The current account reveals if a country is a net lender or debtor. The current account deficit was equal to 3.5% of GDP in the second quarter, up from 2.1% in the prior quarter. The current-account deficit peaked in 2005 at 6.3%.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-oracle-tesla-home-depot-beyond-meat-more.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/5-things-to-know-before-the-stock-market-opens-september-18-2020.html

Shares of Tesla Inc. surged 4.4% in premarket trading, extending earlier gains, after Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter became the second-most bullish on the Street, citing a more upbeat outlook on Tesla Energy and Chief Executive Elon Musk’s stock-based compensation package. Potter raised his price target to $515 from $480, while reiterating the overweight rating he’s had on the stock for at least the past three years. Of the 37 analysts surveyed by FactSet, Potter is now just the third with a target of at least $500, behind the $800 target of Global Equities Research and just ahead of Jefferies’ Philippe Houchois’s $500 target. Potter said he now expects Tesla’s energy business to eventually exceed $200 billion a year in revenue. He also laid out his forecasts for stock-based compensation expenses, given concerns recently raised in a report in The Wall Street Journal that Musk’s stock options awards could cost the company from being included in the S&P 500 . “Importantly, the total expense associated with Musk’s plan is known (~$2.3B), so the main question regards the ‘timing’ of these expenses,” Potter wrote in a note to clients. Wedbush’s Dan Ives also raised his stock price target on Tesla on Friday, but kept his rating at neutral. The stock has soared 110.9% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has gained 7.8%.

The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it is prohibiting transactions involving Tencent’s WeChat and Bytedance’s TikTok. “While the threats posed by WeChat and TikTok are not identical, they are similar. Each collects vast swaths of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories,” the release said. As of Sept. 20, any provision of service to distribute or maintain the WeChat or TikTok mobile applications, constituent code, or application updates through an online mobile application store in the U.S. is barred, as is any provision of services through the WeChat mobile application for the purpose of transferring funds or processing payments within the U.S. The order makes no mention of the Oracle deal with TikTok but said “the President has provided until November 12 for the national security concerns posed by TikTok to be resolved.”

Technology

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/markets-are-up-and-the-economy-is-down-some-next-moves-for-investors.html