Stock market news: Opening bell, August 2, 2018

An
investor looks at a board showing stock information at a
brokerage office in Beijing, China.
Reuters/Jason Lee

Here is what you need to know. 

The Fed holds, says the economy is growing at a “strong”
pace. The US central bank left its key rate in
a range between 1.75% and 2% and said economy activity is
“rising at a strong rate.” 

Chinese stocks got smoked. China’s Shanghai
Composite slid 2% on Thursday amid US trade tensions and word
regulators are ready to impose even tougher restrictions on
property purchases. Elsewhere, Germany’s DAX (-1.78%) leads the
losses in Europe while the S&P 500 is set to open lower by
0.64%.  

The Bank of England is expected to hike
rates. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg see a
greater than 90% chance that Britain’s central bank raises its
key interest rate for just the second time since the financial
crisis. The decision will cross the wires at 7 a.m. ET.

The stock market is seeing abnormally large moves this earnings
season. Goldman Sachs says single-stock moves have
been more extreme this earnings season than at any point in the
past eight quarters, and the bank has four reccommendations for
how you can make some money before the reporting is
over.  

Tesla
reports wider loss than expected, expects to be profitable in the
2nd half. The electric-car maker reported mixed
second-quarter results and said it plans to make between 50,000
and 55,000 Model 3 sedans in Q3 — on its way to profitability in
the second half of the year.

Elon Musk apologizes to the analyst whose questions he called
‘boring’ and ‘boneheaded.’ “I’d like to
apologize for being impolite on the prior call,” the Tesla CEO
said on Wednesday’s second-quarter conference calll. “Honestly, I
really think there’s no excuse for bad manners, and I was kind of
violating my own rule in that regard. There are reasons for it in
that I had gotten no sleep, had been working 110 hour, 120 hour
weeks, but nonetheless, there’s still no excuse.”

Carl Icahn is getting involved in Cigna’s $67 billion merger with
Express Scripts. Icahn has amassed a less than 5%
stake in Cigna with the intent of voting against its deal with
Express Scripts, the Wall Street Journal says.

Wall Street bankers are adding a so-called Weinstein clause to
deals. The clause would in some cases require a
selling company to compensate a buyer if sexual misconduct
scandals by executives come to light.

Earnings
reports keep coming. DowDuPont and Kellogg
report ahead of the opening bell while Activision Blizzard, CBS,
GoPro, and Take-Two Interactive release their quarterly results
after markets close.

US economic remains heavy. Initial claims will
be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before durable goods and factory
orders both cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET.