Stock market news: Opening bell, August 20, 2018

Venezuela’s
President Nicolas Maduro holds a sign showing the value of a
Petro compared with the new Venezuelan currency Bolivar Soberano
(Sovereign Bolivar), as he speaks during a meeting with ministers
at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela.
Reuters/Miraflores Palace/Handout

Here is what you need to know. 

The world’s biggest shipping company warns Trump’s trade war
could hurt America more than anyone else. While
giving a presentation at his company headquarters on Friday,
Maersk CEO Soren Skou said Trump’s trade war could impact US
GDP by up to 4%.

The midterm elections could paralyze a key instrument of Trump’s
agenda for the US economy. History suggests the
Republicans will lose their House majority in the midterm
election, and prevent the Trump administration from producing
results similar to the recently announced tax
overhaul, according to Steve Rattner, the CEO of Willett
Advisors.

Venezuela devalues its currency and backs it with
crypto. On Saturday, Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro devalued the country’s currency, the bolivar, by
95% and tied it to its oil-backed cryptocurrency, Bloomberg says.
The new currency will be called the “sovereign
bolivar.”

Money is pouring into Turkish stocks. Investors
bought $191 million worth of Turkish equities last week, the
biggest inflow since 2013, as the country’s currency, the lira,
continued to fall.  

It looks like ‘Y2K all over again’ for stocks as evidence of an
imminent crash continues to pile up. The choppy
six-month recovery from the February correction has eerily
mirrored the five-month upswing that followed the
stock-market meltdown of March-April 2000 — which led to the
bursting of the dotcom bubble.

Saudi Arabia is talking to an electric-car maker about a deal —
and it’s not Tesla. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign
wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, is in talks
with privately-held Lucid Motors for an investment worth
more than $1 billion that would give it a majority stake, Reuters
says.

Pepsi is buying SodaStream. The deal pays SodaStream
shareholders $3.2 billion in cash, or $144 a share — a 32%
premium to Friday’s closing price.

Former Lehman Brothers staff are hosting a secret party on the
10-year anniversary of the bank’s
collapse. Hundreds of former Lehman staff are
set to attend an event in London on September 15, commemorating
the 10-year anniversary of the bank’s demise, Financial News
reports.

Stock markets
around the world are higher. Hong Kong’s Hang
Seng (+1.41%) led the gains in Asia and Germany’s DAX (+1.11%) is
out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.22% near
2,857.

Earnings reports trickle out. Estee Lauder
reports ahead of the opening bell.