Stock market news: Opening bell, August 22, 2018

US
President Donald Trump speaks at a Make America Great Again rally
at the Civic Center in Charleston, West
Virginia.
Reuters/Leah
Millis

Here is what you need to know. 

Trump had the “worst day” of his
presidency. President Donald Trump suffered
through the “worst day” of his presidency on Tuesday as his
former longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to
eight counts related to tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign
finance violations and said he made illegal campaign and
corporate contributions “at the direction of” a 2016 presidential
candidate and with the “purpose of influencing the election.”
Also on Tuesday, Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort,
was convicted on eight counts related to tax fraud, bank
fraud, and failure to report foreign bank accounts.

We are about to be in the longest bull market in
history. The S&P 500 touched a record high
of 2873.23 on Tuesday, and the US stock market will be in its
longest bull market in history, as measured by its rise from
the trough hit in March 2009, at the end of the day Wednesday as
long as there isn’t a 20% crash. 

Russia is stockpiling gold as fresh US sanctions
loom. Russia added about 26 tonnes of gold,
worth about $1 billion, as it sold Treasurys, in response to the
first new US sanctions since 2011.

Bitcoin spiked after a major trading platform went down, and it
created a golden opportunity for traders. The
cryptocurrency spiked more than $300, or 7%, in a matter of
minutes Tuesday evening after a scheduled maintenance
shutdown of trading platform BitMEX created an arbitrage
opportunity for traders. 

A cryptocurrency is making huge inroads in
Venezuela. Two hundred Venezuelan merchants per
month are signing up to accept Dash as hyperinflation runs wild
in the country, Dash Core Group CEO Ryan Taylor told Business
Insider. 

Another Wall Street bank has dropped coverage of Tesla — and it
could be a sign Elon Musk is making progress in taking the
company private. It could also mean that Morgan
Stanley analyst Adam Jonas is leaving the firm. Morgan Stanley
declined to comment and Tesla did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.  

Xiaomi releases its first results as a publicly traded
company. The Chinese smartphone maker said
revenue soared 68% in the second quarter amid strong sales of
smartphones and connected devices, Reuters reports.  

Tim Cook donates Apple stock to
charity. Apple’s CEO donated 23,215
shares, worth about $5 million, to an unspecified charity,
according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing out
Tuesday. 

Earnings reports keep coming. Lowe’s and Target
report ahead of the opening bell while L Brands releases its
quarterly results after markets close. 

US economic trickles out. Existing home sales
will be released at 10 a.m. ET and the minutes from the Fed’s
August meeting will cross the wires at 2 p.m. ET. The US 10-year
yield is down 1 basis point at 2.82%.