Stock market news: Opening bell, September 17, 2018

Marc
Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, speaks at the WSJD Live
conference in Laguna Beach, California.
Reuters/Mike Blake

Here is what you need to know. 

A new round of tariffs on Chinese goods could come as early as
Monday. China could reject trade talks if
President Donald Trump imposes fresh tariffs on $200 billion
worth of Chinese goods, the Wall Street Journal says. 

US household wealth is above $100 trillion for the first time in
history — but that excess could be signaling the next market
crash. “Household net worth cannot sustainably
grow this much faster than incomes,” Russ Mould, investment
director at AJ Bell, wrote in a note to clients. “Assets have
been bid up (and up) and at some stage there has to be chance
that they correct, just as happened in 2000 and 2007.”

The CEO of a $736 billion asset manager that sidestepped the most
toxic casualty of the financial crisis warns of the big risk in
markets right now. Martin Gilbert, the
co-CEO of Aberdeen Standard Investments, tells Business Insider
why he’s wary of covenant-lite loans.

UBS picks its post-Brexit EU base. The Swiss
investment bank has chosen Frankfurt, Germany, for its
post-Brexit EU headquarters, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti told
Bloomberg. 

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife are buying Time
Magazine. The Benioff’s have agreed to pay
Meredith Corp. $190 million for the magazine it purchased just
eight months ago. 

A fire broke out at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada on Saturday
evening. The factory’s sprinkle system
suppressed the flames and Tesla employees were safely evacuated,
Reuters says, citing a statement from a company
spokesperson. 

JD.com’s CEO is skipping the China AI forum. Liu
Qiangdong is skipping the high-profile state-run Shanghai
forum following his August 31 arrest, in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
for rape suspicions, Reuters reports. 

Stock markets
around the world are lower. China’s Shanghai
Composite (-1.1%) finished at a four-year low and Britain’s FTSE
(-0.45%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little
changed near 2,902.

Earnings reports trickle out. FedEx and Oracle
report after markets close.

US economic data is light. Empire Manufacturing
will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is
unchanged at 3%.