Anything For You All: 10 things you need to know before the opening bell

February 13, 2018

Here is what you need to know.

Trump's budget proposes making part of the food-stamp program a meal-delivery service with boxed grocery deliveries. In a budget proposed by President Donald Trump on Monday, recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would receive some of their benefits in the form of a package with groceries inside including "items such as shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit, vegetables, and meat, poultry, or fish."

Theresa May is prepared to bring forward Brexit day to December 2020. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly prepared to accept European Union demands that any Brexit transition must end by December 31, 2020. Previously, the UK government had sought a transition phase of at least two years.

UK inflation holds at 3%. "The cost of entry to attractions such as zoos and gardens" was a key driver in the higher-than-expected reading, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It looks as if few US citizens are telling the IRS about their crypto trading. Fewer than 100 people out of the 250,000 who have already filed federal taxes this year through the company Credit Karma reported a cryptocurrency transaction to the Internal Revenue Service despite a recent survey the company conducted with Qualtrics showing that 57% of the 2,000 Americans surveyed said they had realized some gains from digital currencies.

Walgreens has reportedly approached AmerisourceBergen about a takeover. Walgreens, which already owns 26% of the drug distributor, reached out a couple of weeks ago to discuss a deal, The Wall Street Journal reports. Shares of AmerisourceBergen are up more than 17% ahead of the opening bell.

General Motors has begun exiting South Korea. The automaker announced it was closing one of four assembly plants in the country and would decide the fate of the other three within weeks, Reuters says.

Carl Icahn is trying to stop the Xerox-Fujifilm deal. Icahn and his fellow activist investor Darwin Deason are urging shareholders to oppose the $6.1 billion deal, saying Xerox could create "enormous value for shareholders, and it does not involve selling control to Fuji without a premium," according to a Reuters report.

A female executive at Steve Cohen's investment firm says it created a hostile work environment toward women. The associate director Lauren Bonner filed a lawsuit against Point72, accusing it of being a "testosterone-fueled 'boys' club'" and describing incidents in which she said male colleagues disparaged women's abilities and talked negatively about their bodies, The New York Times reports.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+1.29%) led the gains in Asia, and Germany's DAX (-0.22%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open down 0.6% near 2,640.

Earnings reporting picks back up. Blue Apron, Pepsi, and Under Armour report ahead of the opening bell.