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

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February 22, 2017

Here is what you need to know.

Fed minutes are coming. The minutes from the January 31/February 1 Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released at 2 p.m. ET. Traders will be on the lookout for any hints the Fed may give as to when the next interest-rate hike may occur. The market sees a 38% chance the next hike happens in May, World Interest Rate Probability data provided by Bloomberg shows.

China's housing market is starting to cool. Home prices in China edged up 0.2% in January and have now decelerated in four consecutive months, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. Annually, price gains slowed to 12.2% from 12.4% in December.

The UK economy grew faster than previously thought. The UK economy grew at a 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the second reading released by the Office for National Statistics. That was ahead of the 0.6% growth that was released in January.

Merkel leads in the polls. The Allensbach Poll, which was released Wednesday, showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc ahead of the center-left Social Democrats by a slim 33% to 30.5%.

Saudi Aramco names 3 underwriters for its IPO. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, and HSBC have been selected as the lead underwriters for what is expected to be the world's largest initial public offering of all time, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Citi has a "favorite" for its new European base. Jim Cowles, Citigroup's European chief, told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Wednesday that Germany was one of the bank's "favorite" locations. The bank already has 370 employees in its Frankfurt offices and could move 200 more employees there post-Brexit.

Facebook is reportedly in talks to stream Major League Baseball games. The social-media giant is reportedly in talks to stream one MLB game a week during the 2017 season, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Stock markets around the world are higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+1%) led the gains in Asia, and Germany's DAX (+0.2%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,360.

Earnings reports keep coming. TJX reports ahead of the opening bell, while Cheesecake Factory, Fitbit, HP, Sturm Ruger, and Tesla release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data light. Existing-home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 2.42%.