Hurricane Irma, Tesla and Apple - 5 Things You Must Know Before the Market Opens

U.S. stock futures rise Monday, and European and Asian shares trade higher after Hurricane Irma weaks and North Korea refrains from launching missiles during a weekend observance of its 69th founding anniversary.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

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Here are five things you must know for Monday, Sept. 11:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to strong gains for Wall Street on Monday, Sept. 11, and European and Asian shares traded higher after Hurricane Irma weakened and North Korea refrained from launching missiles during the rogue nation's weekend observance of its 69th founding anniversary.

"This weekend was a case of the dog that didn't bark, or at least, not very loudly," Rob Carnell, head of Asia research at ING, told the Associated Press. "North Korea did not launch a new missile, and Hurricane Irma was downgraded, though still looks like it will cause considerable damage, and mess up all the economic data for the next month or so."

Oil prices in the U.S. early Monday rose 0.6% to $47.77 a barrel after reports said Saudi Arabia's oil minister held talks with Venezuela and Kazakhstan on a possible extension of an agreement to cut global oil supplies beyond March 2018.

The economic calendar in the U.S. on Monday is empty.

2. -- Hurricane Irma weakened to a category 1 storm early Monday and was expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it travels north along the Florida peninsula and into Georgia, the National Hurricane Center said. Damage estimates from Hurricane Irma's battering of Florida over the weekend look smaller than first feared.

Irma's wind speeds have slowed to around 75 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in an update early Monday, although it cautioned that hurricane gusts and storm surges could still cause life-threatening conditions along Irma's path up the western Florida coast.

The massive storm measured more than 400 miles wide, and its winds reached 130 mph. The storm swamped much of downtown Miami and toppled at least three constructions cranes -- two over downtown Miami and one in Fort Lauderdale, the Associated Press reported.

According to some reports, nearly 4 million to 5 million homes and businesses in Florida lost power, and utility officials said it could take weeks to restore electricity to everyone.

AIR Worldwide, a risk modeling software company, projected that Hurricane Irma will create combined insured losses of $20 billion to $65 billion.

Bryan Koon, Florida's emergency management director, said late Sunday, Sept. 10, that authorities had only scattered information about the storm's toll.

"I've not heard of catastrophic damage. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It means it hasn't gotten to us yet," Koon said, the AP reported.

3. -- Tesla Inc.  (TSLA) - Get Report extended the battery life of certain models for drivers in Florida so they could evacuate from Hurricane Irma.

Tesla performed an automatic update on Model S/X60/60D vehicles that unlocked the full capacity of the 75kWh battery, according to a report from Electrek. The update allowed for an extra 30 to 40 miles of driving.

Tesla used to offer the option to buy a Model S or Model X with a 75 kWh battery pack software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. Customers could then pay between $4,500 and $9,000 to unlock the extra 20%, depending on the model and time of the upgrade.

Tesla confirmed that it had given the extra mileage to drivers in the path of Hurricane Irma until Sept. 16, after a Model S driver contacted the company saying he would need around another 30 miles of range to evacuate in traffic.

Tesla shares rose 1.7% in premarket trading.

4. -- Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Report shares were rising 1.5% in premarket trading on Monday amid multiple media reports the tech giant's new anniversary iPhone will carry a $1,000 price tag.

The reports suggested a so-called Anniversary iPhone will be unveiled by Apple on Tuesday, Sept. 12, in Cupertino, California, along with two new iPhone products, an Apple Watch and an upgraded version of Apple TV.

The new premium iPhone is likely to steal the market's attention, given both the dominance of iPhone revenue to Apple's top line and its reported $999 price tag, which could prove to be a significant test of customer loyalty amid so-called upgrade fatigue and intense challenges from rivals such as Samsung Electronics and HTC.

The new iPhone celebrates the 10th anniversary of the company's best-selling product.

5. -- Equifax Inc. (EFX) - Get Report struggled over the weekend with its response to its massive data breach as consumers continued to criticize the credit-reporting company's efforts and cited ongoing problems with a website set up to help them, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Regulators, meanwhile, urged consumers to freeze their credit reports, a move some lenders fear could ding credit growth even as the finance industry struggles with the question of how to contain the potential for widespread fraud that could affect millions of Americans, the Journal noted.

Updated from 6:04 a.m. ET.

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