Hurricane Irma and Equifax Data Breach - 5 Things You Must Know
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Here are five things you must know for Friday, Sept. 8:
1. -- U.S. stock futures traded lower on Friday, Sept. 8, as Hurricane Irma made its way toward Florida and investors feared the possibility of a missile launch in North Korea over the weekend.
According to reports, North Korea has been preparing for another test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, perhaps to mark the country's founder's day on Saturday, Sept. 9.
The U.S. dollar hovered near a two-and-a-half year low on Friday as investors tracked Irma and counted the ultimate cost of this year's historic storm season on the world's biggest economy.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six global currencies, slipped to 91.08 in overnight Asia trading, the lowest level since January 2015. Most recently, the dollar index traded at 91.12.
The economic calendar in the U.S. on Friday includes Wholesale Trade for July at 10 a.m. ET, and the weekly Baker Hughes Rig Count at 1 p.m.
Kroger Co. (KR) - Get Report is expected to report fiscal second-quarter earnings on Friday.
2. -- The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Friday that it lowered its assessment on Hurricane Irma to a category 4 storm but cautioned that it was still "extremely dangerous" and could bring "life-threatening" conditions around all of Florida when it makes landfall late Saturday, Sept. 9.
The NHC said the storm was moving through the Bahamas and was headed toward the north Cuba coast, where it is expected to bring hurricane conditions that include torrential rains and dangerous sea swells. Hurricane warnings have been issued in areas as far as North Florida, the NHC said, and cautioned that the storm could also impact portions of Georgia and the Carolinas.
"Irma is likely to make landfall in southern Florida as a dangerous major hurricane," the NHC said in an update at 5 a.m. "This is a life-threatening situation. Persons located within these areas should take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other dangerous conditions."
Florida Gov. Rick Scott issued orders late Thursday to close all school colleges and universities in the state until at least Tuesday, Sept. 12, while all of the state's professional sports teams, as well as its major university athletic programs, cancelled weekend competitions.
The storm has killed 14 people on its path across the Caribbean, according to various local officials, and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of island residents.
3. -- The names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and drivers license numbers of more than 143 million people in the U.S. have been exposed as a result of a cyber attack at credit reporting agency Equifax Inc. (EFX) - Get Report .
Equifax said Thursday, Sept. 7, that criminals gained access to the information through its website in breaches between May and July. The company said it learned of the attack on July 29. The information accessed wasn't from Equifax's consumer and commercial credit databases, meaning that credit scores don't appear to have been exposed.
However, the credit card numbers of 209,000 U.S. consumers and dispute documents belonging to an additional 182,000 people were accessed, according to Equifax.
The company set up a website -- https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/ -- where people can check to see if their personal information may have been stolen.
Equifax shares fell 13.5% in premarket trading on Friday.
Separately, three Equifax senior executives sold shares worth almost $1.8 million in the days after the company discovered the breach, Bloomberg reported.
The executives had not yet been informed of the incident, the company said.
The sales, executed on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2, were made by John Gamble, Equifax's chief financial officer; Rodolfo Ploder, Equifax's president of workforce solutions; and Joseph Loughran, Equifax's president of U.S. information solutions.
4. -- Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - Get Report has gotten so big that it's looking to open a second company headquarters in North America.
The internet giant said the second headquarters ideally would be located in an urban or suburban area with more than 1 million people and in a community that "thinks big."
By Thursday afternoon, several cities already had indicated interest in the opportunity. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had conversations with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the possibility, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Meanwhile, Memphis Mayor Jim Stickland tweeted that the city is "absolutely" making a bid for the opportunity. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney also said in a tweet that the city of brotherly love would be a "prime" location for Amazon's second headquarters.
Toronto also has expressed interest, according to reports.
5. -- A massive earthquake hit off the shore of southern Mexico in the early hours of Friday, triggering tsunami warnings, just as the country braces for a hit from Hurricane Katia.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and hit at 11:49 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and had an epicenter 102 miles west of Tapachula in the southern state of Chiapas state.
Updated from 6:04 a.m. ET.
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