“If you do not know who you are, the stock market is an expensive to find out.” – George Goodma

1. OPEC Meeting Kicks Off in Abu Dhabi — Representatives from OPEC and non-member nations are gathering in Abu Dhabi to discuss poor conformity levels on their output cut agreement. According to Bloomberg data, compliance fell to 86% in July, the lowest level since January.
2. China Trade Data Missed Estimates — Chinese trade data produced a rare miss in July with annual growth levels undershooting expectations. Exports from the world’s second-largest economy rose 7.2% from a year earlier, while imports expanded 11%, resulting in a trade surplus of nearly $47B. China also said it will pay the biggest economic price from the new UN sanctions against Pyongyang, but will always enforce the resolutions.
3. Beer Cheaper than Soda in Philly On Sugary Drink Tax — Philadelphia’s tax on sugary drinks has made soda more expensive than beer in the city. A new study from the Tax Foundation found that the 1.5-cent per ounce tax has fallen short of revenue projections and has forced some Philadelphians to drive outside the city to buy groceries. It’s also hit the corporate level: PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) is laying off up to 100 workers because of the tax.
4. Markets Jittery Amid Korea Tensions — Pyongyang has hit back at threats from President Trump, branding his warnings “a load of nonsense” and stating only “absolute force can work on him.” It also announced plans to launch four rockets near Guam, saying preparations should be ready in a matter of days. In response, the Pentagon has prepared a detailed plan for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea’s missile sites, should Trump order such an attack.
5. Intel’s Mobileye Planning 100 Test Self-Driving Vehicles — Intel has officially joined the self-driving car race. The chipmaker is building a fleet of 100 cars to test self-driving technology, as it tries to leapfrog rivals like Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). The project will combine Mobileye’s (NYSE:MBLY) offerings with Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) open compute and communication platform. Testing will take place in the U.S., Europe and Israel.
6. Historical Records of the DJIA that Had Closed Up 10 Straight Sessions & One, Three, and Six-Month Returns Going Forward — courtesy of BIG, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had closed up 10 straight sessions, and nine of those were at all-time highs. Subsequently, Bespoke Investment Group looked at all previous eight-session or longer streaks of consecutive record closes going back to 1928, and the one, three, and six-month returns going forward were all comfortably better than average.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: