Here is what you need to know.
Oil nears $51. West Texas Intermediate crude oil is higher by 0.7% at $50.70 a barrel ahead of OPEC’s May 25 meeting in Vienna.
Bitcoin explodes past $2,100. The cryptocurrency trades up $202, or 10.4%, at $2,140 a coin. It’s up 125% so far in 2017.
Japan’s trade surplus shrinks. Japan’s trade surplus narrowed to 481.7 billion yen in April as exports to China rose 14.8% versus a year ago.
S&P is sounding the alarm on Australian financial institutions. The ratings agency downgraded 21 Australian financial institutions, citing the risk of a sharp drop in property prices.
Clariant and Hunstman are merging. The two chemical companies are joining forces in a deal that values the combined entity at about $20 billion including debt, Reuters says.
Ford is reportedly firing its CEO. Mark Fields is reportedly out as CEO due to the recent performance of the company's stock, and will be replaced by James Hackett, chairman of the Ford unit that works on autonomous vehicles, Forbes and the New York Times say. Ford shares have tumbled almost 40% since Fields took the helm at Ford more than three years ago.
Italian regulators have seized documents from IBM. Authorities have seized documents from IBM as part of their investigation into allegations of fraud against one of its customers, BT Italy, Reuters says, citing sources. IBM is not under investigation.
Stock markets around the world are higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+0.9%) led the gains in Asia and Britain's FTSE (+0.4%) paces the advance in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,380.
Earnings reporting is light. Agilent and Nordson will be releasing their quarterly results after markets close.
Fed speak is heavy. Patrick Harker, Neel Kashkari, Lael Brainard, and Charles Evans will all be taking the mic on Monday.