Stocks: 5 things to know before the open

LONDON (CNNMoney) — Get ready for an interesting day.

Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the U.S. after Ted Cruz dropped out of the race for the White House.

Wall Street reaction to the latest political events has been muted, but there’s still plenty of other things that could move markets.

Here are the five things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. Earnings: A slew of quarterly results are coming through on Wednesday. Anheuser-Busch InBev, Priceline, Adidas and Royal Dutch Shell are among the key companies reporting ahead of the open. Time Warner, which owns CNN, is also reporting in the morning.

After the close of trading, a range of other companies are reporting results, including Tesla, 21st Century Fox, Fitbit, Kraft Heinz, Marathon Oil, TripAdvisor, Weight Watchers, Whole Foods and Tribune Publishing.

2. Miners in trouble: Federal prosecutors in Brazil have filed a $44 billion civil lawsuit against miners BHP Billiton and Vale in relation to a dam collapse that killed 19 people in November. The collapse unleashed a wave of toxic mud, causing what officials have called the worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history.

BHP Billiton shares are falling by about 7% in London. Vale shares are under pressure in premarket trading.

3. Up in smoke: Investors are keeping a close eye on the tobacco stocks Wednesday after Europe’s top court upheld a new law forcing tobacco companies to use standardized packaging with prominent health warnings starting in 2020. The law also bans menthol cigarettes and sets rules for the sale of e-cigarettes.

Philip Morris was one of the key tobacco companies to bring the case to court.

4. Global stock market overview: There’s a lot of red in the markets this morning.

U.S. stock futures are dipping down, most European markets are slipping in early trading and Asian markets ended the day with small losses.

This comes as most commodity prices are also declining.

5. Tuesday market recap: Tuesday was a negative day for stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.8%, the S&P 500 tumbled by 0.9% and the Nasdaq fell by 1.1%.

The-CNN-Wire
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