Dow Jones Industrial Average Today Slumps on Brexit Fears

Dow Jones Industrial AverageThe Dow Jones Industrial Average fell double digits thanks to a surging dollar, a warning from the International Monetary Fund, and hawkish statements from members of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Investors are also keeping an eye on Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE: DB) stock, which has been the fuel to the market's roller coaster over the last week. German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that the firm's CEO John Cryan is heading to Washington to negotiate the firm's $14 billion fine with the Department of Justice and other government officials.

Let's look at the final numbers on Tuesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:

Dow Jones: 18,168.72; -85.13; -0.47%

S&P 500: 2,150.50; -10.70; -0.50%

Nasdaq: 5,289.66; -11.22; -0.21%

Look out below. The International Monetary Fund slashed its 2016 growth outlook for the U.S. economy. The IMF now says that the U.S. economy will grow at just 1.6% for the year, down from 2.6% the year prior. It's just the latest sign that the efforts of the Federal Reserve to jumpstart growth aren't working. In fact, the Fed's efforts could be making things worse.

Now, here's a look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Wednesday's economic calendar.

DJIA Today: Brexit Fears, Deutsche Bank Worries Rattle Investor Sentiment

The Dow Jones slumped more than 85 points as concerns over the Brexit sent the U.S. dollar surging and gold prices down more than 3%.

Interest rate speculation continued on Tuesday. This morning, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker, a non-voting member of the FOMC, said interest rates need to increase soon and that he would have dissented during the central bank's September meeting. Meanwhile, Cleveland Fed Bank President Loretta Mester said that the Fed must take action and raise interest rates in the near term. With the Labor Department set to report the September unemployment rate on Friday, expect more chatter about monetary policy over the next few days.

The Fed isn't likely to raise rates at its next meeting, which comes just days before the 2016 presidential election. However, the odds of a rate hike in December now sit at 62%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. [Editor's Note: Money Morning Contributor Tom Gentile argues that the Federal Reserve will raise rates by the end of the year... and here's how you can profit.]

Brexit fears again rattled the global markets. The British pound fell to a 31-year low as investors worry about the long-term stability of the UK economy. Over the weekend, British leaders set a timetable for March 2017 to begin the process of departing the European Union.

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The price of crude oil today was sliding on news that Iranian and Libyan production levels came in much higher than markets anticipated. The uptick in production comes just a week after OPEC reached a production agreement to cap output this year. While last week's announcement in Algeria was a major boost for crude markets, there is still a lot of work to be done. Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors says that the global oil cartel has one major challenge ahead of it before it succeeds in boosting global crude prices. Here it is.

The WTI crude oil price today fell 0.4%. Meanwhile, the Brent crude oil price dipped 0.4%.

Top Stock Market News Today, Oct. 4, 2016

  • Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was back in the news today, and not for a good reason. The State of Illinois announced that it is suspending most of its banking relationships with the embattled financial firm over its fake account scandal. All told, Illinois will take away about $30 billion in transactions during a one-year moratorium.
  • Meanwhile, shares of Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) were on the move after the company revealed a roster of new technology gadgets in San Francisco. The firm is taking direct aim at Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) with two new smartphones. The firm is also planning a product called Google Home, which will compete against the Echo speaker of Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN).
  • Is a streaming takeover on tap? Shares of Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) gained more than 1.1% on speculation that the streaming giant could become a takeover target. Here's more on why NFLX stock has been rallying all week.
  • Meanwhile, shares of Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) gained more than 4.5% after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) added the music streaming firm to its "Conviction Buy" list.
  • The fourth-quarter earnings season got off to a hot start with the release of a report from Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI). Shares of DRI stock rallied as much as 4.5% after the firm topped Wall Street quarterly profit expectations. However, the market sell-off ended with DRI stock up just 0.3%.
  • After the bell, look for additional reports from Micron Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) and NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSEMKT: NG). Analysts project that Micron will report a per-share earnings loss of $0.12 on top of $3.135 billion in revenue.

Tuesday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EDT)

  • MBA Mortgage Applications at 7 a.m.
  • ADP Employment Report at 8:15 a.m.
  • International Trade at 8:30 a.m.
  • Gallup U.S. Job Creation Index at 8:30 a.m.
  • Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari Speaks at 9:30 a.m.
  • PMI Services Index at 9:45 a.m.
  • Factory Orders at 10 a.m.
  • ISM Non-Manufacturing Index at 10 a.m.
  • EIA Petroleum Status Report at 10:30 a.m.
  • Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker speaks at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

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About the Author

Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.

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