The State of Our Union Is Expensive: U.S. President Barack Obama gave his fifth State of the Union address last night. During the speech, he demanded a guaranteed retirement plan for American workers,immigration reform, tax reform, gun control, and economic opportunity for all. The White House even announced it will back a congressional Democratic plan to increase the federal wage to $10.10 over three years, and then index it to inflation.
The Federal Reserve Marches On: The Fed Open Market Committee is in day two of Ben Bernanke's final meeting as chairman. Investors will be glued to the news during the afternoon, as the Fed will decide whether it will continue shedding $10 billion from its bond-purchasing program. In addition, the Fed is expected to provide insight on its interest rate policy moving forward. Most economists fully expect the tapering to continue and for interest rates to remain near zero for the duration of 2014. Any decision to reduce tapering will likely lead to a strong rally for stocks in the afternoon.
Turkey Turmoil Continues: In order to defend its crumbling currency, Turkey's central bank delivered a staggering 425 basis point increase last night. The immense interest rate hike is a critical step to appease global investors and stop capital flight. The decision stunned and stirred hopes that investors will revive a thirst for increased risk levels in the emerging markets.
Yahoo for Yahoo!: The Internet company Yahoo!Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) reported positive fourth-quarter earnings. Earnings were better than expected, although advertising revenue remains a problem for the firm. Shares of Yahoo! earned $0.46 per share on revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs. Get the full Yahoo! story here.
Merger On Hold: A deal combining Sprint (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE:TMUS)could face regulatory difficulties. TheWall Street Journal reports that Sprint board members met with U.S. Justice Department officials, who are doubting the possibility of the company's potential purchase of rival T-Mobile.
Wednesday Government Data
Crude inventories at 10:30 a.m.
FOMC rate decision at 2 p.m.
Key Companies Reporting Earnings on January 29
Facebook (Nasdaq: FB): Consensus earnings per share are $0.27.
Tbe Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW): Consensus earnings per share is $0.43.
JetBlue Airways Corp. (Nasdaq: JBLU): Consensus earnings per share are $0.13.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS): Consensus earnings per share are $1.03.
McCormick & Company Inc. (NYSE: MKC): Consensus earnings per share are $1.18.
Other Companies Reporting January 29, 2014
1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS), Boeing Co. (BA), Acxiom Corp. (ACXM), Biogen Idec. Inc. (BIIB), Cabot Corp (CBT), Fortinet (FTNT), Navios Maritime Corp. (NMM), Phillips 66 (PSX), Murphy Oil Company (MUR), Symantec (SYMC), VistaPrint NV (VPRT ), WellPoint Inc. (WLP).
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.