Stock Market Today: Top Stories to Watch Before the Market Opens

Garrett Baldwin

Stock market today, May 16, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped as many as 200 points Thursday on lukewarm housing numbers, poor retail earnings, and a sell-off in small-cap stocks.

Here are the 10 things you should know to make your Friday profitable:

• We're Not There Yet: In a speech to the Small Business Administration in Washington last night, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told the audience that "we have further to go to achieve a healthy economy." Yellen credited small businesses for their role in creating new jobs in the economy. Since 2010, more than half of the new jobs created have occurred within firms with fewer than 250 employees. Next week, Yellen will address to NYU graduates at Yankee Stadium, making the annual graduation ceremony one of the hottest tickets in town.

• What Stocks Does Warren Buffett Own: According to a regulatory filing on Thursday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) purchased 11 million shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZN) last quarter and hiked its position in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT). Once a quarter, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals positions of investment managers who have at least $100 million in equity under management. The recent 13F filing reveals Berkshire's positions as of March 31.

• Retail Surging Back: Shares of J.C. Penney Company Inc. (NYSE: JCP) soared 25% in after-hours trading after the company reported a first-quarter earnings per share (EPS) loss of $1.16 on $2.8 billion in revenue. That beat consensus estimates that had JCP pegged for an EPS loss of $1.25 on $2.7 billion in revenue. But the bigger story for JC Penney is that the company hasn't performed as poorly as everyone thought this year.

• What Stocks Does George Soros Own: According to 13F regulatory filings, George Soros also shook up his portfolio. Soros went big into tech and gold mining stocks. Soros opened positions in RF Micro Devices Inc. (Nasdaq: RFMD), Marvel Technology Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: MRVL) and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). He also opened positions in Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY), AuRico Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUQ) and New Gold Inc. (NYSE: NGD), while increasing holdings in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF). The billionaire dumped his bank holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).

Garrett Baldwin

About the Author

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Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, and consultant with degrees from Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, and Indiana University. He is a seasoned financial and political risk analyst, with a focus on stocks, hedge funds, private equity, blockchain, and housing policy. He has conducted risk assessment projects for clients in 27 countries, and consulted on policy and financial operations for some of the nation's largest financial institutions, including a $1.5 trillion credit fund, a $43 billion credit and auto loan giant, as well as two of the largest Wall Street banks by assets under management.

Garrett joined Money Map Press as an economist and researcher in 2011, specializing in alternative strategies with an emphasis on fundamental and technical analysis.

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