Now here are the top stories from the stock market today:
Sneak Peak for Tomorrow: During a speech today, New York Fed President William Dudley might have offered insight into what to expect from the release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes tomorrow. Dudley said the U.S. Federal Reserve will likely increase rates at an incremental pace, with the market's performance in mind. Dudley suggested that if an interest rate hike has little impact on the market, the central bank may accelerate the pace of future increases.
Can You Hear Me Now: The Federal Communications Commission has ordered Sprint Corp.(NYSE: S) to pay a $7.5 million fine for violating the nation's Do-Not-Call list regulations. This is the largest fine ever issued by the federal agency over Do-Not-Call rules. In addition to the fine, Sprint must implement a two-year program to conform with FCC standards.
Blame It on the Weather: The retail onslaught continued on Tuesday. Headlining the carnage were shares of Staples Inc.(Nasdaq: SPLS), which plunged more than 12% on news that the office-supply company missed quarterly estimates by $0.03 per share. Quarterly revenues slumped by 3% and profits by 43% in the first quarter.
We Struck Oil... Lots of Oil: In December 2013, Dr. Kent Moors let our readers in on a way to invest directly in a new oil and gas drilling venture. In the time since, we've been spending a great deal of time at the drilling site in South Texas, keeping an eye on the progress. Now, there's news to report. Great news... and greater profits.
Housing Slumping: According to housing aggregator Zillow, more than 18.8% of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, or almost 10 million households, were still underwater on their payments at the end of the first quarter. The hardest hit cities by the trend were Las Vegas, Atlanta, Orlando, Chicago, and Tampa.
Another Day, Another Recall: This morning, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced another vehicle recall over safety concerns. The company is pulling back another 2.4 million vehicles, its 29th recall in 2014. Shares slipped more than 3.5% on the news. Last week, GM agreed to a $35 million fine in relation to its failures to report an ignition switch problem that led to at least 13 deaths in recent years.
Tablet Wars: This afternoon, Microsoft Corp.(Nasdaq: MSFT) unveiled its new Surface Pro 3 Tablet, which includes a larger screen than rival Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad. Since the appointment of its new chief executive officer, Microsoft has aggressively courted customers looking to trade in their clunky laptops for sleeker tablets.
You Can Make Money in Stocks (Especially These Three) No Matter What Rates Do: The three companies our Chief Investment Strategist is going to show you today can actually benefit from rising rates. So, let's take an "Econ 101" look with Keith Fitz-Gerald at the impact interest rates can have on stocks, especially when rates start rising... and how you can profit from this knowledge...
This Energy Play Has Warren Buffett Playing Catch-Up. One of Buffett's newest forays has taken his Berkshire investment vehicle into the energy sector. But he wasn't the first to get there. We were. And it's paying off in a big way... This is a company you need to know...
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.