Top Financial News: FOMC Minutes Today, Detroit's JP Morgan Bailout, and More

Garrett Baldwin

Top financial news today, May 21, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 100 points on Tuesday after a sharp sell-off in retail stocks rattled the markets.

Here are the top financial news stories you should know to make your Wednesday profitable:

• Today's Big Announcement: The Federal Reserve will release minutes from its April FOMC meeting at 2 p.m. today. The report will highlight the U.S. central bank's reaction to the nation's lackluster growth rate in the first quarter and its plans to both raise interest rates and cut back on its bond-purchasing program.

• Time to Rebuild: The comeback starts now. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) announced plans to invest $100 million into the city of Detroit through 2019. The Motor City continues to struggle to gain access to credit following the country's largest municipal bankruptcy of all time. The money will help rehabilitate vacant and destroyed housing in the city's downtown area.

• Cold Rain and Snow: Tricky winter weather forced Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) to report weaker than expected quarterly results. The company did, however, announce that sales in May accelerated, and that it would maintain its 5% sales growth forecast for the year. Shares of Lowe's were up marginally in today's pre-market trading.

• Still Recovering: It wasn't just the snow that hindered Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) this quarter. The company reported earnings fell 16%. The company saw fewer shoppers after its massive data breach and steep losses from its misguided expansion into Canada. Target removed its CEO Gregg Steinhafel earlier this month and will look to get back on track in the months ahead.

• Cable Expansion: This morning, Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) announced plans to expand into Germany, France, and four other European countries in 2014, surpassing the 50 threshold of international markets for the streaming service. The company expects to face a multitude of regulatory challenges in its new markets, where copyright laws make dissemination of content online more challenging. Netflix's first jaunt into Europe began in 2012 when it expanded into Ireland and the United Kingdom.

• Boomtown Bankruptcy: The Wall Street Journal reports that the "numbers didn't add up" for Twitter Inc. (Nasdaq: TWTR) in its pursuit of SoundCloud, a German-based audio sharing company. SoundCloud was recently valued at $700 million, which would have more than doubled the social media site's largest deal ever. Following Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AAPL) recent purchase of music streaming company Beats Audio, Twitter is rumored to be seeking its own streaming acquisition.

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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