Dow Jones Industrial Average today, June 4, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average today (Wednesday) will follow yesterday's 21.29 point (-0.13%) slip.
Here's what you should know to make your Wednesday profitable:
A Big Miss: On Friday morning, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will report the official U.S. unemployment rate for May. Despite lofty projections for job growth, the numbers may disappoint. According to Automatic Data Processing Inc., private-sector hiring cooled in May, as just 179,000 jobs were added. This is a bad miss compared to projections from economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires, which had gains for May settling at 210,000 private-sector jobs.
A Good Sign: The auto industry strongly beat analyst expectations, registering a 15.7% increase in May sales over April, according to Autodata Group. Reports indicate that strong May sales were boosted by increased demand for pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), which has been battered by continuous recalls throughout the first half of 2014, announced a strong 12.6% increase in month-to-month sales.
Electric Leadership: The Wall Street Journal reports that Tesla Motors Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk plans to remain in the top post for at least four or five more years. The CEO told an audience at the company's annual shareholder meeting that he plans to stay through the beginning of Tesla's production of its third-generation car. This electric vehicle will begin production toward the end of 2016.
Setting the Trends: In an effort to make its Google Glass eyewear more fashionable, Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) has signed a deal to offer designs by Diane Von Furstenberg. The new lenses and frames will be offered by Google and Net-a-Porter on June 23.
Today's Economic Calendar: This morning's schedule includes the ADP Employment Report for May, the PMI Services Index, the EIA's Petroleum Status Report. The Fed's "Beige Book" will arrive later this afternoon.
But that's not the biggest stock market news on tap today - check out what anti-American business move China pulled this morning, get today's earnings report list and biggest IPO launch, and more...
The New Cold War: This morning,Chinese state media called on their government leaders to "punish severely" American tech companies like Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) for allegedly stealing trade secrets from the country. Though no specifics have been offered, this calling is the latest in a spate of heightened rhetoric between the two nations after the United States arrested five Chinese military officials for alleged cybercrimes.
The Hawk Strikes: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher told an audience on Tuesday that he favors an end to the U.S. central bank's stimulus program by October. Fisher is a strong policy hawk who has repeatedly sought an end to the bank's bond-purchasing program, though he said the bank likely won't increase interest rates until 2015.
Today's IPO Launch: Trading under the Nasdaq ticker "MRKT," financial information services provider Markit Ltd. plans to price its IPO between $23 to $25 a share. This range would value the firm up to $4.47 billion. The company competes against Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TSI), selling pricing and reference data, indices, and valuation services.
Earnings Reports: Stay tuned for earnings reports from Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), G-III Apparel Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: GIII), American Woodmark Corp. (Nasdaq: AMWD), Bazaarvoice Inc. (NYSE: BV), PVH Corp. (NYSE: PVH), RealD Inc. (NYSE: RLD), and Verint Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNT).
Full U.S. Economic Calendar June 4, 2014 (NYSE: all times EDT)
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.