U.S. markets today (Wednesday) rose sharply after the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) June meeting. As expected, the Fed announced it would taper another $10 billion from its monthly bond-purchasing program and that interest rates would remain low in order to incentivize job development and economic growth.
Here's the scorecard from today's trading session:
And here are the top stories that affected the U.S. markets today:
A New Kid in Town: This afternoon, Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos announced the release of its newest device, Fire Phone. The device features a new operating system, on which developers can create apps and features. The phone also provides unlimited photo storage and access to its streaming music service for Prime members. With a two-year contract, the phones are priced at either $199 for 32 GB, or $299 for 64 GB. Shares of Amazon rose more than 2.5% on the news.
A Smartphone Partnership: The same day that Amazon unveiled its own smartphone, it announced a partnership with BlackBerry Ltd. (Nasdaq: BBRY) to enable the development of more apps on its rival's smartphones and tablets. The agreement will allow Blackberry to add another 240,000 apps. BlackBerry shares rose more than 3.8% on news of the partnership and announcement of the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system, set for release this fall.
The Evacuation Begins: As geopolitical tensions continue to swell in Iraq, the nation'sSouth Oil Company announced that Exxon MobilCorp. (NYSE: XOM) has begun a "major evacuation" of company personnel. According to Reuters, the company evacuated 20% of its staff. Meanwhile, it's unclear whether other large oil service companies like Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) or Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) will do the same.
The Solution - More Taxes: Thanks to failure to reign in wasted spending and encouraging no-bid contracts, the U.S. Highway and Bridge Fund is going broke. As a result, two U.S. senators proposed a hike in the federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes by $0.12 a gallon over the next two years. The national gasoline tax currently sits at $0.184 per gallon, with a diesel tax of $0.244 per gallon. Neither has changed since 1993 due to the political sensitivity of such a proposal.
Now our experts share some of the most important investment moves to make based on today's market trading - for Money Morning Members only:
Let's Double Our Money...with a Little Help from the Greatest Analyst Who Never Lived: Money Morning Executive Editor William Patalon III is a big Sherlock Holmes fan. That doesn't surprise us at all; Patalon is a keen analyst himself, and his own sleuthing has led us to some spectacular profits. Take, for example, these plays in the software industry poised to soar...
This Metal Problem Could Ignite China's Smoldering Crisis: Concerns of China's growth moderating and housing prices dropping 5% this year aside, this might be the real reason for renewed easing: Recent reports indicate that copper and aluminum used as loan collateral may have been rehypothecated or, worse, may never have existed at all.
Time to Profit from the "ASCO Effect": We love the American Society of Clinical Oncology because of the so-called "ASCO effect" - a hefty surge in cancer-focused biotech stocks that always accompanies the start of this group's annual meeting. This year's ASCO meeting turned us on to an important new trend - one that's shaping up as the next big profit opportunity in biotech.
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.