DJIA Today, Sept. 8, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped Monday afternoon thanks to a slide in energy prices, and U.S. stocks were mixed overall. Global growth concerns weighed heavily on crude oil prices, with Brent crude prices slipping below $100 per barrel in London for the first time in more than a year. This dragged down prices of global producers and oilfield service providers such as BP Plc. (NYSE ADR: BP), which was down more than 1.3%, and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), which slipped by more than 2% on the day.
Here's the scorecard from today's trading session:
The IPO of the Year: E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) kicked off its two-week roadshow this afternoon, attracting the hunger of many different institutional audiences. The company plans to go public on Sept. 18 and aims to raise up to $21 billion, which would make it the largest IPO in market history. A regulatory filing over the weekend stated the company is looking to price American Depository Shares between $60 and $66. Shares of Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), which owns a 22.4% stake in the company, were up more than 5.5% as the roadshow kicked off.
Out the Door: Activist investor Carl Icahn strikes again, as the billionaire has gotten yet another wish. This afternoon, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) announced that its chairman and chief executive officer, Mark Frissora, has resigned from the company. The board has named Brian MacDonald as interim its CEO. For months, Icahn, who owns an 8.5% stake in the company, has pressured the Hertz board to remove certain management, arguing the firm is underperforming against its rivals. According to the official statement, Frissora stepped down for personal reasons.
Debt Nation: The U.S. Federal Reserve announced that Americans increased their household debts by a record monthly level in July of 2014. According to a report on consumer credit, American households increased their debts by a seasonally adjusted $26.0 billion for the month. The debt levels were heavily boosted by new student loans, which increased by $20.6 billion for the month.
Unilateral Action: The Obama administration announced that it is looking for ways in the "very near future" to reduce the incentives for U.S. companies to engage in tax inversions, a strategy by which a company relocates its headquarters to a foreign country in order to reduce its tax burden. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that Congress must pass a new law that would make it more difficult for companies to engage in this endeavor. According to reports, New York Senator Charles Schumer has drafted a bill that would eliminate deductions that companies could take should they depart the United States. According to DealLogic, 13 inversion deals worth $178 billion have transpired since the beginning of 2013.
Now our experts share some of the most important investment moves to make based on today's market trading - for Money Morning Members only:
The Best Way to Invest in Google's 3D Printing Breakthrough: The 3D printing field has been around for many years now. It's one of the tech sector's most exciting fields - and it offers plenty of long-term upside. And one company in this sector is poised for a fresh breakout.
Why Investing in Solar Energy Is Attracting the Big Boys: What began as backup to more conventional grid-networked sources of power has quickly blossomed into a separate profit center in solar energy. And a blockbuster acquisition announced earlier this month is about to make investing in solar energy a lot more appealing - and profitable, for those in the know...
The Clear Map to This "Hidden" Investment Treasure: As scientists reach the discovery limits of "one-size-fits-all" drugs and the ailments that respond to them, such as infections and circulatory diseases, they find themselves up against tougher, wilier, more intractable challenges... But these companies tackling the genetics field are poised for major profits...
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.