Good morning! Stock market futures for Thursday, Nov. 6 were slightly up as of 9 a.m. EST. Yesterday, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 hit record highs after the Republican party swept midterm elections and a strong report on private-sector job growth was released. The S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX), the market's volatility gauge, dipped 4.8%.
Today, watch for an update on weekly jobless claims and a meeting of members in the European Central Bank. Weekly jobless claims have declined for seven consecutive weeks and have fallen to their lowest level since 2000. Meanwhile, in Europe, investors want to know what measures the ECB could take to stave off concerns about economic stagnation. Although the central bank isn't expected to take any action right now, comments by its chair Mario Draghi could provide fresh insight into its long-term financing plans.
Here's what else you should know - including our "Money Morning Tip of the Day" - in today's stock market news:
- Moving Fast: Reuters reports that the Republican Party will quickly pass a bill approving the completion of the Keystone Pipeline, a project that has been delayed for six years due to political partisanship. Republican Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he has a bill with 56 sponsors and that collecting the 60 votes needed to pass the law will not be difficult. A vote would force U.S. President Barack Obama to make a decision over the highly supported energy project. Shares of TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP), the pipeline's operator, rose by 3.25% yesterday.
- Electric Surge: Shares of Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) surged nearly 7% in post-market hours after the company reported quarterly earnings. TSLA beat earnings estimates but fell short of delivery expectations for its Model S sedans. The firm reported a net income of $3 million or $0.02 per share. This beat Street expectations of a $0.01 loss for the quarter. Here's our full recap on Tesla's earnings...
- The Outflows Continue: Pimco's woes continued in October. The investment giant faced $48 billion in capital outflows for the month. That amount includes roughly $27.5 billion in outflows from the Total Return fund, which was previously managed by Bill Gross. Pimco has seen massive outflows over the last two years, but Gross' departure for Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) has led Pimco to anticipate the outflows of another $100 billion.
- Oil Prices Today: Oil prices reversed course on Wednesday on news of an unconfirmed explosion of a Saudi Arabian pipeline. Still, prices remain subdued after the leading producer in OPEC slashed oil prices to the U.S. this week. The big question that everyone wants to know is: "How will price cuts affect U.S. producers?" We answered that precise question here...
- Economic Calendar: Today's economic calendar features an update on U.S. jobless claims, the Challenger Job-Cut Report, the Global Services PMI, the Fed Balance Sheet, and on the money supply.
- Earnings Reports: Stay tuned for earnings reports from DIRECTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (NYSE: CNQ), BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE), Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP), Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP), and The AES Corp. (NYSE: AES).
[Editor's Note: Check out our list of the five best places to invest when the GOP takes control of both houses in Congress here...]
Full U.S. Economic Calendar November 6, 2014 (NYSE: all times EST)
- Challenger Job-Cut Report at 7:30 a.m.
- Gallup US Payroll to Population at 8:30 a.m.
- Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m.
- Productivity and Costs at 8:30 a.m.
- EIA Natural Gas Report at 10:30 a.m.
- Global Composite PMI at 11 a.m.
- Global Services PMI at 11 a.m.
- 3-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
- 6-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
- 52-Week Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
- Treasury STRIPS at 3 p.m.
- Fed Balance Sheet at 4:30 p.m.
- Money Supply at 4:30 p.m.
About the Author
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.