The Dow Jones today slipped 17 points. The cause? The U.S. Federal Reserve released minutes from its January Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
In light of the recent TurboTax fraud alert, Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald appeared on FOX Business' "Cavuto" late last week to discuss what taxpayers should do to protect their online data...
Today's Scorecard:
Dow: 18,029.85, -17.73, -0.10%
S&P 500: 2,099.68, -0.66, -0.03%
Nasdaq: 4,906.36, +7.10, +0.14%
What Moved the Markets Today: Concerns over Ukraine and Greece took a backseat to the release of the January FOMC meeting minutes. The verdict: The central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates in the near future. "Many participants observed that a premature increase in rates might damp the apparent solid recovery in real activity and labor market conditions," the minutes said. Gold prices ticked up from a seven-week low after the release of the minutes.
Brent crude oil prices slumped nearly 4%, while WTI fell 3.5% as oversupply concerns again spooked energy investors.
[epom key="ddec3ef33420ef7c9964a4695c349764" redirect="" sourceid="" imported="false"]Now, check out the other top market stories - plus get our new profit tip for investors:
Money Morning Tip of the Day: Don't "chase" the initial share-price gains of hot initial public offerings (IPOs) - if you buy on the first trading day, you could get burned. Instead, you can side-step Wall Street and play the IPO boom this way...
Today's tip comes from Money Morning Tech Expert Michael A. Robinson:
Successful IPOs can be a great source of wealth.
Take biotech firm Spark Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCE). The stock began trading Jan. 30 and is up roughly 100% from its offering price of $23.
But here's a little secret Wall Street doesn't like to talk about: Most retail investors can't get anywhere near hot IPOs like Spark's.
That's because most initial shares are reserved for mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, and high-net-worth individuals. Retail investors like you have to pay a premium for the stock after it's already begun trading, seriously cutting into your profits.
But this doesn't mean you're shut out of IPO market profits...
Not if you buy shares in the First Trust IPOX-100 Index Fund (NYSE Arca: FPX). FPX tracks the market for IPOs and has long been one of my favorite exchange-traded funds.
FPX holds 100 stocks and offers access to the tech, finance, auto, retail, and energy sectors, to name a few.
I think every investor should consider holding FPX for the long haul. By doing so, you can grab the upside and excitement that IPOs offer without all the volatility inherent in new issues.
Go here for more profit tips and stock picks from Michael Robinson...