Dow Jones Industrial Average Today Slumps on Bank of Japan, GDP Reports

By Garrett Baldwin, Executive Producer, Money Morning • April 28, 2016

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 200 points after the Bank of Japan shocked the markets by holding monetary policy in place and shares of Apple cratered 3.5%. Not even a flurry of deals could stop the Dow from reporting its first 1% daily decline since February.

Now, let's discuss what you need to know about the markets on April 28, 2016.

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First up, check out the results for the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:

Dow Jones: 17,830.76; -210.79; -1.17%                             

S&P 500: 2,075.81; -19.34; -0.92% 

Nasdaq: 4,805.29; -57.85; -1.19%

Now, here's the top stock market news today...

DJIA Today: GDP Slumps to 0.5% in Q1, Apple Stock Craters on Icahn Worries

President Barrack Obama is the first president to serve eight years and not have a single one where the U.S. economy grew by at least 3% in one of the years. This morning, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that GDP grew by a meager 0.5% in the first quarter. The U.S. economy had weakened manufacturing output and lower export levels.

Everyone in America should be concerned about the sharp decline in real final sales. The sharp contraction in business investment is especially worrying, as the figure has hit its weakest levels since the onset of the Great Recession. The U.S. economy cannot afford such slow growth in 2016, as continued weakness at a time that the Fed is trying to boost inflation could produce dire results like stagflation. The announcement comes just a day after the Federal Reserve maintained interest rates at current levels and discussed headwinds to the U.S. economy.

Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) fell as much as 3.5% after billionaire investment manager Carl Icahn announced that Icahn Enterprises LP (NYSE: IEP) has ditched its position in AAPL stock. Icahn raised concerns about the company's ability to compete in the Chinese market.

That said, the day wasn't a complete bust. It was a big day of mergers and acquisitions. Today's roster of deals includes plans by Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) to purchase DreamWorks Animation Skg Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA) for $3.8 billion; a deal by AbbVie Inc. (Nasdaq: ABBV) to purchase Peter Thiel-backed biotech firm Stemcentrx for more than $5 billion; a deal by Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) to purchase St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ) for $25 billion; and a deal by Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) to purchase Textura for $663 million.

Now, let's look at the day's biggest stock movers and the stock of the day.

Top Stock Market News Today

• Shares of Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) rallied more than 12% in post-market hours after the global e-commerce giant crushed Wall Street earnings expectations. For more insight into Amazon's earnings beat, be sure to check back to Money Morning.
• Shares of Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) rallied as much as 10.9% to an all-time record of $120.79, a day after the social media giant reported a staggering 50% increase in quarterly revenue. The company crushed top- and bottom-line quarterly expectations thanks to a significant boost in mobile advertising revenue. The stock finished up 7.2% on the day and was still climbing in post-market hours.
• On the earnings front, shares of Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) fell after the company's first-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations. The firm reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.89 on bottom-line revenue of $539.18 million.
• Shares of Priceline Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PCLN) slipped after the company's CEO Darren Huston resigned. The resignation comes after an independent investigation determined that Huston had an improper "personal relationship with an employee." Former CEO and company chairman Jeffery Boyd will serve as interim CEO.
• Finally, here's your stock of the day. You might not know it, but the U.S. markets are experiencing a steep earnings recession these days. As Money Morning Director of Technology & Venture Capital Michael A. Robinson explains, "we might be seeing the third straight quarter in which S&P 500 stock profits are lower on a year-over-year basis." But this recession is creating a remarkable number of buying opportunities for savvy investors looking to the long term. Michael outlines two stocks to own here.

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