The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell again on Wednesday as energy stocks and falling oil prices weighed on the markets. Meanwhile, investors continue to eye the upcoming meeting by Federal Reserve officials on monetary policy. Despite CME FedWatch projecting just a 15% probability of a rate hike next week, the central bank continues to send mixed messages, leaving investors on edge.
Let's look at the final numbers on Tuesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 18,034.77; -31.98; -0.18%
S&P 500: 2,125.77; -1.25; -0.06%
Nasdaq: 5,173.77; 18.52; 0.36%
Here's a look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Thursday's economic calendar.
DJIA Today: The Fed Remains in Focus, Oil Prices Continue to Slide
The Dow Jones fell 31 points on Wednesday as investors continue to speculate on the timing of the next interest rate hike. Investors continue to weigh the statements on Monday by Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard, who said the central bank should keep monetary policy loose despite improving signs in the U.S. economy. Here's when we expect the next rate hike.
Oil prices fell again today as investors continue to weigh a recent report from the International Energy Agency. The IEA projects a weaker environment for oil prices through the first six months of 2016. The WTI crude oil price today fell nearly 3%. Meanwhile, the Brent crude oil price fell 2.6%. Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors has just issued his latest oil price prediction. But before we get to that, here's why crude oil prices have been so volatile this week.
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But the big news today was the largest cash purchase of a company on record. Earlier today, German chemical giant Bayer AG (OTCMKTS ADR: BAYRY) announced it will purchase agricultural giant Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) for roughly $66 billion.
Top Stock Market News Today, Sept. 14, 2016
- In other deal news, shares of Vitae Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VTAE) surged a staggering 157% on news that it will be purchased by Botox manufacturer Allergan Plc. (NYSE: AGN) for $639 million. Shares of AGN stock rose nearly 2% on the news.
- Shares of Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) added more than 1.5% after the firm announced that it has launched live-streaming applications for Apple TV (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon Fire TV (Nasdaq: AMZN), and Xbox One (Nasdaq: MSFT). The new app will allow users to watch Thursday night NFL games as well. TWTR stock has been under pressure in recent months. Here's our latest projection of where the stock goes from here.
- In other tech news, shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) rallied more than 3.6% to a 2016 high on growing optimism over pre-order sales of its iPhone 7. The company has also benefited from a bad public relations problem for its rival Samsung Electronics, which is under pressure regarding the explosions of several Galaxy Note 7 devices. As we've said repeatedly, Apple is one of the best stocks to own for the long term. In fact, Money Morning Director of Tech & Venture Capital Michael A. Robinson has set a very aggressive stock price target for the firm moving forward. Here's Michael's latest 2017 Apple price target.
- Shares of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) fell another 0.6% as the company continues to face criticism for a three-year scam that ripped off its customers. The company fired more than 5,300 employees who took part in a cross-selling sales scheme that opened millions of fake accounts and charged customers fees for products and services that they didn't need or sign up to own. Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani has called this scam one of the worst in Wall Street history and explains that the firm's culture is rotten to the core. Here's Shah's latest indictment of another Wall Street bank engaging in unethical behavior.
- Shares of Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) added more than 1.5% after the retail giant received an upgrade from investment bank Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). According to a research report from Citi, the bank projects a possible 27% gain for the stock. The firm issued a "Buy" rating and set a price target of $44 per share.
Thursday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EDT)
- Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m.
- PPI-Final Demand at 8:30 a.m.
- Retail Sales at 8:30 a.m.
- Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey at 8:30 a.m.
- Empire State Manufacturing Survey at 8:30 a.m.
- Current Account at 8:30 a.m.
- Industrial Production at 9:15 a.m.
- Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index at 9:45 a.m.
- Business Inventories at 10 a.m.
- EIA Natural Gas Report at 10:30 a.m.
- 3-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
- 6-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
- 10-Year TIPS Announcement at 11 a.m.
- Fed Balance Sheet at 4:30 p.m.
- Money Supply at 4:30 p.m.
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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.