The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped on Thursday after a round of weak economic data and mixed earnings reports.
Weekly jobless claims from last week came in higher than economists had anticipated; meanwhile, U.S. capital goods orders in September fell by their fastest pace since February. The news raises fresh concerns about business investment a day before the U.S. Commerce Department reports third-quarter GDP.
Let's look at the final numbers on Thursday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 18,169.68; -29.65; -0.16%
S&P 500: 2,133.04; -6.39; -0.30%
Nasdaq: 5,215.97; -34.29; -0.65%
Now, here's a look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Friday's economic calendar.
DJIA Today: Markets Slide After Lackluster Round of Economic Data
The Dow Jones fell 29 points after a round of lackluster economic data rattled investor sentiment and real estate stocks slumped nearly 2%. After the bell, keep an eye on Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN). The e-commerce giant will report quarterly earnings. Wall Street expects an EPS figure of $0.85 on top of $32.57 billion in revenue. Before today's AMZN earnings report, read our outlook on the Amazon stock price after earnings.
It appears that the markets are stuck in neutral until the November election. But it's very likely that we will once again see Washington divided by party and for political gridlock to reign again for the next four years. That's why investors need to establish a profit plan for what happens after the 2016 election. Money Morning Global Credit Strategist Michael Lewitt outlines a reason to be optimistic as an investor and how to bypass this toxic environment.
Don't Miss: A Special Opportunity with Only Days Left to Get the Details
Meanwhile, in deal news, shares of NXP Semiconductors NV (Nasdaq: NXPI) gained more than 2% on news that it will sell itself to rival Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) for roughly $38 billion. This is the largest deal in the history of the semiconductor industry.
The WTI crude oil price today gained roughly 1.0%, while the Brent crude oil price added about 0.8%.
The price of crude oil today is on the rise after the Energy Information Administration announced a surprise drawdown in crude supplies. News of the inventory decline offset growing concerns about the stability of the OPEC production deal. While the markets are ignoring OPEC's problems, Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors warns that the cartel's planned deal to reduce output is on the brink of collapse. Here's what you must know.
But a big story today was at Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR). The microblogging company beat Q3 profit and revenue estimates and announced plans to slash its workforce by 9% (about 350 people) as part of a broad restructuring effort. The other big news: Twitter will discontinue its video application Vine, which plays short clips in a loop. The service has struggled to compete against Instagram, a service owned by rival Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Despite the surprise TWTR earnings report, you should be worried about the long-term health of this company. We explain why we are bearish on Twitter stock, right here.
Top Stock Market News Today, Oct. 27, 2016
- Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) hosted a product event at its California headquarters on Thursday. The company unveiled its latest MacBook Pro, which includes a Touchbar. The event comes two days after the firm reported quarterly earnings. In Tuesday's earnings report, the company topped Wall Street expectations, but weak sales in China and a lackluster iPhone forecast weighed on investor sentiment. Here's why you should own Apple shares and where the price of AAPL stock is heading next.
- Shares of VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) gained more than 4.2% after the firm received a stock upgrade from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). Citi analysts issued a "Buy" rating and hiked its price target on VMW stock by 20% to $95 per share. The bank cited VMware's strong Q3 quarterly earnings report and higher license billings.
- It was a terrible debut on the Dow Jones for Chinese logistic company ZTO Express (NYSE: ZTO). The ZTO stock debut was the biggest U.S. initial public offering of the year, but shares fell more than 11%. As we explained this morning, retail investors have to be aware of the major disadvantages they face when companies go public in today's world. That's why we've established these three rules for IPO investing.
- Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) ticked slightly higher after the company reported its first quarterly profit in three years. CEO Elon Musk also said that the company will boost its production from 50,000 vehicles in 2016 to 500,000 in 2018. Musk predicted yesterday that his company may also turn a profit again this quarter. Here's more on why TSLA stock is moving higher and where we think it will go from here.
- After the bell, look for earnings reports from LinkedIn Corp. (Nasdaq: LNKD), Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL), Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq ADR: BIDU), Expedia Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE), and Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN).
Friday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EDT)
- GDP at 8:30 a.m.
- Employment Cost Index at 8:30 a.m.
- Consumer Sentiment at 10 a.m.
- Baker Hughes Rig Count at 1 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.