The top stocks to watch today (Friday) are E I Du Pont De Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS), and BlackBerry Ltd. (Nasdaq: BBRY).
There are four U.S. economic data reports being released today. They are personal income and spending, core PCE prices, Chicago PMI, and University of Michigan consumer confidence.
Last month's consumer confidence report showed a pull back from January's 10-year high of 98.5. This month's consumer confidence report is expected to gain back some ground. The expected reported value is 97.6, which is up from 91.0 for the same month last year.
Now that we know what's moving markets, here are the three top stocks to watch today...
DuPont stock is up 0.6% in early morning trading after agreeing to sell part of its crop protection business.
The sale of the crop protection business is worth $1.6 billion and is to help gain approval from the European Commission for the company's merger with Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW).
DuPont will receive $1.2 billion in cash along with $425 million in working capital for the sale of the crop protection business to FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC).
It is expected that the merger between DuPont and Dow will be completed by the end of the year, with the spinoffs required for approval of the deal to be complete within 18 months of the merger.
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DD stock is currently trading at $81.64 for a gain of 11.2% so far this year.
Credit Suisse stock is down 1% in early morning trading after three of its offices were raided by local authorities.
The financial services company had its London, Paris, and Amsterdam offices raided in relation to client tax matters.
It is not clear what local authorities are searching for at this time, but the company is cooperating.
CS stock is trading at $15.08 for a gain of 5.4% year to date.
BlackBerry stock is up 7% in early morning trading after reporting better than expected earnings.
The mobile communications device company reported losses of $0.10 per share for the quarter. Last year for the same quarter BlackBerry posted losses of $0.45 per share.
Adjusted earnings per share came to $0.04. Analysts expected the company to break even for the quarter.
Adjusted revenue was $297 million, while expectations were $288 million.
BlackBerry expects to be profitable for the year after adjustments.
BBRY stock is currently trading at $6.95 for a gain of 0.9% so far this year.
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