The top stocks to watch today (Wednesday) are Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Textron Inc. (TXT), and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM).
The weak housing starts data that was released yesterday has caused the likelihood of a June Fed rate hike to drop to 43.7%. Just over a week ago the likelihood of a rate hike stood at 66.5%, according to World Interest Rate Probability data.
At 2:00 p.m., the Fed's Beige Book will be released. The book is a summary of economic conditions in the 12 Federal Reserve districts that is released eight times a year.
Now that we know what's moving markets, here are the three top stocks to watch today...
Top Stocks to Watch Today: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT)
Abbott stock is down 2.7% in early morning trading after announcing it lowered the price on an acquisition ahead of its earnings announcement.
The healthcare company is in the process of purchasing Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR). Initially, Abbott was going to pay $56 a share to value the deal at $5.8 billion. However, Alere has faced material problems that have brought the purchase price down to $51 a share, or $5.3 billion.
Despite the reduction in purchase price, many still feel that Abbott is paying too much for Alere in light of its management problems. Alere has missed reporting deadlines, faced two investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, and had one of its technologies withdrawn from the market after concerns of accuracy surfaced.
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ABT stock is currently trading at $43.43 for a gain of 13.1% so far this year.
Top Stocks to Watch Today: Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT)
Textron stock is up 3% in early morning trading after announcing earnings.
The company is engaged in a variety of markets, including aviation, defense, and finance.
Textron announced earnings per share (EPS) of $0.37 and adjusted EPS of $0.46, meeting analysts' expectations of $0.46. However, that number is still down from last year's EPS of $0.55.
Revenue was down 3.4% from the same quarter last year at $3.1 billion. Analysts' expectation for revenue was $3.17 billion.
TXT stock is trading at $47.34 for a loss of 2.5% year to date (YTD).
Top Stocks to Watch Today: International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM)
IBM stock is down 4.6% in early morning trading after announcing its earnings for the quarter.
The company announced its 20th straight quarter of declining revenue. This quarter, revenue fell 2.8% from the same quarter last year to be reported at $18.16 billion. That missed analysts' expectations of $18.39 billion.
IBM announced EPS of $1.85, which is down from $2.09 last year. Adjusted EPS were $2.38, beating analysts' expectation of $2.35.
IBM stock is currently trading at $170.05 for a gain of 2.5% YTD.
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